Gospel Story Finder

In my grade school studies we were learning about England. We had presentations about English traditions and culture, so my teacher decided we should have an English tea party. I was the only member of the Church in my class. The teacher said we were going to have real tea. I had a pit in my stomach because the Word of Wisdom has taught me not to drink “hot drinks” interpreted as tea and coffee (see D&C 89:9). When it was time for the tea party, my teacher laid out small cups of tea for each student and asked us to “at least taste a little.” I knew I couldn’t drink the tea. Despite the pressure I felt, I asked the teacher if I could have water instead. I am glad that I followed the Holy Ghost’s reminder to me to stand as a witness of God “at all times and in all things, and in all places” (see Mosiah 18:9), even though it was hard.

At the passing of my wife's father, we all experienced some sweet moments of deep reverence and quiet feelings of respect. Those feelings of reverence were most deeply felt for me during the time that we had the privilege of dressing his body in sacred apparel. I had never seen our sons more solemn, quiet and reverent. The Spirit settled into that room in a powerful and never-to-be-forgotten experience. We were each affected in our hearts and will never be the same.

When Sister Meha and I were completing our degrees, we looked forward to graduating and moving on. We enjoyed living in M building at TVA and attending our married student ward. We loved our neighbors and friends. Like some of you families here we were very busy with a heavy class load, work at PCC, BYU-Hawaii stake callings and very little time for fun. We were anxious to finish and start our lives as graduates. In our final year, I was offered a teaching position at the Church College of New Zealand. Some of you here either attended CCNZ or have family members who did - at least until the school closed at the end of 2009. The job offer was attractive. CES offered to pay our moving expenses and provide housing for us in Temple View. We made the decision a matter of prayer and fasting. Realizing that our prayers had been answered, we were able to fulfill my commitment to return home to serve. We learned that returning to New Zealand was an act of faith, but we had seen other couples do this, and their example gave us confidence that all would work out well if we exercised faith and did our part.

So, the next step is finish school. You don't want to be a professional student. My father always told me that I should be a man in a hurry to finish my education and get on with my life's work. While you are finishing your education, you need to already have a plan developed for what you are going to do with your degree. It is a matter to be prayerfully considered and a joint decision if you are married. Once you make the plan, you need to stick with it. When we got married, our plan was that I would work a year after graduating from BYU-Hawaii and then go to law school. As I was ending my year off from school, I told my wife that maybe I should just continue to work as it seemed that I was making pretty good money. I will forever be grateful to my wife for encouraging me to stick with our original plan and not delay going to law school. It was probably the most important family decision we made.

I carried a tray of food, prepared by my mother-in-law, into a cluttered and dusty home. The sole occupant sat where she always sat, on a big armchair positioned so she could see out the window. Her swollen legs were stretched in front of her and her cane, which she used only with great effort, leaned against her arm. She smiled when she saw me, thanked me for the food, and apologetically asked who I was. As I sat next to her and listened to her stories, I was filled with warmth and peace.
Three years later, I was on the floor with my two young children, bouncing them on my legs and singing a racehorse tune. Only a few feet away, my kitchen was in disarray and toys were scattered across the floor. I suddenly felt a reassurance from the Spirit that I was right where I needed to be. Warmth and peace flooded my soul, filling its worn edges and giving energy where there was none.
Another two years forward, I was lying on the bed. A pile of laundry was visible on the floor, and a stack of papers littered the desk to my left as I fed my newborn son for the fourth time that night. I brushed my fingertips against his long lashes, felt his soft bald head, and was thrilled when fingers curled around the lace of my shirt. I was so filled with warmth and peace that I didn’t even mind that I was sometimes awake at three in the morning.
In each of these cases, the Holy Ghost was with me, telling me I was in the right place and doing the right thing, and in each of these cases, I was in a messy home.

Last year we all watched in astonishment as Kenneth Rooks fell during the 2023 USA Track and Field 3,000-meter steeplechase championships. Put mildly, Rooks’s chances at that point didn’t look good. But the stumble became a change point in an unexpected direction. In an improbable turn of events, during the last lap Rooks pulled ahead and won the race in arguably one of the most dramatic comebacks in BYU track and field history. Many of us watched Rooks again this summer as he captured a silver medal at the Olympics in yet another thrilling race.

When asked on BYUtv where his drive comes from to surge to the head of the pack, Rooks said: “It’s just deep inside. . . . It’s a decision . . . to finish that race knowing that I had fought and had given it everything.”

