THE ENSIGN OF THE CHURCH OF JESUS CHRIST OF LATTER-DAY SAINTS • FEBRUARY 2001 Joseph Smith’s Susquehanna Years, p. 42 The Privilege of Prayer, pp. 18–29 “Better That One Man Should Perish,” by Scott M. Snow “And it came to pass that the Spirit said unto me again: Slay him. Behold the Lord slayeth the wicked to bring forth his righteous purposes. It is better that one man should perish than that a nation should dwindle and perish in unbelief. And again, I knew that the Lord had delivered Laban into my hands for this cause—that I might obtain the records” (1 Ne. 4:12–13, 17). THE ENSIGN OF THE CHURCH OF JESUS CHRIST OF LATTER-DAY SAINTS • FEBRUARY 2001 VOLUME 31 NUMBER 2 2 FIRST PRESIDENCY MESSAGE ON THE COVERS: Front: “By the Gift and Power of God,” by THE LIGHTHOUSE OF THE LORD: Simon Dewey, acrylic, 37” x 25”, 1999. Courtesy of Museum of Church History and Art, Fifth International Art Competition. A MESSAGE TO THE YOUTH OF THE CHURCH Back: Photo by George Edward Anderson. Inside front: President Thomas S. Monson “Better That One Man Should Perish,” by Scott M. Snow, oil on canvas, 4’ x 3’, 1990. Inside back: The Mill of Job 8JESUS, THE PERFECT MENTOR Elder Neal A. Maxwell Pingree, by Al Rounds, watercolor, 18” x 24”, 1999. 18 “DRAW NEAR UNTO ME”: THE PRIVILEGE AND THE FIRST PRESIDENCY: Gordon B. Hinckley, Thomas S. Monson, James E. Faust POWER OF PRAYER Elder John B. Dickson QUORUM OF THE TWELVE: Boyd K. Packer, L. Tom Perry, David B. 23 BE SOMEONE’S ANGEL Gerald A. Price Haight, Neal A. Maxwell, Russell M. Nelson, Dallin H. Oaks, M. Russell Ballard, Joseph B. Wirthlin, Richard G. Scott, 24 “NO SUBSTITUTE FOR FAMILY PRAYER” Robert D. Hales, Jeffrey R. Holland, Henry B. Eyring H. Kent Rappleye EDITOR: Dennis B. Neuenschwander 30 PIONEERING IN CHYULU, KENYA E. Dale LeBaron ADVISERS: L. Lionel Kendrick, Yoshihiko Kikuchi, PIONEERING IN CHYULU, John M. Madsen 35 “TURN HERE!” Richard A. Dove CURRICULUM DEPARTMENT ADMINISTRATORS KENYA, P. 30 MANAGING DIRECTOR: Ronald L. Knighton 38 PUTTING BASIC PRINCIPLES INTO ACTION EDITORIAL DIRECTOR: Richard M. Romney Rebecca M. Taylor GRAPHICS DIRECTOR: Allan R. Loyborg EDITORIAL STAFF 42 JOSEPH SMITH’S SUSQUEHANNA YEARS MANAGING EDITOR: Jay M. Todd ASSISTANT MANAGING EDITORS: Don L. Searle, Larry C. Porter Jonathan H. Stephenson 52 IF NOT FOR OUR HOME TEACHER . David Wayne Child ASSOCIATE EDITORS: Judith M. Paller, LaRene Porter Gaunt, Devan Jensen, Garrett H. Garff 54 BREAKING THE CHAINS OF PORNOGRAPHY Names Withheld ASSISTANT EDITORS: Rebecca M. Taylor, Kerry G. Smith, 60 LATTER-DAY SAINT VOICES Barbara Jean Jones TEXT PROGRAMMER: Sally J. Odekirk THE LOST PAMPHLET Wenceslao Salguero DESIGN STAFF TRONG FOR THE AKE OF Y HILDREN MAGAZINE GRAPHICS MANAGER: M. M. Kawasaki S S M C Eliza M. Torres ART DIRECTOR: J. Scott Knudsen “GO CHECK ON WENDI!” Darlene Joy Nichols SENIOR DESIGNERS: C. Kimball Bott, Fay P. Andrus, Tadd R. Peterson I JUST KNEW WE WERE NOT ALONE Dee Satterlee Giles DESIGNER: Thomas S. Child 66 RANDOM SAMPLER PRINTING AND DISTRIBUTION PRINTING DIRECTOR: Kay W. Briggs 68 PERSPECTIVES DISTRIBUTION DIRECTOR (SUBSCRIPTIONS): Kris T. Christensen 69 VISITING TEACHING MESSAGE: LIVING WITHIN OUR MEANS © 2001 by Intellectual Reserve, Inc. All rights reserved. PEAKING ODAY IRST RESIDENCY HRISTMAS EVOTIONAL The Ensign (ISSN 0884-1136) is published monthly by 70 S T : F P C D The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 50 East 74 NEWS OF THE CHURCH North Temple Street, Salt Lake City, Utah 84150-3224, United States of America. Periodicals Postage Paid at Salt Lake City, Utah, and at additional mailing offices. All materials may be copied for incidental, noncommercial church or home use unless otherwise indicated. Other uses require permission of the copyright owner. The Ensign (preferred pronunciation: N’sign, not N’sun) will consider unsolicited manuscripts and art, but submis- sions must be accompanied by a self-addressed, stamped envelope if return delivery is desired. Unsolicited manu- scripts and comments may also be submitted via e-mail at [email protected]. We encourage inter- ested authors to see “Call for Articles,” printed from time to time in “Comment.” Unless identified in captions, some persons photographed are models representing the situations portrayed. TO SUBSCRIBE: Send $10.00 U.S. check or money order to Church Magazines (see address below). Subscription help line: ”DRAW NEAR 1-800-537-5971. Credit card orders (American Express, UNTO ME”: MasterCard, Visa) may be taken by phone. THE PRIVILEGE Audiocassettes: Individuals with visual impairment or physi- AND POWER cal disability may obtain half-speed, four-track audiocassettes OF RAYER of the magazine. These are available monthly free of charge or P , through donations. Write to: Ensign Talking Book (see address P. 18 below) or call 1-800-537-5971. Regular issues are to reach U.S. and Canadian subscribers by the first of the month, May and November general conference issues about two weeks later. NOTICE OF ADDRESS CHANGES: Sixty days’ notice required. Include address label from a recent issue; old address, as well as new address, is needed. