Gospel Story Finder

Seoul, South Korea
President Hinckley spoke in Seoul, South Korea, to members gathered for a regional conference. The meeting was broadcast throughout the country and to locations in the United States and Australia.
President Hinckley recalled previous stopovers in Korea. He apologized for missing a cultural celebration involving 1,500 adult and youth performers the evening prior to the conference due to a travel mishap.
He said: “God has poured out His blessings upon this people, and the security and the peace and the well-being of this nation rests on the righteousness of the nation. I believe with all my heart that if the Saints will live the gospel they will be spared from war and other afflictions.”

If I were a contractor building an office building or a shopping center, I would make very certain that all the men who worked on it saw a copy of the plans. Perhaps some of the detailed plans and specifications wouldn’t be interesting to anyone but the specialized worker. I would nevertheless want everyone to see a sketch of the building so they would know what it was going to look like. Then they would know at least a little bit about how their work fitted into the whole …

When I was a few months away from returning from my mission, I started thinking a great deal about my life after my mission. I thought heavily about what lay ahead, especially with regards to my education. I often got frightened whenever the thought came to mind because my family didn’t have the funds to send me to school and I wasn’t sure I would be successful. I knew BYU-Pathway Worldwide was an option, but I didn’t know how adequate it was. Nearing the completion of my mission, I got an email to consider BYU-Pathway. I registered for the semester that started a week before I would return home. I knew I would be able to do a make-up work as soon as I returned. Just a day after I got home, I went for my first Pathway in-person gathering.

I just wanted to express my appreciation for your wonderful magazine. It brings so much warmth and love into my life. Last year I was unable to receive the New Era because of certain circumstances, and I missed the positive spirit that accompanies each issue. Luckily for Christmas I was able to receive a renewal of my subscription. Yesterday, I found my New Era in the mail and was ecstatic. Thank you for your inspiring articles and clever and uplifting Mormonads.
Amanda TerryFresno, California

A man I knew—one of the great men I have known—was in a bunch of roustabout boys. They were always where they should not be and never where they should be. Finally, a wise, resourceful leader got them into a Sunday School class. The teacher was this old man—just an ordinary, homely old man. More than that, he was a convert from Europe, and he did not speak English very well. They giggled, “Our teacher? Him?” These boys, I suppose, had the reputation of running any teacher out.
Then my friend said that something happened. The teacher started to speak, and they all began to listen. This friend said, “You could warm your hands by the fire of his faith.” That meant that in that older, worn-out body that did not seem to be able to erase an accent, there was a powerful spirit.

Sister Franco talked about a woman who is so happy to be a member of the Church. Every morning she prays for God to help her find someone who needs to hear about the gospel. Then she brings a Book of Mormon or pass-along card to share with them.

“FSY helped me to stay on the covenant path, to strengthen my faith, and to obey the Lord’s Commandments. It was a fulfilling and life-changing experience especially for me as a first-time counselor. FSY taught me to be more patient, understanding, and forgiving. I know that as we invite the spirit with us, it will help us to do righteous things in life. Additionally, it strengthened my desire to serve a full- time mission. This program taught me to love one another that we are all children of God, and I love the feeling of serving Him.” – Kirstine Faith Benavidez, 20, Naic Stake

“Can we offer you just one verse today,
A sweet and simple testimony, like
An apple on the way out the door?
Do you have time for a chapter,
Or will you be skipping the full course again?”
And so they call to me every morning,
And I try to ignore the prompting
As I dress and pack.
But they cry as I leave, like
A voice from the dust,
And say,
“We’ll be waiting here
Until you come back
Hungry.”

