Gospel Story Finder

The Memory Box by Mary Bahr Gramps and Gram and Zach made the memory box of photos and written accounts of things that were special to them, such as the time Zach climbed the water tower, the time Gramps taught Zach’s mom to ride a bike and she rode over his foot, and the time they watched a raccoon watch them while it ate a trayful of cookies Gram had set on the picnic table to cool. And they made the box just in time. …

(This is a report on an activity that was carried out before the beginning of the new Aaronic and Melchizedek Priesthood MIA programs.)
Last March marked the beginning of a unique project in the Church when a regional MIA for the handicapped started operation for the qualifying youth in the Davis County (Utah) area. From a beginning handful the number has grown to fifteen enthusiastic members between the ages of fourteen and thirty. They have been overlooked in their own ward and stake programs because of their handicaps, but now even those who had found it difficult to converse have bloomed in their own special program.
A major activity for the group was held at Christmas time. Two plays were presented in which the members were cast. Ernest Nielsen and Marlane Flack, two talented young activity directors, were in charge of the event. They also accompany the young people and teach them to sing, give prayers, talks, and participate in the usual MIA achievement activities. The plays were successfully presented before an audience of one hundred and fifty. One of the plays was repeated as part of the stake road-show, earning a special award.
In February a gala dinner-dance was held. Lessons preceding the activity included table manners and etiquette. Decorations were made by the MIA members. One of the leaders made black-and-white silhouettes of each participant and these were posted around the cultural hall, interspersed by red-and-white lace valentines to be taken home at the end of the dance, mementos of a glorious achievement for them.
It was a unique dance—no wallflowers! Everyone had been tutored in a few basic modern dance steps, and they participated freely in the festivities. A ten-piece combo furnished live music, one of five groups who volunteered gratis services. Four volunteer youth served the dinner in style, and a local florist donated corsages and boutonnieres. A local dance group presented a floor show.
During the year other youth helpers have volunteered their assistance for the weekly meetings. Paula Sheffield, a teenager, attends weekly as an assistant. Kerry Brinkerhoff showed up one evening with a friend. As a self-initiated project for seminary, they came to see how they could help. Kerry stayed on to assist in activities with the fellows, especially sports.
Perhaps the climax of the season’s work was the patriotic program presented in May. The group had learned six songs and spoke lines between talks given by the adult leaders, all a part of an original script, God Gave Me Dear America, written especially for the occasion. A special American flag was displayed on the front wall. During the year, when any member gave a prayer, theme, or talk, his or her name was written on a white star to adorn the blue field. So that was truly a flag of achievement. Patriotic items made by the members were on display in the festively decorated cultural hall.
A number of field trips have been taken in addition to weekly meetings—Christmas Tree Land, the circus, roller skating, a Temple Square tour, a play at the Promised Valley Theater. Summer activities featured the group’s second camp experience, one for the girls and one for the boys.
Enthusiasm runs high in this new MIA. Whenever the members meet each other, one will say, “See you at MIA on Thursday.” They are experiencing the joy of achieving.
Dora D. Flack

At the end of January 1831, Joseph and Emma Smith traveled to Ohio from New York in a horse-drawn sleigh. It was very cold, and Emma was expecting a baby. They arrived safely in front of Newel K. Whitney’s store in Kirtland during the first part of February. As they stopped, the prophet sprang from the sleigh, entered the store, and approached Brother Whitney, whom he had never met before. “Newel K. Whitney!” he declared, extending his hand to shake. “Thou art the man.” “You have the advantage of me,” replied Brother Whitney. “I could not call you by name as you have me.” “I am Joseph the Prophet. You prayed me here, now what do you want of me?” Joseph then explained that while he was still in New York he had seen Brother Whitney in a vision, praying for him to come to Kirtland. With great joy, the Whitneys made room in their home for the Smiths until they could find another place to live.

Putting the Lord first hasn’t put his father’s teasing to rest, but it has given those words new meaning. A few years ago when the federation considered scheduling league games on Sundays, the club presidents met to discuss it. Someone asked, “Did you ask Bleck?”
The proposal was dropped.
Because Bleck has put the Lord first, not only does everybody know Bleck—they know what he believes.

Church members worldwide are striving to live Christlike lives. One is a quiet, elderly sister named Dolly Ndholovu. Dolly joined the Church in Soweto, South Africa, in 1984 and has served faithfully in callings ever since. She has also opened her home to dozens of orphans, rearing many with her own children.

