Gospel Story Finder

Brigham Young had hoped to send an advance company all the way west that year, but crossing Iowa took so long that it was too late in the year to continue. He ordered a settlement to be built on the west side of the Missouri River where the Saints could spend the winter. Streets were laid out and cabins built in what became known as Winter Quarters. Until the cabins were ready, the Saints lived in tents, dugouts, or caves. On November 24, Hosea Stout moved into what he called his “little shanty” and wrote in his journal, “This day was the first day that my only living child now seven months and two days old ever was in a house, being born in the wild, rude and uninhabited prairies.”*
Living conditions were poor. There were few pieces of furniture. Cabins were furnished with planks, barrels, and anything else people could find. They were also very crowded. There were not enough cabins, so many homes had to house more than one family. By December 1846, Winter Quarters consisted of 538 log cabins, 83 sod houses, and 3,483 people.

George Gilman, 16, Joe Vance, 16, and Kirk Moses, 16, all attend the Vancouver Eighth Ward, Vancouver Washington West Stake. They each served alongside the full-time missionaries for one week.

“We were out tracting and had been turned down five times in a row,” Kirk said. “Then a woman answered the door and invited us in. She said she’d been looking at a lot of different churches and she listened to everything we said. Then she asked if we could come back again the next day. The full-time missionaries have been teaching her ever since!”

I received the other day a very interesting letter. It was written by a woman who joined the Church a year ago. She writes:
“My journey into the Church was unique and quite challenging. This past year has been the hardest year that I have ever lived in my life. It has also been the most rewarding. As a new member, I continue to be challenged every day.”
She goes on to say that when she joined the Church she did not feel support from the leadership in her ward. Her bishop seemed indifferent to her as a new member. Rebuffed, as she felt, she turned back to her mission president, who opened opportunities for her.
She states that “Church members don’t know what it is like to be a new member of the Church. Therefore, it’s almost impossible for them to know how to support us.”
This woman goes on: “When we as investigators become members of the Church, we are surprised to discover that we have entered into a completely foreign world, a world that has its own traditions, culture, and language. We discover that there is no one person or no one place of reference that we can turn to for guidance in our trip into this new world. At first the trip is exciting, our mistakes even amusing, then it becomes frustrating and eventually, the frustration turns into anger. And it’s at these stages of frustration and anger that we leave. We go back to the world from which we came, where we knew who we were, where we contributed, and where we could speak the language.”

“This afternoon we went to the Church of the Apostles where is found the original Christus statue by Thorvaldsen. And then on either side of that beautiful chapel are the carved figures of the Apostles, including Peter, with the keys in his hand. I don’t think the people who have responsibility for that church understand the significance of those keys, but for us they are real, they are genuine. The Lord said to His Apostles, ‘And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven’ (Matt. 16:19). Those are the eternal keys of the priesthood which have been restored under the hands of Peter, James, and John, and also Moses, Elias, and Elijah. They are the keys of the fulness of the priesthood as the Lord uses the word in the 124th section of the Doctrine and Covenants [D&C 124]—those keys which are exercised in the house of the Lord.”5

Some years ago, I prayed for the words to defend motherhood when I received an anonymous phone call.
The caller asked, “Are you Neill Marriott, the mother of a big family?”
I answered happily, “Yes!” expecting to hear her say something like, “Well, that’s good!”
But no! I’ll never forget her reply as her voice crackled over the phone: “I am highly offended that you would bring children onto this overcrowded planet!”
“Oh,” I sputtered, “I see how you feel.”
She snapped, “No—you don’t!”
I then whimpered, “Well, maybe I don’t.”
She started on a rant about my foolish choice to be a mother. As she went on, I began to pray for help, and a gentle thought came to mind: “What would the Lord say to her?” I then felt I was standing on solid ground and gained courage at the thought of Jesus Christ.
I replied, “I am glad to be a mother, and I promise you I will do everything in my power to nurture my children in such a way that they will make the world a better place.”
She replied, “Well, I hope you do!” and hung up.
It wasn’t a big thing—after all, I was standing safely in my own kitchen! But in my own small way, I was able to speak in defense of family, mothers, and nurturers because of two things: (1) I understood and believed God’s doctrine of the family, and (2) I prayed for words to convey these truths.

The moon has fallen from the sky
Into a field that lies nearby.
Yet creeping there I slyly peer
And find the moon is nowhere near,
And searching for the fallen one,
I’m startled by the rising sun.

“From the time that I was a boy,” Elder Larsen stated, “I enjoyed horses very much. I had a colt from one of our mares. It was born on my birthday, so my father said that it was mine and that it was my responsibility to raise it and train it. That colt and I became very attached to each other. When it was mature enough to ride, I could do anything with it. It trusted me, and I trusted it. It was never broken in the sense that it was handled roughly to subdue its spirit. We just did things together by mutual agreement.”

During his junior year in high school, Jacob Reynolds, of Lugoff, South Carolina, was the undefeated state champion of his wrestling class. Jacob overcame a difficult recovery from a back injury and other setbacks before achieving his undefeated status.