As a newly ordained teacher in the Aaronic Priesthood, my first home teaching companion was Henry Wilkening, a high priest nearly 60 years my senior. He was a German immigrant, a shoemaker by trade, small in stature, but an energetic and faithful shepherd to the families assigned to us. I trotted behind him (for he seemed to walk and to climb stairs much faster than I could) during our monthly visits, which took us into sobering environments new to my sheltered experience. He expected me to present part of each lesson and to make all the appointments, but mostly I listened and watched as he aided brothers and sisters with various spiritual and social, economic and emotional needs previously unknown to me as a 14-year-old.
I began to realize how much good could be done by a single faithful priesthood bearer. I watched Brother Wilkening forging a strong priesthood link for himself through his loving service to those families in need—and to me in my youth.

We want to be sure that every call, including possible short-term calls, involves a meaningful assignment. This is more difficult than it appears. When the severe earthquake occurred in Peru several years ago, many physicians went down there from the United States, Russia, Australia, and other countries. One of Peru’s greatest problems was figuring out what to do with these doctors who were milling around without supplies, organization, or purpose. Every call made by the Church must be well planned and responsive to local need.

It was almost Christmas. I arrived home fatigued from walking and disappointed with the day’s events. It had been three months since I had graduated from the Church College of Hawaii and returned home to my family in the Philippines. But the only work I had been able to get was selling encyclopedias door to door.
“Any luck today?” Mother asked hesitantly, seeing the tired look in my eyes.
“Oh, not really, I guess encyclopedias aren’t popular Christmas gifts these days.” There was pain in my voice. I needed to sell at least one set of encyclopedias so I could buy Christmas presents for my family. For three years I had missed spending the holidays with my family. I had yearned for this moment. But even more I had looked forward to showering them with presents. Now with only two days until Christmas, I had no money. Suddenly, I felt two loving hands around me. It was Mila, my youngest sister. “Don’t worry about my chocolates,” she whispered. “Sweets aren’t good for me, anyway.”
Then she took my hand and lovingly led me to the dinner table. As we ate, I explained to my family how sorry I was I hadn’t sold enough books to buy them Christmas presents. Then, hoping to end the discussion, I stood and started to clear the table.
Now my father began to speak. “You are already giving us the best Christmas gift possible,” he said. Then he continued. “You were planning to stay in Hawaii and get a good job after you graduated. But we told you how much we missed you and asked you to consider coming home. What you are giving us is more important than any material gift. Your love for us is something money cannot buy.”
By this time, tears were in my eyes.
“Besides,” he said, “sometimes, the Lord delays a blessing so that we can appreciate more important blessings. It would be nice to get a new pair of shoes from you this Christmas, but what good would a new pair of shoes be if you were not around to make our holidays complete?”
Suddenly, I realized how many gifts I had been given. I had a loving family. I had been able to finish school and had good prospects of a better-paying job in the coming year. Most important, I had the capacity to love and care for those around me. This, then, would be my gift to my loved ones. And perhaps it was the best gift of all.
“By the way,” father added, smiling, “Mrs. Cruz called and said she has decided to pay cash for that set of encyclopedias for her children.”
“Hurrah!” Mila exclaimed. “Now you can get me a box of chocolates for Christmas!”
I was crying more than laughing. What a wonderful way to celebrate Christmas. I was at home with my family, and I had a new perspective.

One day after school, one of our daughters came into a teenage son’s room. It looked as if a big wind had blown through. He was sitting in the midst of it all. She felt the anger rising within, but remembered her resolution to look for the good. Searching desperately, her eye finally looked upward. “Your ceiling’s really clean, Adam!” she was able to say quite honestly. He laughed; he got the message, and he cleaned up the room.

When I was in my 20s, many of my conversations revolved around being single. I only focused on my “sad” circumstances. Now I’ve learned that it’s good to aim toward marriage, but I can simultaneously pursue other purposes and opportunities.

