Gospel Story Finder

And repentance is a miracle, made possible by the atonement of the Savior. A young man bore this testimony: “I think of all the pain I caused my parents—and myself—by not realizing that sin does not bring happiness. After high school I moved out and started drinking, smoking, and using a little drugs. I thought I was having a good time, but now I know I was really quite miserable.
“Then one day I stopped and thought, ‘What if my parents could see me now? What would they think?’
“It was then that I started to turn my life around. I discovered that I wasn’t achieving happiness. I would never have been able to change without some good new friends and an understanding bishop—and without the help of the Holy Ghost. But with their help I was able to repent. And now I see how unhappy I was. I testify that repentance and righteous living bring happiness. And I know from experience that the Lord is always there to help us change our lives if we only let him.”

President Eyring reinforced this message at BYU–Hawaii during a question-and-answer panel discussion.
A student referenced President Nelson’s statement “In coming days, it will not be possible to survive spiritually without the guiding, directing, comforting, and constant influence of the Holy Ghost.”46 The student asked where they would need the direction of the Holy Ghost.
President Eyring asked me to respond, and I cited the importance of choosing a major, career planning, and where we live after graduation. I had answered this question in similar forms many times in other university settings, and I thought I had done a reasonable job in my response.
Then President Eyring pasued on the phrase “survive spiritually.” President Eyring proceeded to explain that we are living in a season of great confusion about God’s truths and that students would need the Holy Ghost so they would not be misled.47

Ivan speaks with great conviction of an experience he had as an 11-year-old. “I had just joined the Church. We were at the chapel when all the lights went out. Someone whispered to me, ‘Why don’t you say a prayer, Ivan?’ I knelt down and said, ‘Heavenly Father, please let the lights come back on so we can continue.’ And the lights came back on.
“Children have incredible faith. Now I’m trying to have that same childlike faith. My life went dark. But I have prayed and believed, and the lights are back on.”

Wong Yun Tai remembers the warm September evening in 1984 when her life changed. The Wong family live on the 21st floor of the Wu Yuet House, a government housing project in the Tuen Mun area of Hong Kong’s New Territories. That evening, 15-year-old Wong Yun Tai, who goes by the English name Belle, was eating dinner when a knock came at her door. Two strangers wearing white shirts, ties, and curious black name tags were at the door. They talked to her through the metal gate that remained locked even though the door was open.
Belle was busy eating, so she told her two visitors to come back in an hour. “I was interested in religion, and I really wanted to know what was true. I was just like Joseph Smith. I really wanted to know which church was God’s true church,” recalls Belle.
When the missionaries returned, she listened politely to their message. Afterward, they gave her a Book of Mormon to read, said a prayer, and then left. It was a simple meeting, but it had a powerful effect on Belle. “When I prayed, I had a very unique, good feeling in my heart,” she says.
A month later, Belle was baptized. Then the real work began. Belle, the second oldest child of Wong Hong Tsuen and Wong Leung Nan Ho, wanted her parents and brothers and sisters to experience the same gospel joy that had become such an important part of her life. She began sharing what she had learned.
Now, more than a decade later, she’s still sharing. Since those humble beginnings, seven of the eight Wong children have joined the Church, as have Mom and Dad. Belle served a mission in Hong Kong. So did two younger sisters, Angela and May.
The example Belle set for her family has made a big impression on her youngest sister, Wong Cho Ho—who goes by the English name of Rambo—and her younger brother, Wong Wah Kan (Simon), both of whom are now teenagers.
“Before I was a member, I’d always notice Belle,” says Simon, who was baptized in 1992. “She wasn’t lazy. Every Sunday she’d get up and go to church. When Belle was a missionary, she was a good example to my family and she helped us.”
Rambo, who adopted her unique English name several years ago, also credits her sister’s influence in her own conversion. “When I was younger, I began going to church with Belle each Sunday, even though I hadn’t been baptized,” she recalls, “but I wouldn’t take the sacrament.”
This is where the story takes an ironic twist.
“A lot of members of the ward would look at me and think I was a member,” she continues. “They would ask me to be a fellowshipper for the missionaries’ investigators, even though I was still an investigator myself. As I got older, my testimony began to develop, and I learned more about the Church.”
When Rambo was finally baptized in 1990, she joined Belle in teaching gospel principles to their other sisters, Mandy, May, Angela, and Agnes, as well as to Simon. She also continued “officially” fellowshipping other investigators at church each Sunday. “When I was a kid, I liked to play and have fun. But when I got older, I received a testimony—a true testimony —and I wanted to share it,” Rambo says.
One of the first people Rambo wanted to share the gospel with was her sister Agnes. She invited Agnes to church. “When I first went to church,” says Agnes, who is two years older than Rambo, “I was pretty bored. I liked to talk to the missionaries, but I didn’t like to talk about the Church. But Rambo would try to help me understand more about the gospel. Finally I decided to investigate the Church because Belle was so serious and made so many sacrifices for the Church, and I could see what the Church was beginning to mean to Rambo.”
Rambo also talked about the gospel with Simon and helped him with his decision to be baptized.
And so the sharing went: Two missionaries talked to Belle. Belle joined the Church and began fellowshipping Rambo. Rambo was baptized and began talking about the gospel with Agnes and Simon. Agnes and Simon were baptized, and they were followed by Mandy, the Wongs’ oldest daughter, and May, Angela, and their parents.
Simon likes to think back to the time when he began seriously investigating the gospel. He remembers praying for the first time. “I didn’t know how to pray or what I should say,” he remembers. “But I always felt good when I prayed.”
Before Simon joined the Church, Sundays were reserved for rest and relaxation. He would generally sleep in, then get up and play soccer with his friends. These days, his friends don’t even bother asking him to play games on the Sabbath. “I’ve already told them I don’t do that, and they understand why I don’t and what I do instead,” he says. Sundays for Simon generally consist of attending church meetings and reading the scriptures. “I love studying in the Book of Mormon—especially about Lehi and the faith he had. My own faith isn’t great, so it’s good for me to read about someone who was so strong.”
Belle loves to talk about the positive impact the gospel has had on her family, but she deflects any credit given to her. Instead, she says, “I don’t know how much help I’ve been to my family, but I do know Heavenly Father has helped my family a lot.”
Her family disagrees with Belle’s assessment of her role. Each night as they sit down to dinner, they look at one another and see living proof of Belle’s gospel-sharing legacy.

