Ensign

August 2007

Volume 37 Number 8

Do You Have a Story to Tell?

The Ensign invites you to share your experiences with being prepared. Tell us how you have benefited physically, emotionally, and spiritually from building and using home storage, creating a financial reserve, gardening, and planning for emergencies. Please label your submission “Preparation” and send it by September 14.

We also welcome other submissions that show the gospel of Jesus Christ at work in your life. Publication criteria are posted at http://ensign.lds.org. Under “Resources,” click “Ensign Magazine Writers’ Guidelines.”

Send submissions to [e-mail] or Ensign Editorial, 50 E. North Temple Street, Room 2420, Salt Lake City, UT 84150-3220, USA. Include your name, address, telephone number, e-mail address, ward (or branch), and stake (or district). Because of the volume of submissions, we cannot acknowledge receipt. Authors whose work is selected for publication will be notified. If you would like your manuscript, photos, art, or other material returned, please include a self-addressed, stamped envelope.

The Ensign can be found on the Internet at http://ensign.lds.org

Using This Issue

Loving our neighbors. Several articles in this month’s issue discuss or demonstrate the principle of loving others (see pp. 4, 9, 24, and 64). You might prayerfully consider ways you can show more love to those around you, even when it doesn’t seem you share common ground.

Sharing the gospel. Members everywhere are finding ways to share the gospel through their daily actions. After reading “How to Be a Great Member Missionary” (p. 50) and “United by Prayer” (p. 72), think about ways you might adopt some of these methods.

Feasting on the word. Improving scripture study blessed one couple with answers to their questions and problems (see p. 42). If you’re looking to enhance your own study, consider using, for example, the Guide to the Scriptures. This online resource defines selected doctrines, principles, people, and places found in the standard works and can help you in your individual and family scripture study. The Guide to the Scriptures and other study helps are available at www.lds.org under “Gospel Library.”

Coming in September

Look for articles on:

• Overcoming obstacles in dating.

• Helping those with disabilities.

• Seeking learning by faith.

Contents

• Messages

  • 4

    First Presidency Message: Welcoming Every Single One

    President James E. Faust

    If you are striving for excellence—trying your best with the wisest use of your time and energy to reach realistic goals—you will be a success.

  • 59

    Visiting Teaching Message: Become an Instrument in the Hands of God by Preparing for and Participating in Temple Worship

• Feature Articles

  • 9

    A Letter to Tommy

    Annie and David Braithwaite

    Many people never take the time to understand the challenges our autistic son faces. One young man does.

  • 10

    Overcoming Feelings of Inadequacy

    Elder David S. Baxter

    Think you’re falling short? Elder Baxter explains how to overcome these debilitating feelings.

  • 15

    Not My Will

    Wendy Johnston

    I thought that if I had enough faith the Lord would heal our son. Months later I realized Christopher was not the only one needing to be healed.

  • 18

    The Root of Christian Doctrine

    Thomas B. Griffith

    How can we improve in getting the gospel into our hearts and the hearts of those we serve?

  • 23

    Turn Off Your Flashlight

    Kevan Clawson

    The idea seemed crazy, but I had been taught to listen to the quiet thoughts that come into my mind.

  • 24

    Crossing Thresholds and Becoming Equal Partners

    Elder Bruce C. Hafen and Marie K. Hafen

    Married couples should strive for interdependence rather than independence or dependence.

  • 30

    Are You Prepared?

    Learn how to survive during an emergency using the food and supplies you have stored.

  • 34

    FamilySearch Indexing

    Constance Palmer Lewis

    Everyone is invited to help index the Church’s 2 1/2 million family history microfilms. Find out how you can participate.

  • 42

    Savoring the Scriptures

    Terie Wiederhold

    Even though I studied the scriptures daily, I had not learned to “feast upon the words of Christ.” Would accepting our stake presidency’s challenge make a difference?

  • 45

    It Started with a Pamphlet

    Don L. Searle

    How a single piece of literature from one missionary changed the life of a Korean postal worker—and the lives of his entire family.

  • 50

    How to Be a Great Member Missionary

    R. Val Johnson

    For years, the Canada Vancouver Mission struggled to increase the number of people who join the Church. Then something changed.

  • 60

    A Time to Sew: Ecclesiastes 3:7

    Latter-day Saint artists use needle and thread to create artwork that bears testimony of the doctrines of the gospel.

  • 64

    Two Guiding Lights

    Elder Joseph B. Wirthlin

    During the storms of life, we can find essential guidance in the two great commandments.

• Departments

  • Lessons from the New Testament

    56

    Obeying the Whisperings of the Holy Ghost

    Elder Ronald T. Halverson

    If we live worthily, spiritual promptings can protect us from danger.

  • 70

    Latter-day Saint Voices

    Temple marriage, returning to Church activity, and prayers in basic training.

  • 74

    Random Sampler

    Helping children learn Primary songs, distinguishing needs from wants, and teaching the gospel in a simple, structured way.

  • 76

    News of the Church

On the cover: Photographs by Matthew Reier, posed by models.

Inside front cover: Peace, by Emie Bishop. Influenced by the November 1989 collapse of the Berlin wall, Emie Bishop designed this sampler to represent peace. The neutral colors represent the quiet behind-the-scenes work that went on before November 1989. She chose more than 25 difficult, intricate types of stitches to represent the difficulties that had to be overcome to reunify Germany, the country where her husband served his mission and a land both of them love.

Tabitha, Arise, by Sandy Freckleton Gagon