When her son graduated from college, Dolly had a garage built at the side of her home for his car. But the garage ended up serving a different purpose. During the 1980s, Soweto had no chapel, and people found it difficult to travel to Johannesburg for baptisms. So, with approval from priesthood leaders, Dolly and her son built a font in the garage. Many members of the branch were baptized there.

Today, Dolly serves as a temple worker in the Johannesburg South Africa Temple. Her daily expressions of faith and love have blessed the lives of many—and have allowed the Lord to bless her as well.

Not long afterward, the ancient Apostles Peter, James, and John appeared and conferred the higher or Melchizedek Priesthood, including “the keys of my kingdom, and a dispensation of the gospel for … the fulness of times!” (see Doctrine and Covenants 27:12–13; 128:20).

At the end of eighth grade, I was having a really hard time. It seemed like nothing was going my way.
I never saw my mom. She worked a night shift and took care of my aunt who was dying of cancer. My dad had died a year earlier. I felt very lost and alone, like I had no friends or family to comfort me. At school I was quiet and didn’t open up much. I quit hanging out with my friends. At the time, I didn’t think I was acting that differently. I tried to be myself and be as happy as I could. Now I look back and realize I was feeling down and falling even further.
A friend who I had just started hanging out with had a very strong testimony. She was in one of my classes, and one day, out of nowhere, she handed me a letter. In it, she described her hardships and expressed her testimony, which was one of the strongest testimonies I had ever read.
At the end of the letter there was the scripture, John 14:18: “I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you.”
I felt as though God was telling me through my friend that I was not alone, even though I felt as though I had no friends or family. Now I know I will never be alone because I can go to my Heavenly Father through prayer. He will always be there.

Snow!
(o joyous delirium!)
Out, out!
Bundle coat and scarf—
(where’s my hat; i can’t find my hat.)
Push, push—pull harder!
(these are last year’s boots, they don’t fit very well)
At last! Open the door!
Mittens? Oh wait.
(they were right here; i know it. who took them?)
“Who took my mittens?!”
Oh, (here they are. they were in my pocket.)
Out, out!
(o joyous delirium!)
Snow!

Thelma Taylor was happy with her calling at her local family history center in Mesa, Arizona, USA. For 17 years she assisted, guided, and supported men and women in their quests to find their ancestors. A move to Coolidge, Arizona, in 2005, however, put 40 miles (64 km) between her and the family history center whose patrons she had faithfully served.

Nearly blind and unable to drive, the 83-year-old woman feared her inability to travel to Mesa would mean the end of her family history service. Then a thoughtful leader offered a solution to this problem in the form of a Church-service mission Sister Taylor could perform from home. Since 2006 she has served as a FamilySearch Support missionary for the Church, using her home computer to help people do their family history work.

“It has blessed me beyond my ability to count all the blessings,” she says of her experience. “I’ve grown so much in that area in family history and in my ability to serve.”

Though her eyesight is poor, Sister Taylor—who now supports six fellow missionaries—can increase the font size on her computer enough to read patrons’ e-mails and respond to their questions.

Sister Taylor didn’t learn how to operate a computer until she was 66 years old, but she says it is a beneficial, useful skill. “Your age doesn’t matter,” she said. “You’re not too old to learn how to use a computer.”

“This is an ideal situation for me because I can continue to learn and serve,” Sister Taylor said. She said her Church-service mission has helped her to feel useful at an age when her options are limited.

The work is fulfilling and contagious. “The spirit of this work gets into you and doesn’t turn you loose,” Sister Taylor said. “No matter your age, you can be of real service as a FamilySearch Support missionary.”

Tauna May of the Groveland First Ward, Blackfoot Idaho Stake, has won the Ruth Sayer Phoenix Young Artist Competition Award. She performed as a piano soloist with the Idaho State Civic Symphony.
Tauna commented about her performance with the symphony. “I auditioned for four years before being chosen as a soloist and, believe me, the wait was worth it. I love being an LDS youth because it sets us apart, makes us special. There are so many, many temptations in the way of our eternal goal. The Church is there; the plan is all laid out. All we have to do is follow it like we follow the notes and markings on sheet music; and our life, like our piece, will turn out beautifully.”

