New Era

July 2007

Volume 37, Number 7

Contents

• The Message: Thy Speech Reveals Thee 2

  Elder L. Tom Perry

  Have the courage to keep your speech clean and wholesome.

• Did You Cheat? 6

  Robert M. Bogardus

  I didn’t want to answer that question.

• A Wonderful Truth 9

  Laurie Walker

  I was baptized at 8, but my testimony became a certainty when I was 17.

• My Battle with Pornography 10

  Name Withheld

  I let idle curiosity take me to the depths of sin and despair until I learned I couldn’t overcome my addiction alone.

• Q&A: Questions and Answers 14

  One of my friends, who is active in the Church, has some anti-Mormon literature and thinks we should read it so we know how to respond to it. But I find that literature disturbing. What should I tell my friend?

• New Era Poster: He Knows The Way 17

• Remembering Iowa 18

  Caroline H. Benzley

  Iowa teens reenacted a trek, celebrating 150 years since the handcart pioneers departed for the West.

• From the Field: The Lost Goat 24

  Matthew B. Pearson

  One small goat needed rescuing, and just like searching for the lost sheep in the scriptures, we went to bring it home.

• The Extra Smile 27

• What Did the Golden Plates Look Like? 28

  Kirk B. Henrichsen

  Eyewitness accounts by those who saw the golden plates give us a fairly complete description.

• Take Care 34

  Riley M. Lorimer

  Keeping your body healthy and uninjured shows respect for a God-given gift.

• What’s Up? 38

• To Be Together 40

  Elder Lowell M. Snow

  Nothing is as important as family and the eternal covenants that bind us together.

• Instant Messages 44

  Learning a lesson from rain; surviving a car crash; just talking can be missionary work; a hymn in Hungary.

• What’s in It for You 47

• We’ve Got Mail 48

• Poem: Summer Steam 49

  Shawna Simpson

Cover: Summer Burch of Iowa City, Iowa, got into character as a pioneer. See “Remembering Iowa,” on page 18. Cover photography: Riley M. Lorimer (front) and Richard M. Romney (back)