Do we call ourselves Mormons? Yes!

We had Dani Shields Tvetan design the posters, invitations and pass-along cards for the dance festival. She did a beautiful job as you can see from the above poster. In writing the copy, I put the full name of the church on the invitations, but on the poster I used the words "Mormon Youth." The dance committee chairman questioned me on it and I had to write this explanation:

I do have an answer for your question about using the words "Mormon Youth." The Church has lightened up on the use of the word "Mormon." They realize that it is a word people recognize. That's why we have "Mormon Messages" on YouTube instead of "The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Messages." There are dozens of other examples.

My feeling on the poster, which is just looked at briefly in most cases, is that we should have an easily identifiable name. I don't need to check with our stake leaders because we have already discussed this at a joint Stake Presidency, High council, Stake Auxiliary Leaders, and Public Affairs meeting over six months ago.
My email then had to be sent to the Manteca Stake Presidency to get their approval to use the word "Mormon" in reference to the church. I'm really glad that we had previously discussed this issue. After reading my explanation, approval was given and we're good to go.