Gospel Story Finder

Illustrations by Shauna Mooney Kawasaki
Wendy: You Mormons aren’t really Christians.Mandy: Let me help you with that.
Wendy: You believe in Joseph Smith, not Jesus.Mandy: Joseph Smith taught us to believe in Jesus. He spent his whole life following Jesus. He died serving Him.
Wendy: I still say you’re not a Christian, and if you say you are, we can’t be friends.Mandy: Wendy, I know that Jesus Christ is my Savior. He suffered for my sins. He died on the cross for me. He was resurrected so that I can live again. I love Him with all my heart. If you don’t think I’m a Christian, that’s OK. I still want to be your friend.
Wendy: Thanks for helping me with the playhouse.Mandy: You’re welcome.
Wendy: Let’s keep being friends.Mandy: Let’s do.

When I was 17 years old, I faced heavy peer pressure at my high school. The friends that I did have didn’t share my values. My friends and I participated in many appropriate activities together like playing basketball or football. But they also drank alcohol and smoked—two activities I didn’t do with them.
One day a group of us was outside of our school studying for a test we would take later that day. With me were two of my closest friends, Juan and Francisco (names have been changed). At one point, someone got out lighters and cigarettes. I thought my friends had gotten bored with studying and had forgotten I was there. I learned I was wrong when they turned to me and said, “Now is the time for Hugo to learn how to smoke.”
Before I even had the chance to react, Juan and Francisco leapt toward me and took me by the arms, one on each side. They held my arms down as someone pressed a cigarette between my lips. My body immediately rejected this, and I spit the cigarette on the ground, far from me. Soon after, I felt the blow of a clenched fist squarely connect with my cheekbone. They threatened me, saying, “We’re going to light the cigarette again, and you’re going to learn to take the smoke. Don’t throw it on the ground. If you do, it’s not going to go well.”
In that moment, I knew I was in trouble. I closed my eyes and said a quick prayer asking for some type of help. As soon as I finished my prayer, our teacher’s car pulled up and parked near us. Our teacher got out of the car and asked us what we were doing. My friends released me. “We’re getting ready for the test,” they assured the teacher. We went into the school and took the test, and the situation ended.

The decision to continue his studies at Harvard proved to be significant for another reason. It meant he was still in Boston during the summer of 1961, when Kathleen Johnson, daughter of J. Cyril and LaPrele Lindsay Johnson, of Palo Alto, California, came to Boston to attend summer school. Hal, who was serving as a counselor in the Boston district presidency at the time, was assigned to preside at a sunrise service for young adults.
After that sunrise service, he saw a young woman coming out of a grove of trees. Not only was he struck by her beauty, but at that moment the words of President David O. McKay came to his mind: “If you meet a girl in whose presence you feel a desire … to do your best, … such a young woman is worthy of your love” (Gospel Ideals, Salt Lake City: Improvement Era, 1953, page 459). “That was exactly how I felt as I saw Kathleen for the first time,” says Elder Eyring.
Hal and Kathleen were introduced at church the following Sunday. “I knew Hal was someone special,” Kathy remembers. “He thought deeply about important things.”
The courtship continued throughout the rest of the summer and then by mail and phone after Kathleen returned to California. They were married in July 1962 in the Logan Temple by Elder Spencer W. Kimball.

Nauvoo Temple
Nauvoo Illinois Temple (reconstructed)
1846: The Nauvoo Temple was originally dedicated in May 1846. It was mostly destroyed by arson in 1848. The Nauvoo Illinois Temple was rebuilt on the original site and dedicated in 2002.

I remember a story about when President David O. McKay, ninth president of the Church, was a young lad. He received a new pocketknife on his eighth birthday, and he got on his horse and rode out into the valley, made a fire, ate his lunch, then got ready to return home.
As he began riding home, he realized that he had forgotten his new pocketknife. He quickly turned around and raced back to the spot where he had eaten his lunch and searched in vain for his knife. His father had taught him to pray when confronted with a problem, so because of his faith in his father, David got on his knees and began to talk simply and earnestly to the Lord. In the midst of his prayer, he saw a vision—a picture as clear as any TV picture—of his knife under a clump of weeds. He got up on his feet, looked around, walked directly to the scene he had just witnessed in his mind, and found his knife exactly as it had been revealed to him!

