New Era

September 2001

Volume 31, Number 9

Contents

• The Message: Follow the Prophet
  Elder M. Russell Ballard
  There is one voice you can depend on to always give you good directions and advice.

• Pure Testimony
  Elder Joseph B. Wirthlin
  Here are important keys to developing the testimony you want.

• Contest Winners: Sharing a Gift
  Introducing the 2001 New Era contest winners.

• Maybe I Will Be There
  Melissa Henrie Spencer
  First-Place Song

• Q&A: Questions and Answers
  I am a good student, and sometimes people ask to copy my homework or answers on a test. I know it’s wrong to give them the answers, but I don’t want to seem like a snob. How do I handle this situation?

• New Era Poster: He Loves Me

• Satan’s Bag of Snipes
  Bishop Richard C. Edgley
  Satan’s hunt is no joke. He is a deceiver, a liar, who wants us to be miserable like he is. Don’t get caught!

• See What They’ve Done
  Selected winning photography, art, and poetry entries.

• Ray Roundup
  Jane Forsgren
  Grandma and Grandpa Ray invited all the teenaged cousins to a reunion, where kids who had been just names on family group sheets became new best friends.

• Idea List: Why Bother with Seminary
  Darrin Lythgoe
  Sign up. It’s a great way to spend an hour.

• My Terrible, Horrible Day
  Brenda Williams
  First-Place Article: Things were going from bad to worse by the moment until Mom and Dad asked if I needed a blessing.

• Erica’s Song
  Jane Forsgren
  Erica Glenn of Lindon, Utah, has great talents, and even at her young age she finds ways to share them.

• Of All Things

• Fiction: Beauty Tips
  Sheralee Bills
  First-Place Fiction: I thought there was no chance I would ever be beautiful, until I learned what beauty is.

• The Extra Smile

• No Big Deal?
  Elder J. Richard Clarke
  If only every priesthood holder really knew how important holding the priesthood is. There is no greater power or blessing.

• Reader’s Guide

• We’ve Got Mail

• We, the Youth in Zion’s Army
  Benjamin Salisbury
  First-Place Hymn

Cover: David and Richard Bean of Lindon, Utah, enjoy getting to know their cousins at their family reunion. See “Ray Roundup,” on p. 30. Cover photography: Welden Andersen (front), Jed Clark (back).