Gospel Story Finder

I’m the father of four children. I’m from Taiwan, so English is not my first language. I subscribe to the Ensign and New Era but never read the New Era because I thought it was for the kids only. After reading the August 2005 issue, I was amazed that it works much better for me because it fits my English level perfectly. The gospel principles are the same no matter the language or words. Two articles that impressed me a lot were “Time for Eternal Things” and “Why We Ask People to Read the Book of Mormon.” I love the New Era very much now.Spencer Chao, Mission Peak Ward, California Fremont Stake

Despite his limitations, we have had several goals for Nelson: that he understand the meaning of baptism before he was baptized, that he receive the Aaronic Priesthood at age 12, and that he go to the temple to do baptisms for the dead.

In 2017, Nelson turned 12. We helped him prepare to do baptisms for the dead. It was a challenge for him to understand that those who have died without baptism need our help. Soon after Nelson’s birthday, he, Milena, his older siblings Franco and Brenda, and other youth from our ward went to the Córdoba Argentina Temple. The temple president greeted them and spoke to them about the importance of vicarious baptism. I sat with Nelson and signed for him. Before long, it was his turn. When he stepped into the baptismal font, we wondered, would he truly understand?

As he entered the water, Nelson became emotional. At that moment, the Holy Ghost manifested to us that he did in fact understand that he was doing something for his deceased ancestors that they could not do for themselves. We knew he understood that family members on the other side of the veil were happy he was helping them. The Spirit also manifested to us that Mateo was there to accompany his brother and sister. When Nelson came out of the water, he was very happy.

Since then, Nelson has been baptized and confirmed for many family members, including my father, who passed away in 2016. We love the temple. Serving there has become one of our family traditions. Each time we go, we remember that special day.

I read “Going the Extra Mile” in the January 2011 Friend. It made me want to be a better helper at home. I cleaned my room and then played with my sister. It made me feel good inside. My mom was happy too.

I recall as a young boy going with my father to visit an elderly widow living in humble circumstances. We shared a couple of boxes of food with her. When we were leaving, her remarks touched my heart. She said, “Thank you, Bishop, and please come back again, even if it’s just to say hello.”
This was probably the first time I realized that the food items were appreciated but the words of encouragement and the personal visit were of greater value.

Photo by Naomi Jensen
Wooden wheels cut
through broken ground,
carve snowy trails;
all Zion bound.
A child’s cry
a mother’s sight
as hunger grows
no food, she knows.
Weary steps
mark frosted plains
cross white-topped mounts
in cold-drenched rains.
A shallow grave
in lifeless sleep
lies a tiny babe
as parents weep.
Numbed feet trod
on frozen sod.
Cold tear-streaked cheeks
white snowflakes meet.
Handcarts pulled
by weary throng
while angels push
in silent song.
Their faith endures
though trials test.
The courageous pioneer
my life has blessed.

I feel honored to follow Sister Parkin. Her service and teachings as well as those of her counselors have blessed all of us. About this same hour 18 and a half years ago, I was standing near this pulpit waiting for the congregational singing to end, when I was to step forward and give my first general conference address. My anxiety at that moment must have been obvious. Elder L. Tom Perry, who was standing behind me, leaned forward and, in his positive and enthusiastic way, whispered in my ear. “Relax,” he said, “we haven’t lost anyone at that pulpit in years!”
Those encouraging words and the few minutes that followed in which I spoke for the first time to a worldwide audience of Latter-day Saints constitute a treasured memory for me. Like all of you, I am constantly accumulating a reservoir of memories which, when recalled, make up a very useful and often enjoyable part of my consciousness. And, despite resolutions I made as a young man never to weary others with reminiscing when I grew older, I now take great pleasure in sharing my own memories at almost every possible occasion. Today, however, I wish to speak of a more profound role of memory and remembering in the gospel of Jesus Christ than the passive recall and enjoyment of information.

I was reminded of the power of small and simple things over time by something I saw on a morning walk. Here is the picture I took. The thick and strong concrete sidewalk is cracking. Is this the result of some large and powerful thrust? No, this cracking is caused by the slow, small growth of one of the roots reaching out from the adjoining tree. Here is a similar example I saw on another street.
The thrusting power that cracked these heavy concrete sidewalks was too small to measure on a daily or even a monthly basis, but its effect over time was incredibly powerful.

In my youth, I experienced the joy of coming closer to the Savior—and of His coming closer to me—through simple acts of obedience to the commandments. When I was young, the sacrament was offered during an evening meeting. I can still remember one specific night, more than 75 years ago, when it was dark and cold outside. I remember a feeling of light and warmth as I realized that I had kept the commandment to gather with the Saints to partake of the sacrament, covenanting with our Heavenly Father to always remember His Son and keep His commandments.
At the end of the meeting that night, we sang the hymn “Abide with Me; ’Tis Eventide,” with the memorable words “O Savior, stay this night with me.”
These words brought an overwhelming sense of the Spirit to me, even as a young boy. I felt the Savior’s love and closeness that evening through the comfort of the Holy Ghost.

