Gospel Story Finder

The girls sing together in their school choir, which won second place in a Christmas choir contest in 1986. All the other choirs in the contest consisted of thirteen- and fourteen-year-olds, so the girls were especially proud when their group won second place.

In the big swimming pool near the South China Sea, Lee Tin-wai (8) giggled and splashed with Amy (10) and Laura (8) Dunford. Tin-wai had met her new friends from California just two days before.
Chatting by the pool were their mothers, who had known each other for eighteen years. Lee Liana and Nanette Dunford were talking about when they had met, at Sister Lee’s baptism. Sister Dunford, a missionary in Hong Kong, helped teach her the discussions for new members.

The Prophet Joseph often spoke to Relief Society sisters at their meetings. With the Nauvoo Temple under construction, the Prophet instructed the sisters in doctrine, preparing them to receive more knowledge through temple ordinances. In 1842 he said to Mercy Fielding Thompson that the endowment “will bring you out of darkness into marvelous light.”3

President Lee’s successor in the Presidency of the Church, President Spencer W. Kimball, said: “We wish to remind all the Saints of the blessings that come from observing the regular fast and contributing as generous a fast offering as we can, and as we are in a position to give. Wherever we can, we should give many times the value of the meals from which we abstained.” President Kimball added: “Collecting fast offerings is an important [duty]. I thought it was a great honor to be a deacon. My father was always considerate … and … permitted me to take the buggy and horse to gather fast offerings. My responsibility included that part of the town in which I lived, but it was quite a long walk to the homes, and a sack of flour or a bottle of fruit or vegetables or bread became quite heavy as it accumulated. So the buggy was very comfortable and functional. We have changed to cash in later days, but it was commodities in my day. It was a very great honor to do this service for my Heavenly Father: and though times have changed, when money is given generally instead of commodities, it is still a great honor to perform this service.”

A few years ago, we had a woman who had written some scurrilous things about the Prophet Joseph Smith. (Mention was made of it here in the conference at that time.) Shortly thereafter, I met someone on the street and they asked me if there had been a revelation or an utterance at the recently concluded general conference that might be considered as a prophecy. And I said, “Did you hear the closing remarks of President George Albert Smith as he closed the conference? If you did, you heard a prophet speaking, and let me tell you what he said.” I happened to have a clipping in my wallet. This is what President George Albert Smith said:
“Many have belittled Joseph Smith, but those who have will be forgotten in the remains of mother earth, and the odor of their infamy will ever be with them, but honor, majesty, and fidelity to God, exemplified by Joseph Smith and attached to his name, will never die.”
No truer words were ever spoken, and that person fell just as all others will fall who try to tear down the work of the Lord.

Joyce Baggerly of Provo, Utah, considers herself a member of the Lord’s kingdom on earth who happens to be single. “Being single in a mostly married church has never been a problem for me,” she says. “I would rather be married, but I’m not, so I do the best I can with what I have.”
When she moves into a new ward, she finds the executive secretary and requests an appointment with the bishop, and she makes sure the membership clerk requests her records.
“I introduce myself to the Relief Society president and request a visiting teaching assignment. The first fast Sunday, I bear my testimony of Jesus Christ and express how much I love the Savior. I attend every activity the ward has,” she says. “On the rare occasion when I come home from a meeting where I feel ignored, I say a prayer that I might be able to go again with the same cheerful countenance I usually have on Sunday and that I can keep that smile until I am accepted.”

Monica Ohene-Opare was baptized as an exchange student in New York in 1979. She married shortly after returning home and helped convert her husband, Emmanuel. Each of them has since held a variety of Church callings. Currently, she is president of the Primary in their ward, and he is president of the Accra Ghana Stake. But their most important leadership contributions may have been in family life.
Sister Ohene-Opare knows that their five children have been blessed with an opportunity that was not available to her: they are among the first generation in Ghana to grow up in the gospel, “and it has become part of them.” She says she is grateful that they have its high standards to help them confront their challenges.