The answer has to be in that room. Maybe I missed a false wall, Jackson thought.

“How do you spell kiwi, Jackson?”

“Uh, what, Miss Grouder?”

“Kiwi. How do you spell it? We’ve been talking about the spelling test for the past 10 minutes. Where have you been?”

“Trying to rescue the princess of Mendoza,” Chester whispered from his seat behind Jackson.

Jackson felt his face getting hot. He had no idea how to spell kiwi.

Miss Grouder sighed as she gave Jackson’s spelling test back to him. He had spelled most of the words wrong.

On the way home, Jackson crumpled the spelling test and stuffed it into the bottom of his backpack. Chester ran up behind him. “Do you want to come to my house and play soccer?”

“No,” Jackson replied. “I think I’ve figured out how to rescue the princess. Do you want to come watch?”

“Sit there and watch you play?” asked Chester. “No thanks! Seems like all you think about lately is video games.” Chester turned the corner toward his own house.

At home, Jackson turned on the computer and started the video game. I’ll play one game, he thought, and then I’ll get going on my homework.

Two hours later his mother called, “Time to eat, Jackson. We have to hurry or we’ll miss the start of the movie.”

“Coming, Mendoz—uh, Mom.” If I can just get past this guard, he thought. His hand deftly moved the joystick back and forth. Too late. The figure on the screen toppled over. No fair! I’ll play just one more. I know I can do it.

Suddenly the house seemed awfully quiet. Jackson grabbed his jacket and ran to the front door. His family was gone. There was a note on the table: “Gone to the movie. Wish you had come. Home by 8:00. Call Grandpa if you need anything.”

It’s all the guard’s fault! Jackson thought angrily as he stomped to his bedroom. His unfinished homework was on his bed. Beside it lay his scriptures. He hadn’t read them all week. And there was the family home evening manual. He was supposed to give the lesson next Monday. But he didn’t feel like doing any of those things tonight.

Good thing it’s Friday, Jackson thought as he headed back to the computer. I’ll catch up on everything tomorrow.

But he didn’t catch up the next day—or the next. And it wasn’t long before the sound of the piano interrupted Jackson’s concentration on his latest attempt to rescue the princess. It was his sister playing the opening hymn for family home evening.

