Gospel Story Finder

I saw it in New Mexico as a young man. For generations the prophets have told us that we must help the missionaries find and teach the honest in heart and then love those who come into the kingdom.

I have seen for myself what faithful priesthood leaders and members can do. In 1955 I became an officer in the United States Air Force. My bishop at home gave me a blessing just before I left for my first station, which was in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

In his blessing he said that my time in the air force would be missionary service. I arrived in church on my first Sunday at the Albuquerque First Branch. A man walked up to me, introduced himself as the district president, and told me that he was going to call me to serve as a district missionary.

I told him that I would be there for training for only a few weeks and then I would be assigned somewhere else in the world. He said, “I don’t know about that, but we are to call you to serve.” In the middle of my military training, by what appeared to be chance, I was chosen from hundreds of officers being trained to take the place in headquarters of an officer who had died suddenly.

So, for the two years I was there, I worked in my office. On most evenings and every weekend, I taught the gospel of Jesus Christ to people the members brought to us.

My companions and I averaged more than 40 hours a month in our missionary service without once having to knock on doors to find someone to teach. The members filled our plates so full that we often taught two families in an evening. I saw for myself the power and the blessing in the repeated call of prophets for every member to be a missionary.

On the last Sunday before I left Albuquerque, the first stake was organized in that city. There is now a sacred temple there, a house of the Lord, in a city where we once met in a single chapel with Saints who brought friends to us to be taught and to feel the witness of the Spirit. Those friends felt a welcoming home in the Lord’s true Church.

I want to share an experience where I personally grew in understanding of the scripture I shared at the beginning – John 1:12 – “ But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name.” In order to fulfill our purpose on earth and meet the challenges of life by rising to the highest in us, we will need to draw upon the powers of heaven to strengthen us, lift us, and sanctify us. In the experience I will share, I hope you can see how my dad utilized the Atonement to become more than his naturally wonderful self could be.

On November 19, 2010, my parents were traveling from Colorado to Idaho to spend Thanksgiving with my family. While driving, they were involved in a serious accident when a 17-year-old drove across the median causing a head-on collision with my parent’s car. My mother was killed and my father badly injured. The 17-year-old and my father were airlifted to the nearest hospital where we gathered as a family to support each other.

It was hard to believe that our wonderful mother of eleven children and beloved wife was gone. It was the first time we had ever faced the loss of a loved one, and in deep sorrow, we turned to the Savior for understanding. I testify that in times of need, we can be blessed with the peace that “ passeth all understanding” (Philippians 4:7). Our mother had taught us the gospel and lived firmly in the faith that families could be together forever. We clung to that hope and her example.

As a family, we exercised faith in the power of priesthood blessings for our dad and witnessed many miracles. Each day after the accident, our father amazed the doctors by no longer having the life-threatening injuries that were apparent when he arrived at the hospital. On Sunday, a few of my brothers and sisters and I gathered in my dad’s hospital room, filled with thanks for the tender mercies we’d received in my dad’s recovery. When my father closed his eyes to rest, I left the room for a moment. As I walked down the hallway, I met a father and his teenage son dressed in white shirts and ties carrying some bread and water. Evidently, they were taking the sacrament to someone they knew in the hospital. I asked them if they would mind administering the sacrament to my father and family. They agreed, and we experienced what might be the most spiritual sacrament meeting I've ever attended.

After partaking of the sacrament, my father, in great pain because of broken ribs and other injuries, took the opportunity to bear testimony to us of the great Atonement. With tears of gratitude, he cried as he expressed his faith in the Savior and His atoning sacrifice in our behalf. Because of the Savior’s great gift, we would be able to return to our Father in Heaven’s presence and see our mother again. He encouraged us to live our lives with gratitude for the Savior and turn to Him so that we could be forgiven of our mistakes and overcome our weaknesses. At this poignant time of great sorrow and loss, my father recognized that the hope of being together again was only possible because of the Savior’s love. Experiencing the tender message of my father was a lesson I will never forget and one that I would witness my dad teach us again.

Later in the week, as my father was being released from the hospital, he made one final request. He asked if my brother and I would take him to the room of the 17-year-old boy that caused the accident. The young man was still in the intensive care unit with severe injuries. We wheeled my father into the room where the boy was lying with his parents at his bedside. My father greeted them and introduced himself. In my father’s next words, I witnessed the enabling power of the Atonement that elevates us to become true sons and daughters of God. With emotion, my father sincerely said, “I want you to know that I hold no hard feelings toward you. I don’t want you to blame yourself for what has happened. I hope that you can go on and live a good life.” My dad then testified of his faith in Christ and that because of the Savior, our spirits continue to live after death. My dad expressed his hope that one day he would see his wife again and shared his belief that our family would be together forever.

