Gospel Story Finder

In conversation, just bring up one of your beliefs. Maybe not every person you talk to is ready to hear what you have to say, but someone will be. I know I was. Now I am being a missionary to my nonmember family, and what a great feeling that is. I am regularly bringing my mother to church, and my sister has attended some youth activities. My parents have supported my decisions in the Church all the way. But for now I am going to be a missionary just like that kid at school. I encourage you to do the same. You never know how many lives you can change by answering a couple of questions.

Years ago, while serving as a stake president, I submitted a recommendation for a brother to serve as an ordinance worker in the temple. After explaining what a wonderful ordinance worker he would be, I inadvertently pressed “Do not endorse,” which submitted the recommendation. After unsuccessfully trying to recall the message, I called the temple president and said, “I have made a horrible mistake.” Without hesitation, this good temple president said, “President Eyre, there is nothing that you have done that can’t be forgiven and ultimately corrected.” What a great truth. Indeed, Jesus Christ is “mighty to save.”

The next night after supper he went with Fitzie and some of his friends to play basketball in the school gym. They played for two hours.
Afterward they were all in the locker room. Kevin had already showered and was just putting on his shoes. The others were in various stages of getting dressed.
Suddenly the lights went out.
“Okay, who’s the clown?” Fitzie yelled. “Turn the lights back on!”
“I didn’t turn ’em off,” someone answered. “Where’s the light switch anyway? … Ow! My toe! … The switch doesn’t work.”
“There aren’t any lights anywhere in the building,” another voice added.
“Oh no,” Fitzie groaned, “another blackout. Do any of you guys have a lighter?”
“I do,” someone volunteered. “It’s in my shirt pocket if I can find it.” Kevin could make out a figure fumbling in a locker near him. “Here it is.”
A small glimmer of light shone in the otherwise dark room.
“Hurry up, you guys! I’m low on lighter fluid.” Kevin sat on the bench and watched unknown figures make use of the small light as they finished preparing to leave the room.
“Man, I never thought I’d be glad somebody had a cheap lighter,” a voice drawled.
“What do you mean, cheap lighter? It cost me two bucks.”
“Yeah, well it sure seems bright in here.”
Finally they were ready. “Kevin, what are you doing sitting there? Let’s get out of here.”

I loved making the forest scene and learning about Enos (March 2020). I learned I can pray anytime.
Bethany S., age 6, Tasmania, Australia

This story happened in Mexico.
Javi liked learning to do new things. He liked learning to play baseball. He liked learning the guitar. He liked learning to play new video games. So when Papá asked if he wanted to learn something new, Javi was ready.
Javi watched Papá open his laptop and bring up a site called “FamilySearch.”
“I’m going to teach you how to find the names of our ancestors,” Papá said. “Many of them lived a long time ago, and they didn’t have the gospel. When we find their names, we can go to the temple to be baptized for them. Then they will have a chance to accept the gospel.”
Javi remembered how good he had felt when he was baptized. If he could help his ancestors feel the same way, he wanted to learn how!
Javi watched Papá show him what to do. Then Papá passed the laptop to Javi. “Your turn!”
Javi grinned. He practiced clicking around and reading the names and dates. This was his family!
For the next few nights, Mamá and Papá helped Javi learn more about doing family history work. His older sister Lily started to learn too. It felt like playing a video game with a very important quest!
One Sunday, the bishop announced that the stake was holding a special challenge. The stake members would have 60 days to find as many names as they could to send to the temple. The goal was a total of 5,000 names. At the end of the 60 days, there would be a big party to celebrate. There would also be awards for the people who had found the most names.
“I want to help,” Javi said when they got home from church.
“Me too!” Lily said.
“How about you start right now?” Papá said. “See how many names you can find before dinner.”
Javi and Lily raced to the front room. Lily opened FamilySearch on her phone, and Javi worked on Papá’s laptop. Soon he found a record for his great-grandfather’s brother. It also listed three children who hadn’t been baptized. Javi whooped. He had found three names to send to the temple!
For 60 days Javi spent most of his free time doing family history. He searched for names almost every night after school. On Sundays, his whole family worked on it together.
At the end of the 60 days, Javi and his family went to the church building for the party. There were tacos, music, and lots of people. It was fun!
Finally, the stake president stood up.
“I am so proud of everyone,” he said. “Our stake found 10,000 names for the temple!”
Everyone cheered. Javi’s eyes got wide. That was twice as many as their goal!
Then the stake president announced the winners. The adult winner was a woman Javi didn’t know, but the youth winner was Lily!
“Now for the children. We had someone send in 216 names,” said the stake president. The crowd clapped so loudly that Javi couldn’t hear what the stake president said next.
Javi’s father nudged him. “Javi, he said your name.”
Javi could hardly believe it. Had he really sent in 216 names?
Javi walked to the front. He smiled big as the stake president shook his hand and handed him a certificate. It had his name on it!
“How does it feel to win?” the stake president asked.
“Really good,” Javi said.
It did feel good to win. And it felt really good to have learned a way to help so many people!
Illustration by Josh Talbot