The ward Primary presidency were deep in thought as they contemplated the organization’s needs for the coming year. “What shall we do about Jenny?” one of them asked. “She is the only eleven-year-old in the whole ward. Don’t you think we should just combine the classes? You know how difficult it is to get teachers, especially to teach just one child.”
The Primary president nodded. “Yes, that’s true,” she said. “But I just don’t feel right about that solution. The Anderson family is having some problems with Jenny’s older sister right now, and I don’t think that Jenny is getting all the attention she needs. I think we should be particularly prayerful about this decision.”
At that time, Primary was held on a week-day afternoon, and it was difficult to find people who could teach Primary during the week. And to find someone who would be willing to teach only one child seemed an impossible task.
The next day, the Primary president studied the ward membership list. It seemed that all those who might be suitable already had more than one calling. So she took the problem to Heavenly Father—and prayed again about finding a teacher for Jenny.
The next time she looked at the ward list, she felt drawn to Sister Conner’s name—an unlikely choice, she thought, because Sister Conner said she was not a good teacher. In fact, Sister Conner had said many times, “I’m just not a teacher. I makes me nervous to stand in front of people.” Sister Conner had said it so often that everyone in the ward believed her. But there was no mistaking the Spirit’s promptings, so the Primary president took her request to the bishopric.
Sister Conner was surprised to receive the call. “Are you sure?” she asked the bishop. “You know I can’t teach.”
“Yes, I’m sure,” came the answer. “The Lord needs you in this calling, Sister Conner. We suggest that you pray about what you can do to help Jenny.”
Sister Conner was so nervous about her new calling that she was actually relieved that there was only one child in her class. Jenny was delighted when she found out that she was really going to have a teacher all to herself. Her parents were relieved and impressed that Sister Conner had accepted such an unusual calling.
The Primary year began. Every Primary day Sister Conner and Jenny could be found in the same small classroom. Sister Conner gave the lessons, and they planned projects and had fun together.
One winter day, Jenny came home from school looking as if she was getting sick from a cold. When her mother said that she had better stay home from Primary, Jenny burst into tears. “Mom, you don’t understand. I have to go. Sister Conner needs me. If I don’t go, she won’t have anyone to teach, and that would make her feel very sad!”
As the year progressed, friendship and love grew between Sister Conner and Jenny. Sister Conner taught Jenny to sew, and Jenny taught Sister Conner how much it meant to her to have a teacher of “her very own.” Jenny learned many new skills that year, and Sister Conner learned that she could indeed teach—and that she loved teaching!
As the time for Primary graduation grew closer, Sister Conner and Jenny decided that they wanted Jenny’s graduation to be a special time. Jenny’s mother bought fabric for a new dress, and Jenny and Sister Conner sewed it together.
At last, graduation day arrived. The program was a beautiful, spiritual ending to a unique year, and Jenny looked lovely in the dress she and Sister Conner had worked on together.
Jennifer is a grown woman now—beautiful and self-confident. After nine years of marriage, she has been blessed with only one child. But she learned long ago the value of “just one child”—from Sister Conner.
Meanwhile, Sister Conner has become a great Primary teacher. She still prefers teaching small classes, and when questioned about the year she taught Jenny, she says, “I didn’t do much. It wasn’t a sacrifice for me at all; it was really fun. I just loved Jenny. I enjoyed that year more than almost anything I have ever done. Even after all these years, I still miss her.”

Occasionally the group does have some free time during tours to use as it pleases. Oftentimes group members will sink into peaceful oblivion on the lawn of a chapel where they are to perform, but other times their free moments are spent in ways that attract at least as much attention as their performances.
Sandy Ord, a member of the group for the past two years, remembers a softball game where the boys challenged the girls on the lawn outside their motel. There’s nothing so unusual about that except for the fact the entire game was played without any equipment.
“We had the whole thing,” said Sandy, “umpire, cheerleaders, even a human scoreboard. And since there was no ball, you just pretended where to hit it. The girls were always hitting home runs, and, of course, we won.”

