Gospel Story Finder

Carolyn Meyer-Beug, age 48, a member of the Santa Monica Second Ward, Los Angeles California Santa Monica Stake, and her mother, Mary Alice Wahlstrom, age 75, of the Kaysville 17th Ward, Kaysville Utah East Stake, were on board the first plane that struck the World Trade Center. The two women were returning home from taking Sister Beug’s twin daughters to college.

Gordon and Susie are a down-to-earth couple living in a small hut on their land after the bushfires destroyed their home in late 2019. They had no access to running water and the donation of the water tank was very welcome.
“More than anything, they appreciated the fact that someone cared,” reported Brother Cummins.

I don’t know how often I have had an assignment come and I didn’t have a clue in my mind what to do. Yesterday I was in a meeting of the General Authorities. I knew I was going to speak first, and I thought, “What will I say?” And I was confident it would come, and it came.

I was trying to be like Jesus when I was at my friend’s house. She was sad because her older sister had been mean. I used the example of Jesus to teach her not to be mean back to her sister. It made her feel better.

Maybe this is more of what he had in mind. An acquaintance of mine became seriously ill not long ago. I hurried up to the Veterans Hospital in Salt Lake City to see if I could attend to some of his needs. He’s got some problems. He’s not the most active soul in the world, and you can kind of get the picture. There’s one around you somewhere.

He was surprised when I walked into the room. “Well, how did you know I was here?”

“Oh, the Lord has ways of sharing this kind of information.”

He had a blood condition that had caused his body great distress. It was very serious because of his age. He had tremendous pain in his ankles. He was eating dinner at the time I entered the hospital, so I sat on the edge of his bed and said, “Would it help if I massaged your legs for a minute?” So I massaged him. And I said, “Can I ask you a personal question? Did this sudden illness scare you a little? Does the bishop know you’re up here? Would you be offended if I told him? Would you like a special blessing?” He nodded yes. “Do you have faith?”

“No,” he responded.

“Do you have faith in me?”

“Yes.”

“Do you know what faith is?”

“No.”

So I sat on the bed and taught him.

You know, I find that most people don’t know these things because they haven’t been taught; they don’t understand. I gave him a little 2 1/2-minute talk on faith. The first principles of the gospel are what? Faith, repentance, baptism, and the gift of the Holy Ghost. Now, if you back up and look at faith, it says what? In the Lord Jesus Christ. Sometimes we leave that out. So I taught him the principles. He hadn’t ever heard that before, and he was 62 and had been born and raised in the Church.

I had noticed, of course, when I first went in that there were four other men in the room. It was a ward shared by several men without any privacy. I noticed while I was teaching (although I didn’t make it a pronounced sermon as such; it was just between the two of us) that others were straining to hear. So as I stood up in preparation for going around to place my hands upon my friend’s head, I turned, as the Spirit prompted me to do so, and I said to the other men lying in their beds, “Gentlemen, may I have your attention please?” They all sat up in bed. I said, “Perhaps you have noticed I am here to visit my friend, who is ill like you. I’m his home teacher. We’re members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints—Mormons. I haven’t had a chance to get acquainted with you; I don’t know what your particular faith is, but we believe in assisting each other spiritually. I am here to attempt to do that tonight. I’m going to give this man a special blessing.” Then I taught briefly just what that was. I said, “I wouldn’t expect you to endorse it or reject it particularly, but would you mind being reverent for a moment as I perform this ordinance for my friend?” And they all just sat there. So I placed my hands upon his head, and blessed him. The Spirit touched both of us, and the tears came without shame from a man who, I guess, hadn’t been in church in 22 years. When I got all through, we embraced each other, and I said, “Now, can I ask you a personal question? Did I offend you?”

“Oh no, Brother Dunn,” he said, “this is one of the most sacred moments in my life. Thank you.” Then I turned to go out, and four other men wanted blessings, two of whom weren’t even members of the Church. Now, Latter-day Saints, you don’t have to be embarrassed at who you are or what you are. There’s a teaching moment awaiting every one of us as we share this most priceless gift which is ours. I pray God that we might catch something of that great vision and the importance of it.

When I was a little boy, I had a pet dog called Bunyip. He was my best friend. We were inseparable. But one day Bunyip was bitten by a snake and died. I was shattered, and there was nothing my parents could do to console me. So my father went into one of the fields and painted a huge smiling face on a large granite boulder. He called it the Happy Rock. After that, whenever I felt sad, I would go to the Happy Rock, and my sorrows seemed to magically vanish.