While I stood as a proxy for my father in baptism, my mother saw my father’s face. Myself and my son performed the baptism for my father-in-law, and we felt his presence.

When my wife, ‘Anau, and I were first married, I would carve small items and go to the market to sell them. Some days I would come back with money, other days I would sell nothing.
I heard about a man who had returned from Hawaii where a group of Maori from New Zealand taught him to carve wood. When we met, he said, “I’m not a teacher, I’m a carving man. But if you want to help build a kalia (a Tongan canoe), you can come with me.” I learned much about wood carving from him.
As a wood-carver, I have been able to support my family. My wife and I have three children of our own and three others we take care of. We do what we can to help the children. We try to show them the happiness the gospel brings.
Feinga further developed his woodcarving skills by building kalias from large pieces of wood. A kalia is a special kind of canoe made in Tonga.

One Sunday I was so sick that I had to stay home from church so I wouldn’t get everybody there sick. Before my mom and my brothers went to church, they gave me a short lesson on the Word of Wisdom.
My dad stayed home from church with me, and we had our own lessons from the Friend. We read the stories to each other, and I did the activities. Even though I missed church, I still learned about Jesus with my dad. It felt good to have a lesson and do the reverent activities.
I think that by doing these things I learned to choose the right even when I was sick and missed church.Rachel Lyn Cox, age 8Hyde Park, Utah

Some years ago on fast Sunday, an elderly sister came to the pulpit to share her testimony. She lived in the city called Iquitos, which is in the Peruvian Amazon. She told us that from the time of her baptism, she had always had the goal of receiving the ordinances of the temple in Lima, Peru. She faithfully paid a full tithe and saved her meager income for years.
Her joy upon going to the temple and receiving the sacred ordinances therein was expressed in these words: “Today I can say that I finally feel ready to go through the veil. I am the happiest woman in the world; I have saved money, you have no idea for how long, to visit the temple, and after seven days on the river and 18 hours by bus, I was finally in the house of the Lord. When leaving that holy place, I said to myself, after all the sacrifice that has been required for me to come to the temple, I will not let anything make me take lightly every covenant I made; it would be a waste. This is a very serious commitment!”
I learned from this sweet sister that personal sacrifice is an invaluable force that drives our decisions and our determinations. Personal sacrifice drives our actions, our commitments, and our covenants and gives sacred things meaning.

Raish smiled as she walked out of the chapel. She heard piano music coming from down the hall. It was time for Primary!
“Choose the right way and be happy,” Raish sang with the other children. “I must always choose the right.”
After singing time, Sister Aquino stood at the front of the room. “Does anyone still have their CTR ring?” she asked.
Raish raised her hand. “I do!” she said. “I keep mine in my drawer at home.”
“That’s great, Raish,” Sister Aquino said. “I remember when I was young, my mom always told me, ‘Remember who you are and what you stand for.’ I hope all of you will do your best to choose the right.”
When Raish got home from church, she ran to her drawer and pulled out her CTR ring. She wanted to wear it more often to remind her to choose the right.
The next day at school, Raish carried her lunch to the table where her friends always sat. She always loved talking with Julia and Bituin!
Raish and her friends were laughing about their favorite show when a new girl walked over. She sat down next to Julia. “Hi,” she said quietly. “I’m Imelda.”
“Um, excuse me!” Julia said. “This is our table.”
Imelda stood up. “Oh,” she said quickly. “Sorry.” She looked down at the ground and walked away.
Raish scrunched her forehead. “Why did you say that?” she asked Julia. “We should be nice to her. She’s new, and she probably needs friends.”
“But it’s our table,” Julia said.
“Yeah,” said Bituin.
Raish looked down at her food. She felt bad for Imelda. But she was afraid to say anything more. What if Julia and Bituin got mad at her?
That night, Raish kept thinking about Imelda. She decided to say a prayer. “Heavenly Father, please help me know what to do about my friends. Help me to choose the right.”
As the week went on, Raish looked for Imelda every day during lunch. And every day, she saw Imelda sitting alone. Raish felt sad for her. She wanted to invite Imelda to sit at their table, but could she stand up to Julia and Bituin? Raish just didn’t know what to do.
One day Raish saw Imelda walk by their table. “Look at the new girl,” Julia said loudly. “Her lunch is wrapped in a banana leaf. Gross!”
Bituin laughed. “Her family doesn’t even have money to buy a lunchbox.”
Imelda bit her lip. She started walking faster.
Raish looked at the CTR ring on her finger. She did want to choose the right. Then something else popped into her mind. It was what Sister Aquino had said in Primary. Remember who you are and what you stand for. She wanted to always be kind and stand for the right.
Raish turned to her friends. “Please stop,” she said. “Imelda’s not doing anything to you. Just leave her alone.”
Julia gave Raish a mean look.
Raish stood up. “I’m going to sit with Imelda,” she said. She carried her food to the empty table where Imelda sat. Imelda looked surprised.
“Hi,” Raish said. “I’m sorry we haven’t been very nice to you. I want to be your friend.”
Imelda smiled. “Thanks,” she said softly.
Raish smiled back. She was glad she could be Imelda’s friend. And she was glad that she chose the right.

