Feedback

Helping a friend

I just wanted to say thank you for your excellent article “Wasted” that appeared in the March 1990 issue. Although I have never battled an addiction with drugs or alcohol, I have watched such dependencies weave a disastrous web in the lives of people around me. Drugs destroy both users and those that surround them. Helping a friend who has a serious addiction is one of the hardest things you may ever have to do, but sitting through their funeral is even harder. If you truly love your friend you will help.

Thank you for this serious and informative article. It’s great to have a magazine like the New Era that really loves and cares about the youth of the Church.

Keep up the good work.

Amy Oscarson
Medfield, Massachusetts

Closer to him

I’ve been receiving the New Era for many months but never bothered to read it. After all this time of not reading the magazine it took just one issue before I was hooked. Now, I find myself looking all over the house for the unread copies.

I would especially like to thank all the writers of the March 1989 issue. It was my favorite and has taught me so much about the promptings of the Spirit. I love my Heavenly Father so very much and the New Era has helped me grow closer to him. Thank you so very much.

Christine Tilton
East Palatka, Florida

Called to serve

We recently read an article in the Feedback section in which a girl stated that she enjoyed reading articles from the elders but thought it would be nice to hear from a few sister missionaries.

We are currently serving in the Oakland California Mission.

How grateful we are to serve. We have seen a different perspective of life and have come to understand the basic principles of the gospel and their importance in our daily lives. We have learned to listen to the Spirit and allow it to guide us.

We have gained a deep love and appreciation for all of God’s children, but most importantly we have developed a personal relationship with the Savior, through constant prayer, study, and service. It has set a pattern for us for the future.

Sister Jennifer Matson
Sister Barbara Brooks
Oakland, California

Life is that way

After reading the March 1990 special issue cover to cover I jumped up and decided I had to write you. I really liked what you based the articles on—survival. Life really is that way, a race for survival of the mind and the Spirit.

Every one of the articles in the magazine seemed to be pointed right at me, especially Jack Weyland’s “I Just Can’t Take It Anymore.” It seemed to fit me so well because I often get really overloaded from school and all of the activities I am involved in.

I could also relate to the article “I Feel the Savior’s Love When …” by Lisa Johnson. There was a time when I was reading in the Book of Mormon about the children who had the privilege of being blessed by Jesus. Out of all the time in history I would like to have lived then. To be able to be blessed by him would be the greatest thing in the whole world. Reading the scriptures is when I feel the Savior’s love the most.

Emily Madsen
Hyde Park, Utah

A song in my spirit

As a cross-country runner I am often tempted to give up and quit during a race. During my first race this year, when I was just about to be overpowered and stop running, the words to the third verse of “How Firm a Foundation” filled my mind. The words gave me the courage to finish the race. But all this time I’ve been wondering how I came to know this verse when I hadn’t heard the song for so long.

As I was glancing through the August 1989 New Era I read how a girl was comforted in the story “A Song of the Spirit.” That’s where I had read the words to the song, and in a moment when I too needed comfort, the words came to bless me. Thank you for that special story which aided the Spirit in reminding me I am not alone.

Name withheld