Perhaps when they really think about it, your parents probably do know why they relate to you in certain ways. But all of us—including you—get into habits in our relationships. We treat people in certain ways without even thinking about it. For example, perhaps you were immature or untrustworthy at one time. Now you have truly changed, but your parents continue to treat you the same way out of habit. Don’t give up. Parents can learn to think in new ways. The most effective technique is communication. Talking honestly and openly to them can get them thinking along new lines. You may have to try it several times, but it’s worth it.

When Elder John H. Groberg was a young missionary, for weeks he and many others suffered great hunger because of a hurricane. What are some of the things he found as evidence that Heavenly Father loved him? (Clue: See p. 9.) List some of your blessings that show God’s love for you.

Just about everyone who has ever gone to Primary remembers their first CTR ring. But Michael Jensen, an 18-year-old from Vancouver, Washington, and Marcy Thorne, another 18-year-old from Watsonville, California, know that those letters can be a great reminder to choose the right, no matter how old you are.
Michael spent some time painting a large mural of the CTR symbol on his bedroom wall, while Marcy added the CTR letters to her high school graduation cap. Both Michael and Marcy say that the symbol not only reminds them to choose the right, but it also generates questions from friends, which allows them to share the gospel.

Ned Winder, a lifelong friend and formerly the executive secretary of the Missionary Department, tells of an amusing and humbling encounter which he experienced.

Two of the General Authorities, accompanied by Brother Winder, were walking down a staircase in view of a mother and her son, who were sitting on a couch facing the staircase. Seeing the brethren approach, the boy said to his mother, “Who is that first man?”

She replied, “He is Elder Marvin J. Ashton, a member of the Council of the Twelve Apostles.”

The boy continued, “Who is the man next to him?”

Mother replied, “He is Elder Loren Dunn, of the First Quorum of the Seventy.”

Then the boy concluded, “Who is the other man?”

The mother spoke more softly, yet she was still audible to Brother Winder: “Oh, he’s nobody.”

I may not have met him physically, but spiritually I feel I have. Whenever I read his inspired messages, I imagine him talking to me one-to-one with his hand on my shoulder. A First Presidency Message entitled “Life’s Obligations” (see Ensign, Feb. 1999, 2) helped me understand that although income is important, I do not need to be a multimillionaire to be happy. This message has brought me inner peace and satisfaction.

How can we develop a good attitude of cooperation? One wise stake president counseled priesthood and Relief Society leaders to determine their actions by asking, “What would the Savior do?” rather than “What has been done before?” With this idea in mind, ward leaders examined their “policies” in working together. Several ward “traditions” came under examination—the first, when the ward budget was presented for approval to the men in priesthood meeting, but not to the women in Relief Society.
“Would the Savior do that?” priesthood leaders wondered. They decided that he wouldn’t, and then they consulted the General Handbook of Instructions, which indicates that proposed budgets should be discussed with all ward members in a special meeting. That tradition was changed, and the sisters in the ward are much more supportive of ward activities now that they are included in the planning.

After coming back from my mission, I moved from my home in Guatemala and started going to school at Brigham Young University in Utah, USA. I was sad and a bit discouraged to move to a place where I seemingly wouldn’t have many opportunities to share the gospel. So I prayed earnestly to find someone who needed to hear the truth.
After a few weeks, I went on a walk after church and saw a tall man looking at posters on campus. I immediately felt that I should talk to him. I was nervous because I was still polishing my English and had no clue what to say. I walked past him but then turned around and introduced myself, trusting Heavenly Father to help me (see Doctrine and Covenants 100:5–6).
We had a nice conversation, and he told me that he wasn’t a member of the Church but he was a student and that he was amazed by the service the Church does for people. I could not believe that I was talking to a nonmember on BYU’s campus! We exchanged phone numbers, and eventually I introduced him to more members of the Church and helped him learn more about the gospel.
The man didn’t join the Church, but through that experience I learned that if we desire to bless other people’s lives, God will help us take the opportunities all around us (see Doctrine and Covenants 4:3). So now I don’t pray for missionary opportunities—I pray to have the eyes to see the missionary opportunities that are in front of me.