What do rabbits, postage stamps, and children’s music have in common? They are some of the things that have helped nine-year-old David Whitworth to save for his mission.

For nearly two years David raised Harry, then Jule, two Angora rabbits. Angoras need their loose fur plucked frequently, and David plucked the soft, fine fur and sent it to his grandmother in New Mexico. She paid David for the fur, which she combined with wool on her spinning wheel to make soft yarn for knitting.

He saved most of his rabbit money in a special missionary bank that his Uncle Tim made for him one Christmas. The bank looks like a brown leather book, and it sits on the bookshelf; but it is really made of wood and is hollow.

Although Harry and Jule died recently, David plans to get more Angora rabbits as soon as possible. Meanwhile, the savings in his missionary bank grows. Before the family’s recent move from California to Kentucky, his older sisters, Erin (16), Shaunda (14), and Katie (12), paid him for helping them deliver newspapers on their five routes. Now he gets paid for helping his parents in two small businesses that they run from their home. He helps his dad put postage stamps in vending machines, and he helps his mom with office work, booths, and workshops in her business of selling children’s music.

Elder Jeffrey R. Holland of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles: In a stake priesthood meeting … the then twelve-year-old Gordon B. Hinckley stood in the back of the old Salt Lake Tenth Ward building—his first such stake priesthood meeting as a newly ordained deacon—feeling just a bit lonely and out of place.
But upon hearing the men of that stake sing … “Praise to the Man,” this young boy, who would one day be a prophet himself, had it borne upon his soul that Joseph Smith was indeed a prophet of God, that he had “communed with Jehovah.” … Yes, some of the preparation for this morning’s solemn assembly began when a twelve-year-old deacon heard faithful, experienced, older men sing the hymns of Zion in a priesthood meeting.

In 2002, Nelson and Sapna Samuel moved from Bangalore, India, to Kigali, Rwanda. Though there had been a few members of record living in Rwanda in the 1980s and 1990s, the Samuels did not find anyone else to worship with when they first arrived. They held meetings on their own for several years before other Latter-day Saints came to Rwanda.
In 2007, Nelson and Sapna offered their home as a meeting place for the small but growing group of Saints in Kigali. At first, there were 10 members in the little group, including the Samuels’s infant son. Jean Pierre Ndikumana, a Congolese Latter-day Saint working as a doctor in Butare, rode four to eight hours on a bus each week to services. Another Congolese member named Justin also attended. Eric and Kathy Hyde, an American couple, had a daughter and son who were the only Latter-day Saint youth in the group. And Fabien Hatangimbabazi, who had joined the Church while visiting the United States, was the group’s first Rwandan, served on the country’s supreme court.

Seventies Quorums in Stakes and Missions. In April 1953, when the number of quorums was approximately 500, the First Presidency, concerned about some Seventies not affiliated with a quorum, announced that a quorum of the Seventy, presided over by seven presidents, should be organized in each stake or mission where there were 36 or more Seventies.6
In each stake or mission having fewer than 36 Seventies, a unit, rather than a quorum, would be presided over by a president and two counselors. The units and quorums were then organized in consecutive numbers to avoid confusion. In 1974 Seventies units were discontinued, and each stake was to have a quorum. The presidencies of the stake quorums served as the stake mission presidency.7
Previously, in March 1936, missionary work had been organized with a mission in each stake. These stake missions were supervised by the First Council of the Seventy, working through stake presidents.8

“I had a friend on the Titanic,” said one elderly man. “He was a wealthy gentleman and quite old. There were not enough life boats, and women were being put in the boats first. They were trying to help his wife over the side, but she would not go. They held on to each other, and they went down together on that big ship. Several survivors told of that.
“Oh, I would tell a lot of things,” he continued. “That is, if anybody wants to listen. I’m 91 now and my oh my, the things I remember. Life is a wonderful experience, I tell you, it’s a wonderful experience!”

Said President Brigham Young, “I have heard a great many tell about what they have suffered for Christ’s sake. I am happy to say I never had occasion to. I have enjoyed a great deal, but so far as suffering goes, I have compared it a great many times in my feelings and before congregations to a man wearing an old, worn-out, tattered, and dirty coat, and somebody comes along and gives him one that is new, whole, and beautiful. This is the comparison I draw when I think of what I’ve suffered for the gospel’s sake—I have thrown away an old coat and have put on a new one.” (Discourses of Brigham Young, p. 348.)

We later held a family reunion on what would have been our grandparents’ ninety-second wedding anniversary. The reunion included a special session in the Salt Lake Temple. We didn’t have one hundred percent of the family there, but we had a pretty good percentage. Eighty-six members of our family, including spouses, were at the temple together. It was a very inspirational experience. As I greeted my cousins, I had the feeling that Grandma and Grandpa and other family members from the other side of the veil were also there. We all felt very close. After the session, we met on the steps at the east door of the temple and had our picture taken together. This memento will be treasured by us and our children for years to come.