I was overcome with what I was hearing and, more importantly, what I was feeling. The feelings in the room were incredible. There was no hurt or bitterness. We all felt the redeeming love of the Savior as my father used the power of the Atonement to overcome the effects of a tragic accident. The unconditional love and forgiveness expressed by my father was only possible because he believed in the Savior. He had faith in glorious gift of the resurrection and knew that through the sealing power in temples, he would be reunited with his beloved wife and that we would be together again. Although this was an extremely difficult time, through the grace of God, my father was given power that enabled him to act as the Savior would, to be an example of the believers (1 Timothy 4:12) and testify as a son of God.

What I experienced that day was the culmination of my dad’s sermon on the Atonement that he began on Sunday after partaking of the sacrament. I heard it with my ears, saw it with my eyes, and, most importantly, felt it burn deep within my heart. On that day, I had witnessed my earthly father use the power of the Atonement to become what his Heavenly Father knew that he could be. That experience changed me, and I know that by relying on Christ, we can all become more than we currently are.

Raegan and Rylyn from Kentucky, USA, were grumpy, hungry, and tired. It had been a long day doing service with their family. But on the drive home they saw a sign on the side of the road that changed their attitude. It said, “Just Be Kind.”
“It made us less upset—and grateful we were able to serve,” Raegan says. “We started wondering if we could make signs like that,” Rylyn says.
After seeing the Just Be Kind sign, they had a home evening discussion with their family about being kind to their older sister Kendall, who had Down syndrome and was starting to get sick. Raegan and Rylyn decided to make their own Be Kind signs. “We thought it could help prevent bullying,” Raegan says.
They were also thinking about their other siblings, who each have Down syndrome too. Their older brother Kallen passed away as a baby, and they have two adopted siblings—Leena and Liam. “We wanted to raise awareness for kindness to them,” Rylyn says.

I came upon this campus in the early '70s with much persuasion by loving parents who felt their son was going wayward and heading towards the wrong direction. I wasn't overly excited about coming, but I told my parents I would to please them. There wasn't much time to apply since school was starting in a few weeks. In retrospect, I was very blessed to even get into CCH. I already had three siblings attending this university and I would be the fourth child to enter. However, I did have a slight problem, my hair was too long. It was by today's standards very unacceptable. My brother, Jay, took the buzzer gave me a decent haircut.

On the first day of registration, all students have to go through a standards line where our hair and clothes were checked by a university representative. I don't think today we have a standards check during registration, but in our days the dress and grooming standards were enforced on the first day of registration. When this school staff rep took a look at my hair which had already been cut, he told me it was too long that I'd have to cut it to pass registration. I gave him a long sad story of what it took for me to get here and how I just cut my hair and it was this long. Basically I asked him to give me a break. He shook his head and told me, "I'm so sorry, brother, cut it or no school." My brother took the buzzer again and eventually I made it through registration. I knew then, that someone was about to make some major changes.

WELCOME!I’m Sister Simon.Hi! I’m Ramón.Hello. I’m Cathlyn.I’m Mei Lin.Hi! I’m David.And I’m Joshua.
What on earth are you doing, Josh?Archaeology.Sure you are.
This is a very promising dig. I’m unearthing evidence of an early twenty-first century civilization.The early twenty-first century is right now.Exactly. From here I’ll work backward. Soon I’ll be in Book of Mormon times.
Right. So what have you discovered?This!
A CTR ring?Don’t you see? This proves that a young man who wanted to choose the right inhabited this dwelling. I bet with a little more digging, I’ll find a baptismal certificate.
Impressive.Brilliant might be a better word.

