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Montevideo Mormon

You may think only youth of English-speaking countries take the New Era, but I take it and anxiously await it every month. Thank you for all the inspiration it gives. It is a testimony builder. Please forgive any mistakes in my English. I hope Mormon youth everywhere know what a wonderful church this is.

Marta Gomez
Montevideo, Uruguay

New Zealand copies arrive late

We receive our magazines almost two months after they are printed, and so I just received the April issue and have just finished reading President Spencer W. Kimball’s article “Decisions: Why It’s Important to Make Some Now.” It’s one of the best articles I’ve read. I believe in the Church but am an inactive member. I attended Church College of New Zealand and had a strong testimony while I was there, but on leaving, I am sorry to say, I never took great interest in the Church and what it had to offer youth. This article has revived my positive attitude again.

Name Withheld
Northland, New Zealand

Gift idea

I am presently in the Mexico Mission and can say that the New Era is a great experience for nonmembers. It can get anyone excited, member or nonmember, who likes to explore positive approaches to life. I encourage all my generation of Mormon youth to take advantage of this valuable missionary tool by giving subscriptions as gifts whenever a gift is needed. And what does it matter if they already take the magazine? Can’t you just add one more year onto the remaining months of anyone’s subscription?

Elder Jay Johnson
Mexico City

We sure can, Elder—and that’s just the way we like to do it.

From Brazil

As a missionary in tropical southern Brazil, I must say that outside of the Standard Works the New Era is the best reading I can get my hands on. There are so many things, exciting things, happening in the Church today, and the New Era, even though it arrives here months late, helps keep us missionaries in touch. Truman Madsen’s “Of the Garden Tomb” sums up in deft, artistic style practical Christian philosophy. Carol Lynn Pearson’s “The Order is Love” was light but moving. Especially important is your emphasis on our leaders, modern-day revelation, and the scriptures. The New Era is praiseworthy!

Elder James B. Welch
native of La Canada, California

No sacrament meetings

I received and read completely today the latest issue of the New Era. Since I have been in Vietnam, I have yet to see a sacrament meeting or any other Latter-day Saints. I have taken it upon myself to worship the Lord in my own time, and I try to do a little every day. I read and reread all the magazines—I just can’t get enough of them.

Nevel Vanover
Vietnam

Are you getting the message?

Let me just say congratulations on the excellent quality of the New Era. Your refreshing editorial policy and the many outside contributions are outstanding. Youth in Britain very much appreciate getting the magazine. They are highly impressed with it. We haven’t had one single indication from them of “Well, let’s take a look at the Church magazine and see what the kids are doing in Salt Lake this month.” It has definitely taken on an international flavor with worldwide interests. We are grateful to you.

President W. Dean Belnap
England East Mission

Thanks, President. We’re glad the message is getting through.

Too short!

I really enjoy getting the New Era, but I wish there were more stories. The sad part is that I sit down and can read through the whole thing in such a short time; then I have to wait so long for the next one. By the way, I love white on black!

Lisa Voigt
Sacramento, California

Alaska

I don’t know how many kids live in small branches, but I live in one up here in Alaska. There aren’t many young people, but when the New Era comes, we all get together and discuss the things we’ve read. It gives us a chance (in its own way) to associate with other Mormon youth.

Jon Merrill
Eielson Air Force Base, Alaska

The teacher finally tied his tie right

We want to thank you for the format of the New Era. It’s great! Nothing seems out of place. Our early morning seminary class incorporates much information gathered from it into our daily lesson discussions. One morning in particular the class was ecstatic to learn that our wonderful teacher had learned how to tie a tie properly from instructions given in one of the New Eras.

Class of Jim Haugley
Dayton, Ohio

New England Mission

We are missionaries serving in the New England Mission, and we were especially happy to see the article on missionary work featuring an interview with our former mission president, Paul H. Dunn [July, p. 34]. But we do wish to correct a very common error. President Dunn has never presided over the “New England States Mission,” but the New England Mission. It is true that our mission does cover the New England states, but it also includes four provinces of Canada that are not American states but are in a totally different country.

We feel slighted every time one of the Church publications refers to our mission as the New England States instead of its proper name. There are over thirty missionaries serving in the Maritime Provinces of Canada and 5,000 members of the Church living here, and we are all a part of the New England Mission.

14 missionaries of the New Brunswick Zone,
New England Mission

Last spring we announced our 1971 summer collegiate intern-scholarship competition. Soon the entries began to come in. We carefully read each one and tried to consider the kind of staff member each entrant would make, and then we did considerable interviewing among the finalists.

The three winners—Dale Van Atta, 19, Rochester, New York; Margaret Ellis, 20, Montreal, Quebec; and Anna Stone, 24, Blacksburg, Virginia—have more than fulfilled our expectations. They have brought youthful perspective and vigor. Dale had previously won awards in the United States and England for his editing and writing. Anna had successfully presented her own photography exhibits and had one year’s experience in designing books for Hallmark Cards. Margaret had worked as a secretary on the Montreal Star, for which she occasionally did a guest column.

Now the summer is past, and they’re back in school mastering their trades. But the New Era won’t forget them. Who else but Dale would write a seventeen-page article on Frisbees? Or will any of us ever mispronounce Muntreal again, after having worked alongside Margaret? Then there is the memory of Anna—her round glasses and photographic eyes that have exposed to us forever the fresh beauty in a drop of water or a ray of light.

You will be seeing and reading their work in future issues. We gratefully thank our co-sponsors in the project: the YWMIA and Sigma Gamma Chi and Lambda Delta Sigma, the Church collegiate fraternity and sorority organizations.

Interns: Margaret, Dale, and Anna (Photo by Ralph Reynolds.)