Gospel Story Finder

I want to thank each of you—the translators and all those who help publish the Liahona. It is because of you that I have the blessing of holding the words of our prophets and the General Authorities in my hands.
I was baptized as a child but was lost to the Church for a long time. When I heard Elder Richard G. Scott of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles (in October 2004 general conference), he helped me believe that the Savior made it possible for me to be redeemed from my sins. I have experienced that change of heart spoken of by Alma, and my joy is complete.Araceli Arroyo Romero, Mexico

“I had a good example in my life,” said Junjiro. “That was my father. He had been the bishop and the stake president when I was growing up. He said that in a leadership position, you have to be an example and participate in everything. It’s not just telling the members what to do but showing by example. You have to do all the things that you ask them to do. You have to be at the activity or at the service project. Then they will do the things you ask them to do more willingly because they know you are doing them as well.”
“My father always drove me to Church activities,” said Junjiro. “Sometimes I just wanted to stay home and play with my friends, but he was always there to take me. Because of my father, I developed the habit of participating in all Church activities. To me, he was what a leader should be.”
Junjiro follows his father’s advice. If he asks the members of the quorum to volunteer for service or to teach a lesson or come to an activity, he is there himself offering support. He said, “Before my calling, I didn’t know the members of my quorum very well. Now I worry about how I can help them to do their part.”

My mother was also a Relief Society teacher, and when I was in the fifth grade, she taught lessons about the United States Constitution. Mother made a chart that she took to Relief Society every time she taught. It explained the different parts of the Constitution and what it meant. I found the chart interesting and asked her all kinds of questions. In school that year, we were learning about United States history, and I asked my teacher if I could bring the chart to school and explain to the class how a bill became a law. Learning about history fascinated me. I began reading Mother’s books about government and history. Her commitment to fulfilling her Church calling blessed me in many ways. Later, when I went to college, I decided to major in history. Certainly that decision was at least partly influenced by these experiences.

As a therapist, I was once in a meeting with a woman when she burst into tears. She said, “How can I ever be good enough?” She went on to talk about how unworthy she was. As we explored her feelings, no great sin emerged from her past or present. She just felt she wasn’t good enough. She compared herself to neighbors, friends, and relatives, and everyone that she could recall was “better,” in her mind, than she was.

When Elder Kimball served his mission it was still customary for missionaries to travel without “purse or scrip” (D&C 84:78), relying on the hospitality and goodwill of friends and strangers alike.
"I went on one trip [in Virginia] with a young elder, and I say it with a good deal of pride, six hundred miles, without purse and without scrip and without friends. No man had ever heard the voice of a ‘Mormon’ elder where we traveled. We left a trail behind us, a trail that other elders have traveled, and at no time during that three months did I sleep outdoors, but I came mighty near it a lot of times. I thought the Lord had surely forsaken us, at times, but when it came to the last test, someone’s heart was softened, and they fed us and they gave us a bed so we had no use for money" (in Conference Report, Apr. 1921, p. 179).

Thirty-nine years ago two of the Lord’s missionaries knocked on my family’s door in Glasgow, Scotland. We were deeply touched by their brightness, their humility, and their faith. Whenever they were in our home, we felt love and peace. It was a feeling of sheer goodness.
Their teaching was personal, sincere, familiar. We simply felt that it was true. A few weeks later we were baptized and confirmed and were immediately embraced with friendship and kindness from members and leaders in our new Church family.
So began a gospel journey which has enriched and blessed every aspect of our lives, bringing a deep, abiding, calming sense of purpose and direction. In the hope that it may prove helpful to those new to Church membership, I will share today just three gospel fundamentals learned along the way.

Misty Worley, 16, is learning to talk with her hands. She wanted to be able to communicate with the deaf and hearing impaired students at her high school. She has learned to use her hands to talk with her new friends and would like to continue studying to become an interpreter for the deaf.
Misty enjoys sports and plays center on her school’s girls’ basketball team. She has served as Mia Maid president in the Roanoke Third Ward, Roanoke Virginia Stake.