Ridley could be anything she wanted to be. Everyone said so. And so she was.
On mist-filled mornings when dark clouds filled the sky, Ridley became the captain of a ship. She stood in the crow’s nest and scanned the horizon, always on the lookout for dragons who wanted to steal her treasure. Sometimes she sailed to where she could watch dolphins and whales play in the waves.
On hot, humid days when the sun was as yellow as a field of dandelions, Ridley became an astronaut, swooping in her spaceship past Saturn’s rings on her way to Pluto. Sometimes she flew around Earth and shared her picnic lunch with the man in the moon.
When the days were cool and the sun hid behind clouds as big as balloons, Ridley became an explorer. She pushed her way through dark, dangerous jungles. One time she discovered the great pyramid of a long forgotten king. Sometimes she stayed close to home and explored caverns deep inside the earth and climbed over rocks as big as a house.
On windy days when the sun dipped low in the sky and the leaves in the yard played tag, Ridley became an airplane pilot. She zoomed over treetops and helped fire fighters put out forest fires. Sometimes she was a storm watcher and flew into the eye of a hurricane so that she could let everyone know how big the storm was.
Ridley could be anything she wanted to be. Everyone said so. And so she was. And at the end of the day, when the sun slipped out of sight, Ridley was very tired. She didn’t want to be an explorer, an astronaut, or even the captain of a ship anymore. She just wanted to be herself. So while the stars twinkled in the night sky, she said her prayers, kissed Mama good night, and fell fast asleep.

One Sunday Sister Garcia assigned Whitney to give a talk in Primary the following week. Whitney didn’t usually like giving talks because she never knew what to say. But this time was different. Whitney could hardly wait to get home and begin writing.
“What are you supposed to talk about?” Wendee asked on the way home from church.
“Well,” Whitney said, “Sister Garcia said the theme should be ‘families are forever.’ The way I look at it, forever families are a lot like making raspberry jam!”

A couple from California with children between the ages of eighteen and thirty found that fasting, praying, and attending the temple specifically for their children has blessed them:
“A son, suffering from a lack of testimony, long overdue to serve a full-time mission, was the subject of several of our special visits to the temple,” said the mother. “Following each visit [to the temple] came a spark of change into his life, and soon the fire of testimony burned brightly enough that he served his mission” (Ensign, March 1992, page 71).

Imagine that one morning, you wake up and realize there’s a cloth blocking your vision. You try to pull it off, but your attempts are in vain, and ultimately you give up and accept that you’re destined to live your life in darkness. Hopelessly, you let your head fall in defeat. Then suddenly you hear a voice—someone is telling you to take his hand, saying that he can help you if you will only believe and trust him to lead you. Could you put your full trust in him?

The bright coloring of the surrounding mountains was inspiring. The yellow, brown, and gray of the stone in the nearby hills and the blue of the distant mountains was a scene that only nature could paint. An artist who tried would be accused of exaggeration.
I stood on the edge of a great precipice. The ground beneath my feet was white sandstone. It was strange how drab the ground at my feet appeared but how beautiful that same stone was when viewed from a distance. “Isn’t that the way life is?” I thought to myself.
I looked down. Far below, the Colorado River, like a puny gray ribbon, wound itself through the deep canyon gorge. It made me dizzy, and I backed off for fear of losing my balance. I looked up and saw the other side of the canyon 183 meters beyond. As I contemplated how remote we were from civilization, fear came into my heart. “What have we promised to do?” I asked myself.
We had signed a contract to fabricate and erect the steel for a bridge to span the Colorado River gorge. We were relying upon our engineer’s computations and designs to do something we had never done before. The last thing I would ever do under these circumstances would be to express aloud any doubt. I had to be positive. If the leader of the organization lacks courage or judgment when exploring new horizons, the operation will crumble. It was a critical point, a precipice for those of us who had worked so long and hard to build a professional reputation. We could not turn back now. I displaced my fears by thinking, “If men never ventured beyond their experience, the world would make no progress.”
How do you go about bridging such a chasm? First, we spanned the river with a cord. The cord was used to pull a light rope across, then a heavier rope, a light cable, and a heavier cable, until we had a 76 millimeter steel cable spanning the gorge supported by high towers on each side. Together with other essential parts we had a high line system that would carry fabricated steel segments into their respective positions; some pieces weighed as much as 30 tons.
The segments of the arch were supported by towers and held 600 tons of steel high above the river until the arch could be closed. After the arch was closed, its weight was transferred down to the huge concrete foundations supported by the bedrock of the canyon walls, enabling the towers to be relieved and dismantled.
Every step taken had to be right. Every piece of steel had to fit with exactness. Every move was carefully planned. A complicated scheduling process was used to coordinate engineering, purchasing, steel preparation, steel fabrication, storing, transporting, unloading, and erecting so that the right piece of steel arrived at the site at the exact time it was needed. It’s that way in life, isn’t it? We must plan things to a standard of excellence if we want to succeed. The greater the challenge, the higher the standard must be, whether we are building bridges or building lives.
Today, people never notice the precipice on which I stood on that particular day. As the motorist travels over what before was an impassable route, he now crosses from one side of the canyon to the other in approximately eight seconds, I seldom look back upon that precipice in my business life without realizing that man, with the help of the Lord, can pretty well do whatever he determines to do. What is a challenge for one might be quite commonplace for another, but what is now commonplace was once a great challenge.

