Gospel Story Finder

Left and above: The Gadfield Elm chapel in Malvern, England, is the first and oldest Latter-day Saint chapel. In 1840 Elder Wilford Woodruff converted the 600 members of the United Brethren who met here. They donated their chapel to the Church, and it became the focal point of missionary work in the area. Later they sold it to help pay for local members to gather to Zion.

“Our first impressions of the missionaries were good. They were only twenty years old, but they had such a kindly, respectful attitude, and they presented some thought-provoking concepts,” says Brother Nakamura. “I was thinking that perhaps my son and daughter could become like the elders if we listened to what they had to say.”

The missionaries made return visits to the Nakamura home and the entire family listened to the lessons. “Whenever the missionaries asked a question, one of my two children would correctly respond,” remembers Brother Nakamura.

“My wife and I wondered why the children’s responses to the missionaries’ questions were in harmony with the truth, while our answers were rather vague and lacking in comprehension. It made us feel humble. We were moved by the fact that our children could recognize truth.”

The Nakamuras were especially impressed with the emphasis on families. “Families should be the most important part of the home life,” says Brother Nakamura. “It was my hope that by listening to the missionary lessons, our family would become much happier.”

Another serviceman said, “During my 13 months in Southeast Asia, I heard from my sweetheart every day. During her busy days caring for our five children and attending school, she completed every day by writing me a letter. Think of it! Almost 400 days without a single miss!”

When I was 17 years old, one of my good friends asked me to go on a group date with him. We went to the park with a couple of our friends and played volleyball, ate treats, and talked around the fire to finish off the night. We had a lot of fun, and I was happy that I could spend that time getting to know my date. Just as we were getting ready to leave, a group of boys who were about our same age approached us. Almost instantly, I felt uneasy. Those boys were acting so strangely; they talked too loudly, and their eyes were red and glazed over.
One of them lifted something to his mouth, blew out a lot of smoke, and said, “Looks like you guys are having a party. Mind if we join?”
My date politely responded, “We’re actually just about to leave. We were just cleaning up.”
One of the boys then said, “But we’d love to join you! Besides, the party just started! Do you guys want to share a smoke?”
It was then that I realized that they weren’t smoking just regular cigarettes, and I completely froze. I realized why the Spirit had warned me so quickly. I didn’t want to be rude, but I also knew I didn’t want anything to do with whatever they had to offer. I was so relieved that I was with my friend—a worthy priesthood holder—who shared my standards and could sense how uncomfortable I was.
Without hesitating, my date said, “No, thanks. We’re not into that kind of stuff. Have a good night!” And we left the park.
As he drove me home, I felt the Spirit’s peace come back. I told him how grateful I was that he shared my standards and that he had been there to help me out of that difficult situation. The For the Strength of Youth pamphlet counsels us to “date only those who have high moral standards and in whose company you can maintain your standards. Remember that a young man and a young woman on a date are responsible to protect each other’s honor and virtue” ([2011], 4). Though his actions were simple, my date helped me to maintain my standards.
I’ve learned that if I choose to be around and date people who share my standards, I will be blessed with the Spirit and the decision to keep the commandments and maintain my standards will be easier.

I was blessed because of my decision to join the Church. In the Church I met my best friends. I had been very shy, and I preferred to stay alone, study, read my books, and enjoy myself. But when the Church came into my life, I learned what a true friend is. I found a wonderful young woman in the Church who became my wife. I found priesthood leaders and people who cared for me. In the Church of the Lord, I found what I needed.

