Gospel Story Finder

Earl was sitting with Mom in the front room. From the corner of his eye, he saw something move outside the window. Earl peeked through the curtains and couldn’t believe what he saw. A woman was picking vegetables out of their garden!
Earl and Mom loved their garden. Two years ago, Earl’s dad had died. One thing that helped Earl and Mom feel better was working in their vegetable garden together. It reminded them of how much Dad liked working in the garden, and how much he loved them. And now someone was taking the vegetables they’d worked so hard to grow!
“Mom! A lady is stealing our vegetables!” Earl shouted. “I’m going to stop her!”
He jumped up and ran for the door. He was going to chase that woman right out of the garden!
“Earl, wait!” Mom said. “I’ll go talk to her.”
Earl looked out the window as Mom and the woman talked. The woman had a sad look on her face. She put her head in her hands, and it looked like she was crying. Mom gave the woman a hug.
What’s going on? Earl wondered.
A few minutes later, Mom walked back into the house.
“What happened?” Earl asked.
“That woman needs our help,” Mom said. “Please go get a box and fill it up with the prettiest vegetables from our garden. Then load it in her car.”
“What?” Earl said. “But she’s stealing!”
“She needs our help, and we have enough vegetables to share. Do you remember what charity is?” Mom asked.
Earl remembered learning about charity in church. “It’s the pure love of Christ,” he said.
“That’s right. Do you think Jesus would share from His garden?”
Earl knew the answer, but he still felt upset as he got a box and walked outside. The woman looked surprised and then a little embarrassed to see Earl. He didn’t say anything. He just looked for the best vegetables he could find. He filled the box full of cucumbers, carrots, and tomatoes, then carried it to the woman’s car. When he turned to walk back inside, Earl saw that the woman’s eyes were filled with tears.
“Thank you,” she said. “I know I shouldn’t have gone into your garden without asking, but my family is hungry, and we don’t have food. Thank you for helping us.”
“You’re welcome,” Earl said. A small smile crossed his face.
Earl didn’t feel angry anymore. He was sad the lady’s family was hungry. And he was glad he could share his vegetables. He could feel the Holy Ghost tell him that Heavenly Father was happy Earl had been kind.

“When I was young, our family took a number of trips. The most memorable one was when we left South Africa and traveled by ship for two months and stopped at twenty-four ports. We sailed up the east coast of Africa, through the Mediterranean Sea, and ended our trip in Hamburg, Germany. Tangiers, Algiers, Zanzibar, Dar es Salaam, Cairo, and Port Said, were only a few of the exotic cities that we visited.

Using our resources and worldly goods wisely and extending their life will help us become more self-reliant. I watched a young family move this summer, and I was intrigued by the labels on the boxes coming out of the storage room. They read, “Clothing—Girls—2 yrs. old,” “Clothing—Girls—3 yrs. old,” and so on up. Clearly, this family had a well-conceived plan to maximize the usage of purchased items of clothing.

Sergelen’s brother-in-law, Soronzonbold, has been a member of the Church since he was 18, and now, in his mid-20s, serves as president of the Darkhan district, with its five branches. He is a university student. “I am grateful for my calling in the Church because I learn so much from it,” he says.

Mongolians are impressed, Soronzonbold explains, because members serve in the Church without pay.

“Before I became a member, I was very selfish,” he says. Now he has a goal of learning as much as he can about the gospel. “Our challenge is to learn and to share.”

It’s 4:50 A.M. and I have spent the last hour devouring two issues of the New Era. I woke up and was scared. I was about to wake up my sister when I decided to read. I saw the New Era next to my bed, and I opened it. I read it cover to cover, then read the other issue. Now I’m not scared at all. The New Era is really uplifting.
Brianne PurcellaAnchorage, Alaska

My dear brothers and sisters, I still remember the seminar for Regional Representatives that I attended in 1972. At the end of that seminar President Marion G. Romney, on his way out of the auditorium, walked through the aisle where I was standing with two big binders under one arm and a stack of printed materials under the other arm. President Romney stopped and said, “Now, Brother de Jager, how are you going to teach all these inspired materials?”
I paused, thinking of an answer that would satisfy a member of the First Presidency of the Church. I replied, “President Romney, I shall teach in such a way that everyone will understand.”
President Romney, a twinkle in his eye, said, “That’s not enough; you shall teach in such a way that no one will misunderstand these divine materials.” Then he walked on.
Now, many years later, I begin to see more and more the wisdom of his counsel. People do easily misunderstand, like the sweet old sister I met in the ZCMI shopping mall the other day.

