LDS Scene

The Brigham Young University—Hawaii Campus women’s tennis team defeated Armstrong Atlantic State University in Pensacola, Florida, on 17 May to win the NCAA Division II national championship. Last year was BYU—Hawaii’s first year in the higher division; previously the women’s tennis team won two consecutive national titles in the NAIA. The championship match was originally scheduled for Sunday but was moved to Monday at the request of Latter-day Saint players.
More than 100 Latter-day Saint youth in Bulgaria recently gathered for the nation’s first youth conference, a three-day event with the theme of “Choose the Right.” Under the direction of Bulgaria Sofia Mission president Gary Stephens and his wife, Annette Stephens, the youth attended workshops on manners, music, media, and cooking; played games; and participated in a talent show. The conference concluded with a sacrament and testimony meeting conducted by Sofia district president Georgi Dermendjiev.
A memorial plaque and sandstone marker were recently dedicated near the birthplace of President Wilford Woodruff in Avon, Connecticut. Born on 1 March 1807 to Aphek and Beulah Woodruff, President Woodruff attended school in the area and worked in his father’s flour mill. The memorial is located in a public park less than a mile from the mill site, which is now owned by a private boys’ school. The dedicatory prayer was offered by Elder Donald L. Staheli of the Seventy, First Counselor in the North America Northeast Area Presidency.
More than 100 Latter-day Saint musical performers—including the 97-voice Mormon Oratorio Chorus, five soloists, and nine instrumentalists—recently performed a concert in New York City’s Carnegie Hall. Before an audience of about 2,000 people, the musicians performed a variety of religious music celebrating the Savior’s Resurrection. “One of our strengths in the New York area is certainly our artists,” said Brent Belnap, president of the New York New York Stake, which organized the concert.
In honor of black Latter-day Saint pioneer Jane Elizabeth Manning James, a sculpted memorial plaque was recently dedicated in the Salt Lake City Cemetery. Born in Wilton, Connecticut, in the early 1800s, Sister James walked 800 miles to Nauvoo, Illinois, after her family joined the Church. She lived in the homes of both the Prophet Joseph Smith and President Brigham Young and subsequently married black Latter-day Saint Isaac James, gave birth to a son at Winter Quarters in 1846, and joined an early pioneer company to the Salt Lake Valley. When she died in 1908, President Joseph F. Smith and other General Authorities spoke at her funeral.
During May the Mormon Youth Chorus and Symphony performed its last concert in the Tabernacle on Temple Square. Speaking before the performance, Elder L. Tom Perry of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles thanked director Robert C. Bowden for “the joy and happiness of musical entertainment you have brought.” Brother Bowden, who has led Mormon Youth since 1974, said, “I cannot think of a more rewarding experience than that which I have had with these people, and I thank the Lord every day.” Earlier in May the Mormon Youth Chorus and Symphony’s final tour included performances aboard the USS John C. Stennis, an aircraft carrier docked in San Diego, California; at Camp Pendleton in Oceanside, California; and in the Tuacahn Amphitheatre near St. George, Utah.

Elder Donald L. Staheli dedicated a memorial near the birthplace of Wilford Woodruff in Avon, Connecticut.