Illustrations by Shauna Mooney Kawasaki
Matt, please come to the board and solve problem three.
Heavenly Father, please help me get this right.
Sorry, Matt. That’s wrong.
That night
I don’t understand, Dad. I said a prayer, but Heavenly Father didn’t help me with that math problem at all.
That’s too bad. Had you studied the chapter? Had you practiced the sample problems?
Um, well, no. But I prayed.
Isn’t asking Heavenly Father to give you the answer when you haven’t studied kind of like asking Him to do the work for you?
I never thought of it that way.
Dad, I really do need help with math. Do you think Heavenly Father would help me if I pray about it?
Of course He would, and so will I. And next time there’s a quiz, you can ask Him to help you remember what you’ve studied.

As we have attended the baptismal services for our grandchildren, we’ve shared their happiness in becoming members of the Church. After her baptism, Amy innocently wrote in her journal: “When I was baptized, it was fun because I became a member of the Church … Now it is all over and I don’t have any more sins and I don’t have to worry.” Seeing these precious children reach out to take their fathers’ hands in complete faith and trust as they enter the baptismal font has been one of the most beautiful sights I have witnessed. Then, joining with others in placing my hands on their heads as they have been confirmed and having their fathers give them the gift of the Holy Ghost and a father’s blessing have been experiences I shall never forget.

One of the greatest blessings I have received because of BYU is to have found my wonderful wife, Cathy, while I was an undergraduate here. She had just returned home from her mission to Switzerland and had moved into our single adult ward. I was trying to get up the courage to ask her out, but for some reason I was unusually nervous.

Around that time our single adult ward activities committee started a blind-date box in which ward members could put the names of two people who they thought would make a good match. Then the activities committee would contact the two and say, “You’ve got a blind date. Meet on the corner on Thursday at six.”

However, the catch was that you weren’t really supposed to use the blind-date box for your own romantic escapades. But I felt that there was a higher purpose that needed to be served. So I put my name and Cathy’s name in the box and then played the role of a surprised and delighted blind-date partner. We had a great time, got engaged six months later, and were married. On our wedding day, the activities committee gifted the blind-date box to us as their greatest success story. So, though things turned out well, our relationship began on the pretense of deception and rule breaking; I teach business ethics here at BYU.

I was sitting at a lunch table with my friends when I noticed a new boy—Michael. He decided to sit with a group of older boys, who started to make fun of him. I later learned that Michael has autism.
I asked Michael if he wanted to sit by me and my friends. He declined, probably out of fear of people making fun of him again.
The next day, I introduced him to my friends. I could tell he was glad I didn’t give up on him. He had a lot to talk about. He was awesome!
Each day, I could tell Michael was becoming a happier person. He started looking forward to lunch with his friends. Sitting with Michael at lunch soon created a meaningful friendship. It not only helped Michael, but it also helped me.
The feeling from serving others is one of the most wonderful feelings in the world.
Laura P., Illinois, USA

When I was in high school, I remember trying sometimes to sit at lunch with the right people, the ones that were popular. I guess that’s why I was struck by what my granddaughter, Grace, did. I guess you can say that she’s eligible to be at the cool table—she’s good looking, athletic, and has a big personality. Unsurprisingly, Grace sat with other girls like her at lunch. One day, she noticed that a Somali immigrant student was always sitting alone. She knew that he spoke virtually no English. Most kids were distantly friendly to him, but sitting next to him at lunch when you couldn't even converse with him just didn't make sense. Except to Grace. She walked over to his table and sat down. Not once, but every day. They communicated as best they could, and as his English improved, they became true friends. After a few months, Grace asked him if he had any other friends at school. Yes, he said, one other girl. It turned out to be Grace’s best friend from church.