I sat in the living room one Saturday with my scriptures opened to section 20 in the Doctrine and Covenants. As I read slowly through the sacrament prayers in verses 77 and 79, I underlined words that could be difficult to pronounce—sanctify, remembrance, commandments.
I was one of the older priests in the ward, and giving these prayers had become almost second nature for me. I always tried to read the words slowly and clearly to help maintain a reverent spirit during the sacrament. But when our priests quorum adviser asked me to help Matt, our newest quorum member, prepare to bless the sacrament for the first time, I wondered if he would be able to make it through the prayer.
I had known Matt ever since my family moved next door to him when I was nine years old. Matt, who has Down syndrome, was about my age, and we became friends. Through the years, as we got older, I was excited to see Matt receive the Aaronic Priesthood, play on Church basketball teams, and participate in Scouting and other activities. But because Matt had difficulty pronouncing words, I wondered if he would be able to perform this priesthood responsibility.
When Matt arrived at my house to practice the prayers with me, he had a wide smile on his face.
“Peter, guess what,” he said enthusiastically. “My brother is coming home next week. I’m excited.”
“That’s great, Matt,” I said, realizing that his first experience blessing the sacrament would be in the same meeting as his brother’s mission report. All of his relatives would be there. I knew this would be an important day for Matt and his family, and I wanted everything to go well.
As we struggled through the words of the prayers, I was impressed with Matt’s determination to learn how to perform this priesthood duty. We read the prayers several times, concentrating on the words I had underlined. When we finished, Matt had made considerable improvement and was able to read through both prayers. Still, I wondered if those who did not know him well would be able to understand the words.
A week later, as we sat together at the sacrament table, I had an uneasy feeling in my stomach. Members of Matt’s immediate and extended family looked up at him from their seats near the front of the chapel. Their eyes were excited, encouraging. Matt beamed back at them and didn’t seem nearly as nervous as I felt. We had practiced the prayers again the day before, and I had explained the process of breaking the bread and handing the trays to the deacons. He had seemed to understand everything, but I was concerned I might have left something out or he might not remember all the details.
When it came time for the sacrament hymn, we stood to break the bread. Matt solemnly broke it into even pieces and spread them across the tray. He kept an eye on me to know when to sit.
“It’s time to kneel now,” I whispered to Matt when the hymn was finished. We knelt, and then Matt carefully and deliberately read each word of the blessing on the bread. Despite our best efforts, I realized as he spoke that most in the congregation would not understand his words. And yet, as Matt read the prayer, I felt the Spirit come over me, witnessing of the importance of this sacred ordinance. When Matt finished, we stood and handed the trays to the deacons to pass to the congregation.
After we sat down, I looked out over the audience—full of Matt’s family and ward friends. I saw tears in the eyes of many as they partook of the sacrament that Sunday. I realized that although the words may not have been clear to everyone, all had felt the Spirit and had been moved by Matt’s desire to serve.
Matt, now an elder, continues to find ways to serve others. He directs the music and chooses someone to offer the prayer in priesthood meeting opening exercises, he has served as an assistant Scoutmaster and a stake missionary, and he attends the temple regularly.
Whenever I open my scriptures to Doctrine and Covenants 20, I am reminded of Matt’s determination to serve, despite his disability. Matt’s example of service to the Savior has helped me and many others to do as the sacrament prayers remind us—and “always remember him” (D&C 20:77).

In March 1958, while serving as one of the first missionaries in the West Spanish-American Mission, Elder H. Aldridge Gillespie had an experience that profoundly affected his life. Elder Spencer W. Kimball of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles (1895–1985) had been assigned to formally organize the mission, and the young Elder Gillespie, a newly called second counselor in the mission presidency, was given the opportunity to be his “chauffeur, roommate, and companion” for approximately two weeks.
“Elder Kimball had special spiritual capacities that touched my heart and influenced my opinion of what life should be and how I should live it,” Elder Gillespie recalls. “My concept of what man should be, what families should be, and how people should conduct themselves was greatly amplified in that brief time.”

