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Accomplished Cellist

Lynds Pickett, 15-year-old cellist, won a musician’s competition to solo with the Santa Barbara Symphony Orchestra in January.

In late January she played in the All-California Symphony Orchestra. The following month she soloed with a group of outstanding cellists, including her teacher, Geoffrey Rutkowski (himself a pupil of the late Pablo Casals), at the University of California at Santa Barbara.

Lynds has been a member of the Santa Barbara Youth Symphony three years. She played with the Ventura Youth Honor Symphony, the 1972 Regional Church Music Festival Symphony in Los Angeles, and has been first chair in all her school orchestras. She has been active in the California Junior Scholarship Federation, and is in the presidency of her Aaronic Priesthood MIA class and seminary class.

Her plans for the future include the Music Academy of the West at Santa Barbara, Julliard or Curtis Institute, and BYU.

Turn of the Century Party Is a Big Hit In Minneapolis

The youth of the Aaronic Priesthood MIA in the Minneapolis Third Ward, Minneapolis Minnesota Stake recently proved with their Turn of the Century Party that there really isn’t a generation gap. The feeling among the youth was that the older people had a lot to contribute but were sometimes overlooked or forgotten.

Each of the classes was assigned one person born before the turn of the century. They could do for that person whatever the class felt was appropriate. Much thought and many phone calls and visits followed as the youth made preparations. At the conclusion of one such visit an elderly gentleman, tears in his eyes, said to the youth, “My home has been blessed by having you here. Thank you for remembering me.”

The night of the program each honored guest spoke. Some told stories of their early days in the ward, others recited poetry, and some simply shared with everyone their joy at seeing one another again. The Boy Scout Band brought back memories with their musical renditions of “Bicycle Built for Two” and “Black and White.” At the conclusion of the program each guest was presented with a gift from his class. Also remembered with gifts were three members of the ward who were bedridden and unable to attend.

Ward members agreed that testimonies were strengthened by the knowledge that it is more blessed to give than to receive.

Conserve Energy—Walk to Church

It may mean wearing galoshes, but walk to church if you can.

In a message issued by the First Presidency, Church members were urged to “walk to church meetings where that is feasible.”

They recommended that members “use wisdom and avoid undue hazard to personal safety in traveling to and from church services.”

In keeping with other energy conserving measures the First Presidency authorized the following:

—Eliminating all outdoor lighting, excluding that used for safety and security purposes.

—Urging members to form car pools and observe prescribed speed limits.

—Lowering thermostats where feasible and, in general, eliminating unnecessary consumption of electricity and fuel.

Church members living in wards and branches that cover many miles were authorized, if they choose, to establish consecutive meeting schedules for all Sunday meetings. Weekday auxiliary meetings such as Relief Society, Aaronic Priesthood MIA, and Primary were all approved as suited for a same-day schedule.

“A Mi Me Importa: ¿Y A Ud?” Say South American Saints

What do you know about “A mi me importa?” Would you like to know more?

Chances are you’re familiar with the Church’s family home evening program, but the missionaries in the Colombia Mission have found thousands of people who aren’t and who want to know about it.

When you say “A mi me importa: ¿y a Ud?” to one who speaks Spanish, you’re telling him “I care. Do you?” The slogan makes people curious, and with the missionaries’ assistance people are helped to understand that it means “I care … about the family.”

“A mi me importa: ¿y a Ud?” slogans, buttons, stamps, and even bumper stickers can be seen throughout much of South America. The posters and buttons are so novel that everyone wants to know what they mean. Exhibitions and street displays in various areas have been held, and nonmembers have been brought into the Church as a result.

Medellin, Colombia, was one of the first cities “hit” by the campaign. Fourteen missionaries along with several members split up into small groups equipped with tape and posters. They rode the city bus lines to the end, taping the posters in the buses as fast as they could. In four hours over 500 red, blue, and yellow posters had been placed in all the buses in the town. Groups again met to put up 500 more posters in windows of all the downtown shops. In addition to being a colorful city, Medellin appeared quite patriotic since yellow, blue, and red are the national colors as well.

