FYI:
For Your Information

For the first time in Utah Valley history, two Air Force F-111’s zoomed low over the Brigham Young University stadium parking lot to honor the 1,000th cadet—Royce Swenson—graduating from the school and to salute those being honored at the annual President’s Review. BYU President Dallin H. Oaks charged the cadets to uphold the responsibility of wearing the uniform of the United States Air Force and to serve their church as well. Seventy percent of those graduating are returned missionaries.

Cheryl Fisher was the salutatorian for her class of over 400 in Okinawa. She also received a $2000 scholarship from a local women’s club. She’s chorister and pianist for the Sukiran Serviceman’s Branch in Okinawa.

Mona Cowley, Reno, Nevada, was named a 1972 Richard M. Nixon Presidential Scholar. She’s a leader in school and an active Church worker as well.

In Mexico City students gathered for a celebration, and the day ended with a dance for which a Book of Mormon served as the admittance fee. One hundred sixty copies of the Book of Mormon were collected and will be used in missionary work. Ruben Padilla, President of Benemerito of the Americas Institute, Alfredo Perez, and Victor Manuel Serda, institute director, presented the books to President Eran A. Call of the Mexican Mission.

Mormons ruled at Lowell High in Whittier, California, this year. Fawn Richardson was flag carrier for the school band and a member of the famed Cavaliers drill team. Cherie Argyle was varsity yell leader and was voted class comedian by her peers. Beth Haskins was pep chairman and homecoming queen and was voted boys’ choice by the senior men. Alan Cashen, a member of the Church for two years was the school’s mascot, “Johnnie Patriot.” Doug Whiting was the studentbody president and was voted the most likely to succeed. Kent Stuetz was captain of the varsity football team. Brother Al Romney is the Latter-day Saint principal and is very proud of these students who try to set a good example and are making conversions to the Church.

Loui J. Montelongo won a four-year college scholarship after graduating from Brighton High in Utah where he was editor of the paper. Loui was enrolled in the Indian Student Placement Program and has brought fame to his people.

“Being members of a ‘minority’ group isn’t all that bad,” say Jan Richardson and McKay Edwards, “We both got elected studentbody president at our respective schools.” They live in Short Hills, New Jersey, and are among the very few Latter-day Saint students in their schools. They’re both active in Church work.

Eighteen-year-old Walter Whitaker graduated from seminary with four years perfect attendance! He is a priest in Twin Falls (Idaho) Fourth Ward.

A pilot project of school and community service in Mexico for 120 college students, including eight Indians on Navajo tribal scholarships, has been a memorable experience. They lived with families in Puebla, 80 miles southeast of Mexico City, and then finished up their stay at the Church school facilities there.

Robert G. Meldrum of Kearns, Utah, was selected as the 1972 Outstanding Teenager of Utah and received a handsome trophy. Besides serving as a student officer he’s been a member of the White House Conference delegate team and was a Hinckley Institute of Politics high school intern. He’s an Eagle Scout and received a Duty to God award. Robert attributed his selection to “setting a goal of continually striving to do my best in all endeavors I undertake.”

Jim Becker, Richmond, California, has invented a “case catcher” for guns that has been tested on the famed Browning automatic 9-mm pistol without a single miss by the “catcher.” This little unit saves picking up the casings by hand or losing them altogether. The brass casings cost from three to five cents each. The hollow case catcher fits onto a special removable handle grip. Jim used high-speed photography to see at what angle the casings left the gun, then made his mold from those findings. Plastic is melted in the mold and soon the product is done.

New MIA Counselor Called

Robert L. Backman, Salt Lake City attorney, has been named second counselor to President W. Jay Eldredge of the Young Men’s Mutual Improvement Association. Brother Backman has served as President of the Northwestern States Mission and has been a member of the general board of the MIA and a Regional Representative of the Twelve. Brother Backman replaces George R. Hill who has been named a Regional Representative of the Twelve and will be living in Washington D.C.

Titles Changed

YMMIA and Sunday School Superintendencies are now presidencies.

Love at Home

Does a program of regular family home evenings help to prepare a child to become a future president of the Church? It could happen. It has happened.

In 1915 President Joseph F. Smith repeated a long-standing admonition: “We urge the inauguration of a home evening throughout the Church. … It will be a very great blessing and benefit for the parents to know that at least one evening in each week they are in close touch with one another, face to face, and heart to heart, and uniting in sympathy and in that pure love that should always characterize the family life and association.”

Joseph Fielding Smith, late President of the Church, said: “My father practiced in his own family what he preached to the Saints. And his advice is equally appropriate today. I promise you that … you will fortify each other against false teachings and wickedness. … Children will learn obedience to parents. They will develop faith and gain power to combat the evil influences surrounding them.”

With this introduction the film “Love at Home” captures real-life situations as families explore ways to make home evening a worthwhile and challenging experience. Some of their comments:

A JAPANESE GRANDFATHER: “The family tie was considered to be sacred down through the history of Japan. The people of Japan who are joining the Church recognize that the home evening program is reestablishing this great spiritual truth.”

A MEXICAN FATHER: “In these last days the young people must pass through some very delicate problems. And only in this way can we understand their way of thinking,”

A MOTHER FROM THE UNITED STATES: “The four children and myself are alone now—and this is our time to discuss the past week and have a good time together.”

A LAMANITE FATHER: “This is to me the highlight of the family home evening program—that we can bear our testimonies to our youngsters in an atmosphere where they know we’re sincere. And to hear them give their testimonies back to us is thrilling.”

How do you start the family home evening program in your home? And once started, how do you keep it going? This film has some answers.

Personal Touch Parchment

A personal touch added to your notes will make them more fun to receive, and they’re satisfying to make when you follow the rules for arty parchment.

