Gospel Story Finder

Once, while I was on a solo flight over mountain country, my airplane was suddenly engulfed in a thick cloud. I could barely see the tip of the wing out the right window. Below me, the fields, the miniature houses, and the ribbons of road wrapping up the green valley floor had vanished. A Cessna 150 has no radar, and with the familiar landmarks gone, I panicked. Was I too low? How close were the mountains? Disorientation could prove fatal.
At that instant I remembered my flight instructor’s words: “Return to remembrance of past sunshine.” I took a deep breath and coaxed the plane into a 180-degree turn. The clouds began to thin, and sunshine returned. I saw a tiny tractor below, changing a field from yellow to brown. No one heard me shout for joy.

I have been greatly strengthened by the New Era whilst serving as a district leader of young women in the MIA. For some time we have been confronted with the problem that dress standards seem to stir up among the women in the Church. Imagine my elation when I received the July 1973 issue the morning of our leadership meeting. The two fashion articles therein, “Fashion Is You” and “Mr. Blackwell Interview,” once again reminded us to be conscious of our standards of dress, femininity, and loveliness as women in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Betty V. RyanNorwood, Tasmania, Australia

During a family vacation, the Bart and LeAnne Dahneke family of the Grandview Fifth Ward, Provo Utah Grandview Stake, shared an unusual experience.
“My husband and I decided to take our children for a walk along the beach in search of shells,” says Sister Dahneke. “While walking we met a nice couple. Bart struck up a conversation with them, and we became quick friends.
“The next day we had dinner together and discovered that this couple was soon going to be married by a local minister. They had no family with them, so they invited us to serve as witnesses. We agreed.
“The wedding was held on a beautiful beach as the sun was setting over a calm, clear ocean. The bride and groom were radiant as they held hands and made the promise to love, honor, and respect each other. My children were happy for our new friends, but they had a lot of questions about the wedding ceremony. So our next family home evening was on eternal marriage.
“We talked about the importance of eternal marriage as found in D&C 132:15, 19. We taught our children about the importance of living their lives so they are worthy to go to the temple to be sealed for eternity. We felt the inspiration of the Holy Ghost as we talked about the beauty of a temple marriage and its eternal sealing power, compared to an earthly wedding and its ‘until death do us part’ promise.
“Drawing upon this shared experience provided a powerful foundation to teach the gospel principles surrounding eternal marriage. Our children were receptive because they had experienced firsthand the wedding on the beach. We were motivated because we know firsthand the joys of temple marriage. The result was a powerful family home evening.”

Following the organization of the Church, persecution soon raised its ugly head. A decision was made to move to Kirtland, Ohio.
Here they built their beautiful temple, and in its prayer of dedication the young prophet invoked the powers of heaven that the Church “may come forth out of the wilderness of darkness, and shine forth fair as the moon, clear as the sun, and terrible as an army with banners” (D&C 109:73).
But the fulfillment of that prayer would not come quickly. The peace of Kirtland was shattered by insults, financial distress, the tarring and feathering of their leader.

One night after supper, seventeen-year-old Sarah stood up at the table. “Aaron Grigsby has asked me to become his wife,” she said softly.
The announcement was happily received. Aaron Grigsby was a hard-working farmer known for his good character. The marriage took place in the Pigeon Creek Church that Sarah’s father had helped build.
A year later Sarah was expecting a baby. “So I shall be Uncle Abraham,” her younger brother boasted. “What a fine sound that title has!”
Then tragedy struck. Sarah and her baby both died during childbirth. Stunned by the loss, Abe could not bring himself to talk about his sister for a long time.

5 When the translation of the Book of Mormon was completed, Joseph took the manuscript to a printer to have it published. The Lord commanded Martin Harris to pay the printer’s bill. (See D&C 19:26, 35.)
6 Satan inspired wicked men to steal some of the manuscript pages of the Book of Mormon while it was still at the printer’s. (See History of the Church, 1:75–76.)
7 However, the work of the Lord could not be stopped. On March 26, 1830, the Book of Mormon was published in Palmyra, New York. Five thousand copies were printed. At last the fulness of the gospel of Jesus Christ could be shared with many more people. (See History of the Church, 1:71.)