Let’s travel back to a hot afternoon on July 24, 1847, around 2:00 p.m. Following an arduous 111-day journey with 148 members of the Church who comprised the first party to head west, Brigham Young, then President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, sick and weak from mountain fever, entered the Salt Lake Valley.
Two days later, while recovering from his illness, Brigham Young led several members of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles and others on an exploring expedition. William Clayton recorded, “About three-quarters of a mile north of the camp, we arrived on a beautiful table of land, level and nicely sloping to the west.”
While surveying the spot with the group, Brigham Young suddenly stopped and stuck his cane in the ground, exclaiming, “Here shall stand the Temple of our God.” One of his companions was Elder Wilford Woodruff, who said this statement “went through [him] like lightning,” and he drove a branch into the ground to mark the spot made by President Young’s cane. Forty acres (16 ha) were selected for the temple, and it was decided that the city should be laid out “perfectly square North & South, east & west” with the temple being the center spot.
At general conference in April 1851, members of the Church voted unanimously to sustain a motion to build a temple “to the name of the Lord.” Two years later, on February 14, 1853, the site was dedicated by Heber C. Kimball in a public ceremony attended by several thousand Saints, and ground was broken for the foundation of the Salt Lake Temple. A few months later, on April 6, the massive cornerstones of the temple were laid and dedicated with elaborate ceremonies that included a color guard and bands and a procession led by Church leaders from the old tabernacle to the temple site, where remarks and prayers were offered at each of the four stones.
At the groundbreaking ceremony, President Young recalled that he had seen a vision when he first set foot upon the ground as they surveyed the valley floor, stating, “I knew [then], just as well as I now know, that this was the ground on which to erect a temple—it was before me.”
Ten years later, Brigham Young offered the following prophetic insight at general conference in October 1863: “I want to see [the] temple built in a manner that it will endure through the millennium. This is not the only temple we shall build; there will be hundreds of them built and dedicated to the Lord. This temple will be known as the first temple built in the mountains by the Latter Day Saints. … I want that temple … to stand as a proud monument of the faith, perseverance and industry of the saints of God in the mountains.”

A story is told of a great general who learned that one of his soldiers, who had the same name as him, was being disparaging towards the men in their garrison. In response, the general paid a brief visit, delivering a clear and direct message: “You change your attitude, or you change your name.”

I have sought out a lot of labels. I am a college graduate, a writer, and an advocate for making cheesecake its own food group. But I also have labels I am not so fond of. I’m single, I struggle with my health, and a lot of the time, I feel inadequate. I allow some of my so-called “weak” labels to have more power over me than they should. And sometimes, even the labels I’m proud of can start to overshadow my true identity. But when I truly think about who I am and remember that I am a daughter of God, it changes everything. The one label that truly gives life meaning is our divine identity. I don’t know everything my future holds or what labels I may or may not have in this life, but I’m comforted by being able to say, “I am a child of God” and knowing that it means more than anything else. And I don’t have to earn that label or His love—it was given to me freely. I know that if I strive to live my life according to His will, and if I always remember who I truly am, He will bless me (see D&C 82:10). When all my other labels connect to the one that truly matters, I can find true joy, strength, and greatness within all of them.

When I started reading “When Thou Art Converted” in the March New Era, it sounded strangely familiar. I suddenly realized that the author was the same Elder Young who taught me the discussions while I worked for the Forest Service last summer in Swan Valley, Idaho.
My job and the Teton Dam disaster made for a really interesting summer, but the sincerity and care with which Elder Young taught me left the most memorable and cherished impression. He ended his mission before I finished the discussions, so I never really had the chance to thank him for the wonderful way he helped change my life and open up new horizons. I only wish he could have been there for my early-morning baptism in the Snake River so he could have witnessed one of the happiest fruits of his labors.
Carol KounanisWest Lafayette, Indiana

Once when my whole family was sick I helped take care of everyone. I made chicken noodle soup for my brother and sister. I asked my other sister if she needed anything. After that, I took my mom and dad some water. Then my little brother needed me again. I know that the right thing to do is help and serve others the way Jesus did.