There are many priesthood leaders here from all over the world. These stake presidents, Regional Representatives, and General Authorities know the truth of the counsel once given us by one of the Presiding Bishops of this dispensation, Elder LeGrand Richards. After a weighty discussion in the temple with all the General Authorities, he said, “Now, Brethren, I understand all that we discussed, but until the bishops move, nothing will happen. Everything above the bishop is all talk.” He taught a great lesson.

“Does anyone have any questions?”
Have you ever heard this at the end of a lesson and thought, “Yes, I have a million” or “Yes, I’m completely lost,” but you stay silent?
I have. And sometimes I’m still afraid of having questions.
I’m afraid of not knowing enough, of what others might think, and of running into information that might leave me with even more questions.

Sophie loved to sing. She sang at school, at her friends’ houses, and at home. Her favorite place to sing was at church.
“Mom,” Sophie asked one day, “I want to learn to sing better. Do you think I could take lessons?”
“That sounds like a fun idea,” Mom said. “Let me see what I can find.”
Singing wasn’t always easy for Sophie. She was deaf and couldn’t hear most sounds on her own. She had a special little device behind her ears to help her hear. Things sounded a little different to her than they did to other people. But Sophie still loved to sing.
“Good news, Sophie!” Mom said a few days later. “I found a class you can join. It’s a choir with other children who are learning to sing together. The teacher said you could start tomorrow!”
Sophie did a little dance. She was so excited!
But that night, she started to get nervous.
“Are you excited for your class tomorrow?” her big sister Kayla asked.
Sophie nodded. “Yes. But I’m also a little scared. I wish I didn’t have to go by myself.”
“You can do it!” Kayla said. “But would it help if I came with you? We can learn to sing together.”
Sophie hugged Kayla. “That would be awesome.”
The next morning, Sophie and Kayla got up early to go to their singing class. Nervous thoughts ran through Sophie’s head as she climbed into the car. What if she couldn’t understand the teacher? What if she didn’t make friends? What if people stared at her?
Mom pulled the car into the parking lot and turned around to look at Sophie. Sophie slid down low in her seat.
“I’m not sure I want to go anymore,” she said.
“What happened?” Mom asked. “You were so excited before.”
Sophie didn’t say anything. She just looked down at the ground and kicked her feet back and forth.
Mom smiled. “You don’t have to go if you don’t want to. But if you get nervous, you can pray to Heavenly Father, and He will help you! Plus Kayla will be there too.”
Kayla held Sophie’s hand. “We’ve got this!” she said.
Sophie gulped. Her stomach felt like it was full of butterflies, but she climbed out of the car anyway. She held tight onto Kayla’s hand as they walked into the classroom.
For the first few days of class, Sophie always sat by Kayla. Then one day Sophie noticed a girl who always sat by herself. Maybe she was scared too. Sophie went and sat next to her.
“Hi!” Sophie said. “Can I sit here?” The girl nodded. Soon they were laughing and singing together. Sophie was glad she had been brave enough to make a new friend.
Singing with the group was so much fun! Sophie loved learning the notes and tapping her foot to the beat of the music. She was even able to teach some of the other kids how to say the words in sign language.
One day the teacher had an exciting announcement. Everyone in the class would get to sing three solo parts in a special program. At home, Kayla and Sophie worked hard to practice their solos. Soon Sophie could sing her first two solo parts. But the last one was really hard! She couldn’t hear all the notes. How would she be able to sing it by herself in front of so many people?
Sophie remembered what Mom said about praying to Heavenly Father for help. She got down on her knees. “Heavenly Father, this last song is very hard for me. Could you help me find a way to sing it and not be so nervous?”
At her next singing class, Sophie’s teacher came up to her. “I know you’re nervous about your third solo. Would you like to sing that one with Kayla? It could bea sister solo!”
Sophie smiled. She felt warm and happy. She knew Heavenly Father was answering her prayer.
At the performance, Sophie sang her first two solos with confidence. When it was time for her third solo, she jumped up and grabbed Kayla’s hand. They walked up to the stage and sang the sister solo loud and proud. Sophie didn’t feel nervous or scared at all! Heavenly Father had answered her prayer in a way she didn’t expect, but she was so thankful that He always heard her.