Josh Morrell was in third grade in an American school in Stuttgart, West Germany, when a casting director came looking for children to be in his next movie, Joey. Even though it was to be filmed in Germany, the movie is about an American family, so the director wanted American children to be extras (people who have minor roles), because “nobody looks more like an American than an American.” The director planned to hire a child actor from Hollywood to be the star.
After seeing Josh and making several videotapes of him, the director decided that he didn’t need a Hollywood actor after all. Even though Josh had never done any acting, he was a natural in front of the camera and had just the look that the director wanted. He asked the Morrell family if Josh could be the star.
“We were excited for Josh,” says his mother, Suzan. “We knew that it would be a great experience for him as well as a lot of hard work. We told the director that Josh couldn’t work on Sundays. He needed that time to attend our American Servicemen’s Ward and to be with our family.”
The director said, “Since we knew in advance that Josh went to church on Sundays, we planned around it. It was easy to work with Josh. His religion is very family-oriented. The whole family was dedicated to helping Josh do well in the film.”
For over four months Josh worked on location. His mother tutored him so that he could keep up with his schoolwork. Between filming and schoolwork, he put in about fourteen hours a day. On Monday nights the family held family home evening during breaks in filming.
When people ask Josh how he could memorize a whole movie, he tells them, “I never had to learn it all at once. I just memorized what I had to do that day. We did a lot of rehearsals until we did it the way the director wanted.”
How did Josh speak German so well for the film? “That isn’t Josh’s voice you hear in the movie,” explains his father, Reid, a United States Army officer assigned to Stuttgart for four years. “The movie was filmed in English and later dubbed in German.”
Sometimes the middle or end of a movie is filmed before the beginning. It is expensive to build movie scenery and to move equipment. Once a movie scene, or set, is in place, all parts of the movie using that set are filmed. Two-sided shells of an American suburban home and an old abandoned house were built for outside filming. The houses’ interiors were built inside sound stages, or buildings that keep out unwanted noises.
In the movie, Josh has magical powers and can cause toys and other objects to move. “They used a thin fishing line to pull the toys,” Josh says, “and special camera techniques.”
Fishing line was also used to make Josh “float in the air.” Once the line broke and Josh fell, knocking over a makeshift wall behind him. With the wall partially down, Josh lay on it and was pulled up, creating the same floating-in-air effect.
Joey was released in November 1985, and it was second in box office attendance in West Germany. Josh has received many letters and presents from admirers. One sixty-four-year-old fan wrote, “When you played Joey, you gave us old folks such joy.”
Josh’s parents and his five brothers and sisters—Baird, Tia, Natasha, Selize, and Luke—all worked as extras in Joey. A big surprise for the Morrells came on opening night when they read on the screen that the film was dedicated to them. The director said, “I’m really glad that I met the Morrell family. I like this kind of people. I know now that I need to make some changes in my life.”

Ricardo Patricio Giménez Salazar was born on November 28, 1971, the older of two children born to Ricardo Benjamín Giménez Gimeno and Myrto Lucisca Amalia Salazar Signorini. He joined the Church at age 11 and moved with his mother and sister to Santiago, Chile, after his parents divorced.

From another member in a rural area comes this: “The old, leaning, half-fallen barn is attractive now. It is repaired, newly painted. We are very proud of it and hope you will drive by and see the improvement.”