Once I found a $20 bill at school. Even though I would have liked to spend it, I decided that it would be best to take it to the office. No one had reported that they had lost it, but I knew that I had made the right choice.
Janelle M., age 7, Illinois, USA

1 At the edge of the Congo rain forest near the equator, where the days are hot and steamy and the nights are cool and damp, Little Gorilla sleeps snuggled next to his mother on the jungle floor. Night sounds around him of softly moving leaves and a far-off leopard’s roar soon become the morning noises of chattering monkeys and twittering birds.
2 Before long Little Gorilla and his mother are following their troop leader, Silverback, in search of food. Moving slowly through the forest, they nibble leaves, wild celery, bamboo shoots, and blackberries.
3 Little Gorilla’s mother discovers more fruit in a nearby tree. She is too heavy to climb the tree, so Little Gorilla climbs the tree and gathers the fruit for both of them.
4 At midmorning the adult gorillas stop in a clearing to rest. For a while Little Gorilla plays with the other young gorillas, wrestling, sliding down a log that is slick with moss, and playing tag. Then he goes over to his mother, and she grooms him. It feels good as she parts his fur with her fingers, cleaning him from head to toe before his nap.
5 At midafternoon it is again time to search for food. As the gorillas follow Silverback, he stops abruptly and begins hooting. He places a single leaf between his lips and beats his chest. The other gorillas run to hide in the underbrush.
6 Silverback’s usually gentle brown eyes now stare in anger from under the thick, bony ridge of his forehead. He thumps the ground with his hand and begins ripping up bushes and throwing them around.
7 Little Gorilla and his mother peer between the leaves of their hiding place and watch Silverback run sideways, then charge toward a leopard. The spotted cat snarls at Silverback but swiftly retreats. Cautiously the rest of the gorilla troop again fall in line behind Silverback in search of food.
8 As Little Gorilla follows his mother, he watches Silverback. He had been depending on his mother for everything, but now he is older and will soon leave her. Part of him wants to grow up and be a fearless leader like Silverback. And part of him wants to remain a baby and stay with his mother.
9 It is hard to let go for both Little Gorilla and his mother, but tonight Little Gorilla is to sleep by himself, up in the trees. He has been practicing how to build his nest of twigs and leaves, and he can do it very well. Sitting in his nest, he hears the sound of the distant river. He is lonely.
10 Climbing down to be with his mother, he finds that she does not welcome him as she once did. She will not let Little Gorilla sleep in her nest. It is hard for her to send him away, but she must. Little Gorilla once again climbs the tree to his own nest, where he listens to the river’s current until sleep comes.