President and Sister Nelson also spoke in a worldwide youth devotional on June 3, 2018, where President Nelson said that youth who enlist in the “Lord’s battalion” and help gather Israel have the opportunity to be “part of something big, something grand, something majestic!” He encouraged youth to disengage from a constant reliance on social media, sacrifice some time to the Lord, do a thorough life assessment with the Lord, pray daily that all of God’s children might receive the gospel, and be a light to the world.

What helped me understand the temple more was returning to the temple again. If you can, bring people you trust and love. When you’re in the celestial room after the session, you can sit with them and reverently talk about the questions you have and the things you are learning.
Hannah S., 21, Alberta, Canada
Hannah S.: Cardston Alberta Temple

In August 1976, at the age of twenty-six and coming from a non-member family, I received a blessing from my home teacher which in a few short months was to be staggeringly fulfilled. At that time, although my faith was strong, I was, nevertheless, carrying a burden. I had recently experienced profound trials of a personal nature. Also, I deeply longed for an eternal and righteous companion. I wanted a husband who could share both my spiritual and academic interests, but I believed that I would not find such a man in Tasmania, since there are few members of the Church here.

So I made plans to visit the USA at the end of the year. These plans and my personal crisis I discussed fully with my home teacher, Brother J. E. Prebble. We decided that together we would fast, and then he would give me a blessing. In that blessing he told me that I would journey to the USA later that year and that within three months of leaving I would meet my eternal companion, that he would need me to enable him to perform his function correctly as a priesthood holder, that not everything would happen quite as I had expected it to—though it would happen in the Lord’s way and in the Lord’s time, and that while I was away I would visit the temple and receive my endowments.

We were both astonished at the specific details, but utterly sure by the witness of the Spirit that God was giving me this understanding of my future.

In early December when I left, many of my friends, including my wonderful home teacher, Brother Prebble, came to the airport to see me off. He took me aside and told me he had a dream in which he had seen “him”—a kind of short, blue-eyed, fellow with ginger-colored hair. I boarded that plane with both anticipation and trepidation.

During my first weeks in the United States, I celebrated my twenty-seventh birthday by receiving my endowments, a beautiful and sustaining experience. But my three months were disappearing. By the end of January, there was still no sign of “him.” Because of a domestic crisis and health problems, I had to return to Tasmania in mid-February. I was overjoyed at returning home (I had been fearfully homesick) but bitterly disappointed for other reasons. I came very close to doubting God and my own worthiness.

When I arrived home I sought help from Heavenly Father about future plans. Because of a recent substantial hearing loss I could no longer teach. I decided to enroll in the law school. Classes began in early March.

My first day at the law school I was examining a class listing with one of the secretaries when a rather brash, scruffy, bearded fellow approached us and told me brusquely just which class I was meant to be in—his. Before following him to class, I whispered to the secretary, “Who on earth is that?” “It’s Mr. Stokes, one of the lecturers she replied. As I was sitting in that first class, an incredible thought occurred to me. This man was small, blue-eyed, with ginger-colored hair and our academic interests had at least brought us into the same room, if not quite together! I said, “Surely this can’t be him. He’s not even a member, and he seems far too set in his ways; besides, I told myself, academic types don’t readily join the Church.”