Julius Caesar tried to solve the problem when he was the leader of the Roman Empire. The calendars were a mess because the leader of any nation could make the calendar longer or shorter any time he felt like it. There might be ten months or twelve or thirteen. With this type of calendar, it was easy to make mistakes.
Julius Caesar didn’t want a calendar full of mistakes. He wanted one that was accurate. He decided that the only way to correct the calendar was to make a new one. But what about the extra 1/4 day? He finally decided the best thing to do was make each year 365 days long. Then every four years, when the calendar had fallen a whole day behind, add a leap day to make up the missing time.
At first this leap day was added between February 23 and February 24. It wasn’t considered an official day, so they didn’t bother to give it a number. If you happened to be born on the day with no number, you celebrated your birthday on February 24. Later, the extra day was added at the end of the month as February 29.
Julius Caesar had another problem to solve before he could introduce his new calendar. The Romans were very sloppy calendar keepers. After constantly changing the calendar for hundreds of years, the months were no longer in their proper seasons.
His solution to this mess was the leapingest leap year in history. He decided to add all the days that had been left out. To do this, he made 46 B.C. one giant leap year. First, he added a 23-day month, which he called Mercedonius, after the month of February. Then he added two more months between November and December, making that year 445 days long! Although Julius Caesar’s fifteen-month year did return the months to their correct seasons, the Romans called it “the year of confusion.”

I always remembered his words, especially when I faced a challenge. For example, one time my mother gave me money to go to a store to buy some fruit. For some reason the cashier gave me back more money than I gave her to pay for the fruit. I started walking home, and when I opened my hand, I saw that I had more money than I had started with.
Satan tried to convince me that I could keep the money for myself. I thought, “I have some money to do whatever I want, and then I will give back the correct change to my mother.” But then I thought, “No, that’s not what the bishop told me. To be a missionary, I have to be honest.” I felt the Spirit at that time and went back to the store to give back the money. I felt good in my heart. I thought, “I was honest, I obeyed the commandments, and I am preparing for my mission. I will be a missionary, and I need to be honest.”

Are our reaching hands clean? Are our yearning hearts pure? Looking backward in time through the pages of history, we glean a lesson on worthiness from the words of the dying King Darius.

“Darius … through the proper rites had been recognized as legitimate King of Egypt; his rival Alexander had been declared the legitimate Son of Amon—he too was Pharaoh. … Alexander found the defeated Darius on the point of death in his tent, and … laid his hands upon his head to heal him, commanding him to arise and resume his kingly power, and concluding his blessing: ‘I swear unto thee, Darius, by all the gods, that I do these things truly and without faking.’ [Darius] replied with a gentle rebuke: ‘Alexander my boy … do you think you can touch heaven with those hands of yours?’” (in Hugh Nibley, Abraham in Egypt, Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1981, p. 192).

___ 4. Growing up in a war-torn city where buildings had been bombed, he found hope in reading and learning from these. One of his favorite verses was Romans 8:31: “If God be for us, who can be against us?” He says: “This gave me comfort and courage, because at that time the future looked bleak.”

As mentioned I wanted my children to know of Jesus as I knew of him, so I started to attend the Sunday services. I grew up in a Latin based church service where prayers and hymns were all in Latin, so this was the first time I had ever entered another church and heard hymns in English. I remember the first hymn I heard was “O my Father Thou That Dwellest.” It filled me with awe and is now my favourite hymn.

As a young man I heard President J. Reuben Clark (1871–1961), a member of the First Presidency, plead time after time that there be unity in the Church. He would quote frequently the message of the Lord: “I say unto you, be one; and if ye are not one ye are not mine” (D&C 38:27). Unity in the Church will always be a reflection of the unity in our homes. One of the most important ways to foster unity in the home is holding family home evening regularly. Whether we are young or old, single or married, whether we have children at home or have become empty nesters, family home evening can increase unity and love in our homes. Family home evening is for everyone.

During their early years in the Church, Jorge and Zorka faced serious economic challenges. On one occasion they desperately needed money to buy shoes and other essentials for their four children. But the only money they had was what they had set aside as tithing. Should they “borrow” that money temporarily to buy the shoes? Sister Leaño expressed her deep feelings that the money was not theirs to borrow and that they should quickly pay their tithing rather than be tempted to use the money for something else.

Brother Leaño immediately sought out branch leaders and gave them the tithing. On the way home, he wondered, Now what will we do? Where will we get the money we need? Arriving home, Jorge learned to his surprise and gratitude that his children had discovered a 100-boliviano bill inside a small plastic flower vase they had found. The money was sufficient to buy the much-needed shoes. Since that day, Brother Leaño has eagerly borne his testimony of the law of tithing.