It was cold—the kind of cold that makes packed snow squeak beneath your feet; the kind of cold that freezes the hairs of your nose as you breathe. And as the sun went down, it turned into a calm, dark night that could easily claim the life of one left unprotected.
One boy, his hands wrapped in long strips of cloth that served as gloves, crossed his arms and tucked his numb fingers tightly against his body for warmth. He was a Mormon, and he was on his way to a special meeting at Winter Quarters, not far from the border of Iowa and Nebraska.
But the time was not the 1840s when thousands of refugee Saints gathered to prepare for the trek west. It was the 1980s, and the group gathering at the Winter Quarters cemetery were all from the Bellevue Nebraska Stake. Their purpose was to experience, in part, what the early pioneers did as they struggled to survive at Winter Quarters after being driven from their homes in Nauvoo. The Bellevue Stake LDS youth were studying Church history as their seminary course of study, and because they lived near the spots where these events took place, they took advantage of the opportunity to learn on location.
Visiting Winter Quarters in the cold of December was a challenge presented to the seminary council by their stake seminary coordinator, Jenee F. Ferguson. They would organize themselves in the same manner as the early Saints with captains of 100 and captains of 10. However, since the seminary enrollment didn’t reach 200, they chose instead to have captains of 50. Eric Bendorf, seminary president, explained, “This was one way for everybody to learn a little bit about how things were run. Everybody knew that if the captains didn’t get the message down the line, then someone was going to suffer neglect.”
The captains of 50 were responsible for supplying the lanterns, providing maps for the drivers, and instructing the captains of 10. The captains of 10 were to arrange for drivers and assign students to cars. They were also to inform everyone of the types of warm clothing they would need and to bring tarps and blankets for their groups to sit on. To add to the spirit of the event, the classes decided to make it a day of fasting, remembering that the pioneers often felt hunger pangs.
Besides poor food and disease, pioneers had to contend with the wind and cold. The Bellevue seminary students began to understand the enormous difficulty of camping out during the winter months; the temperature reached -5° F. before the group had made the drive from the stake house. Bundled to their ears with no more than the tips of their noses showing, the seminary students settled down to hear about the history of Winter Quarters from their guest speaker. At their feet was a bronze plaque. One student held a lantern high so that they could read the names and ages of those who died there: Frederick Flake, 1 day; Genet Gardner, 4 mos.; Patty C. Hakes, 17; Barbary Heath, 52; Wm. Thadeus Kelly, 3 mos. …
As the names continued to be read, the group fell silent. The deaths that occurred more than a hundred years ago started to mean something.
With hunger and cold gnawing at them, the group of modern Latter-day Saints came to appreciate the extremes to which their ancestors went for their religion. “My great-great-grandparents came through here, and they lost some of their children,” said Jon-Paul McFarland of the Logan Branch. “I thought about that while we were there.”
The young people were grateful that they had a warm car to carry them to their warm homes with refrigerators full of fresh food. Jamie Sneddon, Lincoln First Ward, said, “When I was thawing out my toes in the car, they started to hurt more as they got warm. I started to understand just a little bit what it must have been like when they suffered frostbite.”
For those seminary students who did not come fully prepared, the others shared what they had. It was the same type of unselfish sharing that took place in the pioneer camps.
The Bellevue seminary went to Winter Quarters with enthusiasm for an adventure, but following the meeting, the mood changed. They felt respect for those thousands of Saints who struggled for survival. “I knew it was going to be cold,” said Nancy Flack, Lincoln Third Ward, “but I never realized the extent of what they went through. I could barely stand it, and I was bundled up. I would have just died.”
As the meeting ended, one lone violin accompanied the youthful voices as they sang a hymn, the same hymn sung many times before as the pioneers prepared for their journeys.
We’ll find the place which God for us prepared, Far away, in the West, Where none shall come to hurt or make afraid; There the Saints will be blessed. We’ll make the air with music ring, Shout praises to our God and King; Above the rest, these words we’ll tell All is well! all is well! —Come, Come Ye Saints, Hymns, No. 13

One junior high school class in Salt Lake City goes even a step further. Their teacher, Richard Bailey, has his students learn about facial proportions by sculpturing pumpkins instead of just carving them. George Washington and Abraham Lincoln are just two of the famous faces Brother Bailey has immortalized in pumpkin by peeling away the outside skin and carefully trimming the white pulp that remains.
He advises using knives without serrated edges. A long, thin-bladed one, used with a potato peeler, will strip away the orange rind. Then cut off the top and scoop out the seeds with a spoon. Figure out facial dimensions by looking at your own face in the mirror, and then transfer them to the pumpkin. Use a paring knife to rough in and finish the sculpture. Be careful not to cut too deep or you’ll go through the pumpkin! Also, always cut away from yourself, and avoid prying with the knife. This will help prevent accidents.

Through my years in seminary, I’ve learned a lot about where I came from, why I’m here, and what I should do. Seminary taught me how to ask questions and find answers. Before, it was hard for me to apply scriptures to myself. But in every lesson, we made parallels with our lives, so I not only learned scripture stories but also realized that my life is part of that story and that prophets have left directions for me. Because of that, it’s easier for me to search for the right way and make right decisions.
Anastasia V., age 18, Moscow, Russia

Connor M., 15, and Kristin C., 16, taught a class together on indexing headstones and birth, marriage, and death records. Connor says, “I believe that everyone should do their family history because it really is a surefire way to take the adversary out of your life.” Kristin adds, “Learn how to do some sort of family history, and then share your learned skill with others.” Colter M., 17, also taught a workshop on indexing. When he was working in the Discovery Zone, he helped an older sister who came in with a CD sent over from Japan with her family tree in Japanese. “It was an amazing experience to be able to help her open the CD and view her family tree,” he says. “It was a very spiritual experience for me and the sister I was helping.”

