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Show .0 n w0rfa"n'-rrt- KllgTJ Used ams n J By JACK E. JARRARD Church News Traveling Editor When a missionary is sent to the Spanish section of the Language Training Mission at Brigham Young University, its usually assumed he is going to a nation where Spanish is the national language. fa Its not necessarily so these days. He could be going to one of three missions on the eastern seaboard of the United missionaStates where Spanish-speakin- g in ries are working areas where there are about a million immigrants from various countries. If Puerto Rico, which is part of the Florida Mission, is included, add about 1,500,000 who speak Spanish. The missions using groups of Spanish-speakin-g missionaries are the Eastern Slates Mission, headquartered in New Mission in York; the Delaware-Marylan- d includes the which nations Bethesda, Md., capital, and the Florida Mission. The missionaries devote their entire two years to laboring among people from Cuba, Spain, Mexico, Central and South America. g The present program of using missionaries on the East Coast its start at the New York Worlds Fair get visiin 19G4, when many Spanish-speakin- g tors crowded the Mormon Pavilion. hi Elders in Washington, D.C. use Book of Mormon approach on trio in front of Washington Ward building. Spanish-speakin- i Missionaries from the Texas South Mission were brought in to the fair to help the program. The Texas South Mission also g missionaries beutilizes cause of the proximity of the U.S. Mexico border. ' Spanish-speakin- -- There were many referrals for contacts and after the fair was over the missionaries went to work. The first problem was where they would hold meetings and where those people could congregate for services, Pres. Harold N. vVilkinson, president of the. Eastern States Mission, . . He added that the missionaries and the mission president at that time devoted recreation their days each week to cleaning and repairing the interior of a building the Church purchased for meetings. The building, an old brownstone house, is next door to the Manhattan chapel. There were three main areas where g members in these early Manhattan came from, Pres. Wilkinson explained. These areas were of people converted and contacted here; families who were coming from foreign countries who were already members from such places as Argentina, Colombia, Peru and Mexico, and those who had contacted the Church in -- Spanish-speakin- South America and sought out the missionaries when they came here. In Manhattan, the Spanish area eta. ted with a group with missionaries as officers the branch and then followed normal procedure. Gradually, the branches built up strength until there was a branch for- organized without missionaries in charge and with Spanish membership in authority. A unique situation in the New York area for meetings has been set up. Some wards will have the Sunday School worship service in English and then there will be classes taught in both English and Spanish. A similar situation is noted in sacrament meetings when ward business and sacra- - 'W ' s- f Elder Don E. Johnson of Tooele, Utah, who was succeeded recently as the mission presidents assistant in charge of the Span-man- y ish by Elder Mjchaei Raker 0f Lan-caster, Calif., explained the program in the Eastern States Mission. We have Spanish-speakinpeople all over the mission. On the river front of New Jersey, there are thousands or Cuban refugees who are seeking employment in the industrial' areas. There also are Puerto Ricans looking for better opportunities. In the Queens area of New York, there is a large South American concentration, and in Manhattan theres a mixture of everything except Cubans. For some reason, the Cubans dont like Manhattan. g to baptize by families, and we are having some success in this area, We - - ment is conducted in English and then the Spanish-speakin-g members retire to anoth- er P3 0,,tfe buiIdi, t0 hear sPeakera to beir own nuae-o- v - O'-- " -- ; try Elder Johnson said. He added that as the Spanish-speakin- g residents grow economically they have a d tendency to move out of the areas into the English-speakinneighborhoods and this creates a problem in the Spanish branches because potential leadership has moved. Spanish-concentrate- g $; yy. . Vb' ' SU., C . .y'-X , xv y . 's, , - f xx.. Vy fyyy . i ' ? . y yvjs f 1: 1a V - - 4 rXi f yy v' . J training in the Spanish language. There are about 250,000 Spanishspeaking residents within the mission boundaries, and this includes Washington, vs ' v1" tt In some parts of the mission, like Washington and Vineland, N.J., the missionaries actually knock on every door; while in other areas the missionaries search for hours before finding anyone. a - w,y.sw,v.rtv 07 vvyyyxvy-':v ' "xxx .vw Jf w Missionaries, right, use flannel board and Spanish language to teach a Queens, N.Y., family. 4 CHURCH D.C. S' $ xv,y IW Utah. sJtS' ' s C y The young missionary entered the Language Training Mission in Provo to receive M ifc'liilii y.-- i && yif. 0 yyy- O- f ' V-X- n y?-- x The Delaware-Marylan- d Spanish Mission got under way in August, 1968 with the calling of Elder Wayne Lee of Hyrum, jf WEEK ENDING JANUARY 30, 1971 rrtffitiiVi im ir The largest concentration in the mission is in the northwest district of Washington, Continued on page 15 |