Gospel Story Finder

The third item is to stay morally clean. In a broad sense, this means to be moral, to be righteous, and to be true. Of course, more specifically, it means to obey the laws of chastity. I was once invited to a party which I knew would be morally suspect. At first I rationalized, thinking I would be strong enough to resist whatever temptations might be around me. Fortunately, I decided not to go. I later learned about the alcohol that was consumed and the moral iniquities that took place there. I realized that was not the kind of place for a Latter-day Saint to be. If I had gone to that party, I could in no way have looked at that picture of the Savior in my room and felt at ease.

“A lot of my friends didn’t think we read the Bible,” Rachael says. “So I was really glad I could show them my seminary scriptures. They think it’s just their churches that have Bible study. They’re surprised to find we Mormons have our own study classes as well.”

I have a very good friend who served as a Congregational minister for over 26 years. He had one of the largest churches on Long Island, New York, at one time. He became acquainted with the Mormons by visiting Salt Lake City and receiving visits from Latter-day Saint missionaries in his home. He developed a great admiration for the programs of the Church, primarily because of the fruits he saw that were produced by the Church. So he thought to borrow these programs and adopt them into his own church, which he tried to do. But he found that they did not work. His statement to me was:
“It was somewhat of a jolt to discover that the genius of Mormonism was in its theology, not its methodology, and that the amazing vitality of the Church sprang from the commitment of its members to the Restored Gospel of Jesus Christ received by revelation. It became obvious that one could not have the fruits of Mormonism without its roots.” (John F. Heidenreich, “It May Change Your Life.”)

Seventeen-year-old Sharon Muirhead, a member of the Frisco Branch, Golden Colorado Stake, is equally at home in the water or on the snow. She’s both a championship swimmer and skier, helping her high school place in state competition in both sports.
She’s also a championship seminary student. She received her stake president’s award for seminary accomplishment. Part of the requirement for the award included completion of a special project. Hers involved creating a crossword puzzle on the book of Revelation, which has received national recognition. Her dedication carries over to her schoolwork—you can always find her name on the school honor roll.

(67) David A. Bednar helps a disappointed returned missionary.

While serving as president of the Japan Hiroshima Mission, I attended the services of the Hamada Branch in the Hiroshima Japan Stake. This small branch has an average attendance of about 35 members and investigators and meets in a rented building. When I entered the chapel, I was warmly welcomed by 10-year-old Eimi Funaki, who was playing prelude music on the branch’s electric organ. When the sacrament meeting started, I was surprised to see Eimi remain at the organ, thinking that a more mature member would be serving as the branch organist. I was even more surprised when 11-year-old Miho Hirano took her place behind the music stand as the branch chorister and began leading the congregation in the opening hymn. They both did a beautiful job. Although they are young in body, they are very mature in spirit. Their faithful efforts brought a wonderful sweet spirit to the meeting. I hope their example will help other Primary children want to develop their talents.

Elder Yoshihiko Kikuchi was born in Hokkaido in the northern part of Japan at the beginning of World War II. His father, who owned a fishing business, was killed when an American submarine sank his father’s fishing boats. Only five years old at that time, Elder Kikuchi grew up disliking Americans.

Keeping a personal history is a fun and easy way to do genealogy work. Young Women in the Castro Valley Second Ward, San Leandro California Stake, found a fun and creative way to get started. Each Young Woman created a time capsule by decorating a new paint can. Then she filled the can with important information and items like newspaper clippings and other memorabilia. Then the cans were sealed.
The Young Women will meet again during Christmas of the year 2001 to open their time capsules and share their memories with each other.
It’s history in the making.

One Friday, he and Sister Benson followed their usual practice of attending a session at the Jordan River Temple. While there, President Benson was approached by a young man who greeted him with joy in his heart and announced that he had been called to fill a full-time mission. President Benson took the newly called missionary by the hand and, with a smile on his lips, declared, “Take me with you! Take me with you!” That missionary testified that, in a way, he took President Benson with him on his mission, since this greeting demonstrated President Benson’s abiding love, his devotion to missionary work, and his desire to ever be found in the service of the Lord.

Besides his interest in art, Peter likes drama. For Father’s Day Peter wrote and acted out a play with paper puppets that he drew. The play, called “The Mystery Egg,” began like this: “Once upon a time there was an egg. It wasn’t a platypus egg; it wasn’t a chicken egg; it wasn’t a dinosaur egg. It was a dragon egg!”

In another instance, a Laurel whose cultural background is Spanish wanted to teach the youth of the ward some Spanish dances as part of her Laurel project. She planned the activity, learned dances from her parents and her aunts and uncles, then came and taught the young women of the ward. It was a great success. “We had fun dancing with her,” says Jenny Rencher, Laurel class secretary.

I recall that as a boy we had our presidency meetings. Our president would present whatever business was before him. We would talk about it. And then we would go forward, having had our discussion, to work to bring about the desired result.

