Feedback

Thanks to Allen E. Bergin

Congratulations and a million thanks to Allen E. Bergin. His much needed article on human agency was fantastic, the best I’ve ever read. It’s the kind of article my nonmember friends will be interested in. I hope he writes another article for the New Era. If he does, I’ll be the first to read it.

Janine Gray
Alhambra, California

Fantastic Tidbits

I would like to thank you for the July New Era. The “Conference Tidbits” were fantastic. They hit some of the highlights of each speaker. Good show!

Also, the fashion specials were great. They not only had some good ideas for what to do and what not to do, but the interview with Mr. Blackwell was good too. I agree with his idea that when a woman is more feminine, a man tends to be more masculine. Keep up the good work.

Abbe Smith
Orem, Utah

Every member should

Thank you for your June publication on missionary work. It was wonderful. Two articles especially struck home: “What to Send to a Missionary” and “Every Member Can Do It,” the second being most outstanding. The more time we as missionaries can spend teaching people the gospel and not just finding people to teach, the better our time is spent. If members could keep missionaries busy teaching people they have invited to share the gospel, I’m sure the Church would grow at a much faster rate and there would be a lot more happy people in the world.

Elder Roger Gibson
Scotland Mission

A good contact

I am a sixteen-year-old member in a small U.S. Army servicemen’s branch in Germany. I greatly enjoy the New Era (cover to cover), particularly in my situation here where I rarely meet with more than one or two Church members my age. You can see how much it means to me to have a good contact with the Church that is concerned with those of us who are younger.

I was both thrilled with and grateful for Brother Durham’s article, “Revelation: The Plainest Book Ever Written” (May, 1973). Never before has such a complete and logical interpretation of this otherwise baffling book come into my field of learning. My thanks and appreciation for an excellent work. I also want to commend Brother Ralph Reynolds on his strikingly appropriate artwork.

Scott J. McHardy
Nuremberg, Germany

Letters from a friend

I’d just like to let you know how much I enjoy the New Era. Everyday as a part of my study class I read one or two articles out of the New Era, and each one is just great. The only trouble is, I run out of articles before the month is over and have to anxiously wait until the next issue arrives.

One of my favorite departments in the magazine is the feedback section. I like to read the comments by different Saints from other lands. It’s like reading a letter from a friend.

Lee Jewkes

“Messages from a Missionary Daughter”

We have just received our June issue of the New Era. All here in the mission home have read the poems of Susan Savage with interest and pride. This sensitivity carried over into her missionary labors. She was considered by her associates to be an ideal lady missionary. We are proud to claim her as ours.

Sister Patricia E. Anderson
Argentina Mission

Post-mission message

Because of the many calls and letters we have received expressing deep appreciation for the article “Messages from a Missionary Daughter” in the June issue of the New Era, I thought perhaps you might wish to print the one little message not found until Susan’s return. She had slipped it into her dad’s tool box.

Hands have held

these tools,

Hands dear to me.

Hands I have

watched,

and felt,

and wondered at …

Susan’s Mother

Leeds, Utah

“This is the right place”

As “Arizona Trek” in the July issue of the New Era is so obviously an attempt at a reenactment of the entering of the Salt Lake Valley, I was much surprised at the actions of “Brigham Young.” “He raised an arm toward the valley below and said simply, ‘This is the place.’”

Brigham Young is usually misquoted in this way. What really happened is this. “The President, reclining in Apostle Woodruff’s carriage [he was ill with mountain fever], requested to have it turned upon the summit so that he might see those portions of the valley that were now visible. Gazing long and earnestly at the prospect, he exclaimed: ‘Enough. This is the right place. Drive on.’” (Orson F. Whitney, History of Utah, vol. 1, p. 324.)

Kenneth Reid Beesley
Salt Lake City, Utah

Starving for the missionary issue

Thanks so much for the missionary issue of the New Era. I was starving for it since I hadn’t received an issue in over six months. It came as an answer to a question I’d been pondering in my mind. The question was, Do I want to go on a mission? Since I am a girl I didn’t know how to answer. After reading the issue from cover to cover, I found my answer. It is an emphatic yes. What inspired me most was the article “Julie Wang” by Malan R. Jackson. Thanks and keep up the good work.

Carla Amos
Satellite Beach, Florida

I thoroughly enjoyed and benefited from reading the missionary issue of the New Era. It gave me great insight into the practicalities and beauty of the work. Thanks!

Amanda Reid
Birmingham Stake, England

I was overjoyed when I arrived home from school to find the June New Era with the words “Missionary Issue” on the front. I sat down at once and read it through. It took some time, especially since I had to sit and think hard when I read the article about Julie Wang. It really impressed me. I have talked to many of my friends about the true church, but I became muddled when they ask me why I belong to it. Now, through the seminary program and the New Era, I have a greater understanding of the Church. It also pleased me to find that before his conversion President Hartman Rector was not happy to believe that faith requires you to do nothing, for I too have learned that “faith if it has not works, is dead, being alone.” (James 2:17.) I have set myself the aim of becoming a missionary, and this issue has inspired me tremendously.

Sandra Johnson
Bedford, England

I would like to thank you for your special June missionary issue. It really helped our priests quorum. We are holding a special missionary class. We encourage each other to memorize our required 169 missionary scriptures, and we talk about the duties of a missionary. It is a great help to those of us planning to go on missions. I would encourage other quorums to start such a program.

Rick Hall
Orem, Utah