Family home evening! He had intended to prepare the lesson on Sunday, but he had gotten closer to rescuing the princess than ever before. Now it was too late to prepare.

Jackson grabbed his scriptures and ran to home evening. He would fake it. After all, they often read a scripture and talked about it so long they never got to the lesson. He would make sure they did that tonight.

“And help us apply the lesson to our lives,” his little brother said as he finished the opening prayer.

Jackson opened his scriptures to where he had last read. “Dad, could you read a scripture for us?” he asked. “How about Ether 12:27?”

His father read: “And if men come unto me I will show unto them their weakness. I give unto men weakness that they may be humble; and my grace is sufficient for all men that humble themselves before me; for if they humble themselves before me, and have faith in me, then will I make weak things become strong unto them.”

“What do you think that means?” Jackson asked.

“Well,” said his father thoughtfully, “I think it means that we are given weakness to help us be humble. If we acknowledge our weakness and ask Heavenly Father to help us overcome it, it will become a strength to us.”

Mom raised her hand. “Soap operas were my weakness. Some days I didn’t do anything but watch my shows. The television was like a magnet, drawing me to it. It wasn’t until I admitted I had a problem that I figured out a solution.” Then she told how she had prayed and asked Heavenly Father to help her give up those shows.

Jackson squirmed in his chair. This wasn’t going quite like he wanted it to. He began to think about how much time he spent playing video games.

“When I worked at the candy shop,” his older sister began, “I practically ate my paycheck each week in candy. I prayed about it, then decided to set a candy quota for each day. If I stuck to my quota, I rewarded myself by putting the money I would have spent on candy toward a new pair of jeans. Some days I didn’t make it, but gradually I ate less candy.”

Jackson thanked everyone for their participation and bore his testimony that while we all have weaknesses, we can overcome them with Heavenly Father’s help. In fact, those weaknesses can even become our strengths.

After the closing prayer Jackson went to turn on the computer. Maybe a video game would help him forget the growing uneasiness inside him.

But he couldn’t ignore the feeling he had. Did he really have a problem with video games? He didn’t spend much time with Chester or his other friends anymore. He had gotten a bad grade on a spelling test for the first time. He hadn’t read the scriptures all week. And he had missed the family movie. He knew it was time to apply tonight’s lesson to his own life.

Jackson turned away from the computer and went to his bedroom. He flopped down on his bed and opened his scriptures to Ether. The princess would have to wait. Right now he had some reading and thinking to do.

I think possibly I have told this experience that I had myself. I saw a young man when I was stake president; he was a very able young man; he had been trained in agriculture, and we needed an agricultural adviser in our welfare committee. He wasn’t active in the Church. I knew that he wasn’t keeping the Word of Wisdom, but I called and asked him to go to lunch with me one day; and as we sat and talked, I told him what I wanted of him. I said, “You are the best prepared, able young man to do this job. We need you, and you need activity.”
We talked for some time, and he said, “Well, President Tanner, you know that I don’t keep the Word of Wisdom.”
I said, “Well, you can, can’t you?” Probably that wasn’t fair.
And he said, “President, that is a different approach. My bishop came to me last month and asked me if I would take a job in the ward. I told him that I wasn’t keeping the Word of Wisdom. And he said, ‘Well, we will get somebody else.’”
So I talked with him for a little while longer, and I said, “Listen, brother, you need activity in the Church, but we need you, we really need you.”
After we had talked a little while, he said, “Do you mean that if I took a position like this I couldn’t even have a cup of coffee?”
I said, “Yes, that is exactly what I mean. Any leader must be a leader, and you must be an example. If you were taken into a stake committee, we would expect you to live the gospel the way a man should live it.”
He said, “Well, then, I shall have to think it over.”
I said, “You think it over. But remember, you need activity, and we need you.”
He said, “Well, I will let you know.”
He didn’t call me the next day. He didn’t call me the next day, and he didn’t call me the next day, and he didn’t call me the next day—and he didn’t call me the sixth day. And I thought, well, he doesn’t want to admit that he can’t keep the Word of Wisdom.
On the eighth day he called me. He said, “President Tanner, do you still want me to do that job?”
I said, “Yes, that is the reason I called you and talked to you about it the other day.”
He said, “Then I will do it, and on your terms.”
And he did it, and he did it on my terms. He was a single man, but he was thirty-some years of age. He came into activity, and there was a young woman who was stake president of the Mutual, a very fine young woman, and he met her and became very well acquainted with her and fell in love with her and married her.
And then he became a bishop and then he became a high councilor and then he became a member of the stake presidency. You know, it has given me a great deal of satisfaction to know that that young man became active, and his family is active. He has children now that are active.

