The Bulletin Board

Keeping You Posted

A bulletin board is a great place to keep all kinds of important information—soccer practice schedules, grocery lists, a calendar, maybe even a snapshot or two. A bulletin board is such a useful tool that you may even find one in your ward or branch meetinghouse. We decided the New Era could really use one, too! You can now look here to find information about Church programs, inspirational thoughts, suggestions for activities, and news about other youth in the Church.

So if you’re looking to read something noteworthy, look here first. We’ll keep you posted.

Got 5 minutes?

• Make your bed.

• Memorize a short scripture.

• Chat with your mom or dad.

• Write a list of things you need to do.

• Make a list of things you’re grateful for.

A Parade for Brandon

Brandon Stephens, an 18-year-old priest from Logan, Utah, was recently named to the Parade Magazine’s 1996 High School All-America Football Team. Brandon is a tight end on the Parade team and is now playing that position at Brigham Young University.

Planting Seeds

“Every member a missionary” is the motto for youth of the Glendale California Stake.

Some 35 Laurels and priests spent their summer vacations knocking on doors and spreading the gospel, going on splits with the full-time missionaries.

David Smith, 16, said, “It was the best opportunity I’ve had so far to do missionary work, and it let me experience what it will be like when I go on my actual mission.”

Planting seeds by sharing the gospel is what prophets have asked every member to do. These young missionaries in Glendale, California, have learned to do so well and will continue to set great examples for everyone they meet.

On Her Own

Most high school track stars have large teams to run and hang out with, but Jenny West, 17, runs alone. Even though the cross-country team at St. Helena High School in Napa Valley, California, was terminated last year, Jenny is still chasing her dreams. This teen from the St. Helena Branch in the Napa Valley Stake trains and runs on her own every day for three to five miles. By herself she has developed an individual program that has led her to the regional and state cross-country meets this year. It’s hard not to have a team, she says, but she knows that many people are cheering for her. Jenny also knows that she really hasn’t done this by herself. Her Heavenly Father and family have helped along the way. “My mom and I pray before every single meet,” Jenny says. “I pray that He will help me to do my best.”

Some Must Push and Some Must Pull

Youth of the Greeley Colorado Stake learned to appreciate simple things, like the shade of the cottonwood trees near the Platte River, as they pushed and pulled handcarts along a rocky six-mile stretch of the original Mormon/Oregon Trail last summer.

These teens tolerated stickers in their socks and temperatures above 100 degrees Fahrenheit (36 Celsius) as they crossed the same Wyoming plains many of their pioneer ancestors did 150 years ago.

When the day ended and the group reached its camping site, one young man remarked, “As we climbed the hill with the ruts, the sweat dripped off my face onto the grooved ground, and I was humbled to think of those who had passed this way so long ago, their sweat pouring out on the same hot, dusty rocks.”

For every worry under the sun,

There is a remedy, or there is none;

If there be one, hurry and find it,

If there be none, never mind it.

(A favorite saying of Elder LeGrand Richards; see Church News, 31 Mar. 1997.)

Thank You!

Meagon Doering knows how to get the job done. This 16-year-old Laurel from Rock Island, Tennessee, has organized fundraising efforts for the Hospital Hospitality House in Nashville, raising a total of $2,400. Meagon and her family were grateful to find the HHH when Meagon’s dad, Michael, was hospitalized for nearly three months 90 miles from their house. The house provided a very inexpensive place to stay so that the family could be near Meagon’s dad for long periods of time without having to make the long drive from home. Meagon says this project was her way of saying thanks.