Gospel Story Finder

A Case for Jenny Archer Jenny was bored, so she decided to be a detective. Then she decided that the people moving into the house across the street were crooks, and she called the police. The only trouble was, they weren’t crooks! An easy-to-read book.Ellen Conford7–9 years

As a stake Primary president, Sabrina Simões Deus Augusto of Curitiba, Brazil, has seen how the personal development aspects of the program bless the children and youth in her stake. But she has also seen many ways to use what she has learned about personal development in her assignment as a ministering sister.

“When I develop a talent,” Sister Augusto says, “I can use that talent to bless someone I minister to.”

Sister Augusto taught one of the sisters to whom she is assigned how to make chocolate truffles. That sister now makes and sells the truffles to help supplement her family’s income. “Months later, I was blessed when another sister taught me how to make honey bread that I could sell,” Sister Augusto said. “Developing and sharing our talents can bless each other’s lives and deepen our relationships as ministering sisters.”

They also do an annual Christmas “open house,” where they go caroling at a number of houses in their ward and neighborhood. Everyone who hears them delights in the Bennions’ performances. The practicing is hard, and sometimes performing is scary, but all their hard work pays off in the joy they bring to other people through their music.

Earlier this year, when leaders of the New Zealand Auckland Mission planned to visit the remote island country of the Cook Islands for the district’s semiannual conference, they invited the Auckland New Zealand Harbour Stake patriarch, Steven Stebbings, to join them to provide an opportunity for members there to receive their patriarchal blessings.
The experience began in February 2023 when Elder Doneal White and Sister Claudia White arrived in the Cook Islands to serve a mission where there was no stake patriarch. In an early morning seminary class, they heard that 14 students told their teacher they had not received their patriarchal blessings. Wheels were set in motion and soon thereafter Brother Stebbings was authorised to travel to the Cook Islands to provide the desired blessings.
Elder and Sister White said they had prayed the Stebbings there—to the Cook Islands, and the timing was perfect—with a district conference during that time, and it was school holidays—plus a national youth soccer tournament the following week had brought in two groups of members for the tournament—and they could receive their blessings.

Winter the Dolphin
In Florida I met a dolphin named Winter. Her tail got caught in a crab trap, but she was able to swim again with a prosthetic tail. A volunteer taught me how to make Winter dance and do other tricks. Winter never gave up, so I didn’t want to give up either.

They had sweet moments standing in front of the mirrors, looking at their family’s reflection and imagining an eternal family.
The mirrors also made them remember their departed loved ones.
Zarah Angela Ramirez shared, “I only saw four faces but I felt an assurance that there are five people in my family, and because my husband and I were sealed in the temple, my daughter who left us at age 14 months will be with us forever.”

Another example of his self-mastery was his determination to become a good penman. His penmanship was so bad that when two of his friends looked at it, one said, “That writing looks like hen tracks.” “No,” said the other, “it looks as if lightning has struck an ink bottle.” This, of course, touched young Heber Grant’s pride. While he was still in his teens as a policy clerk in the office of H. R. Mann and Co., “he was offered three times his salary to go to San Francisco as a penman. He later became a teacher of penmanship and bookkeeping at the University of [Utah]. In fact, with a specimen he had written before he turned seventeen, he took first prize in a territorial fair against four professional penmen.”

It is a cold, rainy day in Finland. My companion is sick. We have to stay in our apartment because of his illness, and we have been here for several days. As I was standing looking out our window early this morning, I was overcome by a deep sense of emptiness and discouragement. It is a feeling that can come sometimes to missionaries in lands such as Finland where an elder finds himself seemingly buried under a pile of harsh circumstances: preaching the gospel to people who are usually unreceptive, fighting temperatures of -35° C. on a bicycle, and trying to master the unbelievable Finnish language with its incredible grammar. Add to this an absence of members for miles and miles, and it all combines to give missionaries an occasional feeling of isolation.
Well, as I was standing there looking out the window, I was struck with the thought that I should go and read some old issues of the New Era that were stacked in my closet. When I started reading, the day seemed to get better and better. The articles were so uplifting and full of spiritual strength for a mind that needed a lift. The feelings I received as the Spirit bore witness to me that I was reading the words of a living prophet, real apostles, and men chosen by the Lord were so strong, I just wanted to cry for joy. After three days of reading and studying several issues of the New Era, I can more clearly see why things are the way they are. The gospel gives us so many things to experience and ways to progress toward our eventual goal of perfection. The New Era contains such a vast amount of advice and help from those who have more knowledge and experience, and I’m so grateful that I can receive that advice even though I’m so many thousands of miles from home. Thank you so much for making the words of the General Authorities available to us.

Suzzie was Katie’s foal. She is about six years old now. She is as beautiful as her mother. Suzzie received some training about three years ago. Since then her training has been used very seldom. She has almost retrogressed to the level of her performance prior to her first handling. Had she been worked with regularly, she would now be a delight to ride.