Materials needed

Waxed paper, plastic wrap, colored facial tissue, pressed flowers, weeds, or leaves, and pictures or cutouts.

Procedure

Cover working surface with plain paper (a brown grocery bag works fine). Layer the following items on the working surface in the order given.

First layer: One ply of colored or printed facial tissue.

Second layer: Sheet of plastic wrap slightly larger than tissue.

Third layer: Pressed flower or leaf. Place it so it will be centered on front of finished note.

Fourth layer: Another sheet of plastic wrap.

Fifth layer: Sheet of waxed paper that has been crumpled and then smoothed out. It should be slightly larger than the tissue. Do not worry about edges of all layers being even. They will be straightened when note is finished.

Sixth layer: Sheet of plain paper (paper bag) It should be large enough to cover all layers completely.

Press over the top layer with a hot iron (cotton setting) long enough to melt the plastic and weld the layers together.

Tear the edge of the parchment to fit a nice piece of stationery or plain occasional notepaper, using a ruler to make a straight edge. Carefully place design in center of front. Fold parchment in half, slipping the paper between the fold of parchment.

Note: printed tissue makes a pretty design without adding pressed flowers or cutouts.

Data supplied by Joyce Jones

Genealogists Take Note

The current two-year associate degree and four-year bachelor’s degree in genealogy will be discontinued at Brigham Young University. The action, according to President Dallin H. Oaks, was taken because of inadequate employment opportunities for persons trained in this specific field. There will still be nineteen genealogy courses in the University’s curriculum to train proficient genealogists. “The Latter-day Saint people have a very important responsibility to search out their family genealogies in connection with temple work, and the University completely supports this program,” explained President Oaks.

The Winner!

Kathy Johnson and LaRue Miles walked off with top honors in a special contest held during the Idaho State University Stake carnival. It seems Stake President Robert Thompson has a hard time finding cookies that fit his special needs, so he held a contest during the carnival to find the best cookie recipes that do not include dates or raisins. Savings Bonds were given by President Thompson to the winners, with cash prizes for the runners-up. The sampling and judging was a lively part of the event. Also featured were sewing demonstrations, craft exhibits, and games of skill. Here are the winning recipes:

Kookie Coconut Cookies
Kathy Johnson

2 cups flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon soda

3/4 cup shortening or margarine

1/2 cup brown sugar, packed

1/2 cup white sugar

1 egg

1 teaspoon vanilla

3/4 cup cocoa

3/4 cup buttermilk

Sift dry ingredients together. Cream shortening and sugars. Add egg and beat until light and fluffy. Add cocoa and vanilla. Add dry ingredients alternately with buttermilk. Drop by teaspoons and bake at 400° for 10 minutes Do not overbake cookies as it will make them dry. When cookies are baked, press a thumbprint into each cookie. Makes 30 to 36 cookies.

Topping:

1 cup canned milk

1 cup sugar

2 eggs, beaten

1/2 cup butter or margarine

1 teaspoon vanilla

Cook and stir until thickened—about 12 minutes. Add 2 1/3 cups coconut. Cool. Put a heaping teaspoon of topping on each cookie and then a whole pecan.

Orange Carrot Cookies
LaRue Miles

3/4 cup shortening

1 cup sugar (scant)

1 egg

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 cup cooked mashed carrots

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 cups flour

1 cup chopped nuts

Cream shortening and sugar. Add egg and mix. Add all ingredients but nuts and beat. Add nuts. Drop by teaspoon on greased baking sheet. Bake at 375° for 15 minutes. Frost while hot with following:

Frosting:

Grated peel of an orange

1 tablespoon orange juice

1 cup powdered sugar

Pinch salt

Mormon Motherhood
by Belle S. Spafford
Deseret Book Company, 30 pp., $.50

How about a small but sincere bouquet for mother? A bouquet of quotations that is. Mormon Motherhood contains a selection of short, incisive quotations by Belle S. Spafford on different aspects of motherhood. Sister Spafford, one of the most highly respected and eminently qualified women in the Church, knows what she is talking about. Having served mothers the world over, both in and out of the Church, she especially understands the needs and challenges to Mormon mothers as they strive to develop and maintain meaningful relationships with their families.

A sample?

“Is genius wasted in women? I do not think so. The most successful men come from the most stable homes, with the most successful and superior parents. It takes a genius mother, it would appear, to rear a genius son in a way to help him realize his highest potentialities. If the most highly endowed women of a generation were to choose careers instead of homes, it would be at the expense of the leadership of the next generation.”

This little bouquet can help bridge the gap.

Draft Changes

The United States Selective Service System has announced that a registrant must sign in with his draft board or draft registrar within the 30-day period before or after his 18th birthday. He must bring some official type of identification with him when he registers. Practically all new registrants will remain in Class 1-H until after their lottery drawing, which will be held early in the calendar year in which they reach age 19. Those who receive low lottery numbers will then be considered for classification out of Class 1-H.

Cheryl Fisher, Okinawa High School speaker.

President Eran Call received copies of the Book of Mormon from Ruben Padilla, Alfredo Perez, and Victor Serda.

These young Mormons won positions of leadership in their high school in Whittier, California.

Jan Richardson and McKay Edwards, presidents of their schools.

Love at Home: Produced under the direction of the First Presidency and the Council of the Twelve, the film Love at Home, color, 25 minutes, may be borrowed from your stake or regional library or purchased from the Department of Motion Picture Production, Brigham Young University, Provo Utah 84601. Price for the English version is $92.50, plus $2.00 for shipping parcel post in the United States. (Extra charge for airmail. Check on rates for your postal zone.) Enclose check with order. Also available in Portuguese, Spanish, and Samoan.

President Robert Thompson greets winners during carnival.