Jeff wanted to be a missionary just like his older brother who was on a mission in Colombia. But how can I be a missionary when I’m afraid to talk to people? Jeff wondered.
Just last week the Primary president asked all the children to be missionaries and bring somebody new to Primary.
“We have a wonderful Primary,” she told the children, but think how much better it would be if we had more children to share our Primary with.” Then she asked the boys and girls to raise their hands if they thought they could bring a friend the next week. Jeff raised his hand. Now he wondered why he had done it. How was he ever going to get the courage to talk to anyone at school about the Church?
Jeff and Jimmy were the only two LDS boys their age in school. They were also the only Blazer boys in the Primary. They had a good teacher and Jeff knew that one of the reasons why he had raised his hand to be a missionary was to please her. He knew that if other boys came, they would like Sister Labrador and the good lessons she gave.
Jeff remembered one time the two full-time missionaries in their sacrament meeting telling them about the good feeling they had when they shared the gospel with others. Jeff wanted that good feeling too. But how was he ever going to have it when he was so timid?
Jeff walked into the kitchen and slumped down in a chair by the table where his mother was decorating some dish towels with her textile paints. Jeff asked, “Won’t that paint wash out of the cloth, Mom?”
“No, Jeff, the paints are made to stay right in the fabric.”
“Hey, that’s neat. Can you paint anything on the towels you want to?” asked Jeff.
“Sure, son. You sound excited about something,” replied Mother.
Jeff was excited. He had an idea. “Mom, can I paint something on my yellow T-shirt?” he asked.
Mother laughed. “I don’t know what you have in mind, but go ahead.”
Jeff was back in a few minutes, grinning and waving his shirt. He laid it on the table and smoothed out all the wrinkles. Then, with Mother’s black painting pen, he drew on the front of the shirt a great big face with two round eyes and a large smile. Underneath the face he wrote, HAPPINESS IS GOING TO PRIMARY.
When the paint was dry, Jeff turned the shirt over and on the back he printed in large letters, WHAT DO YOU KNOW ABOUT PRIMARY—WOULD YOU LIKE TO KNOW MORE? He could hardly wait to wear his shirt to school. The next day they were having a school activity and they could wear their play clothes, Jeff put on his yellow T-shirt and went to school. When he walked into the coat hall there were several boys there already. As Jeff took off his jacket and hung it on the hook, one of the boys was quick to notice the bright yellow T-shirt with the big face painted on the front and the letters on the back. “What does your shirt say, Jeff? Let me read it,” said Andy.
Jeff stood still, his heart pounding. All of a sudden he thought, what if they make fun of me?
Andy read the words on the shirt out loud. “Primary?” he questioned? “What’s Primary?”
Here was Jeff’s big chance. He prayed inside that he would say the right thing. “Well, in Primary we learn to—” Jeff’s voice tightened upon him and the words got stuck in his mouth.
All of a sudden, Greg, one of the other boys, interrupted. “Hey, Jeff, isn’t Primary where you learn about Scouting and other neat things you were telling me about the other day?”
“Scouting?” questioned Andy. “My dad was a Boy Scout and he wants me to be one too. Can I go to Primary with you Jeff? Can just anyone go?”
Before Jeff could answer, Greg said, “Me too! I never have anything to do after school. My parents both work and nobody’s ever home.”
Jeff could hardly believe what he was hearing. His voice came back and he felt relaxed and happy. “Sure,” said Jeff, “anybody can come—the more the better. It’s on Tuesday and we learn lots of neat things besides Scouting. You’ll really like our teacher. She’s just great.”
The bell rang and the boys filed into the classroom. Jeff’s seat was by his Primary friend Jimmy. As Jeff sat down, Jimmy looked at Jeff’s shirt and said, “Do you think that’s going to work?”
Jeff’s smile got bigger and bigger as he whispered, “It already has!”
At recess Jeff told Jimmy about Andy and Greg. He could hardly believe what had happened. Jimmy became excited about painting a missionary T-shirt too.
“Wow!” he exclaimed. “If we can get the whole Primary wearing these shirts to school, a lot of kids will soon be interested. Our Primary will grow bigger and bigger.”
Even shy boys can be missionaries. It just takes some doing, Jeff concluded.
Already Jeff was beginning to have that good feeling that the missionaries had talked about. Wouldn’t they be surprised when they heard about the first T-shirt missionary!

That morning a week ago on the Sao Paulo Temple site, I walked farther back, still inside of where the temple will be. Having looked at these plans many times, I knew where I was. I have had goose pimples and felt tears almost every time I have looked at those plans. I was now standing where the baptistry will be. Thanks to President Kimball, as in all other temples since Nauvoo it will be a font borne on the back of twelve lifelike oxen representing the twelve tribes of Israel. Here will come the children, full of the mirth and excitement of youth, to perform the sacred ordinances of vicarious baptism for those who have not had that opportunity in their lifetime. It was easy to imagine the pleasure of those coming to be baptized and the great joy of those who have waited so long for this saving ordinance in their eternal journey. I was grateful that Jesus had said to his apostles: “And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven.” Contemplating all of this I could not doubt that this is the work of God upon the earth.