Have a celebration! One time my soccer team lost a game. Everyone was upset. But we were surprised when our coach threw a pizza party. It really lifted our spirits!
Emma M., age 10, Arizona, USA

Cora was having a bad day. The dog jumped on her with muddy paws and got her favorite shirt dirty. She accidentally hit her head with a toy. Her sister wouldn’t play the game Cora wanted to play, and Cora got in trouble with Mom for arguing with her sister.
“I’m having a bad day!” Cora said as tears filled her eyes.
“You are choosing to have a bad day,” Mom said. “You can choose to have a good day instead.”
Cora felt mad. “No, I can’t!” she cried. “I’m having a bad day!”
Mom held Cora while she cried. “Have you tried praying?” she whispered into Cora’s ear. “Maybe you should ask Heavenly Father for help.”
“I don’t want to pray,” Cora said.
“Sometimes it’s hard to feel like praying, but that is when we need to pray most of all,” Mom said. “Let’s pray together. I’ll pray first, and then you can pray.” Mom folded her arms around Cora.
Cora did not want to listen to her mom’s prayer. Everything had gone wrong, and she wanted to be mad. She was mad at the dog, the toy, and her sister. She was even mad at Mom. But something inside Cora whispered, “It’s time to pray. You need to listen.”
Reluctantly, Cora bowed her head and closed her eyes. As Mom prayed, Cora felt her anger fading. In its place she began to feel peace and love.
But then she remembered what had happened to put her in such a bad mood. As she thought about her anger, the good feelings went away. Cora felt torn. She liked the sweet feeling of peace she had started to feel, but she was still mad and wanted to stay mad. Which should she choose?
Mom ended the prayer and said, “OK, now it’s your turn, Cora.”
Cora folded her arms and bowed her head. All the while, her anger fought to stay in her mind. She wondered about the good feelings she had felt during her mother’s prayer—were those from Heavenly Father? Could He really make her feel better? With those questions in her head, she began to pray. She told Heavenly Father that she was having a bad day and that she was mad. She told Him everything that had happened and asked if He would help her feel better.
At that moment, she knew what she needed to ask for. She told Heavenly Father that she did not want to be angry anymore and asked Him if He would take the angry feelings away.
As Cora prayed, she felt the peace and love return. This time she wanted those feelings to stay. She thought about the things that she had been angry about, and they didn’t seem to matter anymore. In fact, she couldn’t remember why she had gotten so angry in the first place. Cora finished her prayer and looked at Mom.
“Mommy, I feel better now! Heavenly Father answered my prayer!”
Cora’s mom hugged her tight. “Sweetie, I am so happy for you. And I know Heavenly Father is pleased with you for praying.”
“Heavenly Father must love us a lot if He wants to help us be happy,” Cora said.
“Yes, He does, Cora. He loves us very much.”
“Mommy, can I go now? I want to play with my sister again,” Cora said. She was ready to have a good day.

Some years ago Albert Peters told of the experience he and his companion had of a man being born again. One day they went to the hut of Atiati in the village of Sasina in Samoa. There they found an unshaven, unkempt, misshapen man lying on a bed. He asked them to come in and introduce themselves. He was pleased to know they were missionaries and wanted to hear their message. They presented the first discussion, bore witness to him, and then left. As they walked away, they discussed Atiati’s condition; he had had polio 22 years before that had left him without the use of his arms or legs, so how could he ever be baptized, being so completely disabled?
When they visited their new friend the next day, they were unprepared for the change in Atiati. He was bright and clean-shaven; even his bedding had been changed. “Today,” he said, “I begin to live again, because yesterday my prayers were answered and you [came] to me. … I have waited for more than twenty years for someone to come and tell me that they have the true gospel of Christ.”
For several weeks the two missionaries taught this sincere, intelligent man the principles of the gospel, and he received a strong witness of the truth and the need for baptism. He asked them to fast with him so that he would have the strength to go down into the water and be baptized. The nearest baptismal font was eight miles away. So they carried him to their car, drove him to the chapel, and set him on a bench. Their district leader opened the service by bearing a strong testimony about the sacred ordinance of baptism. Then Elder Peters and his companion picked up Atiati and carried him to the font. As they did so, Atiati said, “Please, put me down.” They hesitated, and he said again, “Put me down.”
As they stood in some confusion, Atiati smiled and exclaimed: “This is the most important event in my life. I know without a doubt in my mind that this is the only way to eternal salvation. I will not be carried to my salvation!” So they lowered Atiati to the ground. After a huge effort, he managed to pull himself up. The man who had lain 20 years without moving was now standing. Slowly, one shaky step at a time, Atiati went down the steps and into the water, where the astonished missionary took him by the hand and baptized him. He then asked to be carried from the font to the chapel, where he was confirmed a member of the Church.
Atiati continued to progress so that he gained the ability to walk only by a cane. He told Elder Peters that he knew that he would be able to walk on the morning of his baptism. He said, “Since faith can move a stubborn mountain, I had no doubt in my mind that it would mend these limbs of mine.” I believe we can say that Atiati was truly born again!

