See what a new member of Pagedale branch in St. Louis did for a family in need:

http://knowyourneighbor.typepad.com/knowyourneighbor/2009/12/facebook-santa-team.html

“… Mel Hamilton was one of 14 Wyoming football players thrown off the team in 1969 for deciding to wear black armbands in a game against BYU to protest The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

…  Hamilton is also part of a story about understanding. He is adamant in his position but holds no animosity. He counts Mormons among his friends. His oldest son is now a member of the LDS Church. …

http://www.mormontimes.com/people_news/sports/?id=11320

Gladys Knight Tells Floridians, “This is the Light”
By Geoffrey Biddulph (on or before Sept 30, 2009)

Gladys Knight and her 60-person choir of Latter-day Saints gave four performances for more than 5,000 people in southern Florida last week.

“This is the way, this is the light,” she said in teary testimony regarding The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

http://www.meridianmagazine.com/arts/070115light.html

http://www.ldsgenesisgroup.org/knightflorida.html

God’s children on the earth today have the opportunity to understand His plan of happiness for them more fully than at any other time.

A few weeks ago Elder Melvin R. Perkins, who is an Area Seventy serving in Alaska, and I stood at the pulpit in front of the congregation of the Vancouver British Columbia Stake in Canada. In a moving voice he invited the Saints to consider the image before them: a descendant of Mormon handcart pioneers and a pioneer convert of the Church from a faraway African nation serving the Lord side by side. …

http://lds.org/conference/talk/display/0,5232,23-1-1117-33,00.html
(October 2009 General Conference talk by Elder Joseph W. Sitati of the Seventy)

During a historic 16-day tour of Africa on Aug. 16-31, Elder Jeffrey R. Holland of the Quorum of the Twelve dedicated Cameroon and Rwanda for the preaching of the gospel. In so doing, he became the first known apostle to ever set foot in either nation.
http://www.ldschurchnews.com/gallery/57850/Dedication-blesses-two-African-nations.html

Silas 1st African-American to hold position (in Hattiesburg MS)
Hattiesburg American
August 29, 2009

Randall Silas is the new bishop of a Hattiesburg congregation of The
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints…

…Silas said he hopes his new position will encourage other blacks to
explore the Mormon church, but “I would hope that no one would base
their spiritual …

http://www.hattiesburgamerican.com/article/20090829/LIFESTYLE/908290329

On July 20, 2009 when President Thomas S. Monson met with President Barack Obama, it marked only the fourteenth time when an LDS Church president had a meeting in the White House with the President. See …

http://www.rutlandherald.com/article/20090607/NEWS01/906070372/0/FEATURES12

… At the age of 18, Electa followed her father to western New York, where he had remarried. Within a year, she married an older man who died before her their first child was born.

Mormon prophet Joseph Smith was one of several religious leaders competing for converts in New York at this time, and Electa heard of him, but did not become involved with the Mormons until later.

That would come at her next stop, in Michigan, where her half-sister introduced her to the religion.

“She’s going to meetings, but she’s not necessarily sold on it yet,” Doran said.

Joseph Smith was nearby visiting his cousin when Electa’s daughter took ill. Electa asked him to lay hands on the girl.

“He shows up and prays and does whatever prophets do,” Doran said. “The little girl becomes better the next day.”

When a “Mr. Williams” proposed marriage to her, Electa wrote she accepted on the condition he bring her to the Mormons.

…

Please see www.StanfordThompson.com to follow the career of a wonderful LDS Trumpeter. Stanford Thompson is an Eagle Scout from Decatur, Georgia who comes from a talented and faithful musical family. He was the featured soloist with the Atlanta Symphony at Ebenezer Baptist Church for the Black Arts Festival on July 24, 2005 (coincidentally on Mormon Pioneer Day). He continues to be a musical pioneer and a fine example of the gospel with his work at the Curtis Institute in Philadelphia to his performance and service around the country and the world.

Here is his recent report from Kenya:

Jambo Friends!

The past two months have been very exciting as I finished my final requirements and earned my Bachelor of Music from The Curtis Institute of Music, organized and ran the Philadelphia All-City Brass Symposium and returned as the artistic director for the 2009 Reading Summer Music Institute. I was sad to say goodbye to so many great friends at Curtis, however I made so many more in Philadelphia and Reading.

The Philadelphia All-City Brass Symposium was a project inspired by an all-day All-City Orchestra retreat at Curtis. I collaborated with the School District of Philadelphia to put on a two week Brass program at Curtis. My aim was to expose music students in the Philadelphia School District to professional musicians and diverse musical experiences through interactive master classes and engaging rehearsals. Four members of the Curtis faculty (and the Philadelphia Orchestra) presented master classes and my fellow colleagues helped coach rehearsals throughout the weeks. The students also heard a performance of the Philadelphia Orchestra and the performed a final concert in the Field Concert Hall at Curtis.

The Reading Summer Music Institutecompleted its second program at the GoggleWorks Center for the Arts in downtown Reading, PA. This year, we worked with eighty-five students from Berks and Montgomery counties. The camp was divided into two concert bands and the students had the opportunity to participate in smaller ensembles including a jazz band, jazz combo, woodwind ensemble, a brass ensemble, and a percussion ensemble.  At the close of the camp last Friday evening, a two hour concert featuring the bands and the ensembles was presented and the kids performed in a way that showed they had learned a lot during the week. The feedback from students and parents was excellent. I am very proud of the clinicians who worked with me to put together this program. They worked hard and effectively with the young folks with a wide diversity of musical talents and brought them together musically and socially.

I am currently in Meru, Kenya working on the Meru, Kenya Instrumental Music Project. This program is the first instrumental music program in the country and I will work with 257 students at the Bishop Lawi Imathiu Secondary School (BLISS), hundreds more at the three local primary schools and the community cultural center for the next 9 weeks designing music programs for the community.  

Instrumental music is alive and thriving at BLISS in Meru, Kenya and lives are being transformed through music education. BLISS is the least expensive and one of the newest secondary schools in Kenya. The first graduating class in 2007 sent every student forward with a diploma and two-thirds who qualified for higher education. These students represent the poorest students in Meru and the first in their families to attend secondary school. Currently 257 students attend BLISS and very soon, each student will have to opportunity to participate in music courses as part of their curriculum.

Two years ago, retired Ann Arbor, MI music teacher Larry Dittmar, began an instrumental music program with dozens of recorders and 194 students. While the students learned how to read music, Larry gathered more than 80 donated instruments to deliver to Meru last February and a helping hand to implement the first instrumental music program this summer. More help is needed and if you are interested in helping this effort, please be in contact with me.

I will spend nine weeks working closely with the BLISS principal, Moses Marete, and the three neighborhood primary schools to add music classes to the school curriculum. I will also direct and expand the local community music program available for Meru adults and create a summer music program for the students to sharpen their musical skills.

Stay in tune with my weekly blog: http://kenyainstrumentalproject.blogspot.com – Become a “follower” of the blog to receive an e-mail update whenever I update the blog.

Interested in making a donation? This project is made possible by the Kenya Urithi Education Fund. Donations are tax deductible and may be sent to 3456 Gettysburg Rd, Ann Arbor, MI 48105.

Please wish me well and keep in touch. I’d love to hear from you!

Warmly,Stanford Thompson
www.StanfordThompson.com