Feedback

My first

I have just received my first issue of the New Era, and I want to say thanks for making my first a terrific one! As a new member I find the New Era a wonderful way to keep up on Church news and doctrine.

Peggy Scott
Hesston, Kansas

“Whenever I get depressed …”

I eagerly look forward to the time each month when I can put aside all my problems and read the New Era from cover to cover. Whenever I get depressed I pick it up and laugh and cry through it again. “How Far Is 49 Yards” in the January issue really hit home because I’ve kicked the ball quite a few times. The Mormonisms are my favorite; they can really cheer you up after a hard day.

Elder Russ Allen
California Mission

Aw shucks

I still can’t believe I’m writing to you; I mean I just don’t write magazines to thank them for love stories. I always thought they were just for girls, and as a busy missionary I just don’t have time to read that kind of stuff anyway. But “Home Cooking” had a whole different aura about it. To my surprise I found myself reading it while shaving, dressing, and tying my boots. I can’t believe it.

Elder Kenn Livesey
Switzerland Mission

Butterfly remedy

Not long ago I was given a copy of the July 1973 New Era (my first), and I was really taken back when I turned the first page and saw a letter in Feedback from the missionary who baptized me last September. In the letter he said that the New Era feeds us the gospel with a spoonful of sugar, and I agree. I found it very hard to put down once I started reading it, and it’s surprising how many new things I learned from that one magazine. I’m looking forward to having regular copies, because I know that they will give me a better knowledge of the gospel in a simpler form. They will also be of great use when I have to give talks, not just because of the interesting articles, but also because I will be able to forget my nervousness a little beforehand by sitting down and browsing through them for a couple of hours!

Maureen Joy Patterson

What’s so funny?

In the March Mormonisms there was a cartoon about a man standing at a pulpit with microphone troubles. This is a plea from two Ricks College coeds for some translation. What’s so funny? We don’t get it.

Wendi Walz and Dianne Shirley
Rexburg, Idaho

What’s so funny is obviously that the pheederstadt has dysynchronopated the macrocyberkinetic fillimenti of the subhydro-intensifiers, thus malfurmishing the thrumbub brockets. We’re sorry that the cartoon didn’t make this clear. (In other words, we’re not sure we get it either.)

Year’s supply of reading

Last January two of the elders working in the North London District, Elder D. Haymond and Elder C. McDonald, ordered a year’s supply of the New Era for me as a birthday present, and what a great birthday present to have! I’ve never had a birthday present that lasted a whole year before. I always look forward to reading the Mormonisms, and the articles are interesting and rewarding. The magazine is very well designed, and the photography is excellent. It’s the one magazine I look forward to reading each month.

Ginny Howard
London, England

December in Brazil

Here in Brazil we receive the Church magazines two to three months late, so we’re a little behind in thanking you for the fine December issue of the New Era. We especially enjoyed the stories of some of the events of Joseph Smith’s life. We have been able to use them in teaching our members and investigators about the Prophet Joseph as a man and a prophet, and we have all been able to gain a deeper understanding of the Prophet and his calling to restore the gospel to the earth. The Prophet and his teachings have changed and blessed the lives of the Brazilian people, and we’re grateful to be here to spread the good news to them.

Elder Bob Baldwin
Brazil South Mission

The good things

I especially enjoy the Stories from General Authorities, conversion stories (I wish there were more of these), and FYI. I guess I just enjoy reading about the good things that are happening to the people of the Church and about how the gospel can make life better.

Elder Ed Steeples
Hawaii Mission

Gift of the gospel

My younger sister (18) is now a member thanks to the New Era gift subscription I gave her in 1972. It helped her understand the gospel a little better, and she could read about it whenever she had the desire. I wasn’t nearby to push, but I encouraged her all I could through letters. The New Era really made a difference.

Anna McIntire
Chandler, Arizona

A bowlful of answers

I never really read the New Era until just recently. Oh sure, I read one or two articles that caught my eye and, of course, Mormonisms. I have to admit that I never realized the great messages I was missing. Being 16 and full of questions about the Church and the views of our leaders on many topics, I was and am still looking for sources to answer them. Somehow I always overlooked the New Era until two weeks ago when I was asked to be on my Laurel class New Era bowl team. Finally I had to read the whole magazine, every article. To my surprise I found that I learned more about the things I had wondered about than from anything else I had ever read, except for the scriptures. Immediately after the bowl I ordered my own subscription. I now read the magazine from cover to cover, a habit I picked up from the New Era bowl, and it has been the smartest thing I have done in a very long time! I save every issue and use them for seminary devotionals and talks as well as for personal reference.

Caroline Wooton
Tempe, Arizona

A new era

I thought you might be interested in this photograph that I took near the west door of the Tabernacle at the October 1973 general conference. It was a brilliant, sunny day, and we were standing outside the Tabernacle when the sounds of the opening prayer reached us. I noticed this group of teenagers with their heads bowed in prayer, and I thought what a great blessing it is that there are young people who have received the true gospel. In the midst of a permissive society where vandalism and other evils are apparent in parks and public places, we look to the youth of the Church to build a new future for the generations to come. Being a grandfather myself, I realize that it is only through these young Saints that we can build a new era.

E. B. Heale
Northampton, England