Family home evening posters were ordered for the exhibition from Salt Lake City, and captions were printed in Spanish by a local printer. Radio stations announced the exhibition, and flyers were delivered all over the city.

At the exhibition, Medellin members and missionaries worked together to explain activities of family home evenings, and interested persons were invited to see the film, Man’s Search for Happiness.

One local radio commentator was so impressed that he asked to interview two of the zone leaders. On a nationally broadcast program the elders talked for 30 minutes on Joseph Smith, the First Vision, and their own testimonies of the gospel.

Renaming Policy Announced—No More Swiss Stake

You may have lived in the Caldwell Stake all your life. But do you live in Idaho or New Jersey?

The rapid growth of the Church has brought about a change in stake names. Stakes will now be designated by geographical location to distinguish the Church’s 630 stakes in the United States and 23 foreign countries.

Under the new system, existing stakes and all new stakes organized in the future will be designated by the name of the city and state, province, or country in which the stake headquarters is located.

This means the Swiss Stake is now the Zurich Switzerland Stake, and the Adelaide Stake becomes the Adelaide Australia Stake.

In cities with more than one stake, the stake name will follow this pattern, such as the Denver Colorado Stake and Denver Colorado North Stake. But stakes such as the Denver West Stake with headquarters in Arvada will undergo a name change, in this case the Arvada Colorado Stake, because the actual stake headquarters is in Arvada.

Such designations will help distinguish the former Charleston (South Carolina and West Virginia), Farmington (New Mexico and Utah), Glendale (Arizona and California), Hamilton (New Zealand and Ontario, Canada), Longview (Texas and Washington), Richfield (Idaho and Utah), Richmond (Virginia and Utah), Vancouver (British Columbia, Canada and Washington), and Riverton (Utah and Wyoming) Stakes.

Salt Lake Stake, the oldest continuous stake in the Church, will retain its name unchanged. But 48 other stakes in Salt Lake City have added a “Salt Lake” prefix to their former names, but do not include “Utah” in the name.

The ten stakes at Brigham Young University will omit the “Utah” prefix.

In addition several stakes in the Salt Lake area changed names to more readily associate them with their location, i.e., the University West Stake is now the Salt Lake Central Stake.

The use of the word stake stems from the prophetic imagery of the Prophet Isaiah who called upon Israel to “enlarge the place of thy tent, and let them stretch forth the curtains of thine habitations: spare not, lengthen thy cords, and strengthen thy stakes; For thou shalt break forth on the right hand and the left.” (Isa. 54:2–7.)

President Kimball has pointed out the primary purposes of stakes:

“First to bring the gospel into the lives of all members. Second, to make it a beautiful emblem unto all the world to see, in order that the principles of truth may be shared with all.”

He adds, “The stakes should foster unity, Christian brotherhood, peace, and tranquility within their borders.”

Sow What? Wheat, Say L.A. Youths

Take 50 eager students, 1,260 empty containers, and 21 tons of wheat, and you have an energy-packed service project that’s still sending tremors through southern California.

Junior college students at Los Angeles Pierce College—many of them enrolled in the Woodland Hills Institute of Religion—took upon themselves one goal: to help families get food storage.

And orders they got! In fact, so many people from throughout the Los Angeles area responded to the service project—even some nonmembers—that they had to arrange for three shipments of wheat to fill orders for 63 tons.

The first step was to investigate food storage requirements—protein and moisture contents as well as best packaging methods. With the tracks laid, the students began the task of crew organization, paper work, and word-of-mouth advertising in preparation for their first shipment of 21 tons of hard winter wheat.

The delivery day was never to be forgotten.

After the wheat arrived the real work began; the wheat was poured into containers, sealed airtight, and loaded during a heavy rain onto pickup trucks for personal delivery to each home.

“I’ve never been so wet and worked so hard in my life,” said Meli Estrada with a laugh. “And I’ve never seen so many kids having so much fun together.”

“Most of the people couldn’t believe we were delivering right to their doorsteps,” commented Claire Smith.