“I can go all by myself, Mom. I’m four years old now!” Andy exclaimed, his freckled face all lit up with pride.
“Don’t you want me to come with you?”
“No. I know the way. I go down the road, around the turn, past the barn, by the chicken coop, and through the garden. That’s how.” He grinned. “Can I go by myself?”
“All right,” said Mother. “But be careful.”
Andy walked down the road. He stopped to watch a duck with five babies waddle across it. He liked the way the babies followed their mother one by one.
He walked around the turn. He saw a squirrel run up a tree and scamper into the old granary. The squirrel had a long bushy tail of pretty brown colors.
Then he walked past the barn. The lambs who didn’t have mothers bleated to him. They think I have some milk for them, he thought. He patted their heads and said, “You’ll get fed again at suppertime.”
Andy walked by the chicken coop. The chickens were busy clucking to each other. I wonder what they’re saying, he thought.
When he walked down the path through the garden, he picked a piece of rhubarb and bit into it. “Oooh!” He pulled a funny face. “This is too sour.”
He walked up the steps of the house beyond the garden and knocked on the door.
“Well, look who’s here!”
“Hi Grandma Great!” Andy opened the door and gave her a big hug.
“Didn’t your mother come with you?”
“No. I’m four years old now, and I walked here all by myself.”
“You did? You’re such a big boy! I’m very proud of you. Are you ready to spend the day with me making cookies and breadsticks?”
“Yes! Can I wear an apron too?”
“You sure can!” Grandma Great helped him put on an apron. It was blue with red and white polka dots.
“Grandma Great?”
“What is it, honey?” Grandma asked, putting her arm around Andy.
“Will you be my grandma forever?”
“Well, Andy,” Grandma Great answered as she lifted him onto her lap, “do you see that picture of the St. George Temple on the wall?”
Andy nodded.
“Grandpa Great and I were married there for time and all eternity. Your mom and dad were married there too. That means that we will all be together forever if we try everyday to be good people and keep Heavenly Father’s commandments.”
“I’ll try real hard, Grandma, because I love you and want you to always be my grandma.”
“And I’ll try hard, too, because I love you, Andy.”

Soon after my 18th birthday, I was invited by my bishop, who happened to be my father, to work on the ward welfare farm. The assignment was to thin beets in the company of other priesthood holders. I was a master of this slavelike labor; I have a lame back to prove it. I could do an acre in one day, providing I started before sunup and ended long after sundown, and providing I cared little about standing erect for several days.
I worked diligently up one row and down another, hoping to finish the task early. One of the older workers was my stake president, a banker by profession. It pleased me to see him digging in the soil and sweating under the hot sun. It was the first time I had seen this fastidious man dressed in anything other than a dark suit, white shirt, and conservative tie. I must admit that I enjoyed watching him get his hands dirty. In fact, I was so carried away by this pleasure that I sped up the soiling by deliberately kicking up clouds of dust in his direction as I moved by.
On one move past President Tietjen, he called my name and invited me to engage in conversation. I stopped, laid down my hoe, and sat on the soft ground. He asked, “Carlos, how old are you?”
I replied, “18.”
“Do you know how old I am?” he continued.
“Oh, about 70,” was my quick and foolish answer. I overestimated the mark by some 15 years.
Laughing outwardly, and I suspect crying inwardly, he said, “My time on earth is running out. Yours is just beginning. Carlos, would you sell to me the next ten years of your life?”
I thought to myself, what’s wrong with this money changer? Can’t he forget money and buying and selling for just one morning?
He was able to discern my thoughts and to note my discomfort. He quickly added, “I know that it is impossible for you to transfer to me part of your life. However, if it were possible, would you sell?”
With little hesitation I blurted out, “No, I would not.”
“Suppose I offered you $100,000 for those years,” he pressed.
Again, I declined his offer, saying that I had things to do in the years ahead.
During the next ten years, my visits with President Tietjen were few and scattered. On each occasion, he would refer back to the question asked in the beet field. He would say, “Will you take $90,000 for the remaining nine years? $80,000 for the next eight?” And on it went until ten years were gone.
It didn’t take me the full decade to appreciate the profound lesson which my wonderful church leader was trying to teach. He caused me to treasure those formative and crucial years between 18 and 28. He also motivated me to make plans and to initiate actions that would enable me to claim the most of my opportunities.
Earlier I shared a beet field conversation which I had with my stake president years ago. You will recall that I rejected his offer of $100,000 for ten years of my life. Those years between 18 and 28 came and went like a dream in the night. Have you any idea what I would have lost had I been willing and able to sell those years?
—Two years of military service in World War II, a precious time of testing.
—Nearly three years in the Palestine-Syrian Mission, an experience of eternal worth.
—Four years at the University of Utah, a precious learning opportunity.
My first year of teaching in the public schools, a time when gifts and interests reached a peak.
And cradled within all of this is marriage to my childhood sweetheart and the birth of a daughter and son.
Can you place a monetary value upon these formative years? No! They are priceless.