Once when I was watching TV with my brother and sister, my mom needed help in the kitchen. I really wanted to watch TV, but I knew it was the right choice to help clean. So I wiped off the table and swept the floor. I’m glad I chose the right. It felt good to be a Christlike example.
Tessa T., age 6, Idaho, USA

While tutoring his nephews one day, Bien felt prompted to practice writing the alphabet. At first it was pure frustration. “My mind knew the shapes, but my hand had difficulty following.” However, practice makes perfect; less than a year after that fateful day, Bien was not only writing with ease, but was also oil painting again. And he resumed college.

Brothers and sisters, the decisions we make in this life greatly affect the course of our eternal life. There are both seen and unseen forces that influence our choices. This point was brought home some five years ago in a way that almost cost me dearly.
We were traveling with family and friends in the south of Oman. We decided to relax on the beach along the coast of the Indian Ocean. Soon after our arrival, our 16-year-old daughter, Nellie, asked if she could swim out to what she thought was a sandbar. Noticing the choppy water, I told her that I would go first, thinking there might be dangerous currents.
After swimming a short while, I called to my wife, asking if I was close to the sandbar. Her response was, “You have gone way past it.” Unbeknownst to me I was trapped in a riptide1 and was being pulled rapidly out to sea.
I was unsure what to do. The only thing I could think of was to turn around and swim back toward shore. That was exactly the wrong thing to do. I felt helpless. Forces beyond my control were pulling me farther out to sea. What made matters worse was that my wife, trusting my decision, had followed me.
Brothers and sisters, I thought there was a high likelihood I would not survive and that I, because of my decision, would also cause my wife’s death. After great effort and what I believe was divine intervention, our feet somehow touched the sandy bottom and we were able to walk safely back to our friends and daughter.

by Alan Longstaff
Don’t tell the youth of the Sandy Utah Crescent North and Sandy Utah Granite stakes that extracting has something to do with a trip to the dentist. They know better, having been heavily involved in the genealogical name extraction program during school vacation.
Name extraction is an activity introduced by President Kimball which he described as “second-mile service.” In name extraction, parish registers are provided by the Church to stakes, and local members, after a short training session in deciphering the old handwriting, extract names and dates from these registers. This information is transmitted to the Church and temple ordinances are performed for each individual listed on the parish registers. Currently over 600 stakes are involved in this program and are providing 90 percent of the names that keep the temples operating at present capacities.
The Sandy Utah Crescent North Stake had two microfilms containing records from the German village of Beckum in the Rhineland. The records covered the years 1690 to 1824 and contained nearly 9,500 names. The Sandy Utah Granite Stake was assigned registers in French.
The stake youth became involved in this particular project during their summer vacation. At a fireside the project was explained to the young people who were enthusiastic about the assignment they received to help. After personal interviews with their bishops and stake presidents, special calls were extended to young men and women to labor in the youth name extraction program.
“We explained that they would need to consider their calling as a sacred responsibility,” said Mark Crookston, the high council representative of the Sandy Utah Crescent North Stake assigned to the project. “We emphasized to them the need to be prayerful and seek the Spirit since it is so vital that the entries be extracted correctly. We also expected them to labor at least eight hours per week without fail at the viewing machines because it was crucial that the project be completed before school started again.”
After a short training session in deciphering the old German and French script and some practice in filling out the cards, extracting work began.
“Our program was open to the youth extractors five days each week from 8:00 to 4:30,” said Violet Joosten, the program scheduler and one of the adult helpers. “These young people were totally committed to their calling and were so excited to be able to extract the names. We had two four-hour shifts each day and five machines going nonstop. It was difficult for us adult helpers to get home to put dinner on for our families because the youth wanted to work later than 4:30.”
“One reason for the excitement,” said Charlotte Evans, a 14-year-old extractor, “was that all of us immediately recognized that these 9,500 names were real people. We just couldn’t get away.”
“After all, they are Heavenly Father’s children with the same hopes and dreams as us,” chimed in Doug Jensen, 18. “The only difference is, they were born in another time frame when the gospel and its blessings were not available to them.”
“It was like they reached out to us,” said Tami Rasmussen. “It was so overwhelming and is hard to describe. We all knew that we were doing something really vital for these people of that little village by identifying them before the Lord in this extraction work.”
“I think that by helping in the extraction program,” said Dorrene Harman, “I have been helped to better understand the importance of genealogy work. I am glad that I had this opportunity to work in the extraction program, and I hope someday I will be able to meet these people.”

