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Mormon Choir La Missione d’Italia

The repertoire was Italian, German, and English, ranging from Brahms and Handel to Francis of Assisi and William Clayton. And the audience was a large gathering of some of Rome’s most enthusiastic music lovers and Church members.

Organized by the Rome Italy Branch and some of the local missionaries, 12 youths, with their own international blend as natives of Scotland, Canada, the United States, England, and Italy, presented a concert of sacred music. A special feature of the program included original compositions by choir director Elder Tom Clark. “The Apostles,” a medley composed of Bible verses on the first twelve apostles; “Lilies of the Field,” Doctrine and Covenants 84:82–83 set to music [D&C 84:82–83]; and “L’Eterno e il mio Pastore,” the 23rd Psalm in Italian [Ps. 23], were all successes.

The concert was held at St. Paul’s Within the Walls, a beautiful old Protestant church in downtown Rome.

Shooting His Way to the Top

Winning is pretty much par for the course for John D. Langren, Jr. John, a priest from Rockford, Illinois, was a member of the winning team in his state’s high school golf tournament. Earlier he had taken first place in the Youth Classic Golf Tournament in Illinois.

When the Guilford High School golf team took high honors in the state linksmen championship, coach Roger Lindeman named John the team medalist. John had the team’s low score, including a 30-foot putt for a birdie on the 450-yard 16th hole. His coach says that John “is the type of player every coach would like to have. He hits the ball extremely well, works hard on his game, wants to be good, has the right attitude, and is a gentleman.”

In addition to golf, John has played a lot of baseball, basketball, and ice hockey. A member of the Beloit Wisconsin Stake, John attends early-morning seminary and has served as president of his teachers quorum. He also has a 100 percent home teaching record.

Verstehen beginnt mit Zuhören!

Every subway station in Frankfurt is serving as a missionary tool of the Church.

The poster craze is a part of European culture and now an important means of spreading the gospel. Centered around “Verstehen beginnt mit Zuhören” (“Understanding Begins with Listening”), six posters are distributed and widely visible in German businesses, museums, schools, libraries, theaters, subways, and government buildings. And at the bottom of each poster the Church’s name lets people know who’s suggesting they spend more time with their family, listen to their co-workers, and try to understand the message behind others’ words.

Taking advantage of the local appeal of outdoor advertising in Germany, the missionaries in the Frankfurt Mission originated the posters, which have since proven to be big hits in other missions. The elders contacted businesses and, either through purchasing a set of posters or borrowing one, the businesses became promotors of the Church as well as concentrated listening. With the missionaries returning every week to rotate the posters, the businesses received constant missionary contact and many opportunities to hear the gospel.

The board of directors of one of Europe’s largest chemical companies asked the local missionaries to conduct special seminars with the management personnel on the subject of listening.

Several broadcasting stations in Germany have prepared feature-length programs on the Church. One TV/radio station has offered to sponsor a seminar and have a crew present to film it. The message will then be translated and broadcast to several European countries in their native languages.

In addition, every subway in Frankfurt features the posters. More than 30 letters of recommendation from mayors throughout Germany helped promote the campaign. Also, Church members were instrumental in soliciting articles from many of the country’s leading newspapers.

Currently there are 18,000 posters in print. Each one is helping members and missionaries contact the German people. The program is aimed at heightening listening skills and creating an interest in the gospel. Missionaries hope that the increased listening will mean tracting successes.

[New Seminary and Institute Building in Seoul]

Meeting High Hurdles with Egg on the Face

If you can’t run 300 yards in your stocking feet and swim fins without a stumble, you would never have made it in the Mount Logan Stake’s Mark Spitz Race. The young people from Logan, Utah, also staged a “peachy-bob”—a parody on the apple bob, which had contestants race wheelbarrel-style to tubs of freezing-cold water, dive (literally, they don’t float) for peaches, and return to the starting place with a big (because you have to keep the fruit in your mouth) grin.

Both events were part of the stake Youth Olympics, which brought out Aaronic Priesthood holders and young women for a full Saturday morning of fun. It all started with a survey of the youth in the stake, followed by lots of planning. Members of the stake youth committee were each responsible for one event. Each worked with young people in his ward to plan the Olympic event, and the results could challenge any group in the Church for creativity.

The obstacle course included dragging a 90-pound football dummy 20 feet, running through tires, jumping over water, pounding nails, walking 10 feet carrying three beans on a knife, riding a tricycle, and crawling under, over, and around homemade hurdles.

The six-legged race was a trying 300 yards long, and the traditional egg toss participants were greeted with lots of towels. The “suitcase” race invited kids to race to a pile of hats, oversized pants, overalls, a dress, shirts, and shoes, put all the clothes on, run to another specified point, disrobe their added layer of clothing, and race to the finish line.

The final event was the greased watermelon relay. The young people lined up and passed the watermelons back, over, and under legs and heads, with the winning 25th Ward earning a bag of Tootsie Rolls. The slimy watermelons were then cleaned and broken, and the weary competitors enjoyed a treat. Small trophies, made from Styrofoam, plastic, and ribbon, were awarded to the overall winner from each class.

In spite of the broken shoelaces, stubbed toes, and egg on the faces, the young people of the Mount Logan Stake showed their parents and leaders that they too knew the meaning of their stake motto. The youth know what it means to “Do It.”

Young Church members in Seoul, Korea, now attend classes in their recently dedicated seminary and institute building. It is the first LDS seminary building in Asia. More than 3,000 youth are involved in classes, which range from the standard works to special curriculum in psychology, law, dental hygiene, and English.