Michael Stokes asked me out approximately a week later. I made some excuse. The next time he didn’t ask. He told me I was joining him for lunch, and I found myself accepting! I soon learned just what an extraordinary person he was—unfailingly kind and compassionate, exceptionally gifted, a former Rhodes Scholar from Oxford University in England with impressive degrees in law from Oxford University, and a first-rate sportsman. But still, he wasn’t a member.

Two months later, after receiving confirmation from the Spirit, we were married. Another two months elapsed, and he joined the Church. Later we were sealed in the New Zealand Temple for time and all eternity. We have been blessed with two beautiful daughters. When I checked, I realized that we had met two months, three weeks, and six days from the time I had left for the United States. I know that most marriages between members and non-members do not generally result in the non-member joining the Church. But some do—and I suppose the only sure guide is to follow the Spirit. In my case, that surely was the answer. Heavenly Father does fulfill his promises—but in his time and in his way.

I almost talked myself out of going that evening. I knew that a night of remembrance might help me cope with the loss of my mother, but I also knew that the evening would bring tears as I continued to grieve and mourn her passing.
As the hour for the night of remembrance drew near, I found myself getting ready to go despite my earlier hesitations. I had decided that being there would be good for me.
The night of remembrance, which honored several people who had recently passed away, was held by the funeral home that handled my mother’s burial arrangements. Other than the funeral home director and his family, I knew none of the people in the room. During the evening, each deceased person’s name was read, and a family representative lit a small candle in memory of that person.
After the service, I stood up to make my way to the refreshments. Those who had sat behind me had all left except for a frail lady attached to a breathing apparatus sitting beside her walker. I felt her sadness and pain. I also felt that I needed to give her a hug.
I did not know how she would feel about a stranger giving her a hug, but I followed this simple prompting. I came up to her with my arms outstretched. She reached both her arms toward me and pulled me down to her. She kissed my cheek and said, “Thank you for knowing I needed a hug. You are an angel.” We then visited for a few moments.
This experience cemented in my mind and soul the reason I needed to be there. Would someone else have given this woman a hug that evening if I had not gone? I will never know, but I do know that I was prompted to hug her, and because I did so, we were both richly blessed.

Today in my Primary class we were reading in the book of Malachi. When my friend Carter read, I giggled because he read some words wrong. Afterward I was sad because I’m not very good at math and I wouldn’t like it if he giggled when I got an answer wrong.
When I got home I called him and said I was sorry. I feel better now.

One of my fondest childhood memories is shivering in our car with the windows opened a bit as we waited and listened for our neighbor. My family had spent hours painting cute figures on giant barrels, and we had secretly delivered them to a young boy with muscular dystrophy. He would use them to do special exercises to build his muscles. We heard squeals of laughter and joy as he discovered the surprise on his front porch. I was excited as well to be a little girl who had helped make that boy so happy. I had discovered the joy of service.

Learning about the grandparents in the ward has also given Russell some understanding about the effects that trials can have in a person’s life.
“Talking with Frances Young and learning about the different trials she went through in her life helps me to see how things like that have made her the great person she is today,” Russell says. “It’s just interesting how different experiences can mold a person.”

I converted to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints during the summer of 1980 at the age of 13. One of the things the missionaries who taught me did, besides bringing the fullness of the gospel of Jesus Christ into my life, was to give me a subscription to the New Era. For the next six years, this fantastic magazine served as a pillar in my life, many times providing me spiritual strength when I needed it most. I somehow lost touch with the New Era many years ago. Now I’m reading the New Era again, and it still has the Master’s touch—just as it did 14 years ago. Even though I’m now 27, the pages of your magazine still come alive for me with so much of our Savior’s love. Thank you so much for the wonderful job you do in providing such a powerful spiritual tool to the youth of the Church—even the “youth” who are a little bit older.
Scott L. GibsonSalt Lake City, Utah

May I give you an example of a Korean brother who heard the Savior’s voice? Brother Choi had left his wife, two children, and his mother for nine months. One day our missionaries were tracting in the city of Kwang Ju, Korea. They found his family. The family began to study with the missionaries and were baptized shortly.

The missionaries started the family home evening program with this family.

