Making the Most of This Issue

February 2002

Strengthening Your Family

• Wiggles. Short attention spans. How do you hold young children’s interest during family home evening? Learn from one mother’s child-tested ideas on p. 67.

• For more good ideas on how to make family home evenings work, see page 21. Eight families share their success stories.

• Most accounts from Latter-day Saint Voices can be used to kick off great family home evening lessons. To teach your family about the lasting impact a good example can have, read “My Friend ‘Milkshake,’” p. 69. Or start a discussion on following spiritual promptings by reading “Go to Work Now!” p. 68.

“Could I Let My Baby Go?”

After learning she is pregnant, an unmarried teenage girl worries about her future. How will she know what is best for her child? Can anything positive result from this difficult situation? See p. 60.

Successful Problem Solving

“We will make greater progress and do so more joyfully if we focus on solutions rather than problems,” writes Mary Ellen W. Smoot, Relief Society general president. To learn her four suggestions for problem solving, see p. 42.

Old Testament Principles to Help You

Freeing the children of Israel from the life and practices of Egypt and getting them ready to meet the Lord at Mount Sinai was a monumental task! How does that apply to members today? Find gospel principles to help us escape the bondage of sin and prepare for the Second Coming in two powerful Old Testament stories on pp. 31–33 and pp. 34–36.

Ever wondered about the Church’s official teachings on the creation of mankind and evolution? Find assistance for your study of Genesis 1–3 on p. 26.

Gifts of the Spirit

“The gifts of the Spirit can guide and enrich our lives,” says Elder Robert D. Hales of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. How do we discover our individual gifts? See p. 12.

Beating Tobacco

Do you have a loved one who smokes? Did you know that nicotine is as addicting as heroin? See what a Latter-day Saint expert on the difficulty of giving up tobacco says about how you might help a loved one quit, p. 50.

Our Testimony to Visitors: We Believe in Him

The exhibits and the technology in the remodeled visitors’ centers on Temple Square are new, but they powerfully support a timeless message: We believe in Jesus Christ. For a visual tour of the exhibits, see p. 6.

Home Teachers and Visiting Teachers

Find the monthly messages on p. 2 and p. 72.

Did You Know?

Did you know you’re free to use all textual materials from the Ensign in teaching your family or in Church classes? Some pictures are copyrighted by the artists, so you would want to check with the Church’s Copyrights and Permissions office (1-800-453-3860, ext. 2-3959) before copying them for distribution. But all materials in Church magazines are meant to help members in individual study and in teaching in the home or Church classes.