And outside the home too. Instead of going off with friends after school and hanging out with them, 16-year-old Jason spent his spring taking Jana to her swimming lessons. Just before her tenth birthday, Jason was right there when Jana got in the water without the use of her water wings, the flotation devices she placed on her arms to help keep her afloat. “It’s been great realizing how far she’s come with her swimming,” explains Jason.

In Heredia, north of San José, Jeremy and Estefania Brandaris and their son study the gospel as a family. “Our son is very active, so he’s easily distracted,” Estefania says. “Pictures, videos, repeating phrases, and playing games help him learn. Now his favorite word is Jesus.”

The show was such a success that people clamored for another performance. However, the encore performance did not go so smoothly.
Just hours before the second performance was to go on, the power failed. Nothing is darker than the inside of a theater with no power. The cast gathered for prayer. Together they asked for a miracle.
Still no lights.
The cast, already in costume, gathered on the stage. The mood was glum. Then Tina Johnson walked over to her friend Danielle Smith and asked her if she wanted to sing “How Great Thou Art” with her. The two girls’ voices filled the dark and others joined in. As soon as they finished that hymn, another was started. A great feeling of warmth and comfort and peace came over the cast.
Still no lights. That night the show had to be canceled.
“It was a very spiritual experience,” said Kit Regas. “Even though we didn’t get to do the show, I think everyone gained from that.”
Brother Brimhall explained to the disappointed cast members that many times in the Church’s history people have prepared and worked on something good only to be forced to leave it behind and never enjoy the fruits of their labors. He explained that being engaged in a good cause is always beneficial. It was a hard lesson for some of the young people, but only when the disappointment had faded did they come to appreciate just how wonderful it felt to be praying and singing together on a dark stage.
The second and final performance of Showtime was rescheduled. This time the lights stayed on, stage fright was nearly gone, and the word had spread that this was a very good show. No one worried about empty seats anymore.
The cast had become more than friends; they were more like one big family. The natural barriers between the ages broke down. The teens became good friends with the adults. The adults had a new appreciation for the youth. Tina Johnson said, “I’ll be with my friends at the grocery store, and I’ll see someone from Showtime. We just start talking. My friends always ask, ‘How come you are friends with so many grownups?’”

“Hey, come on! The missionaries are waiting for you,” my friend called. The discussion went along smoothly, as most of the others had, and then one of the sisters said, “As you come to know the message we share with you is true, we invite you to be baptized.
I told them that I had already been baptized, and they explained that there was a proper method of baptism, which was complete immersion. I liked their message, but I couldn’t accept their challenge when I had already been baptized.
While I was walking home, the word baptism kept ringing in my ears. I asked myself, “Why do they ask me to be baptized again?” Before going to sleep, I opened the Book of Mormon and began reading the assignments the missionaries had given me. While I was reading I came across 2 Nephi 31:13:
“Wherefore, my beloved brethren, I know that if ye shall follow the Son, with full purpose of heart, acting no hypocrisy and no deception before God, but with real intent, repenting of your sins, witnessing unto the Father that ye are willing to take upon you the name of Christ, by baptism—yea, by following your Lord and your Savior down into the water, according to his word, behold, then shall ye receive the Holy Ghost; … and then can ye speak with the tongue of angels, and shout praises unto the Holy One of Israel.” [2 Ne. 31:13]
The Spirit was so strong that tears rolled down my cheeks. I knew that I had to be baptized again, this time by immersion, I cried to the Lord for forgiveness, and from that time I repented of my sins. The day I was baptized is still fresh in my memory. How great was my joy that day when I began to follow the Savior.