When Amy R. decided to read the Bible all the way through, her first thought was, “Wow, this is going to take so long.”
It was 2006, and Amy had just finished President Gordon B. Hinckley’s (1910–2008) challenge to read the Book of Mormon. Because she felt so good when she accomplished her goal, she decided to read the Bible next.
“When I first opened the Bible, I thought maybe it was too much,” Amy says. “But I also knew that if I never started the Bible, I would never finish the Bible.”
Amy began reading a little bit every night, just as she had done with the Book of Mormon. She did that for the next two years.
Sometimes Amy’s schedule was busier than usual. Sometimes at night she was tired and just wanted to go to sleep. But even when these things happened, she kept going.
There were times when Amy didn’t understand what she was reading. She would pray to Heavenly Father and ask Him to help her understand. Amy says those prayers were always answered. She also says reading the scriptures helped her know how to use words such as Thee and Thy when she prays.
In December 2008, when she was 10 years old, Amy finished the Bible. As a special Christmas gift, she wrote a letter to her dad about her experience. When her dad read the letter, his eyes filled with tears. “I almost felt like crying too because I was so happy,” Amy says. “I knew I had done a good thing.”
Does Amy have a favorite verse from her reading? No, but she says she often thinks about the people in the scriptures.“Knowing stories from the scriptures has helped me with my problems,” Amy says. “When I start feeling bad for myself, I compare my problem to the problems of the people in the scriptures. That helps me to have a better attitude and be more thankful about my situation. The scriptures have changed my life and helped me be happier.”

I was born during a time of political revolution and war in Iran. During that time my mother was a political activist fighting for freedom in our country. One day military personnel barged into our home and arrested my mom, and she went to prison for two and a half years for fighting for what she believed in. Not long after she was released, through miracles, my family left Iran and moved to Los Angeles so my father could do a one-year fellowship at UCLA. Additional miracles led my family toward The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

My mom got baptized thinking she might be sentenced to die for her faith. At the time she had no idea if her family would be able to stay in America, but she was willing to sacrifice everything for God. Later, my parents applied for political asylum, and by the grace of God we were allowed to stay in the U.S.

The sacrifice my mother was willing to make for her faith demonstrated that she gave her heart to God.

Several years ago, a young man named James traveled internationally with a group of athletes. He was listening to a conversation that another athlete, Tom, was having about a beautiful young woman whom he was interested in—you. Most people considered Tom to be a very good-looking and well-accomplished athlete.
Tom admitted his disappointment that you had such high standards. In order for him to date you, you asked that Tom seriously consider the teachings of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Tom said the standards of sexual purity were more than he had expected. James was deeply impressed that there was a Church with young people who were so serious about their religion and standards, and he asked for the name of the Church.
On returning to the United States, James decided to go to a Church meeting and see what inspired such dedication. He surprised the missionaries by showing up at church one Sunday. Soon afterward, after receiving the missionary lessons, James was baptized. Years later, I met James at a single-adult activity, and we were eventually married for time and all eternity in the temple.
I often think of you. It may have been uncomfortable for you to hold up high standards to a good-looking athlete, but I’m grateful you did. There is no way you could know how your dedication to high moral standards changed our lives. We just celebrated our 16th anniversary. I wish I could meet you. I would like to show you our lovely children and our happy home.
I hope you understand that even when you simply live your standards, you can have a profound effect on the lives of others. Being morally clean is a path to more than just personal happiness.

My school friend invited me to her birthday party. It was fun. We played games and dressed up like princesses. When it was time for dessert, we all gathered around the table for beautifully decorated cupcakes. As I was eating my cupcake, I was offered tea to drink. All the other girls were drinking tea in fancy little cups, but I knew it was wrong to drink it. I said, “No, thank you. I do not drink tea.” I felt good inside for keeping the commandments.

The Lord taught me that principle personally and powerfully one stormy night in May of 2005. I was cleaning up the dishes after dinner. Sue was listening to messages on the phone. Suddenly she said, "Kim, I think you better listen to this one." I listened to the message. Sue was right. The message was from President Hinckley's office asking me to call. I returned the call and waited while President Hinckley came on the line. After asking me a few questions about my service at Harvard Business School, he asked me if I would be interested in presiding over Brigham Young University-Idaho. I told him that I would. Sue and I had been talking about our future and had discussed just that opportunity. The Lord had already blessed us with a desire to serve there if asked. In that moment our lives changed. We talked some more, and President Hinckley asked me to talk to Sue, to pray, and think about the opportunity he had presented to me. The next day, I called him back and told him that Sue and I would love to serve at BYU-Idaho if that was what he wanted us to do.

And so began a new adventure, and a new chapter in our lives. In the succeeding days and weeks we had many wonderful experiences that confirmed to us the preparation the Lord had given us in the years and months leading up to President Hinckley's phone call. It is a great privilege to serve at BYU-Idaho, and I know it would not have come had I not made that commitment to put on the whole armor of God. And so, I thank the Lord every day for His tender mercies, for reaching out to us, for His love and His watchful care. And I know with all my heart and soul that the message that came to me in that night of searching and reaching was a message from the Lord. It was a call to prepare and to choose. It was a call to serve.