He had been home about seven months when he ran into “Sister Morgado” at a multistake dance. Ulisses had served as her zone leader for a time, and the two spent the evening catching up and sharing mission stories. Three weeks later, they began dating.

Rosana Fernandes Morgado was eight when her older sister, Margareth, began taking her to church. Eventually, the two faithful young investigators received permission from their father to be baptized, but each had to wait until she was 17. Rosana attended church for nine years before receiving permission to be baptized.

Ulisses lived in northern São Paulo, and Rosana lived with her parents in the city’s southern sector. Travel across the sprawling city took two to three hours by bus and subway. Fortunately, Margareth and her husband, Claudio, lived near her parents’ home.

“When Ulisses came on weekends to date Rosana, it was tough for him to return home so far at night,” recalls Elder Claudio R. M. Costa, General Authority Seventy, of his future brother-in-law. So, he and Margareth invited Ulisses to spend the night at their home after his dates. “We adopted him for a while,” Elder Costa adds.

“He would sleep on the couch in our living room,” says Sister Costa. “We were recently married, so we didn’t have extra blankets. But he would cover himself with an old curtain we had. He was happy because he could see Rosana again the next day. He was good to my sister, and my parents liked him very much.”

Ulisses and Rosana were married in the São Paulo Brazil Temple on October 30, 1982.

Sister Pálinkás is from Dunaújváros, where there were no churches at all until just recently. “My parents are not believers in God,” she says. “But somehow I felt close to him and felt that he loved me.”
When she was almost 20, two American missionaries came into the store where she sold office supplies. “My co-workers and I could tell from the very first that these young men were different from others,” she remembers.
Bernadett and a co-worker arranged to hear the first discussion. Although her friend soon lost interest, Bernadett attended sacrament meeting the following Sunday and, after being taught by the missionaries and converted by the Spirit, was baptized a month later, on August 22, 1992.

I served my mission in Arkansas, USA. About a month before I returned home, my mission president said: “You will not be full-time missionaries forever. In fact, you will only be full-time missionaries for a very small portion of your lives. But it is your responsibility to be full-time covenant keepers forever.”

These words changed me. As I looked forward, I realized that preparing to go home wasn’t about how I would let go of my name tag—it was about using what I had learned and experienced on my mission to live my covenants.

After this realization, I said a prayer and began to make a list. I drew a line down a sheet of paper. The left side read, “Mission Life and Rules.” The right side read, “Living My Covenants.” I made connections between the two lists so they consisted of different actions that mirrored each other. On the last day of my mission, I took the paper and cut it in half. I read the rules to which I had given my all throughout my mission, and then I folded it up and tossed it away. I kept the covenant side of the paper and hung it up on my wall at home.

This list helped me keep my covenants in mind every day as I adjusted to coming home from my mission. The list below contains ideas that helped me personally, and may help you too:

Mission Life and Rules
Ideas for Living My Covenants
Wake up at 6:30 a.m. every day.
I strive to live a life consecrated to God. I should wake up early enough so I can fill the day with purpose.
Visit investigators and less-active members on a daily basis.
I will strive to mourn with those that mourn and comfort those who need comfort. I will get to know, visit, and love those around me.
Wear my name tag and missionary clothes.
My endowment has blessed me with the temple garment. I will dress in such a way that respects my garment and enjoy wearing normal clothes again.
Go to missionary meetings every week.
I have a chance to renew my covenants each week when I prepare for and take the sacrament.
Talk and testify to everyone you come in contact with.
I have covenanted to strive to be like my Savior. I am promised that as I remember Him and keep His commandments, I will always have His Spirit with me. I will try to treat everyone as children of God and follow the Spirit to know how I can help and serve them.
No dating (or any sort of romantic relationships).
I can work toward my goal of being sealed in the temple by dating those who share that goal and building meaningful relationships with others.
No social media, TV, movies, hanging out, etc.
I will use good media to learn, build up others, and enjoy life.
Study the scriptures for two hours a day.
I love the Spirit and the knowledge that comes from my scripture study. I will study the scriptures every day for at least 10 minutes.
My mission prepared me in unimaginable ways to live my covenants. I’m now doing what I need to do to keep my testimony strong. Missions are not a finish line or something to forget about after you go home. Missions can be a springboard into your life as a covenant keeper and lifelong disciple of Christ. Take the time to ask yourself if you’re truly understanding, focusing on, and living your covenants. Those covenants tie us to Heavenly Father, give us strength from the heavens, and offer so much light in our everyday life.