At school I asked my three friends if they believed in God. They said yes. I said that I do too. I gave them an invitation to the temple open house. They said, “OK, we’ll come.”

President Gordon B. Hinckley tells of cleaning his house when he was a youth: “Most homes were heated with coal stoves. … As winter came to a close, black soot and grime were everywhere, both inside and outside of the house. There was a ritual through which we passed each year. … It was known as spring cleaning. …

“When all of it was done, and everything was back in place, the result was wonderful. The house was clean, our spirits renewed. The whole world looked better” (“Be Ye Clean,” Ensign, May 1996, 47).

Two hundred and six miles (332 kilometers) is the distance from Logan, Utah, to Jackson Hole, Wyoming. It’s also the distance Peter Johnson and his friends pedaled to win the relay division of the LOTOJA road cycling race, whizzing through mountain passes and three states in nine hours. LOTOJA (LOgan TO JAckson) is one of the longest single-day races in the United States. It draws some 1,500 cyclists each September, many of them pros. Peter’s relay team is the youngest ever to come in first.

If we are gathering in remembrance of the Saviour and the redemption He has made possible, our faces should reflect our joy and gratitude! Elder F. Enzio Busche once told the story of when he was a branch president and a young boy in the congregation looked at him on the stand and asked loudly, “What is the man with that mean face doing up there?” Those who sit on the stand—speakers, leaders, choirs—and those who gather in the congregation communicate to each other this “welcome to the church of joy” through the expressions they wear on their faces!

When I spend the night at Grandma’s,
I sleep in my mother’s bed,
In the room that she once slept in,
Where at night her prayers were said.
And I bathe in Grandma’s bathtub
With its funny little feet,
And for breakfast, lunch, and dinner,
Have what I like best to eat.
Grandma lets me have some cocoa
In a special, flowered cup;
Instead of bed at eight o’clock,
She says I may stay up.
I guess it is no secret,
But as plain as it can be—
I love to go to Grandma’s house
And be her “company.”

We were staying at my grandma’s, and a big storm came and blew sticks and tree limbs all over her big yard. I made a plan and secretly started to clean it up. Soon the rest of my family started helping me. My mom said I was a good example for everyone else, and it was fun to work together!
Brandt S., age 7, Alabama, USA

Esther H., age 8, Georgia, USA
I was in bed and felt scared. I said a prayer and sang Primary songs. I felt the Holy Ghost comfort me.

If these missionaries look a little younger than usual, it’s because they are, but 26 young people in the Rockland Ward, Bangor Maine Stake, were not too young to serve as unofficial “missionaries” for a week. They wore name tags and gave out 41 copies of the Book of Mormon. The full-time missionaries in the area were kept mega-busy with all the referrals that resulted.