One day as Ed and I were maneuvering the streets of England, he turned to me with tears in his eyes, and he said, “Look.” I turned and saw a child on the side of the road. And then he said, “Who will teach the children?” That thought will not leave my mind or my heart. Who will teach the children? Who will teach the child who asks, “Will Heavenly Father really answer my prayer?” Who will teach Kate when at five years of age she asks, “Why do we need Jesus?” Who will teach the children? Please, will you? Will you? Will you help teach the children?

Fatima Alves of Portugal, who has spina bifida, found that the website has helped her realize exactly that: she is not alone.
“It is important to me that the Church has a website to help people with disabilities so that we feel united as Church members. It’s helpful to know that the Church is concerned and has a desire to help and support people in special situations,” she said.

While serving his mission, Elder Eves spent mornings tutoring trainees working on their high school and G.E.D. certificates. “He helped me so much,” says Brandy, a single mom working to learn the skills necessary for upgraded employment. “I couldn’t have passed my math section without him.”

On another occasion a phone call came when I was a bishop—this time from the police. I was told that a drunk driver had crashed his car through the glass into the lobby of a bank. When the bewildered driver saw the security guard with his weapon brandished, he cried, “Don’t shoot! I’m a Mormon!”

The inebriated driver was discovered to be a member of my ward, baptized only recently. As I waited to speak to him in the bishop’s office, I planned what I would say to make him feel remorseful for the way he had broken his covenants and embarrassed the Church. But as I sat looking at him, I heard a voice in my mind say, just as clearly as if someone were speaking to me, “I’m going to let you see him as I see him.” And then, for a brief moment, his whole appearance changed to me. I saw not a dazed young man but a bright, noble son of God. I suddenly felt the Lord’s love for him. That vision changed our conversation. It also changed me.

“This happened during the Vietnam War, when we lived in Colorado Springs. Your grandpa, who was flying in Vietnam, was gone, and I was staying busy just trying to keep up with all the kids.
“I was singing in a chorus made up of officers’ wives at the Air Force Academy. During a break at one of the rehearsals, a friend told me about a service project she was doing for wounded servicemen who were recovering at the Fort Carson Army Hospital.”
Grandma explained how her friend would go regularly to read magazines and books to the servicemen. Some of them had birthdays coming up and she wanted to take cakes to them, but she was discouraged because she couldn’t find anyone to help her, and she couldn’t bake them all herself. Grandma volunteered immediately to help her bake some cakes.
The very next day her friend called and asked if she was really serious about helping and could she have one ready to go that afternoon.
Grandma told me, “I was pretty busy myself that day with family and Church responsibilities, but I felt like I should help. I made a chocolate cake from scratch and topped it with white frosting and chocolate swirls.” I knew exactly which cake she was talking about. She had made it before for family gatherings, and it was one of my favorites.
That afternoon Grandma’s friend came by to pick up the cake and take it to the hospital. Two hours later, she called and said, “I thought you would be interested in what happened with your cake. I took it to a 36-year-old sergeant, a veteran of many years in the army. He was recovering from wounds received in Vietnam. He looked like a typical, tough drill sergeant without a kind word in his vocabulary. When I took the cake into his room, handed it to him, and wished him a happy birthday, he looked up at me with a stunned expression on his face. Then the tears started rolling down his cheeks.”
The sergeant told Grandma’s friend that this was the first birthday cake he had ever had. Nobody had ever cared enough to bake him one.
As Grandma listened to her friend, she was amazed that one small act of service could have such an effect. Grandma closed the binder and said, “Tell your seminary class that I’m glad I took time to bake that cake.”

Thomas S. Monson
(91) Two women become lifelong friends after one helps the other learn her job as a seamstress in a clothing mill.

I’m so excited to see this movie!
Me, too!
Um, there’s a lot of inappropriate stuff in this movie.
Yeah, but that’s just how they’re made these days.
I think I’m going to wait outside.
Hold up. I think I’ll join you.
Oh, hey, Hannah. Is the movie over?
No, but I think you guys are right. It’s not worth watching. Wanna grab some ice cream while we wait for the others?

The most widespread and valuable use of sea bottles has been to trace ocean currents so that ships may avoid an opposing current and take advantage of a favorable one. One dramatic example of this use was made by the Colonies’ deputy postmaster general, Benjamin Franklin, before the Revolutionary War. Puzzled as to why British mail packets usually took a week or two longer than Yankee ships to make the Atlantic crossing, Franklin talked to Yankee whaler captains. He found that bottles loosed in the Gulf Stream arrived in North America faster than those simply thrown in the sea anywhere. Thereafter, British ships followed that current.