The annual crop of sugar beets isn’t the only thing that makes Sugar City, Idaho, a sweet place to be. A small group of boys in the senior class at Salem High School in Sugar City, who are all priests in the Sugar City Idaho Stake, decided that they would make Valentine’s Day special for all the girls at their school.
The boys got a red rose for every woman and girl in the school and arranged with the principal to present them at a special Valentine’s Day assembly during the last hour of school on February 14. Not a single girl knew about the assembly ahead of time, since all the boys talked about their plans in code, calling it “Project A.”
It’s an idea that the girls fell in love with.

Imagine for a second that you’re eating lunch in your school cafeteria with some of your closest friends, who aren’t members of the Church.
One of them asks you, “What are you doing this weekend?” It happens to be the weekend of general conference. You may be tempted to skip over any talk of the Church, but it’s an easy and natural way to be a member missionary.
You might say, “On Saturday and Sunday, my church has a general conference.”
“What’s that?”
“Well, twice a year we receive guidance from God’s prophets and apostles.”
At this point, your friend may ask you what an apostle is. Or maybe he’ll look at you with doubt and say, “You mean like the ones they had in the Bible?”
What do you do next?
With general conference right around the corner, this situation would be a perfect chance to share the gospel!

In a recent printed program of services in our ward, the hymn number was typed before the name of the hymn. Imagine our amused disappointment when we read that 300 Families Can Be Together Forever.
Neil D., Utah

Another mother and counselor in a stake Relief Society, though tremendous health problems threatened her, created a remarkable service project in her stake. Through fasting and prayer, miracles occurred, and the sisters of one stake created something extraordinary for others who were cold, hungry, and sick.
Who knows how many lives have been blessed because one woman refused to dwell on her afflictions and instead created the tapestry of service, a monument to the compassion and nobility of the human spirit.

John S., age 8, Wisconsin, USA
I was sad my brother couldn’t come to my baptism because the government rules for COVID-19 allowed only four people to gather. But I’m glad I made my baptism covenant with Heavenly Father. I know God will lead me every day and send the Holy Ghost to help me.

Sustaining the Apostles is a latter-day practice that dates back to Restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ. From the first day, early Saints were invited to consent to the calling of Church leaders and to sustain them in that calling.
On April 6, 1830, Joseph Smith and his newly baptized followers gathered in a small log farm home belonging to Peter Whitmer, Sr., in Fayette, Seneca County, New York.
Joseph stood and asked those participating if they desired the organization of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Exercising the principle of common consent, the new members raised their hands and consented by unanimous vote. Next they consented to accept Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery as their teachers and spiritual advisers.

Isabel said of the experience from her point of view, “It is a great blessing to know the truth of the gospel of our Father in Heaven. We children, my parents, and the whole family have changed greatly. Before we joined the Church we were almost destroyed as a family. Since we joined the Church, all that has changed. We are more united than before. Being the oldest of the children, I can see that there is more love and tenderness in our family. I want to bear my testimony that I know this church is true and the Book of Mormon too, and that there are prophets today. I am very happy that I know Mary Carmen and her mother. They are very good people, very good friends. I love them very much. Mary Carmen is another sister to me.”

I learned early on that there is great value in listening to experience in older people. I had a stake president once who said, “I always tried to be in the presence of great people.” He was in a little town in Idaho, but he said, “If there was a lecturer coming or something special, I would always try to be there, because I could learn.”

These good friends made a big difference, but not having the gospel taught in my home with a supportive family still put my ongoing conversion process at risk. My gospel interactions in the Church became even more crucial to my growing conversion. Then two additional angels were sent by the Lord to help.
Another angel sent to help me was the Young Men president, Marco Antônio Fusco. He was also assigned to be my senior home teaching companion. Despite my lack of experience and different appearance, he gave me assignments to teach in our priests quorum meetings and home teaching visits. He gave me the chance to act and to learn and not just be an observer of the gospel. He trusted me, more than I trusted myself.