For most of the young people the real satisfaction came with the comments from customers who said, “This is what it took to really motivate us to get our year’s supply.” And, “We don’t have any room, but if kids are going to work this hard to get it to us, we’ll store it in our living room if we have to.” Another said, “I’ve never known a thing about wheat, but I’m going to learn right now how to make bread.”

A free bonus with all orders was a mimeographed sheet of whole wheat recipes and a food storage checklist.

The consensus of everyone involved in the food storage project was summed up by Pat Morley, a nonmember from Canoga Park: “It’s great to be together with your friends doing something fun and at the same time doing something that is so necessary.”

Indiana Tourism Contest Winner

The state of Indiana recently sponsored a tourism essay contest. Among the eight grand champions selected was twelve-year-old Darla Holt of the Purdue Ward, Indianapolis Stake. Darla and her family, along with the other champions and their families, were honored at a banquet sponsored by Governor Edgar Whitcomb. The champions also won a family pass to all Indiana State Parks, a class field trip for their schoolmates to the Hoosier state park of their choice, and a certificate of achievement.

Darla’s winning contribution:

What kid do you know who wouldn’t like to …

roll down a sand dune?

wiggle his toes in smooth sand?

swim at a beach?

visit a wolf cave?

carve something from sandstone?

crawl through an army airplane?

camp in the woods?

see the Indy 500?

hunt for arrowheads?

If you know a kid who doesn’t like these things, then Indiana is not the place to be. But if you know a kid who likes to do these things, then come to INDIANA.

Sunday School Teachers at Work in Tonga

Members of the Nuku’alofa Tonga Stake have a real success story to tell about activating ward members. The Sunday School teachers were concerned about class members whose attendance had become irregular and accepted the challenge to do something about it. Although they lacked automobiles and telephones, the teachers made personal visits to class members’ homes and reactivated the irregular attenders to full attendance. The Nuku’alofa Tonga Stake’s Sunday School attendance jumped more than 50 percent in less than six months.

Explorers Place in Safe Driving Competition

Two Chandler Arizona Explorers took second place in the Exploring Grand National Safe Driving Road Rally in Dearborn, Michigan. They were each awarded a $750 college scholarship.

Rodney Brown and Dan Willis, members of the Chandler Second Ward, Mesa Arizona West Stake, competed against 97 entrants in the final competition. The judging was based on safe driving, accurate timing, and alert navigation skills.

More than 30,000 teenagers were involved in the contest on local levels. They participated in rallies that require cars to leave a starting point individually, at carefully recorded times, and follow a complicated route, taking them through cities, over freeways, and down country roads. Teams were expected to follow various speed limits with checkpoints and penalties if they passed these points too early or too late.

Rodney is a two-year seminary president and counselor in the priests group.

Dan is president of his school’s National Honor Society, ward choir accompanist, and a member of the varsity basketball team.

Super Saturdays in the Super City

Imagine a Saturday in New York City with 118 seminary home study students—that’s a Super Saturday! Imagine kids from five different nationalities (some requiring translators), bowling, dancing, singing, and praying—that’s a Super Saturday. Super Saturday, the name adopted by seminaries in the eastern division for the joint seminary-Aaronic Priesthood MIA activities of the home study program, is having fantastic success in the eastern states. Attendance at the Saturday activities in the New York Stake is usually between 95 and 100 percent. Aaronic Priesthood MIA activities are included in the Super Saturday program, and attendance at the combined Spanish and English speech festival, for example, was around 250.

Said one stake high councilor of the program, “The attendance at Aaronic Priesthood, Aaronic Priesthood MIA, and Sunday School has increased this year, and we attribute that increase to the success of the Seminary-Aaronic Priesthood MIA Super Saturday.”

An Aaronic Priesthood MIA leader from Staten Island added, “Our youth are changing their attitudes toward each other. They are talking nicer, dressing better, and acting more like the youth of the Church should act. I believe it is the result of the Seminary-Aaronic Priesthood MIA Super Saturday and the opportunity the Staten Island kids and the kids from the other wards up north have to mingle.”