When I was about three or four years old, my mother was the ward Relief Society president. Part of her responsibility, it seemed, was always to have a quilt in progress in our home. At any given time, sisters would filter in and out of our basement to quilt for a while. Often my mother would thread a needle for me and let me “quilt” with the sisters. (My clumsy stitches were patiently removed when I was not around.) I relished these moments and learned at a young age to love quilting and Relief Society.
My mother died suddenly when I was only five. It wasn’t until years later that I found out she had left me a great gift of love. The Christmas of my 19th year is one I will always remember, for that was when I received this most precious gift from my mother, although she had passed away 14 years earlier.
I hadn’t known it, but before my mother died she had pieced together two special quilt tops, one for my older brother and one for me. She had used little pieces of fabric from our dresses and shirts. But she had passed away before she could put the quilts together and do the quilting.
When I turned 19, my older sister felt it was time to complete the quilts for my brother and me, and she asked the ward Relief Society to finish them. The sisters sewed the intricate stitches without knowing how much it would have pleased my mother.
On Christmas Day when I received the quilt, I loved the gift with all my heart. But I had no idea how much more it would yet come to mean to me.
Years went by, and I married and started a family of my own. I kept my quilt wrapped in a plastic bag in a drawer to protect it from damage and wear. One day I took it out and was carefully admiring it when one of my little boys came into the room and asked me where I got the quilt. I explained to him that his Grandma Brown had made the quilt for me before she died.
“Who is Grandma Brown?” my young son asked.
How it pained me that my children had never known the mother I cherished. It hurt that she could not put her arms around them and tell them she loved them in her tender, gentle way. I explained to my son once again that Grandma Brown, my mother, was someone special in heaven who loved him.
“Why do you have that quilt, Mommy?” he asked.
Suddenly it came to me. I knew exactly why I had the quilt. I unfolded it and wrapped it around his little body. “I have this quilt so Grandma Brown can give you hugs even though she is in heaven,” I said.
A big smile spread across his face, and I could see that this was the best answer I could have given him.
Since then the quilt has made its way out of the drawer much more often. Whenever a family member is hurt, sad, or in need of extra love, the quilt is a great source of comfort. I love touching the quilt, knowing my mother’s hands have touched it also.
Many years have passed, and I can now quilt correctly. My sisters and I have spent many hours around quilting frames, talking about our mother. Since I am the youngest, my sisters tell me stories about her to help me know her better. Yet no matter how many stories I hear, nothing has helped me or my children turn our hearts to my mother more than the quilt I got for Christmas the year I turned 19.

There is a father listening tonight who has come back from inactivity because he wants the assurance of that gift with all his heart. He and his wife love their two small children, a boy and a girl. Like other parents, he can foresee heavenly happiness when he reads these words: “And that same sociality which exists among us here will exist among us there, only it will be coupled with eternal glory, which glory we do not now enjoy.”
That father listening with us tonight knows the path to that glorious destination. It is not easy. He already knows that. It took faith in Jesus Christ, deep repentance, and a change in his heart that came with a kind bishop helping him feel the Lord’s loving forgiveness.
Wonderful changes continued as he went to the holy temple for an endowment that the Lord described to those whom He empowered in the first temple in this dispensation. It was in Kirtland, Ohio. The Lord said of that:
“Wherefore, for this cause I gave unto you the commandment that ye should go to the Ohio; and there I will give unto you my law; and there you shall be endowed with power from on high;
“And from thence, … for I have a great work laid up in store, for Israel shall be saved, and I will lead them whithersoever I will, and no power shall stay my hand.”
For my recently activated friend and for all the priesthood, a great work ahead is to lead in saving the part of Israel for which we are or will be responsible: our families. My friend and his wife knew that requires being sealed by the power of the Melchizedek Priesthood in a holy temple of God.
He asked that I perform the sealing. He and his wife wanted it done as soon as possible. But with the busy time of general conference approaching, I left it to the couple and their bishop to work with my secretary to find the best date.
Imagine my surprise and delight when the father told me in church that the sealing is set for April 3. That was the day in 1836 when Elijah, the translated prophet, was sent to the Kirtland Temple to give the sealing power to Joseph Smith and to Oliver Cowdery. Those keys reside in the Church today and will continue to the end of time.

Another friend served an outstanding mission, followed by rigorous academic training. He hoped to have a family. His trial of faith: feelings of same-sex attraction. He wrote me recently: “I am promised in my patriarchal blessing that I will have my own family someday. Whether that will occur in this life or the next, I do not know. But what I do know is that I don’t want to do anything that will jeopardize the blessings God has promised both me and my future posterity. … Living [the law of chastity] is a challenge, but did we not come to earth to confront challenges and to show God our love and respect for Him by keeping His commandments? I am blessed with good health, the gospel, a loving family, and loyal friends. I am grateful for my many blessings.”16
These two followers of Christ and tens of thousands like them have felt the Savior’s promise: “Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.”18