The scholarly work of preparing cross-references and assembling other aids and helps, along with the creation of the Topical Guide and Bible Dictionary, began in earnest in 1973 and reached its marvelous conclusion in August of 1979, when the very first copies of the LDS edition of the Bible came from the bindery.

More than 800 Primary children from West Africa sang “I Am a Child of God” at the cultural celebration before the Accra Ghana Temple was dedicated.

“I had an idea to collect school supplies for schools here in Hawaii and in the Philippines. This service is my way of showing Christlike love. There’s no better feeling than the feeling you get when you make an impact.”
Marielle, USA

Several years ago, an elderly sister in my branch passed away. Everyone called her Abuelita (Grandma) Flores. At her funeral, I noticed that some of her family who are not members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints were sobbing. My mom explained that they probably thought that they would never see Abuelita Flores again. I don’t like to see people suffer. I told my mom, “When I grow up and marry in the temple, I will have a daughter and I will call her Abuelita Flores so that they won’t cry anymore.” I believe that trying to comfort people who are sad brings us closer to being like Christ.

When I was a child, I knew that Heavenly Father answered my prayers. One evening my parents were visiting the temple and I was home. The weather was bad, and I worried they would not make it home. I was sick and could not sleep because I was coughing. Finally, I crawled out of bed and knelt down. I prayed that I could stop coughing and go to sleep, and that my parents would get home safely. I climbed back into bed and fell asleep. My parents made it home safely. This was a simple confirmation that Heavenly Father heard my prayer and answered it.

When I was young, I was overly dependent on my older sister. For example, I was a fussy eater, and when we went to visit our grandparents, I was constantly faced with being offered food I didn’t like. When the plate was passed to me, I would turn to my sister and ask, “Collene, do I like this?”
If it was familiar and she knew that I didn’t like it, she would say, “No, you don’t like that.”
If it was something we hadn’t eaten before, she would say, “Just a minute,” and taste it, and then tell me if I liked it or not. If she said that I didn’t like it, no amount of coaxing could get me to eat it.

During the summer, we fill baskets with things we like to do indoors when it’s too hot to go outside: crayons, stationery for letter writing, a Church DVD, and the Friend magazine. Then we deliver the baskets to our nonmember friends. Being a missionary can be so much fun!
Autumn M., age 7, Arizona

I certainly don’t want to compare myself to the great prophet Jonah. But I had an experience in my life where I was greatly rewarded for doing something that, although very difficult, was what the Lord wanted.
As a young man, I prepared to go on a mission. Every returned missionary I had heard said it was the best two years of his life. I interpreted this to mean that a mission was easy and glamorous. In a vain and arrogant manner, I figured the Lord would want someone of my ability and talent to open up China or Russia or India. At the very least, he would want me to serve in Japan or Europe.
I sent in my papers and eagerly awaited the moment when my call arrived in the mail. When it finally did, my mother and I opened the letter. In big words at the top of the page, it said, “You are hereby called to the Colorado Denver Mission.”
My heart sank. I thought, “How could this be? How could the Lord do this to me?” And to add insult to injury, they included a map of the mission. It included small towns in eastern Utah and parts of Wyoming.
I thought, “This is not exotic. This is embarrassing.”
I looked at my mom and said, “Mom, I’m not going to Colorado on my mission.”
She looked at me and said, “Let’s talk to your father when he gets home.”
When my father got home, I said to him, “Dad, I don’t want to go to Colorado.”
I thought he would say something like, “I never took you for a quitter. I thought when you started something, you would finish it.”
Instead, he said, “Son, I’ll support you in whatever you want to do. If you want to go to Colorado, I’m behind you. If you don’t want to go, I’m also behind you. But before you make that decision, I think you should fast and pray to see what the Lord wants you to do.”
We fasted and prayed until the next evening. When we finished the fast, we knelt and prayed. In the end the Lord gave me a witness that Colorado was where I was called and where I should serve. As we ended the fast, I said to my dad, “I guess Laramie won’t be so bad after all.”
He looked at me and said, “Yes, it will.”
I found that a mission was not easy. In fact, it was the most difficult thing I had ever done. Working and living 16 hours a day for the Lord wasn’t easy. I found a mission was not glamorous. People laughed and scoffed at us, dogs bit us, and doors slammed in our face. But as everyone who applies himself on a mission knows, it is the most rewarding experience of one’s life. The Lord blessed me beyond my ability to receive it, and I felt an inner peace and satisfaction I had never felt before.

