Comments on: MIA Slogans and Themes

By: Chads

Chads — Sun, 23 Oct 2011 19:32:31 +0000

Just wondered if there are updates the themes in the 70′s. Pretty nice my first click to a link in searching for “latter day saints mia theme” brought me here. Thank you for putting this on line and for the work to find them

By: Homer

Homer — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 07:22:49 +0000

I remember the switch to APYW–they did a whole Sacrament Meeting on it to introduce it around 1975. I was just getting ready to enter the youth program so I was very interested in figuring out anything having to do with teenagers. But then, the older people kept calling it MIA, which I had never figured out since I was confused by watching the news about “MIA’s” in Vietnam.

By: Anne

Anne — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 19:15:56 +0000

Left Field- when I was baptised in 1977, I attended ‘APYW’- standing presumably for Aaronic Priesthood/Young Women.Everyone except the youth still called it ‘MIA’- then it morphed somehow into ‘Mutual’.

I remember the Church curriculum was still starting in Sept in 79-80, that was my first year in RS. We had lessons designated for the northern and southern hemispheres. Maybe the change was at the same time as the consolidated schedule in 1980…I seem to think it was slightly later, though.Am probably wrong on that.

By: Left Field

Left Field — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 13:52:07 +0000

Mark, I think that the M-Men and Gleaners were still active at that point, and were under the auspices of the MIA. Perhaps you did the theme as an M-Man in college. Or perhaps the program introducing the new theme was held in the spring or summer of 1971 before you left for college.

I’d be curious to see if the theme for 1970-71 rings a bell for me. I possibly could have attended MIA for a couple of weeks before the new theme was introduced in September.

The youth programs went through a lot of changes in the early ’70s, changing names faster than anyone could keep up. For awhile the YWMIA (now Young Women) was called something like Aaronic Priesthood MIA Young Women. When looking for the 1971-72 theme, I encountered a directive that scouts were no longer to be called scouts. From henceforth they were to be called deacon-scouts (or teacher-venturers or priest-explorers) to emphasize the greater importance of the priesthood organization. I don’t remember ever being called a “deacon-scout.” I think it’s obvious why that one never caught on.

By: Mark B.

Mark B. — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 12:46:49 +0000

Maurine’s comment stirs old memories (with an emphasis on “old”). I too remember being taught how to pronounce “irrevocably”, probably by my mother, when I turned 12 in 1966 and started going to Mutual. That followed the pronunciation lesson from the year before, when we were memorizing the 10th Article of Faith during my last year in Primary, and nobody down there seemed to get “paradisiacal.”

Left Field’s comment and link leave me puzzled–how was it that I participated in the program to introduce the theme for a year when I quit going to Mutual?

By: Maurine

Maurine — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 05:06:36 +0000

I was a MIA teacher during the 1966-67 season and vividly remember the problem the youth had trying to pronounce “irrevocably”

By: Ardis E. Parshall

Ardis E. Parshall — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 03:38:46 +0000

Great link, Left Field. I’ve updated the post.

I still need to confirm exactly which years the themes recalled by melwhett and bfwebster were used, and I’ll try to fill in others as well, as I have time in the library to search for them.

Michelle and jeans, I don’t know quite how the values are used in YW today — we don’t even have a Primary or YM/YW organization in our ward for me to see — but I’m guessing that even if the format is a little different, the general purpose is the same. Nope, Mark, I had no idea they were back. It’d be fun to see how these practices morphed into what is done today. Maybe I should update the list to the current year?

By: Left Field

Left Field — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 03:26:30 +0000

I did some checking, and an excerpt of Doctrine and Covenants 90:24 was the theme for the 1971-1972 year, which began in September '71. It would have made sense that it was the first one I remember, since I turned twelve in August 1971.

By: Ardis E. Parshall

Ardis E. Parshall — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 23:42:43 +0000

Ray, today I scanned through the Improvement Era for that time, since the MIA is featured every month, but I saw nothing that explains the change in style. They changed "just cuz," I guess.

By: bfwebster

bfwebster — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 16:22:59 +0000

1967: that was the year I joined the Church (at age 14). I remember reciting the 66-67 and 67-68 MIA themes, though I doubt I could have identified them now if asked. I am pretty sure, though, that one of the subsequent themes (68-69, 69-70, 70-71) was “For the eternal purposes of the Lord shall roll on, until all his promises shall be fulfilled.” (Mormon 8:22) There’s another one tickling the back of my brain; if I can remember it, I’ll come back and post.

By the way, for those of you not of A Certain Age, note that back then the Church followed a September-August calendar year (matching US schools). I don’t remember when the switchover to a January-based year happened, though I suspect it closely coincided with the switch to the consolidated block schedule. ..bruce..