President Gordon B. Hinckley is not only President of the Church, he is also an incredible personal leader. President Hinckley has had a lot of years to develop from when I first dealt with him in 1958. I was a student walking on a dusty gravel road where a speeding car passed several times and then skidded to a stop next to me. The driver rolled down his window. I recognized him as the newest General Authority, Elder Hinckley. He was obviously frustrated and said that he was lost, already late for a meeting, and that he needed directions. I told him where to go. He thanked me, spun gravel, and kicked up more dust that left me coughing as he hurried on his way.
Many years later I said to him, “President, you are doing a good job.” He said, “Well, I am doing my best.” He is an authentic, humble leader who has paid attention, caught on, and step by step built a record of accomplishments.

My father, not a member of the Church, was actively involved in local business and community affairs. His motto was “If it’s worth doing, it’s worth doing right.” As my siblings and I discovered the gospel and lived it to the best of our abilities, he noticed the changes for good in our lives. In 2000, President Gordon B. Hinckley (1910–2008) stayed in my father’s home on his return from the dedication of the Suva Fiji Temple. During that visit, the Spirit touched my father’s heart, and I was privileged to baptize him when he was 82 years old. He found great joy in the gospel and was unashamed and bold in sharing it with others during the last days of his life.

Recently my family and I moved to a different state. About a month before the move, I was having some concerns and uncertainties about it. My parents felt that it was the right thing to do, but I wanted to know for myself that all would work out for the best.
I asked Heavenly Father to help me feel at peace. Then one night I received an answer to my prayer. I was reading in Doctrine and Covenants 98. Verse 18 stood out to me. It reads: “Let not your hearts be troubled; for in my Father’s house are many mansions, and I have prepared a place for you; and where my Father and I am, there ye shall be also.” Immediately I was overcome with love and peace. All my fears seemed to melt away as the words let not your hearts be troubled filled my mind. I knew that Heavenly Father was aware of what was going on in my life and that He would not leave me alone.
Looking back now, I see that moving has helped my testimony grow stronger. It wasn’t easy, but I have learned that if I put my trust in the Lord, He will direct my paths (see Prov. 3:5–6). I know that Heavenly Father hears and answers prayers. No matter where we find ourselves in life, He will always be with us.

There is a boy at school who found out I don’t swear. The day he found out, he made a game out of trying to get me to say bad words. But I didn’t swear the whole day at all. Today, it’s still kind of a game—and I’m winning! He’ll say something to try to get me to swear, but I’ll say something funny back and everybody will laugh. He’s not offended, and I’m not swearing. It works for everybody.
Eden S., age 11, New South Wales, Australia

Illustrations by Shauna Mooney Kawasaki
Hey, Mandy, you won’t believe what Amber did!
If it’s something nice, tell me about it.
Nice? No way! It got her grounded forever. She—
Don’t tell me!
Why not?
I’m trying to stop gossiping, and I don’t want to hear it.
This isn’t gossip. It’s the truth!
Unless we’re going to help Amber, we’re just being entertained by her problems. It is gossip, and it’s unkind.
Well …
And are you sure it’s the whole truth? What about Amber’s side of the story?
Besides, I mess up sometimes, and I don’t want everybody talking about it.
Same here. So let’s stop gossiping and go play with Amber.

Roman was baptized a few years ago in the city of Ryazan, Russia. He grew up in an orphanage, having never known his parents. After leaving the orphanage, he went to work doing manual labor in a factory. At age 35, he met the missionaries and immediately embraced the gospel message and was baptized. He recognized the great joy and happiness realized through helping others. His whole life became one of serving others. One day, he saw a drunken alcoholic who was begging on the street. He took him into his home and fed him. He brought him to church, but at first, the missionaries didn’t want to teach such a smelly and filthy person. Roman helped lift Vladimir out of the depths of despair. He gave him new clothes to wear, he helped him get a job, he gave him a place to live, and finally he introduced the gospel to him. You would be amazed at the transformation in the life of Vladimir as he repented and accepted baptism. He became a different man because of the love and service of Roman. Roman helped everybody in that small branch. He went to the home of a destitute member who was bedridden and whose house was full of cockroaches. He cleaned the whole house and even bathed and cut the hair of the woman’s severely retarded son. Because he serves others, Roman is one of the happiest people I have known.