To demonstrate the kind of inner strength I am talking about, I would like to share the story of Susanna Stone Lloyd, who at the age of 26 left England in 1856 and traveled to Utah alone. The only member of her family to join the Church, Susanna was a member of the Willie handcart company. Like so many other pioneers, she endured life-threatening hunger, illness, and fatigue.
Upon arriving in the Salt Lake Valley, Susanna borrowed a mirror to make herself more presentable. Despite her best efforts, she recounts: “I shall never forget how I looked. Some of my old friends did not know me.” Having sold her own mirror to an Indian for a piece of buffalo meat, she had not spent much time looking at herself. Now she did not recognize her own image. She was a different person, both inside and out. Over the course of rocky ridges and extreme hardship came a deep conviction. Her faith had been tried, and her conversion was concrete. She had been refined in ways that the very best mirror could not reflect. Susanna had prayed for strength and found it—deep within her soul.
No matter our circumstances, who of us can afford to waste our life in front of the mirrors of self-pity and discouragement? Yes, as the Apostle Paul admonished, we all need to examine ourselves from time to time. We all need to repent, recognize our weaknesses, and more fully come unto Christ. Like Susanna, we may have to sell our looking glass in order to cross the plains of pain, sorrow, and discouragement. But as we do, we will discover God-given strengths that we may not have otherwise known.

I felt sad when we moved from Bogotá to Barranquilla because I had to leave my family, friends, and school. But when I went to the Barranquilla Colombia Temple open house, I felt happy. I’d never been inside a temple before. I saw the baptistry, celestial room, and sealing rooms. It was cool to think that our ancestors can be sealed to us and we can see them again. I love the temple and am preparing to return again soon.
Martín G., 11, Barranquilla, Colombia

In April of 2000, I received a phone call from Rosa Salas Gifford, whom I did not know. Her father, Bernardo Agusto Salas, had liver cancer. Her father’s great desire, she explained, was to meet me before he died.
I felt impressed that I should visit Brother Salas that very evening. I drove past the location where the road to the house should have been. I could see nothing. However, I don’t give up easily. I drove around the block and came back. Still nothing. One more time I tried and still no sign of the road. I offered a silent prayer for help. The inspiration came that I should approach the area from the opposite direction. I turned the car around so that I was now on the other side of the road. As I neared the location once again, I could see a street sign lying on its side at the edge of the road and a weed-covered track leading to a single, tiny residence. As I drove toward it, a small girl in a white dress waved to me, and I knew that I had found the family.
I was ushered into the room where Brother Salas lay. With some prompting, Brother Salas opened his eyes, and a wan smile graced his lips as I took him by the hand. I spoke the words, “I have come to meet you.” Tears welled up in his eyes and in mine.
I proceeded to provide a priesthood blessing. The words seemed to flow freely under the direction of the Spirit of the Lord. Following the blessing, I offered a few words of comfort to the grieving family members. With my limited Spanish language ability, I let them know that I loved them and that our Heavenly Father would bless them.
As I drove homeward, I reflected on the special spirit we had felt. I experienced a sense of gratitude that my Heavenly Father had answered another person’s prayer through me. May we ever be on the Lord’s errand, that we might ever be entitled to the Lord’s help.

Last year, I was teaching an online class. My students were divided into teams that met once a week on Zoom to work through practice exercises together. In one group, I had a divorced mother later in her life who was learning to code to support her family. She was working alongside a young man who had recently graduated high school and was taking classes online because the social anxiety of going off to school was too much for him. He was better at computers than she was, but he wasn't quite as committed. They spent hours working together, and they actually made a great pair. One time, when I was visiting with her, she said, "Oh, don’t worry about him, we're going to get him through this.”

Later, I was talking with another student in a different class. He said, "You know, earlier this semester, when things were pretty tough, I was planning to just give up and drop the class, but my teammates wouldn't let me." He said they encouraged him to keep coming and working with them. And then, by the end of the semester, the concepts started clicking for him, and he found he was the one helping them.

What a beautiful example of the principle that when we serve others, we are often blessed even more than they are.