Speaking of faces, let me just share a little experience with you.

One day I was taping a radio program that was just a series of chats with little children. We had five or six children come down to the studio, and they were all dressed up in their bandbox best. I just started talking to them, one at a time. We were hoping to catch some snatch of conversation that would be good for the broadcast. The first one was a little five-year-old, and as she came in, I put her on my lap. I said to her, “Tell me, do you like to go to church?”

“Nope.”

I said, “Why not?”

“Too boring.”

I lifted her off and said, “Next.”

I didn’t think that we ought to air that family secret. I talked to two or three other children, and finally the door opened and a little toddler came in, cute as a button, in a freshly ironed dress. You know what her mother must have put her through to get her ready to come down to the studio. What an innocent face! I picked her up and said, “Well, who are you?”

She said, “Cory.”

I said, “How old are you, Cory?”

She raised three fingers. “Three.”

By now I was out of questions, so I said, “Do you know how to sing?”

“Uh-huh.”

“Would you sing for me?”

“Uh-huh.”

Without any prompting she commenced to sing a medley of Primary songs, ending with “I Am a Child of God.” I don’t know what that does to you, but I’m kind of tender. I looked through the window, and the engineer was even pushing back a tear or two himself.

Then I said, “Well, Cory, you sing like you know God.”

“Uh-huh.”

I said, “How would a three-year-old know God?”

She looked at me, and I’ll never forget her answer.

She said, “Because I have a father.”

And I thought, “Oh, the power of a father in the home!”

I said, “Do you know Jesus?”

“Uh-huh.”

I said, “Who’s Jesus?”

She said, “Our Elder Brother.”

I said, “Do you love Jesus?”

“Uh-huh.”

“Why do you love Jesus?”

She responded, “Because of what he did for us.”

I said, “What did Jesus do for us?”

She came right back and said, “He died for us.”

I said, “Why would he do that?”

And she looked at me as if to say, “Well, don’t you know?” She said, “So you and I will live again.”

And I thought, what marvelous insight.

In 1836 Parley P. Pratt went to Canada following a great prophecy uttered by Heber C. Kimball in which Brother Pratt was instructed to go to Toronto. He was told that he would there find people waiting for him who would receive the gospel, and that from there the gospel would spread into England, where a great work would be done. In Toronto he found President John Taylor, the Fieldings, and many others.

I grew up in Guatemala City, Guatemala, with seven brothers and seven sisters. Raising a family that size was not easy, and my father had to work at two or three jobs at the same time. But my parents were not overwhelmed by their great responsibility. They were happy people, and they taught us by example to be happy and enjoy life.
We learned from them that the Lord would bless us with the basic needs of life if we did our best. They also taught us that while we needed food to sustain us and clothes to cover us, it did not matter if we had one suit or two. One was enough. And we learned to share everything that was possible to share.
As a result, we as a family became really good friends. Today, even though we are all married, the unity we share is unique. Every time we get together, we play guitars, sing songs, and have a wonderful time. Our wives and husbands say, “It is great to be with the Areado family. They have so much fun!”

Laura Swenson from Idaho, USA, came home one day frustrated and in tears. She was not married, and her plans for college and the career she had dreamed of were falling apart. “I wondered if I was even going anywhere,” she wrote.

“I was prompted to turn to the Book of Mormon. In the first four verses of 1 Nephi 18, I found an answer to my concerns. These verses describe the ship that Nephi built to carry his family to the promised land. It was ‘of curious workmanship’ and not built ‘after the manner of men’; rather, it was built ‘after the manner which the Lord had shown’ (verses 1–2). Nephi consulted with the Lord often while building the ship. When the ship was finished, ‘it was good, and … the workmanship thereof was exceedingly fine’ (verse 4).

“I realized that my own journey was of ‘curious workmanship.’ It didn’t fit the patterns of men but would get me where I needed to go if I sought the Lord’s guidance. These verses were a beacon of light in a dark moment. My problems didn’t end overnight, but I found the perspective that I needed. I am now in a rewarding career for which I had never planned.”

