Comment

“‘I Saw Another Angel Fly’”

I enjoyed reading “‘I Saw Another Angel Fly’” in the January 2000 issue concerning the statues of the angel Moroni atop our temples that heralds the gospel to all nations.

The natural trumpet was a straight metal tube with a flared bell and with or without a mouthpiece. Renaissance trumpets were ceremonial trumpets played with elaborate fanfares using open tones. The modern trumpet has three valves and a cup-shaped mouthpiece that can be taken out; the valves allow a chromatic scale to be played. A bugler can play taps on a bugle without any valves; a bugler can also use a trumpet with three valves.

I could not help but recall Joel 2:1: “Blow ye the trumpet in Zion, and sound an alarm in my holy mountain: let all the inhabitants of the land tremble: for the day of the Lord cometh, for it is nigh at hand.”

Kenneth Larson
Los Angeles, California

Appreciation for Quality

As a retired printer I have long appreciated the quality of the printing in the Ensign. In the conference issues I have long thought the photographs being printed in duotone have been especially well done. Whoever does the halftones is definitely a skilled craftsman. And those who do the rest—from pasteup, prepress preparation, and the printing—fit that same category.

The November 1999 issue is especially good because of the inclusion of some very excellent photographs of interior bits of the Tabernacle. All of this is in such great detail that we can also appreciate the skill of those who did the woodwork. We must thank the photographers who had the skills to select the composition and lighting that brought out all this marvelous detail.

Wes Sebastian
Boise, Idaho

What an Eight-Year-Old Taught Me

Thank you for including “What an Eight-Year-Old Taught Me” in the September 1999 Ensign. Many people do not realize the impact their actions can have on a person.

I was much like the boy in this article. I was loud, disruptive, and uncontrollable. Then I had a teacher who cared about me. She had me help with the lessons. She would talk to me as if I were family. At the end of every class, and whenever I saw her outside of class, she would encourage me to give her a firm missionary handshake. What she did for me has stuck in my mind throughout my life.

Elder James Norlem
Tennessee Knoxville Mission

A Conversation on Spouse Abuse

I’m writing in response to “A Conversation on Spouse Abuse” in the October 1999 issue. It was an excellent article, and I am sure it will help many people recognize the signs of spouse abuse so they can get help. However, there was only one sentence about a husband being a victim.

I have a very sweet, shy, kind younger brother. He has been married for the past 10 years. During those years, we as his extended family started to see less and less of him, and when we would see him it seemed his self-esteem was getting lower and lower. He started to get very quiet and seemed to have lost his personality. To make a long story short, my brother has been severely abused physically, mentally, and spiritually by his wife.

It has been the most heartbreaking thing our family has been through. I feel frustrated that others do not seem to be educated on the subject of husband abuse. Some tender men who are abused by controlling, manipulating women are truly embarrassed and don’t dare come forward. And if they do try to get help, some are laughed at and not taken seriously.

Women have a huge support system for abuse, but men have little. Husband abuse may be more common than we know.

Name Withheld

Thanks for the Ensign

I wanted to write and tell you how much I enjoy the Ensign magazine. I am an adult who lives alone with two cats and am the only member of the Church in my family. Twice in my adult life I have had the calling of ward magazine representative. I have spent my own money to pay for others to read Church magazines, as gifts or in other special circumstances.

I usually start with reading the back of the Ensign, with the shorter articles, working my way through it. Thank you for selecting interesting stories of real life experiences of members from all over the world.

Phil King
Tallahassee, Florida