When I was a boy, our family home evening took place at the dinner table. It was most pleasant and enjoyable. It was a time when our father would reminisce and tell us about his life. He often told us of his inspirational and exciting experiences while preaching the gospel as a missionary in Germany. Each story seemed to improve the more often it was related. I grew up never doubting that I would become a missionary, and I never lost the zeal that he instilled in my heart. Our mother taught us about the nobility of her pioneer parents and their great faith in the gospel.

At times an awareness of the elderly is brought into focus by a reminder from one ever so young. May I share with you a Pakistani folktale which illustrates this truth:
An ancient grandmother lived with her daughter and grandson. As she grew frail and feeble, instead of being a help around the house, she became a constant trial. She broke plates and cups, lost knives, spilled water. One day, exasperated because the old woman had broken another precious plate, the daughter sent the grandson to buy his grandmother a wooden plate. The boy hesitated because he knew a wooden plate would humiliate his grandmother. But his mother insisted, so off he went. He returned bringing not one, but two wooden plates.
“I asked you to buy only one,” his mother said. “Didn’t you hear me?”
“Yes,” said the boy. “But I bought the second one so there would be one for you when you get old.”

This is just one example of the amazing ability of seeds to germinate after long periods of dormancy. There are others, of course. Perhaps one of the most remarkable examples was the study conducted by a Danish botanist, Soren Odum, who took soil samples out of the remains of an archeological site in northwestern Jutland dating from at least 1,700 years ago. With careful procedures he was able to germinate four seeds that produced weeds common to that period of time. He also grew plants from many 600-year-old seeds obtained from other archeological excavations.

Moshoeshoe Nchapi, president of the Maseru District, who provided the opening remarks at the graduation, quoted President Russell M. Nelson who said, “Education is the difference between wishing you could help other people and being able to help them.”1 He also shared personal blessings he and his wife have received from being BYU-Pathway students themselves, “My wife’s confidence and mine have significantly improved in expressing ourselves in the English language. Several mathematical concepts that were Greek in high school are no longer a challenge.”

I am ever grateful to many of the Brethren for their examples of kindness and thoughtfulness to their wives. I well remember, when I was a stake president, the example set by the late Elder S. Dilworth Young of the First Council of the Seventy. At that time, his first wife, Gladys, was an invalid, having suffered a cruel stroke. She remained that way for many years before her death in 1964. Brother Young made the extra effort to dress her, feed her, and care for her. In all my life I have not seen a greater example of gentleness and solicitude than Brother Young showed to Gladys. He once told me, “It was the worst thing in the world that could have happened to Gladys and the best thing for me. It made me decent. I learned what love really should be.”

Priesthood Monument
This statue shows Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery receiving the Aaronic Priesthood from John the Baptist. It happened on May 15, 1829—187 years ago!
A Special River
After they got the priesthood, Joseph baptized Oliver Cowdery in the Susquehanna River. Then Oliver baptized Joseph. I really liked how we got to see the river. I actually touched the river where Joseph Smith got baptized!

Juanita and Miguelito live with their parents in a small house in Guatemala. They love each other very much. Each Sunday Juanita and Miguelito go to Primary and learn about the Savior and His teachings.
The Veliz family just moved into a big house close to Juanita and Miguelito’s house. Juanita and Miguelito like to play with the Veliz children. The Veliz children have toys that are bigger and more expensive. Their toys seem to be more fun, too.
One day Juanita and Miguelito were alone in the Veliz’s playroom. Miguelito put a toy racing car he liked to play with in his pocket. “Don’t say anything,” he told Juanita. “They have so many toys. They will never know if I take just one.”
“Miguelito, one of the commandments is ‘Thou shalt not steal’ (Ex. 20:15). Don’t you remember what Sister Campiz said in Primary?” Juanita asked.
“Sister Campiz said when we keep the commandments, we show Heavenly Father that we love Him and are willing to obey Him,” Juanita continued.
Miguelito kept playing. He pretended he didn’t hear his sister. “You choose!” Juanita told him.
After a few minutes, Miguelito took the car out of his pocket and put it with the other toys. He smiled at Juanita.
Before they went to bed that night, Juanita heard Miguelito praying. “Heavenly Father,” he said, “I am thankful to have the commandments to help me choose between right and wrong.”

Remembering some of her experiences in Primary and Sunday School, Sister Smith said, “One time after I had given a two-and-a-half minute talk, I thought I had done quite well. But a certain brother said, ‘I was really disappointed in you.’ I felt crushed and asked, ‘What didn’t I do?’
“He said, ‘You didn’t smile.’
“I think that made me realize that you need to smile often if you want people to feel comfortable with you. Now that I’ve learned how to genuinely smile at people, it has made a big difference in my life. Smiling is a signal of friendship. Heavenly Father has told us that one of our purposes here is to experience joy. I think that smiling is one way to reach that goal.”