I mentioned that Grace is athletic. She’s also quite tall—five foot eleven inches. And she has no trouble attracting the attention of the tall athletes at school. But Grace invited the shortest boy in school—a seriously short kid— to go with her to prom. The two of them got quite a laugh at how they looked. Grace figured that he would have been uncomfortable asking another girl, or maybe he would have just stayed home, so she just stepped up, so to speak.

Grace’s way is the Savior’s way. She reminds me that I also can reach out to the one.

“Somebody in the back of the room said, ‘Why don’t we just stay home?’ First there was a long silence and then we started to think. There just isn’t a more important place than right here where we are. This is the place that is ours—our home, our Zion, our place in the gospel.”
So the youth and leaders of the Norfolk Virginia Stake just stayed at home and had one of the best youth conferences they have ever had. The theme of the conference was “How To” and developed into their title “The How-to Jamboree.”
Under the direction of the stake president, Walter H. Hick, and with the help of Brother James Cole of the high council, Mark Welton and Becky Wertman began planning a one-day, stay-at-home youth conference.
They began by outlining a program. Seminars with qualified leaders would be held, and each Aaronic Priesthood and Young Women group would follow its own particular schedule through the seminars that would benefit them most. The seminars were divided into several areas: homemaking, leadership, sports, dance instruction, calendars and agendas, spirituality, and a special area for the adult leaders. In addition to these seminars, there was a visit from astronaut Don Lind, who spoke and gave some special spiritual insight into the life of an astronaut and how important the gospel can be to a man who faces the special challenges that he faces.
The Norfolk Virginia Stake youth leaders also invited Faye W. Buckley, a well-known local celebrity, to organize and conduct a special choir in just one day. It was a great success and a learning experience for music people in the stake, as well as a good chance for the youth to get together, cooperate, and produce some music in a very short time.
The day began early with registration at 7:15 A.M. There were a few wrinkled faces and shuffling steps in the beginning, but by 8:00 in the general assembly and welcome session, all were wide awake and ready to begin. Each Aaronic Priesthood and Young Women group was given a schedule to follow, and the great one-day-youth-conference-at-home experiment was about to begin.
The spirituality seminar emphasized the fact that as members of the Church we have a responsibility to be spiritual and to impart this feeling of spirituality to others. Creating or the “how to” of spirituality was the emphasis. Guidelines for spirituality were set and included things like knowing what the qualities of a spiritual person are and the importance of the physical atmosphere—or just being sure that you are in good places. The importance of modest and tasteful dress was discussed in relation to spirituality, along with care in the use of good language. Prayer was discussed as being most important to the spiritual well-being of each of us.
In the seminar for sports, even the girls were invited to participate. Jim Eakins, a member of the Church who played basketball for BYU and then professionally with the Virginia Squires before being traded to the Utah Stars, led this popular seminar. Jim talked about the over-all structure of the athletic program of the Church and emphasized the importance of good health both physically and spiritually. Jim narrowed the subject down to sports on the ward level and, as one young lady was heard to say, “made the rules so easy to understand that anybody could play.” The emphasis again was “how to” build a good ward sports program.
In the leadership seminar the principles of presidency were stressed. Leaders of quorums were challenged to teach correct principles to their quorums through having faith in their program, preparing to meet the challenge, presenting their ideas through proper and creative communication, and by realizing that good leadership is a lot of hard work. Helps were given in organizing and setting goals and priorities, and the seminar instructor said that giving excuses will not get the job done. The instructor also emphasized the point that a good leader gives credit and praise where it is deserved. If a job is praiseworthy, tell the person responsible that you appreciate his good work.
The dancing seminar and the seminar on homemaking were most popular with the ladies, but some of the males managed to get included in both. The men were persuaded to join in the dancing and really enjoyed themselves more than they wanted to admit. In the homemaking seminar the leaders arranged to have a five-foot-ten-inch “baby boy” on hand to practice their child care skills on. The baby had a giant pacifier, a doll, a giant diaper, a mustache, cried very little, and cooperated with the leaders in demonstrating several correct principles of child care.
The baby was later seen eating fried chicken and drinking root beer at the conference luncheon, and no one burped him.
At 5:00 P.M. the final seminar was finished, and it was time to dress for dinner and the activities that would follow. These included one-act plays presented by the Hampton Ward and the Williamsburg Branch. Then the choir that had been practicing in groups all day long finally got together for the big number. It was great! After the program a formal dance provided a fitting end to a unique one-day experience.
It turned out that staying at home for a youth conference was more fun than anyone had thought it would be. And just about everyone learned more, did more, and felt more than he ever had before at previous youth conferences. “The young people did the planning, they did the work, and they had a great experience with their conference,” said Brother Cole. “A youth conference at home can be great; give it a try.”
How did they have a great time at their one-day youth conference? Their first “how to” rule was—stay home!