We also keep our promise to remember Him when as families we pray together and when we read the scriptures. At family prayer around a breakfast table, one child may pray for another to be blessed that things will go well that day in a test or in some performance. When the blessings come, the child blessed will remember the love of the morning and the kindness of the Advocate, in whose name the prayer was offered. Hearts will be bound in love.

Thursday afternoons were also a special time for the great district of Jauja. At 3:50 on that day they attended their Ambassadorship class. In this class they learned how to be effective ambassadors of Christ. This involved learning how to teach with empathy and respect, avoid prejudice, and adapt the presentation of the message to the needs and beliefs of the recipient. Everyone looked forward to these classes because they not only taught exciting and vital principles but involved fun activities. One day, for example, the class was divided into two different cultures, the “alphas” and the “betas.” The missionaries learned firsthand the devastating effect of prejudice on gospel communication.

On February 18, 2018, after a special district conference, a small group of Latter-day Saints in Barbados gathered to witness the dedication of their beloved country for the preaching of the gospel by Elder Dale G. Renlund of the Twelve Apostles. He was accompanied by his wife, Sister Ruth Renlund; Elder Walter F. Gonzalez, General Authority Seventy and the President of the Caribbean Area, and his wife Sister Zulma Gonzalez; and Elder Claude Gamiette, an Area Seventy.
Elder Renlund was in Barbados following a nine-day review of the Church in the Caribbean Area. The dedication took place at historic Gun Hill Station.
“Barbados was included in an apostolic dedication for the West Indies Mission in 1988,” Elder Renlund explained. “However, the First Presidency determined that a dedication specifically for Barbados was appropriate.”
Gun Hill Station, where Elder Renlund gave the dedicatory prayer, is one of the original six signal stations established in 1818–19 for the internal and external defense of Barbados. “From its hilltop vantage point, warning messages of impending threat were sent,” Elder Renlund said.
Before the prayer was offered, Sister Yvonne Nelson, a pioneer member of the Church in Barbados, spoke briefly about her encounter with missionaries in 1979 and her journey of testimony and baptism. Sister Nelson said she was first contacted by missionaries in 1979.
Elder Claude Gamiette, Caribbean Area Seventy, also spoke to the group thanking them for the goodness of their lives and for their faithfulness. He said that this day was an opportunity to dedicate ourselves even more. He encouraged the members to take to heart the blessings that would be pronounced by the apostolic keys of Elder Renlund.
In his dedicatory prayer, Elder Renlund blessed the land, the people, and the government. His prayer included a blessing upon those who had lived in Barbados but are now deceased that they would accept the gospel as living persons perform ordinances in their behalf.
The Apostle said the peaceful surroundings contributed to the spirit that accompanied the occasion.
“The Lord directed the blessing that I pronounced on this country,” he said. “He will see that it is fulfilled as the people act in faith.”

For five weeks in May and June of 1861, their ship, the Monarch of the Sea, sailed across the Atlantic. When it finally docked in New York harbor, little boats took the Latter-day Saint immigrants ashore. They all stayed overnight in a giant hall called Castle Gardens.
That night while the children tried to sleep on the floor of the building, Alma Elizabeth’s brother August discovered some sacks of brown sugar right next to him. One had a small hole in it and was spilling its contents. Alma Elizabeth and August had tasted no sugar or candy during the ocean voyage. So August found a spoon. Soon they had had a grand feast. But by morning they were sick!

In the fall of 1842, Emma became seriously ill. Some random entries:
—“This day, Emma began to be sick with fever; consequently I kept in the house with her all day.” (5:166.)
—“Emma is no better. I was with her all day.” (5:166.)
—“Emma was a little better. I was with her all day.” (5:167.)
—“Emma is very sick again. I attended with her all day, being somewhat poorly myself.” (5:167.)
—“My dear Emma was worse … I was unwell and much troubled on account of Emma’s sickness.” (5:167–8.)
—“Emma is somewhat better. I am cheerful and well.” (5:169.)
—“… Emma gaining slowly.” (5:169.)
—“I rode with Emma to the Temple for the benefit of her health. She is rapidly gaining.” (5:182.)
—“Rode out with Emma to the Temple.” (5:183.)

