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Giant Snail and Snoopy Reign in Rigby, Idaho

And the winner is … Noah and the Ark!

Runners-up included a panda bear, an octopus, and a 12-foot snail.

It sounded like a contest limited to zoo residents, but in fact, there were 300 Rigby, Idaho, youths who participated in the snow sculpture contest that included foreign cars, fairy tale characters, and the Idaho Falls Temple among its creations.

Three categories were determined by age groups. In the Beehive-Scout division the Annis Ward took first place with its interpretation of Noah’s Ark and animals. Runners-up were the Lewisville Second Ward with a snowmobile sculpture and the Lewisville Third Ward with a panda bear.

The Mia Maids and Adventurers of the Rigby First Ward were awarded the top prize in their group for their sculpture of a bowling alley. The Rigby Second Ward followed with an octopus sculpture, and the Lewisville Second Ward took third with its interpretation of the Idaho Falls Temple.

The Laurels and Explorers of the Lewisville Second Ward won in their division with their version of a St. Bernard. Second place went to the Annis Ward with their giant snail, and the Garfield Ward youth sculpted Snoopy on his house for the third spot.

Beginning at 8:00 A.M. the youths had seven hours to work on their creations, and they came up with 23 sculptures. The day ended with a dinner, a movie, and a fireside. Trophies were presented to the winners, and everyone was excited about next year’s contest.

Dents—He Loves Them

Inspiration. To Michelangelo it was a block of marble. To Michael A. McBride of Rialto, California, it’s a dented fender.

While attending Eisenhower High School, Mike worked at a body and fender shop. When the county industrial arts contest was held, he entered the auto mechanics competition. He won first place.

From there he went to Fresno, California, for the statewide contest. He walked away with first place, winning an all-expense paid trip to Washington, D.C., for the national competition.

In the nation’s capital Mike took fourth place. During the competition he had to finish a written examination on auto repairs, estimate the cost of repairing a damaged car, repair and paint a dent—and do it all against the clock.

Mike is active in Church sports and is planning to enter the mission field soon.

Tokyo Temple Plans Announced

Tokyo, Japan, will be the site for the Church’s 18th temple, which will serve some 64,000 Latter-day Saints in Asia. President Spencer W. Kimball announced the plans to thousands of Japanese Church members gathered recently in an area conference in Tokyo.

The templegrounds will cover 18,000 square feet, or slightly less than one-half acre. The land was acquired by the Church more than 15 years ago, and offices of the Japan Tokyo Mission now occupy the site. The mission headquarters will be razed and rebuilt on other Church-owned property in Tokyo.

Construction, expected to take from 18 to 24 months, is planned to begin in the first half of 1976. The temple will be built of reinforced concrete and steel, and faced with fine white stone. The temple will serve approximately 25,000 Church members in Japan, 15,500 in the Philippines, 8,700 in Korea, 8,500 in Taiwan, and 4,100 in Hong Kong.

In February this year, President Kimball announced plans to build a temple in Sao Paulo, Brazil. The announcement came at an Area Conference for Latter-day Saints in South America.

Spotlight on the New Era

The New Era has some good friends in the Bountiful Utah 35th Ward. The second-year Laurels recently presented a spotlight on the New Era in opening exercises of their youth activity night.

Armed with extra copies of the magazine and posters, the girls presented regular features as well as articles of special interest. They gave every young person his own copy of the magazine and asked each to get better acquainted with the New Era by reading if from cover to cover.

The Laurels making the presentation were Debbie Sessions, Mona Robison, Wendy Davis, Juleen Burningham, Roe Ann Jensen, Shirley Van Orman, and Marisa Brown.

Friends from Afar

The large, three-story building did not seem very promising. Nevertheless, Elder Brian McGavin stepped up and knocked on the drab, red double doors. While tracting, he had learned to be very thorough. Almost immediately he and his companion, Elder David Birrell, were greeted by a cheerful young student and ushered into a guest room. They had discovered the Po Ai orphanage.

Although the elders’ apartment in Taipei, Taiwan, was near the orphanage, they had never before found it among the winding streets, crowded with brick huts and foliage. The facilities of the orphanage were scant—two large bedrooms crammed with bunk beds, a kitchen, classroom, and the guest room.

The director of the orphanage, Mrs. Wu Mei-hen, entered the room with several members of her staff and listened politely to the missionaries’ message. After a short “What now?” pause, the missionaries began explaining the Family Home Evening Program.

Mrs. Wu and her staff responded with unexpected enthusiasm, and the next Monday was set for a trial family home evening.

How do you hold a family home evening for 30 orphans, ranging in age from 2 to 18? The elders weren’t quite sure, but they forged ahead anyway. The children were all given name tags and a short lesson was delivered. Just before the closing prayer everyone sang “There Is Beauty All Around” in Mandarin. Soon the evenings at the orphanage became a district project, and other missionaries helped with the Monday family home evenings.

After one of these evenings Elder McGavin wrote his mother about the success they were having teaching the children about the Church in spite of the poor conditions of the orphanage. Sister McGavin, the Laurel adviser in the Holladay 24th Ward, Salt Lake City, happened to be with some of her girls when she read the letter from her son. Immediately they began discussing ways they could help the Po Ai orphans.

After talking with the Explorers, the Laurels planned a bake sale to raise money for shoes and desks for the orphanage. The girls went to work baking cakes, pies, and cookies, while the Explorers put together a band to provide entertainment for the sale.

By coincidence a member of the ward, Sister Ann Burchett, was planning a trip to Taiwan. She was quickly drafted by the youth to present the money they had earned to the orphanage.

The day Sister Burchett arrived at the orphanage, the students planned a special family home evening. They greeted Sister Burchett by singing “There ls Beauty All Around” and presented other skits and songs. Mrs. Wu accepted the money from Sister Burchett and announced it would be taken directly to a carpenter so desks could be built.

A local newspaper, the China Post, wrote an article about the family home evenings, the efforts of the young people in Salt Lake, and the visit of Sister Burchett to the orphanage. The article quoted Confucius, “There is nothing to compare with the happiness of welcoming a friend from afar.” Because of their concern the LDS youth from Holladay were indeed friends from afar.