In the vicinity where I once lived and served, the Church operated a poultry project, staffed primarily by volunteers from the local wards. Most of the time it was an efficiently operated project, supplying to the bishops’ storehouse thousands of fresh eggs and hundreds of pounds of dressed poultry. On a few occasions, however, being volunteer city farmers meant not only blisters on the hands but also frustration of heart and mind.
For instance, I shall ever remember the time we gathered the Aaronic Priesthood young men to give the project a spring-cleaning. Our enthusiastic and energetic throng assembled at the project and in a speedy fashion uprooted, gathered, and burned large quantities of weeds and debris. By the light of the glowing bonfires, we ate hot dogs and congratulated ourselves on a job well done.
However, there was just one disastrous problem. The noise and the fires so disturbed the fragile population of 5,000 laying hens that most of them went into a sudden molt and ceased laying. Thereafter we tolerated a few weeds so that we might produce more eggs.

“When we were married, your dad and I didn’t wait to start our family, like many couples do. When you were born, he was still in college, studying to be a teacher. People told us then that we should wait to have children.”
“Wait for what?” Deborah asked.
“Until your dad was out of school and had a good job. Or until we had a house and money in the bank. People have a lot of reasons for waiting to have children.
“President Ezra Taft Benson was the prophet then. He counseled families to not wait to have children, so we didn’t.” Her mother squeezed Deborah’s hand. “You were our first. And you were very, very precious to us. It didn’t matter that we didn’t have a lot of money or that we had to make do with what we had. You were more than worth it, and you still are. So are your brothers and your sister and whoever is coming this time. Your dad and I love each of you with all our hearts.”
“I’m glad you listened to the prophet.”
“So am I, sweetheart.”

Following a recent stake conference, Sister Lindsay and I were blessed to visit another household of faith located in rural Idaho. The young father in this home was suffering from a critical illness. A picture forever etched in my memory is of a mother and five beautiful children, together with this dear brother’s priesthood quorum leaders, kneeling around his bedside pleading with Heavenly Father for the life of this good man. He was then administered to within this circle of faith. It was our blessing recently again to meet this young couple and to hear their beautiful witnessing, their humble outpouring of spirit, of the Lord’s blessing in the restoration of the husband’s health.

I had an experience that illustrates this notion:

I served for a time as a member of the Association of Directors of Religion at a university in the Northwest. A broad variety of faiths was represented in the group. We met monthly to discuss common concerns about our assignments with the university students of our particular denominations. One Monday morning before the meeting had formally begun, I was seated to the left of one of my Protestant minister friends. I can still see it in my mind's eye. He leaned back in his chair with his hands clasped behind his head and, in his typical manner of expression, shared a concern and question. It went something like this:

It seems to me that in the evolutionary development of college-age religiosity, we have come to a time when it is no longer considered relevant by university students to attend Sunday evening worship services.

In other words, attendance among his group was decreasing.

He turned to his right, and asked, "How do you find it in your group?" Each minister in his own way agreed that, over time, the attendance in their groups was decreasing in their worship services.

Finally, after everyone else in the circle had commented, my turn came. At the time, I was also serving as the bishop of the student ward. Coincidentally, at our ward's sacrament meeting the night before this meeting, a note was handed to me by Brother Huber, our ward clerk. It contained the following message: "Congratulations, Bishop! Tonight we have the highest sacrament meeting attendance we have had since we were called to serve." Our experience was just the opposite of all the ministers who had responded. The attendance of our university students was steadily increasing. I tried to figure out a way to report that to the group as humbly as possible.

Early in their marriage the Scotts lost two children. A daughter died just before birth, and six weeks later their two-year-old boy died in heart surgery. Hard as it was, “it was a real testimony-strengthening time for us,” says Sister Scott. “We knew it was the will of the Lord. As I look back on it now, I wonder how we were so strong about it. But there are many blessings that come from these sadnesses.”