“Oh, Anne! Can you believe the harvest this fall? Our trees are almost bent over with fruit.”
“Yes! Isn’t it frustrating? My basement is loaded with bushels of peaches waiting to be canned, but I just can’t get to it! I’m making some of those sequined Christmas tree ornaments. I’m so excited about Christmas!”

Once they discovered the approach, the Jacobs sisters used it, with variations, on numerous occasions. For example, eighth-grader Susan created interest in a science lecture on the effects of smoking by cutting a calf’s heart in class (she had been taught where to cut and how the heart worked by George Washington University medical student Milo Andrus, who also supplied surgical gloves and scalpel). Such a graphic presentation by a petite girl made quite an impression on the class—and they got a strong Word-of-Wisdom explanation at the same time. The grade was A!

Anders soon wanted to share the gospel with others, so he invited friends and relatives into his home to hear about the wonderful new religion. His father-in-law, the mailman, and some neighbors believed and asked to be baptized.
“I’m not sure if I can baptize you,” Anders replied. “I’ll have to go to the mission president in Sweden to see if I have the authority to do so.”
Since such a trip by boat was expensive, those he had been teaching helped contribute the money that he needed to go to Sweden, where he was ordained an elder.

“Where are we going?” Mark asked flatly, uncomfortably perplexed. Transfers had just occurred that day, bringing the reluctant Elder Macklind to a new area with which he was wholly unfamiliar, and pairing his antiathletic body with jog-happy Elder Hilversum. Mark felt very unsettled, and yet Elder Hilversum didn’t seem to notice. He just serenely breezed through the day as if nothing was new, which Mark found somewhat depressing; it’s tough to be gloomy without company, and this cheerful Hilversum guy just wasn’t cooperating. Mark frowned at the ground. His mind was still in Cedar Court, on the Caufields.
Mr. Caufield had grinned so widely, too, after accepting the baptismal challenge. His wife had cried and hugged Mark tightly as he left; he told her she would look so pretty in white. And she would have, too, if they had only tried harder. Mark winced at the memory. All the plans, filling the font, so much excitement, smiling all day, and then finding their note instead of them: “We just do not want to be baptized after all.” Mark shut his eyes tight.
Sometimes Mark wondered why he had come on a mission at all. Just like this stupid run, it often seemed like a lot of effort for no good purpose. He just got sore legs and an aching heart that beat too hard as if it were going to explode out of his chest. And he went back three times, but he never saw the Caufields again before the transfer. Maybe never again, period. Mark contorted his eyebrows into a knot, and tiny trickles of water fell down his face. He gritted his teeth. Why does he keep running?

Besides Ossie, Becky and her brother and sister have another four-footed friend, Sam. Sam is a grey squirrel who comes and taps on the window until Becky puts out some unshelled peanuts. Sam sits daintily nibbling his way through the shell. Then he eats the tasty peanuts inside.

“Sometimes there are two Sams,” laughs Becky. “We think they are male and female, but the name fits them both.” One day one of the Sams got stuck in Becky’s chimney. It took two days to get him out.

Phawin: One time I lost my favorite toy. I prayed at night to be able to find it. The next day my brother told me to check to see if the toy had fallen behind the toy cabinet. Then I found it! I felt happy that our Father in Heaven answered my prayer. Sometimes answers come quickly, and sometimes they come slowly. But He will always answer.

I want to express my great joy and gratitude for Nordstjärnan (Swedish). I think it is a marvelous magazine. I look forward each month to the articles, the beautiful illustrations and color photography, the children’s section, and the covers.
I consider Nordstjärnan to be like continuous scripture coming to me month after month. I have had copies of the magazine bound from 1951 through 1973. And since then, I’ve kept the issues in special files.
The magazine is a great missionary tool, too. I often have a couple of copies with me when I go on a trip, so I can share them with friends and other travelers.
Thank you for a fine publication.
Gunnar NilssonJönköping Ward, Göteborg Sweden Stake