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Salt Lake Distribution Center, Church Magazines, P.O. Box 26368, Salt Lake City, Utah 84126-0368, United States of America. CANADA POST INFORMATION: Publication Agreement #1604791 THE ENSIGN/MONTH 2001 1 F IRST P RESIDENCY M ESSAGE THE OF THE LORD A Message to the Youth of the Church B Y P RESIDENT T HOMAS S. MONSON First Counselor in the First Presidency ou, the youth of the Church, are a Soon we entered that period some glorious group, a chosen genera- have labeled “the terrible teens.” I tion. You bring to mind the words prefer “the terrific teens.” What a time Ypenned by the poet Henry Wadsworth of opportunity, a season of growth, a Longfellow: semester of development, marked by the acquisition of knowledge and the How beautiful is youth! how bright it gleams quest for truth. With its illusions, aspirations, dreams! No one has described these years as Book of Beginnings, Story without End, being easy. Indeed, they have become increasingly more Each maid a heroine, and each man a friend!1 difficult. The world seems to have slipped from the moorings of safety and drifted from the harbor of peace. Just 20 years ago, many of you had not yet com- Permissiveness, immorality, pornography, and the menced your journey through mortality. Your abode power of peer pressure cause many to be tossed about was a heavenly home. We know relatively little con- on a sea of sin and crushed on the jagged reefs of lost cerning the details of our existence there—only that opportunities, forfeited blessings, and shattered dreams. we were among those who loved us and were con- Anxiously we ask, “Is there a way to safety? Can cerned for our eternal well-being. Then there arrived someone guide us? Is there an escape from threat- the period where earth life became necessary to our ened destruction?” progress. Farewells were no doubt spoken, expres- The answer is a resounding yes! I counsel you: sions of confidence given, and graduation to mortal- Look to the lighthouse of the Lord. There is no fog so ity achieved. dense, no night so dark, no gale so strong, no mariner What a commencement service awaited each of us! so lost but what its beacon light can rescue. It calls, Loving parents joyously welcomed us to our earthly “This way to safety; this way to home.” home. Tender care and affectionate embraces awaited The lighthouse of the Lord sends forth signals our every whim. Someone described a newborn child readily recognized and never failing. May I suggest as “a sweet, new blossom of Humanity, fresh fallen three such signals which—if heeded—will help guide from God’s own home to flower on earth.”2 us through the storms of life: Those first years were precious, special years. Satan had no power to tempt us. We had not yet be- 1. Choose your friends with caution. come accountable but were innocent before God. 2. Plan your future with purpose. They were learning years. 3. Frame your life with faith. 2 ook to the light- house of the Lord.L There is no fog so dense, no night so dark, no gale so strong, no mariner so lost but what its beacon light can rescue. LEFT: PAINTING BY HEINRICH HOFMANN; ILLUSTRATED BY SAM LAWLOR BY HEINRICH HOFMANN; ILLUSTRATED BY PAINTING LEFT: THE ENSIGN/FEBRUARY 2001 3 FIRST, CHOOSE YOUR FRIENDS WITH CAUTION. Church through friends who have involved them in In a survey which was made in selected wards Church activities. I share with you a treasured family and stakes of the Church some years ago, we learned experience which had its beginning back in 1959, a most significant fact. Those persons whose friends when I was called to preside over the Canadian married in the temple usually married in the temple, Mission, headquartered in Toronto. while those persons whose friends did not marry in Our daughter, Ann, turned five shortly after we the temple usually did not marry in the temple. The arrived in Canada. She saw the missionaries going influence of one’s friends appeared to be equal to about their work, and she, too, wanted to be a mis- parental urging and more influential than classroom sionary. My wife demonstrated understanding by instruction or proximity to a temple. permitting Ann to take to class a few copies of the We tend to become like those whom we admire.