My most pressing immediate worry was the welfare of my five younger brothers and sisters, the youngest of whom was only four years old. For several weeks we lived as refugees, suffering terribly from hunger.
Then I went to Lima, the capital city, to look for work. During this time, I was almost desperate with worry for my brothers and sisters, whom I had left at home in the care of an older brother. From time to time, I heard news of continued bloodshed in the area where they were living. Often I would cry, worrying that they might be dead. Still, I felt supported by the knowledge I had received that day on the mountain that Heavenly Father lived and loved us.
I was almost ready to give up hope of ever finding work when I was given a temporary job picking sweet potatoes. Even though I was a minor and lacked the proper documents, through faith and prayer I was eventually given a permanent job. After some months, my brothers and sisters were able to come live with me in Lima. One of my aunts gave us a place to live, and another gave us some household utensils. We had very little, since most of our parents’ belongings had been stolen. But none of our problems mattered as long as we were together.

Another young woman in England is developing her gift for being a peacemaker. She says:
“I love making and listening to music, and it is one of the best ways I know to calm down. If I am in a rotten mood, I quite often go to the piano and take out my anger on it. This isn’t very good for the piano, but soon I feel fine again, and usually I will end up playing a hymn. This puts me in a better humour, and everyone else responds to the music as well, so we get harmony in the home for a while at least.”

I wish I could say that I grew up loving the principle of modesty, but truthfully, I didn’t. Although my parents taught me that modesty was important, I thought the immodest outfits on the shows I watched were much cuter than anything modest.
I heard a lot of reasons for dressing modestly that did not make sense to me, from “Modest is hottest” to “It’s your responsibility to dress modestly to keep boys’ thoughts out of the gutter.” The immodest way I dressed got me the attention I wanted. I was unwilling to even consider the blessings of dressing modestly, and I felt a lot of anger when people encouraged me to.
One summer, I was going out with some friends. My mom saw the immodest outfit I was wearing and said, “Elizabeth, you are approaching adulthood. You really need to think about the kind of person you want to be, and with that comes the appearance you project.” When she said this, I was ready to fight.
“Mom, give me one good reason I should dress modestly. I’ve heard them all. And I’m still waiting to hear something that doesn’t involve boys and their thoughts. Give me something, anything, that makes sense.”
She looked out the window for a moment. After some time in silence, she looked up at me lovingly and quietly said, “Because it is a principle of obedience, and you love Heavenly Father.”
I was completely disarmed, unable to retort. Her words planted the seed I needed to begin to overcome this struggle.
I began to realize that modesty was not just about the way I dressed. Like the warnings in the scriptures against wearing costly apparel (see Alma 5:53; Mormon 8:36–39), my choice of clothing was just a symptom of being prideful in thought and behavior. And that pride was something I had held on to for so many years. I was unwilling to let go of what I wanted, which was really validation and attention, for what Heavenly Father wanted for me.
The For the Strength of Youth guide says, “Heavenly Father wants us to see each other for who we really are: not just physical bodies but His beloved children with a divine destiny” ([2022], 24). I began to see my body as sacred, something I needed to use to glorify God, not myself.
When I began to repent, Heavenly Father filled the parts of my heart that wanted attention with His love. This was so empowering and gave me so much hope that the desire for immodesty started to leave my soul.
The way I spoke started to change, my love for others grew, and my desire to serve increased. I didn’t just adopt the principle of obedience to God in my life; I began to love it. I could feel its protective power. This change helped me prepare to go to the temple and make beautiful, sacred covenants in His house.
I now love modesty because I love the principle of obedience, something I never thought would be the case. But Heavenly Father never gave up on me, and He will never give up on you in whatever you are struggling with, even if it is a long, bumpy journey.
For more on modesty, see For the Strength of Youth: A Guide for Making Choices (2022), 24, 25, 27.