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Washington Temple to be Dedicated This Month

During the weekend of November 19, President Spencer W. Kimball will dedicate the Washington Temple. This temple will be the 16th LDS temple in the world and the first east of the Mississippi River since the destruction of the Nauvoo Temple by mobs in 1848.

An open house at the latest temple, featuring free public tours, was conducted from September 17 through October 26. Special tours introduced leaders in government, religion, business, and international diplomacy to the new temple.

An imposing structure, the temple is situated on part of a 57-acre wooded plot overlooking the National Capitol Beltway in Kensington, Maryland. It is constructed of 173,000 square feet of Alabama white marble enough to cover 3 1/2 football fields—and comprises a total area of 160,000 square feet. It is 248 feet long and 136 feet wide.

Most Latter-day Saints recognize its exterior design as being similar to that of the famed Salt Lake Temple including modified Gothic-style spires and an 18-foot bronze statue of the Angel Moroni, 288 feet above the ground.

In terms of size the Washington Temple is nearly twice the size of the Salt Lake Temple. It contains nine levels and is equivalent in height to a 16-story building.

Site dedication and groundbreaking ceremonies for the temple were held December 7, 1968, and actual construction on the building began in 1971.

Church members in the eastern half of the United States and Canada comprise the new Washington Temple district.

The first of the existing 16 temples to be dedicated was the St. George Temple in St. George, Utah. Brigham Young conducted the dedication in 1877. The famed Salt Lake Temple was the fourth, and was dedicated in 1893 by Wilford Woodruff. Most recently temples in Ogden and Provo, Utah, were dedicated within weeks of each other by President Joseph Fielding Smith in 1972.

Six of the 16 LDS temples are in Utah, and 12 are in the United States. The remaining 4 temples serve Church members in such diverse areas of the world as Switzerland, New Zealand, England, and western Canada.

“Showcase Hawaii” Makes USO Tour

A group of 15 BYU Hawaii Campus students, representing nearly all the cultural heritages of their school, joined a three-month, 14,000-mile tour of Korea, Okinawa, Japan, Taiwan, and the Philippines recently as the first Hawaiian collegiate group in the USO Far East entertainment circuit.

“Showcase Hawaii,” as the act is called, performed more than 100 USO shows for an estimated total audience of 80,000 and was also seen on television shows in several countries.

For 18 days of the tour, “Showcase Hawaii” was given special permission by the U.S. State Department to perform before general public groups and in churches, in addition to the performances on the USO schedule.

The goal of the group is to convey a “message of family unity and traditional Hawaiian good neighborliness” through comedy, international song and dance, and original music.

Charging Through the Gas Shortage

The gas shortage has a lot of people stalled these days, but Jeff Ricks, 19, of Rexburg, Idaho, is not one of them. He found his own solution to the problem by simply building a car that requires no gasoline.

Jeff’s electric car began as a 1959 sedan that he purchased for $20. He repaired the interior himself and sent the car to a local body shop for a paint job.

Then with the knowledge of electronics he possessed after a year of high school electronics, a semester of college electronics, and hours of research in the Ricks College library, Jeff set to work to equip his car with an electric motor. In the end he converted a generator into a traction motor because a surplus motor couldn’t be located. His family helped in the often frustrating search for the correct combination of electrical parts, and after much experimentation the first successful electric car in southeastern Idaho was born.

Jeff’s oil-free, gas-free, tune-up-free, pollution-free wonder is capable of traveling 30 miles at 30 miles-per-hour between rechargings. He estimates its present sale value at $3,000. “But it’s not for sale,” he is quick to add.

Jeff is an elder in the Rexburg Second Ward, Rexburg Idaho Stake.

Youngest Orator Wins Recognition

Tom Russell, 12 years old and the only elementary school student among 20 finalists, won first place honors in the Optimist International Pacific Southwest District Oratorical Contest with his speech, “I’m Just One.”

He was chosen from among 1,500 male elementary, junior high, and high school students from southern California and southern Nevada to receive the $500 scholarship award.

Tom is active in sports and drama in his school, and is a deacon in the Bakersfield Fourth Ward of the Bakersfield California Stake, where, he says, he received valuable experience in public speaking.

“Watch” Words for Babysitters

It’s a blah Wednesday night. You don’t have any homework or any plans for the evening, and you certainly could use the money, so you say yes to the mother on the other end of the phone and set out to yawn your way to an easy dollar or two.

Typical? If you’re a fairly regular (or even an occasional) babysitter, it shouldn’t be. For the next few hours you will be responsible for the safety and well-being of someone else’s child.

It’s a full-time job, and as the old story goes, it takes only a moment of carelessness to produce a lifetime of regret.

In a pamphlet called The Care and Safety of Children (published by the Council on Family Health), Dr. Jay M. Arena offers three basic suggestions to insure the safety of the children you’re babysitting.

1. Never underestimate the physical and mental abilities of an infant or child. They’re usually smarter than you think.

2. Always be prepared for the unexpected.

3. Never leave a baby alone outside a crib or playpen when awake. Check him frequently while sleeping.

Watch seems to be the watchword while babysitting. In kitchens, watch dangling cords, handles of cooking utensils on the stove, and hanging table-covers. Dr. Arena also suggests that you never cut food on a baby’s plate. His thrashing movements could easily interfere with the knife.

In the bathroom, watch medicine cabinets and cleaning fluids.

In other areas of the house, watch staircases, electrical outlets, unscreened windows, and heavy, easily tipped pieces of furniture, such as floor lamps and rocking chairs.

Remember that a watchful babysitter feels better about the work, and probably gets it more steadily, too.

Youth Sponsor Banquet in Honor of Senior Citizens

Approximately 140 members of the Arbor Ward, Salt Lake Temple View Stake, were served by the Aaronic Priesthood MIA at a banquet that was sponsored, planned, and served in honor of the ward’s senior citizens.

Six youth committees worked with ward leaders to arrange food, entertainment, and invitations for the affair, and youth volunteers managed the entire evening, from salad-tossing to table-waiting to water-refilling to the last spoon in the dishwater.

Entertainment for the evening was provided by the Keynotes, a group of singing mothers of Aaronic Priesthood MIA youths.

Following the two hours of food and fun, the guests of honor rose to applaud in appreciation of their young hosts.