A few months later, I got a job. Once we bore our first son, whom we named Powell Blamo Nepay, going to the temple became even more important. We have been planning and pondering on visiting the house of the Lord to be sealed for time and all eternity.
I work for one of the biggest GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications) companies in Liberia as a customer value management coordinator. Part of my many duties is to raise revenue for the company as I stimulate inactive, active, and new customers to either increase their recharge and/or purchasing power. Each time we planned to go to the temple, my bosses always rejected my leave plan and asked that I continue the job since there is more work to do.
In 2023, I relocated from the New Kru Town 1st Ward to the Caldwell New Georgia Ward where my family and I now live. With the assistance of the priesthood leaders in the Caldwell Liberia Stake, I again started planning and vowed that this year we would go to the temple and that there is nothing that will stand in my way again.
We were scheduled to attend the Ghana Accra Temple in February 2023, and it was the same month that Elder. D. Todd Christopherson was due to come to Liberia. In addition to going to the temple, I was praying to be taught by an Apostle of the Lord. In Liberia, we have witnessed the visit of three Apostles since the Church was established here. I just couldn’t afford to miss this opportunity as I can’t wait for about five or six more years before seeing an Apostle in my land.
Fortunately, the Lord answered my prayer as the temple trip was postponed to April 10–13, 2023. What a great moment it was for my wife, and beautiful kids as we finally made the trip to Ghana. Our dream has finally come true! My lovely wife wept and said to me, “I am grateful that we are sealing today. This is a miracle all by itself as your boss finally accepted your impromptu leave plan.” Indeed, the Lord answers prayers. Apparently, the Lord wanted our four-year-old and one-year-old daughters to join their brother as we were sealed for this life and for the life to come.

George Albert and Lucy Smith had been married for about 40 years when Lucy began a prolonged struggle with frail health. Though he worried about her and tried to comfort her as much as he could, President Smith’s duties as a General Authority often required him to be away from home. One day after President Smith gave a talk at a funeral, someone handed him a note telling him to return home immediately. He later wrote in his journal:
“I left the chapel at once but my Darling wife had breathed her last before I arrived at home. She was passing while I was talking at the funeral. I am of course bereft of a devoted helpmeet and will be lonely without her.”
“While my family are greatly distressed,” he continued, “we are comforted by the assurance of a reunion with [her] if we remain faithful. … The Lord is most kind and has taken away every feeling of death, for which I am exceedingly grateful.”16

I was preparing for my first assignment to preside at a stake conference as a new Area Seventy when President Packer called me. He asked if it would be convenient if he attended the conference with me, and I readily accepted. When we arrived for the meetings, President Packer said to the stake president, “You are probably wondering why I am here.” He then pointed to me and said, “I am here to whip him into shape.” It wasn’t long before I realized that he meant what he said.
Following our planning meeting with the stake presidency, President Packer suggested we take our seats on the stand. It was 20 minutes before the leadership meeting was to begin. Nearly everyone was in their seats, and I leaned over to compliment the stake president. Suddenly I received an elbow in my side, and President Packer said firmly, “No talking.”
I was shocked to receive a reprimand from an Apostle, and it took me a moment to recover. As I glanced at him out of the corner of my eye, I noticed that he was writing some notes on a fresh notepad, including a few scriptures that he planned to share. I was filled with the Spirit as I realized that President Packer was receiving revelation for what the Lord would have him teach. President Packer’s previous general conference address came to mind, “Reverence Invites Revelation” (Ensign, Nov. 1991). It was imperative that I keep quiet so as not to interrupt the whisperings of the Spirit.
A few moments later, President Packer leaned over and asked me to have the stake president request that the organist play the prelude more reverently. She had been playing energetically and perhaps with some added fanfare. I prayed in my heart that she would not be hurt by the request, and I passed the word on. The stake president somewhat hesitatingly spoke to the sister and almost immediately the volume, tempo, and spirit of the music changed. As I listened to the prelude, I was reminded that reverent, worshipful music adds immeasurably to the spirit of a meeting.
As the congregation began singing the opening hymn, President Packer whispered to me, “Not everyone is singing. Please have the stake president stop the hymn and invite everyone to sing the hymn ‘thoughtfully’ as suggested in the hymn book. This hymn communicates an important message that we will be learning about today.” Once again I passed the message on to the stake president. The spirit of the meeting changed as the entire congregation participated in singing.
Our meetings that weekend were reverent. There was a spirit of worship. Many of us received personal revelation and communed with God. I learned that reverence truly does invite revelation. I also learned that sometimes the difference between a mediocre meeting and a powerful meeting is in the planning and in the details.