Local LDS Church Members Were Part Of A National New Year’s Eve Fireside Event

By Shannon Hicks

Dressed in their church best, young members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints attended a special New Year’s Eve event this year. The early evening event, called New Year’s Eve Youth Fireside, ushered in the new year for the church’s youth, and also gave the young adults hope and encouragement for the new year from the church’s president.

Youth today have a choice to be “wise and happy or stupid and miserable,” Church President Gordon B. Hinckley told the nationwide gathering of young people on December 31.

The Church of Jesus Christ in Newtown is at 16 Saw Mill Road. Families who are members of the local ward are not only residents of Newtown but are part of a church family that expands to Bethel, Brookfield, New Fairfield, and Redding, among other towns. Newtown’s Church of Jesus Christ was one of thousands across the country that offered its youth the opportunity to participate in the New Year’s Eve Fireside when it hosted a video feed from Salt Lake City that featured LDS President Hinckley, who was leading a service from the church’s world base in Utah. Thousands of young Latter-Day Saint faithful filled the seats of the LDS Conference Center in Salt Lake City on December 31, with countless others lining the pews in church buildings across the country, listening to their church leaders encourage them to make wise choices.

In addition to President Hinckley, speakers included Elder Jeffrey R. Holland of the Quorum of The Twelve, and Young Women’s President Susan W. Tanner.

In leading the program, President Hinckley introduced the Mutual Theme for 2007: “Let virtue garnish thy thoughts unceasingly.” This theme will be applied to their lives through the coming year, said members of the Newtown ward who gathered on January 8 the talk about their New Year’s Eve event.

Members of The Church of Jesus Christ are familiar with virtue. President Hinckley explored ten of them (Love, Honesty, Morality, Civility, Learning, Forgiveness and Mercy, Thrift and Industry, Gratitude, Optimism, and Faith) in his 2001 release Standing For Something: 10 Neglected Virtues That Will Heal Our Hearts And Homes.

The 2007 theme comes in part from Section 121 of The Doctrine and Covenants of The Church of Jesus Christ. Verse 45, as Eden Wen of Ridgefield pointed out, continues with “then shall thy confidence wax strong in the presence of God.”

It was the full verse that struck something within Lauren Wutzke, who also attended the New Year’s Eve event in Newtown.

“Following the theme, that was one of my resolutions,” Lauren said this week. “After the Fireside, I really wanted to be a better person. Wax strong... I work on that every day.”

Sisters Linea and Tamarra Kemsley of Newtown, David Hall and Billy Taylor of Brookfield, Corey DeWitt of Danbury, and Eden Wen were also among the nearly three dozen young adults who attended the local fireside.

“There is no better way to start the new year than to hear the words of the prophets,” said David. His friends agreed, with Tamarra saying she felt the event “was definitely unique. It was a church setting, but it was also very personal.”

“We still got to spent New Year’s Eve with friends, even though it was a reverent setting,” added Lauren.

The Fireside was created for those between the ages of 12 and 18, and those who talked about their participation locally clearly heard the message. Some of them had been considering resolutions for the new year, but found new direction after the Fireside.

“To hear the message they had to share, to follow that message into the new year,” said Corey DeWitt, “I really got a sense of humbleness out of it.”

Billy was also affected by the program.

“Before the Fireside, I wanted to focus on being a better person in general. I wanted to become a better person,” he said. “But after I went it really gave me focus.”

Linea Kemsley does not make resolutions every year, but 2007 may be different.

“I didn’t have any resolutions before the Fireside,” she said this week. “I usually don’t make them. I feel you shouldn’t make them unless you can follow through.

“But the Fireside gave me a theme, and I’ve been thinking about that a lot: It all starts with your thoughts,” she continued. “Everything begins with you.”

The three speakers from Salt Lake City offered advice on making good choices.

President Hinckley reminded the attendees that choices made now will affect choices in the future.

“The future is before you,” he said. “Don’t spoil that future. Don’t make the kinds of mistakes that will bring regret.”

Elder Holland encouraged youth to “think the best and hope the best and have faith in the future.” He was saddened, he said at one point, to read recently that teens and even people in their young 20s suffer the most from low self-esteem and a lack of confidence in themselves.

Confidence that comes from righteous choices, he said, “does wonderful for every other aspect of our lives, especially our self-esteem and how we view the future.”

Conversely, he reminded his listeners to embrace change and the new year.

New inventions and advances in technology, medicine, communication, and science have made this “the most glorious age the world has ever known,” he said. “This evening I wish to give you hope and encouragement for the new year and for the rest of your lives. There are plenty of troubles in the world, but there have always been troubles in every age and era. Don’t be preoccupied with them and don’t be discouraged by them. You stand at the threshold of a marvelous new year.”

Sister Tanner’s message encouraged her listeners to rely on their teachings of the principle of repentance.

“For each of us hope comes from knowing that through the Atonement new beginnings are possible,” she said.

In addition to the speakers, the Youth Fireside included plenty of music. There were ten musical numbers by The Mormon Tabernacle Choir and Orchestra, selected youths from LDS seminary classes across Salt Lake Valley, and special soloists Peter Breinholt, pianist William Joseph and Ryan Tani.

Because the program ran from 8 to 9:30 pm (EST) on New Year’s Eve, the young adults were safely home when midnight struck.