Mother poked her head around my opened bedroom door. “Well, your visitors are here. Are you ready?”
I nodded. “I’ll be right there.”
I quickly returned the journal to its drawer and turned to pick up the book I’d been reading a lot lately off of my bed. My mind raced back a few months to my eventful 16th birthday.
My heart was pounding after reading those words for about the millionth time. It had taken a lot of pleading and persuasion, but I’d finally convinced my parents to let me invite two special “visitors” to our house so that I could learn more about this book. My hands were shaking as I closed the cover, took a deep breath, and walked, clutching the book in my hands, down the hall to the living room.
The two young men in suits and ties stood up when I walked into the room. With huge smiles, they introduced themselves and shook my hand. My heart was still pounding as I nervously smiled back.
We all sat down, and then one of the young men asked if he could offer a prayer. I nodded, and as I did, my eyes found the laughing, smiling face in a picture standing where it always had been, on the top shelf of the bookcase in our living room. Only this time, I could swear the smile was bigger and happier than ever before.

Have you ever wondered what it would have been like to be with Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery on the banks of the Susquehanna River on that spring day, May 15, 1829? Can you picture the miracle and majesty of that moment when John the Baptist, a resurrected being, appeared to those two young men, laid his hands on their heads, and granted them the authority of the Aaronic Priesthood?
Oliver Cowdery captured that unforgettable experience in his personal account. I hope you can feel the wonder and joy they felt as you read his words:
“On a sudden, as from the midst of eternity, the voice of the Redeemer spake peace to us, while the veil was parted and the angel of God came down clothed with glory and delivered the anxiously looked for message, and the keys of the Gospel of repentance. What joy! what wonder! what amazement! While the world was racked and distracted—while millions were groping as the blind for the wall, and while all men were resting upon uncertainty, as a general mass, our eyes beheld—our ears heard. As in the ‘blaze of day’; yes, more—above the glitter of the May sunbeam, which then shed its brilliancy over the face of nature! Then his voice, though mild, pierced to the center, and his words, ‘I am thy fellow-servant,’ dispelled every fear. We listened, we gazed, we admired! ‘Twas the voice of an angel from glory—‘twas a message from the Most High, and as we heard we rejoiced, while His love enkindled upon our souls, and we were rapt in the vision of the Almighty! Where was room for doubt? Nowhere; uncertainty had fled, doubt had sunk, no more to rise, while fiction and deception had fled forever. …
“I shall not attempt to paint to you the feelings of this heart, nor the majestic beauty and glory which surrounded us on this occasion; but you will believe me when I say, that earth, nor men, with the eloquence of time, cannot begin to clothe language in as interesting and sublime a manner as this holy personage. No; nor has this earth power to give the joy, to bestow the peace, or comprehend the wisdom which was contained in each sentence as it was delivered by the power of the Holy Spirit! Man may deceive his fellow man; deception may follow deception, and the children of the wicked one may have power to seduce the foolish and untaught, till naught but fiction feeds the many, and the fruit of falsehood carries in its current the giddy to the grave, but one touch with the finger of his love, yes, one ray of glory from the upper world, or one word from the mouth of the Savior, from the bosom of eternity, strikes it all into insignificance, and blots it forever from the mind! The assurance that we were in the presence of an angel; the certainty that we heard the voice of Jesus, and the truth unsullied as it flowed from a pure personage, dictated by the will of God, is to me, past description, and I shall ever look upon this expression of the Savior’s goodness with wonder and thanksgiving while I am permitted to tarry, and in those mansions where perfection dwells and sin never comes, I hope to adore in that day which shall never cease” (History of the Church, 1:43).
Explaining that he acted under the direction of Peter, James, and John, the ancient Apostles who held the keys of the Melchizedek Priesthood, John pronounced these words to Joseph and Oliver, who had called upon God for guidance and direction:
“Upon you my fellow servants, in the name of Messiah I confer the Priesthood of Aaron, which holds the keys of the ministering of angels, and of the gospel of repentance, and of baptism by immersion for the remission of sins; and this shall never be taken again from the earth, until the sons of Levi do offer again an offering unto the Lord in righteousness” (D&C 13).
What an awesome experience!