One day the seven-year-old daughter purchased a Book of Mormon from a missionary and sent it with her simple, yet beautiful testimony to her daddy. Two missionaries took that book to her father and bore their strong, firm testimonies of the truthfulness of the gospel and the importance of the family. Her father wondered why these people were so concerned and kind to him and his family. When evening came, he began to read, and heard a familiar voice of the Lord. He was so inspired and found it to be true. And also he found the testimony written by his daughter. I would like to share it with you, brothers and sisters. She said:

“Aboji, Aboji, Aboji (which interpreted is “Daddy, Daddy, Daddy”), I want to have family home evening with you! Please come back! We love you! I love you! I need you! I want you to read this book! Heavenly Father loves you!”

Brother Choi was so inspired and magnified by reading the Book of Mormon and touched by it and touched by his daughter’s testimony that he asked the missionaries to baptize him. Therefore this family was reunited, and Brother Choi is now the bishop of the Kwang Ju Third Ward. He sits in this hall today, a living example of one who heard the Savior’s voice from the Book of Mormon.

As you know, President Kimball has always had a great love for the Lamanites. I remember the day more than 30 years ago when Elder Kimball had been an Apostle only three or four years and President George Albert Smith, whose secretary I was, called him down to his office. There President Smith asked Elder Kimball to carry on the work among the Indians. Concerning that event, President Kimball recorded the following in his journal:
“I went down to the office of President George Albert Smith at his request … relative to the Indians. We talked about the Navajos in the mission. He then said, ‘Now I want you to look after the Indians—they have been neglected. You watch all the Indians. I want you to have charge and look after all the Indians in all the world and this includes those in the Islands also.’
“I told him I would do my best.”

Ellie remembered the story Grandma told her when she gave them to her.
Once there were two turtles. One turtle had somehow gotten flipped over. Try as it might, it couldn’t flip itself back over. The other turtle noticed that something was wrong. Using its nose, it flipped the first turtle over so it could stand on its feet again.

How Oliver Olson Changed the World, by Claudia Mills, pictures by Heather Maione. Sometimes Oliver thinks his parents help him too much. When he and his classmate, Crystal, get some big ideas about their solar-system project, can Oliver convince his parents—and himself—that he can accomplish great things on his own?

When the city of St. George, Utah, decided to designate historic sites with white picket fences, it called for volunteers from the community to help. The young women from the St. George Third Ward were quick to lend a hand to a young Boy Scout who needed help with his Eagle project by painting fences—and each other!
The project gave the girls a chance to get to know each other while they provided a service to their town.

Jane was happy. Today was the big race. Jane had practiced for the race with her brother Ben every day.
“I'm so excited!” Jane said.
Ben did not look excited.
“What’s wrong? Are you nervous?” Jane asked Ben.
“Yes,” Ben said. “Can Dad run for me?”
“This race is only for children,” Mom said.
“I will cheer for you,” Dad said.
Jane put her arm around Ben.
“This will be fun,” Jane said. “You will do great.”
Jane and Ben got in the car. Mom and Dad drove them to the race.
Jane and Ben stood at the starting line. Jane was excited. Her heart beat fast.
Thump-thump. Thump-thump. Thump-thump.
“On your mark. Get set. Go!”
Jane started running. Many children ran. It felt good to run fast.
Jane looked for Ben. She could not see him. He was in last place.
“Come on, Ben!” Jane said. “You can do it!”
Jane ran back to Ben. Jane held Ben’s hand. Jane and Ben ran together.
Jane was slower now, but she was happy. She loved to help Ben.
Jane and Ben finished the race together.
“Thank you,” Ben said. “You ran slow for me.”
“That is OK,” Jane said. “We are still winners!”

I really wanted to have an effective family home evening lesson each week, but figuring out a topic and preparing a lesson were always challenges for me.
One Monday I realized that I had forgotten to prepare a lesson. But then I realized a hidden blessing of being a Primary teacher. I had recently been called to teach the five-year-olds and had just taught a lesson the day before. I decided to use an abbreviated (and age-appropriate) version of what I taught on Sunday for FHE. That Monday night we talked about obedience, and I retold three stories I had shared the previous day in Primary.
Adapting my Primary lesson to my family has been a great way for me to accomplish my goal of having a well-prepared and effective family home evening lesson each week.
Christina Sherwood, Arizona, USA