President James E. Faust, Second Counselor in the First Presidency: I hope we can all be like the “Little Engine That Could.” It wasn’t very big, had only been used for switching cars, and had never been over a mountain, but it was willing. That little engine hooked on to the stranded train, chugged up to the top of the mountain, and puffed down the mountain, saying, “I thought I could.” Each of us must climb mountains that we have never climbed before.

“I started to find out more about the history of the Church by reading Saints and Revelations in Context. When I started to read them, I had many doubts. I also started to pray a lot to God, because my parents always taught me to doubt my doubts before my faith. It wasn’t easy, but early Church members were human, and they sacrificed and believed in the living God. That is why we have the Church today.”
Elisa L., 17, Santa Catarina, Brazil

The Liahona (English) has helped me to feel happy. Whenever I read a Liahona, my mood brightens. As the only member of the Church in my school, I share gospel messages from the magazine with my classmates and friends.
Mariden Aranas,Naga Branch, Talisay Philippines Stake

At home, Jason carries Jana up and down the stairs, and loads and unloads her wheelchair into the car. “Jana would not have made the progress she has without the help of the three older children,” Sister Morrell explains. “I would never have done as well as a mother without these dedicated teenagers who have taken their responsibility seriously.”
“Jana has taught me a lot about myself, and I feel good when I can help her,” Jason says. “Sometimes I’ll have a lot of homework or something, and I’ll end up giving up my study time to help Jana. That can be frustrating, but when I stop and think about what I’ve done I’m really glad I can help. And after the resurrection, we know that Jana will be able to use her legs. That really says something to me.”

Now in our day and generation, we have arrived at a point in the history of the world when this Priesthood is restored. The Lord raised up Joseph Smith. He came forth in the proper time. He organized a Church. Who was Joseph Smith? … He was but a youth … unlearned … in the things of the world. But he was a pure man. He came forth through the lineage of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. He was prophesied of by the ancient patriarchs and prophets. The Book of Mormon gives his name. Joseph Smith was “moved upon by the” Holy Ghost (See D&C 68:3) and he was administered unto, in answer to his prayers, by the Father and the Son; and the Father said to him, “This is my beloved Son, hear ye Him.” (JS—H 1:17) He listened strictly to the words of Jesus Christ, and continued to do so until he, like the Savior, was put to death, I may say that it seemed strange to me at that time why the Prophet and his Brother Hyrum were permitted to be taken out of our midst. But Joseph Smith, by commandment of God, and by the power and revelations of heaven, was ordained and laid the foundation of this great “dispensation and fullness of times” (See D&C 27:13). He was brought into the world and ordained to organize this Church of Christ for the last time upon this earth, to prepare it for the coming of the Son of Man. And after his death, as I thought about it, I became convinced that he had been ordained to die—to shed his blood as a testimony to this dispensation … As I have said, Joseph Smith was an illiterate man; but afterwards his teachers and instructors were angels—Apostles who had dwelt in the flesh in the days of Jesus. He was in a condition where he received testimonies and teachings from men that the world did not receive; and he had power to organize the Church in a manner that all the Christian world combined could not do. Why? Because a man, no matter how wealthy or how learned, cannot give a thing that he does not possess. They had not power to organize this Church, because they did not possess the Priesthood. But Joseph Smith held that Priesthood and had power to organize the Church.

“Thou shalt not bear false witness.” Dishonesty again. Television recently carried the story of a woman imprisoned for twenty-seven years, she having been convicted on the testimony of witnesses who have now come forth to confess they had lied. I know that this is an extreme case, but are you not acquainted with instances of reputations damaged, of hearts broken, of careers destroyed by the lying tongues of those who have borne false witness?