“I joined The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints at the age of 26. Even though I had a soothing feeling in my heart as I followed the desire to be blessed by God by making a covenant with Him, I know that my understanding of that covenant was just like a small seed at that time.
“As the years have passed by and as I have been making an effort to keep that baptismal covenant and other covenants I have made with Heavenly Father, I feel that He has blessed me with a deeper understanding about Him, about my Savior, and about my role as a covenant daughter of Heavenly Parents.”
—Sister Reyna I. Aburto, Second Counselor in the Relief Society General Presidency

Brother David M. McConkie, first counselor in the Sunday School general presidency, illustrated the importance of the handbooks in the October 2010 general conference.
While being trained as a new stake president by an Area Seventy, Brother McConkie asked a series of questions that, to his chagrin, were all answered in the handbooks.
“I did not venture to ask any more questions. I thought it best to read the handbook,” Brother McConkie said. “It is contrary to the economy of heaven for the Lord to repeat to each of us individually what He has already revealed to us collectively” (“Gospel Learning and Teaching,” Liahona and Ensign, Nov. 2010, 13).

The Bengaluru Stake presidency wanted to visit members as part of their ministering efforts. One Sunday they went to a hospital to visit a member who needed a surgery. They had a pleasant visit giving hope to the family to know that all will be well. The surgery could not happen as the sugar levels were not within the level needed. A priesthood blessing and a promise was given that his surgery would take place soon. After a day, the surgery was performed and it was successful.

In another example, I am aware of a woman who worked for a corporation for 37 years. We believe she was honest for the first 34. During her last three years, she started embezzling and eventually stole $686,000. When caught, the company took her home, her cars, her retirement account and most of her other assets. Through seizing all these assets, the company recovered about $400,000. She lost her reputation for honesty and the respect of her friends and was sentenced to serve one year in a federal prison. She is now out of prison but must make monthly restitution payments of $333 per month to the company. If she misses one payment, she violates her parole and goes back to jail. In other words, she must spend the rest of her life either working or in jail. She has lost options. And, to make matters worse, since stolen money is taxable in the U.S., the IRS came after her and told her that she had $686,000 of income she didn’t report on her tax return. When she finished negotiating with the IRS, they called the $400,000 she repaid the company a loan but assessed taxes on the $286,000 she will never repay (at $333 per month, she’s not even paying the interest) With fines, penalties and interest, she owes the IRS over $200,000 and has entered in an agreement to make tax payments to the IRS of $540 every month. She is a now a convicted felon who works in a fast-food restaurant at close to minimum wage. She is 70 years old and has no home or other assets. This lady has lost not only her reputation, but the freedom to live where she wants, work where she wants, buy what she wants, travel where she wants, and even marry who she wants because her husband divorced her.

As a young man, I had many questions about the Church. Some of my questions were sincere. Others were not and reflected the doubts of others.
I often discussed my questions with my mother. I am sure that she could sense that many of my questions were sincere and from my heart. I think she was a little disappointed in those questions that were less sincere and more argumentative. However, she never put me down for having questions. She would listen and try to answer them. When she sensed that she had said all that she could and that I still had questions, she would say something like this: “David, that is a good question. While you are searching and reading and praying for the answer, why don’t you do the things you know you should and not do the things you know you should not?” This became the pattern for my search for truth. Through study, prayer, and keeping the commandments, I found that there are answers to all of my important questions. I also found that for some questions, continuing faith, patience, and revelation are needed.2
Mom put the responsibility of developing faith and finding answers on me. She knew that the important answers would come from my seeking truth the way that Heavenly Father has prescribed. She knew that I needed to find the truth. She knew that I needed to be sincere in my questions and be willing to act on what I already knew to be true. She knew that I needed to study and pray and that I needed to develop greater patience as I sought answers from the Lord. Willingness to be patient is part of our search for truth and part of the Lord’s pattern of revealing truth.3
Over time I came to know that my mother was teaching me Heavenly Father’s pattern for seeking truth. Faith grew, answers began to come, and I accepted a mission call.

“As Easter approaches, I have reflected on an experience my wife and I had in our recent travels to Central America. On our last day in Guatemala City, we attended a devotional where four stake Primary choirs shared musical and verbal testimonies of Jesus Christ.
“It was a beautiful, heartwarming meeting. I will never forget the sincere, simple testimony of Brother Ángel Zúñiga. As he bore a simple testimony of Jesus Christ, I felt a powerful witness in my heart that Ángel really does know that Jesus Christ is his Savior. It was a moment I won’t soon forget.
“Later, after the devotional, we were shaking hands with each of the children. One young boy asked me, ‘How is Jesus?’ I responded, ‘Jesus loves you, and He has confidence in you, and you can have confidence in Him.’ This young boy responded with a big, knowing smile that filled my soul with joy.
“As we think about what our Savior did for us during the week preceding Easter, I invite each of you to fill your souls with the knowledge that Jesus loves you, He has confidence in you, and you can have confidence in Him.”