He was thinking of the time he and his father were hiking in the Big Bear Mountains. They had come to a three-way fork in the trail and had to decide which path to follow. “Like most things in life, Eric,” his dad said, “it comes down to choices. It’s getting late, so …”
Eric studied the three paths. One was overgrown and hard to see in the evening shadows. It looked jungly and mysterious. The second was straight, narrow, and clearly defined, but uninteresting. The third trail was wide and curving with room to wander.
“What will it be?” Eric’s dad asked.
“The wide one, I guess,” he said. “There are lots of turns so it will be more exciting, not knowing what’s ahead.”
They started down the path, but 20 minutes later it ended at the edge of a cliff. Below them in the distance they could make out the small lake where their family had set up camp. Shadows crept across the woodlands below and the sun had sunk behind the mountains.
“Now which path, Eric?” his dad asked.
“How about the jungly one?” Eric suggested. “It looked cool.”
They made their way back to the original path, then started down the dark, overgrown trail.
After a few minutes, though, the path was lost in the tangles of underbrush. “What do you think we should do now?” Eric’s dad asked. “It’s getting dark and we’re no closer to camp than we were two hours ago.”
Eric pulled a thorn from his shirt and rubbed a scratch on his arm. “I guess we better get back to the path we were on in the first place.”
His dad nodded, and the two started back. They finally set their feet back on the original path and faced the trails at the triple fork. It was dark now, but the stars lit up the final path. “What do you say we take that third trail, Eric?”
Eric glanced around uneasily at the darkening woods and took hold of his father’s hand. “Yes,” he said. “I can see the path clearly because it’s straight, and it’s narrow so we won’t wander off it.”
As they made their way through the night, Eric’s dad spoke up. “The Savior said that we should always take the straight and narrow path for the very reasons you pointed out. We can clearly see our way and won’t stray from the path unless we choose to. This path is like the iron rod in Lehi’s dream, isn’t it? Straight and true. And look,” he said, pointing toward the stars. “They light the path, like the prophets we have to guide us back to Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ.”
They paused on a small knoll above the lake, and looking down they could see a glowing light in the darkness where Eric’s mother had started dinner over the campfire. “Kind of looks like the tree of life in Lehi’s dream, don’t you think?” his dad asked. “A welcome sight to any weary, faithful traveler on the road of life. And just like the food your mom is preparing, the Lord has filled His living tree of life with sustenance to nourish our spirits and lift us up in our darkest hours.”
Eric squeezed his father’s hand, and his eyes filled with warm tears.

The history of the Church in Mexico City traces back to 1875, when President Brigham Young sent Daniel Jones along with a small group of missionaries to Mexico City, where they distributed brochures to several Mexican leaders. One of these brochures fell into the hands of Plotino Rhodacanaty, who later became the first member of the Church in Mexico. In November 1879 the Church’s first branch in Mexico City was organized with Brother Rhodacanaty as branch president.

I was watching television at a friend’s house when her mom called her to wash the dishes. At first I kept watching television. Then I felt the Spirit telling me to go help with the dishes. I helped my friend and felt really good about it afterward.

Elder Ian J. Olson
My family sent a package for both my companion and me with 11 gifts as an Advent calendar. With each gift there was a scripture to read, and then we had to guess what the gift could be.

A widow who joins the Church anticipates eternal life with her family.

Joseph Smith knew and understood by the teachings given unto him of God and angels what he had to do. He was called of the Lord and raised up for this very purpose. He, too, was not popular among men, nor did the world clamor for his wisdom. Until the day of his death, he was persecuted and reviled for living and teaching the gospel. His blood sealed his testimony.

In the Lord’s own day, the proclamation was, “Can there any good thing come out of Nazareth?” (See John 1:46.) Likewise, the life and teachings of Joseph Smith did not appeal to those with worldly thoughts. Joseph’s teachings came into conflict with man-made traditions and prejudices. The cry in Joseph Smith’s day was much the same as in the day of the Savior: “Can anything good come out of Palmyra? Can anything good come from Joseph Smith?”

Brother Misalucha told about sharing the gospel with a friend, Larry Yumul. “He asked me why I became a Latter-day Saint,” Brother Misalucha said. “I told him that I had been looking for a church with more answers, a church that practiced what it preached, a church that could teach us things we hadn’t known before.”
Two and one-half months later, Brother Yumul joined the Church. He had a neighbor who used to profane, gamble, and dump his trash in front of the Yumul’s house. Brother Yumul’s attitude toward him changed. “He began treating him like a good neighbor and tried to be a good Christian to him,” Brother Misaluchas explained. “The formerly lousy neighbor cleaned up his act and joined the Church! Now he’s shared the gospel with another family and they’ve been baptized, and they’ve helped introduce the missionaries to another family that also joined the Church!”

