Comment

Wanted: One May Ensign

The magazine monster strikes again! My first copy of the May 1980 Ensign was completely eaten by the post office monster. The second copy escaped, but with seventy pages missing. Enclosed is a dollar to pay for another copy. The conference issues are extra good, so please disguise it in an envelope.

Mrs. Gordan R. Hardcastle
Elk Grove, California

All magazines mutilated in the mails are replaced free of charge by writing to Church Magazines, 50 East North Temple St., Salt Lake City, Utah 84150.

Insurance

The Ensign is always informative and spiritually uplifting. However, in the June issue on page 15, “Questions about Coping Financially,” a brief sentence states, “Life insurance can be important, depending upon your circumstances, and the principles regarding term insurance are financially sensible.”

I’ve found that both term and whole-life can be financially sensible, depending upon the findings of an analysis of the insured’s financial profile and short- and long-term goals. I feel the brevity of the statement is unfortunate and erroneous. In my opinion it would be just as wrong to make the same statement about whole-life.

Richard E. Bernard
Downey, California

The scriptures in foreign languages

On page 20 of the April 1980 Ensign you list translations of the Book of Mormon, but the Czech translation is not included. The Book of Mormon was translated in Czech in 1931, and in 1933 it was officially published in Prague by the mission president at that time.

Also, I remember that in the late 1950s we had a Czech translation of the Doctrine and Covenants. It wasn’t complete, and it was only typewritten, but it was a great source of inspiration for us then.

Milosh Benesh
Vista, California

The data published in the April Ensign (pp. 18–19) reported language translations of the Book of Mormon, Doctrine and Covenants, and Pearl of Great Price that are currently available. Individuals throughout the Church have informed us of translations into the Czech, Welsh, Hawaiian, and Maori languages, but if there are not copies presently being distributed or available in that tongue, then the tongue was not counted.

Music correction

“Pioneer Lullaby,” June 1980, p. 25, third line, third measure, should show an F-natural instead of F-sharp in the chord. Correction shown may be cut out and pasted over the original in the magazine.

Music, Pioneer Lullaby

Loved home town

We were disappointed that in your February 1980 issue you did not mention the little town of Woodruff, Arizona, among the early western settlements along the Little Colorado River.

With my mother’s help I wrote the history of Woodruff, entitled Our Town and People, at the time Woodruff’s first chapel was dedicated in 1958. There is a copy in the Church Historical Department. Later, Marjorie G. Lupher added to it, making a hard-bound book of 200 pages.

If you ever need a heartfelt story of a loved home town, Woodruff is a wonderful candidate.

Nina B. Brewer
Chula Vista, California

Update

June 1980: “The illustration ‘Emigrants Crossing the Plains,’ inside front cover, was a steel engraving by Felix Octavius Car Darley, American illustrator, 1822–1888. It was published in Picturesque America, vol. 2, 1874, and was republished by American Heritage (monthly magazine) in 1974.” John S. Rieske, Ostrander, Ohio.

July 1980: Top photo, p. 11, is the Nauvoo Legion Band, photographed in the 1860s. Photo, p. 65, extreme right, is Mary Horsepool Derrick, a sister of Harriet Maria Horsepool Nye, whose photo is shown below.

Weather vane in question

The March 1980 cover shows a watercolor picture of the Kirtland Temple by Al Rounds with a cross on top. Did the artist just put one on it? Or did we really have one on there?

Tobin Costello
Charleston, South Carolina

What looks like a cross on the artwork in question is actually a weather vane.

Journal-Keeping

Many people are confused about the purposes for writing journals. I started writing my journal long ago just after I became confused about some of my ancestors who were born in the mid-1800s, moved from Pennsylvania and New York to California, married Californians, and lived and died there. I did not want my progeny to wonder why I married a New Yorker in California and how we moved to Salt Lake City.

Because of my journal-keeping efforts, I have learned that we must keep our journals up to date. If we don’t, we tend to forget the experiences, feelings, and details connected with important events in our lives. It is for this reason that I started writing our son’s journal from the day he was born. I will turn this project over to him at some future time, but until he can record his experiences himself I will record them for him. I do not want important accomplishments in his life to be forgotten.

Stephen L. Christensen
Salt Lake City, Utah

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