There is a particular challenge we face as Latter-day Saints in establishing and maintaining friendships. Because our commitment to marriage, family, and the Church is so strong, we often feel challenged by constraints of time and energy in reaching out in friendship to others beyond that core group. I experienced this dilemma personally in recent days as I tried to steal a few moments at home to prepare this talk. Twice, friends from my past whom I love dearly but see only occasionally dropped in to visit. During what ought to have been choice times of reunion and reminiscence, I ironically found myself growing inwardly impatient for the visits to end so that I could get back to writing my talk about friendship!
I have since felt ashamed. How selfish we can be. How unwilling to be inconvenienced, to give, to bless and be blessed. What kind of parents or neighbors or servants of the Lord Jesus Christ can we be without being a friend? In this information age, is not friendship still the best technology for sharing the truths and way of life we cherish? Is not our reluctance voluntarily to reach out to others in friendship a significant obstacle to helping God accomplish His eternal purposes?

Primary children in the Jackson Mississippi Stake, Mississippi, USA, built cardboard box temples for their stake family history day. As they built their own temples, they talked about what it would be like to build a real temple.

How did the tryout go? Did you make the team?
No.
I’m sorry. That must be really disappointing.
At first I thought I would never play again …
But …?
I love playing. If I can’t play on the team, I can still enjoy playing …
… with you?
You’re on!

Jayson slumped in his seat. “This is so boring,” he thought. “I’m too old for Primary.” He looked around at the other children. Some were smiling or nodding. They actually looked interested in what Sister Simmons was saying. “How could anyone enjoy this?” he thought glumly.
For several months Jayson had dreaded Primary. He didn’t mind class so much; his teacher involved everyone with fun lessons. But singing and sharing time just weren’t interesting anymore. The lessons were for younger children, and the songs he used to love now seemed childish.
Jayson had talked with Mom about the problem. She told him that Primary was for everyone and that if he tried hard to listen, there would always be something just for him. Mom was almost never wrong, but this must be an exception.
He glanced at the clock—still 20 minutes to go. He started looking for ways to make the time speed up. He folded up his class handout. Pretty soon he started swinging his feet back and forth. Just as he was about to see how long he could hold his breath, Jayson heard something amazing. “I made a big mistake,” Sister Simmons said.
“Well, this is new,” Jayson thought. “Teachers don’t talk about their mistakes.”
“When I was 12 years old I had some friends who used bad language,” Sister Simmons said, “and I noticed that whenever I got mad a swear word would pop into my head. I wasn’t worried, because I knew that I wouldn’t actually say the words. But one day I got mad during recess and took the Lord’s name in vain. I felt so sad! I couldn’t believe that I had crossed the line between words in my head and words in my mouth.”
Jayson sat up straight, the clock forgotten. Sister Simmons told how she had talked with her parents that night and asked her father for a priesthood blessing. The bad words didn’t go away immediately, but as she crowded them out with good thoughts, they came less often. After a while, they went away completely.
Jayson couldn’t believe it! He had been having exactly the same problem. Lots of his friends at school swore, and cuss words always seemed to be floating around in his head. Just the other day he had called a boy a bad name for kicking a ball over the school fence. He felt terrible afterward! But he didn’t have the courage to ask his parents for help. He was afraid they would forbid him from hanging out with his friends.
Sitting there in Primary, he suddenly stopped being afraid. Sister Simmons had faced the problem, and so could he. Her parents had understood, and so would his. Maybe he could even get a blessing from his dad, just like Sister Simmons had. A happy feeling came over him, and he felt better than he had in weeks.
The next thing he knew, the closing prayer was being said, and all the other children were leaving the Primary room. Jayson sat thinking a few moments, then slowly got to his feet. He noticed that Sister Simmons was giving him a worried look. “Are you OK?” she asked.
Jayson grinned. “I’m great actually, and my mom was right as usual. Primary really does have something for everybody—if you just keep listening.”

In the early 1830s, Independence, Missouri, was a rough and lively frontier town. It had just been established as the seat of Jackson County. It was the start of the Santa Fe Trail. Wagons carrying goods and people crowded the town square to make final preparations for the trip to the southwest. They filled their water barrels at a nearby well. Gambling, drinking, and horse racing were more common than Sabbath day observance.
Yet on July 20, 1831, the Lord revealed that this frontier town was where a holy city, the City of Zion, would be built. The place of the New Jerusalem. The place where a temple of the Lord would be built. (See D&C 57.)
By the summer of 1831, Latter-day Saint missionaries had arrived at Independence. Members began to build homes and settle there. But only a little over two years later, disobedience by some Saints and persecution by some of the other settlers forced the members to flee Jackson County to save their lives.

Your class has been asked to give a Sharing Time presentation about prayer. Have you or has someone in your family had an experience in which your prayers were answered? Ask if two or three class members would like to briefly share their experiences, their testimonies that prayers are answered.