When Elder L. Tom Perry was 11, his Primary teacher helped the boys in his class get ready to receive the priesthood and graduate from Primary.
As a reward for memorizing all 13 Articles of Faith, she let them choose a place for a special outing. The boys and their teacher hiked to the top of a rocky hill to cook hot dogs and roast marshmallows. Their teacher told the boys that she was proud of them for memorizing the Articles of Faith. She also said that they should learn more than just the words. Then she taught them a lesson about what the Articles of Faith mean.
This experience inspired Elder Perry to study the gospel as he grew up. (See “The Doctrines and Principles Contained in the Articles of Faith” from the priesthood session.)

By June 1830, Joseph Smith and the infant church had been the object of considerable persecution. To strengthen and sustain them in their hour of trouble, the Lord gave them a revelation that Orson Pratt later titled the Visions of Moses. This revelation was eventually to have great impact upon the doctrinal development of the Church and had the immediate effect of strengthening the Prophet and his friends amid the trials and tribulations they were called to endure. In his journal, the Prophet prefaced the revelation with these words:
“I will say, however, that amid all the trials and tribulations we had to wade through, the Lord, who well knew our infantile and delicate situation, vouchsafed for us a supply of strength, and granted us ‘line upon line of knowledge—here a little,’ and there a little of which the following (Moses 1:1–42) was a precious morsel.”

I realized that I needed to work to pay for my mission, but finding work during the pandemic was hard. One day I was feeling stressed about earning money. I decided to pray to God. As I pondered, the words “Sell bottled water” came to my mind. The impression was so strong! In Brazil, people often sell treats or drinks at stoplights. I immediately had lots of questions about selling water, but I felt inspired about how to do it. I did some research and decided to sell water in a more professional way.
It was hard to sell water, because it was extremely hot. The first day we started working, it was a brutal 100 degrees Fahrenheit (38 degrees Celsius) and extremely humid, and we couldn’t stay for too long under the umbrella because we were keeping the coolers under it. That day, we worked for five hours nonstop under the burning hot sun. During all those hours I kept thinking, “This is for my goal. I am going on a mission!” Deep inside I knew the Lord was with me and was going to protect me and help me through.

What can each of you do to be a guardian of virtue? It starts with believing you can make a difference. It starts with making a commitment. When I was a young woman, I learned that some decisions need to be made only once. I wrote my list of things I would always do and things I would never do in a small tablet. It included things like obeying the Word of Wisdom, praying daily, paying my tithing, and committing to never miss church. I made those decisions once, and then in the moment of decision, I knew exactly what to do because I had decided beforehand. When my high school friends said, “Just one drink won’t hurt,” I laughed and said, “I decided when I was 12 not to do that.” Making decisions in advance will help you be guardians of virtue. I hope each of you will write a list of things you will always do and things you will never do. Then live your list.

Play with Me A child goes to the meadow to play with the animals, but they run from her. Then, when she sits quietly, they all come back.Marie Hall Ets3–7 years

One Saturday a schoolteacher knocked on our door to talk to my father about my nephew. I found myself looking at a book he held, A Marvelous Work and a Wonder. Seeing my interest, he offered to leave the book. He also said I could attend a study group.
I spent almost the whole night scanning the book, stopping to take notes whenever I came across something new. Although I did not fully understand the doctrine, I felt no doubt about its truthfulness. I had a feeling of joy—as if I were discovering a genuine gem among thousands of imitations.

I think I initially questioned what I believed because I wasn’t confident that my testimony was strong enough to go on a mission. I remember around the time I graduated high school thinking something like, What if my testimony isn’t fully mine? What if I’ve been relying too much on the testimonies of other people?

That bothered me. I wanted to go on a mission, but I wondered if the spiritual experiences I had had up to that point were enough to make me what I thought a successful missionary was supposed to be—someone who had enough spiritual strength and knew enough about the gospel to teach other people.

Looking back, I should have asked God to help me understand the counsel given in Doctrine and Covenants 124:97: “Let him be humble before me, … and he shall receive of my Spirit, even the Comforter, which shall manifest unto him the truth of all things, and shall give him, in the very hour, what he shall say.”

But rather than asking God, I got lost in comparing my spiritual stature to others’, and I was afraid that my inadequacies would keep people from accepting the gospel.

Out on my own as a young adult, I continued trying to figure out what I believed. I didn’t see the harm of what I saw as isolated decisions that didn’t redefine who I was as a person. I began to pull away from those that I loved because I knew they would be disappointed in the choices I was making. Instead, I surrounded myself with people who didn’t really care what I was doing. One day I tried an alcoholic drink out of curiosity. Drinking became a part of my life and eventually went from just recreation to something I used as a crutch to cope with difficult experiences. The negative changes in my life during that time weren’t necessarily tied to any one choice; they were gradual. It took me two years to realize that the small choices I made over time had led me to a place I didn’t want to be.

Now, I’m not saying that in order to learn the truthfulness of the gospel, you should experience the opposite. My actions caused pain not just for me but also for people I loved—much of it unnecessary. I’m grateful that I was able to humble myself enough to realize that (1) I was miserable, and (2) I had been happiest when I was living God’s commandments. That was something I knew for myself, something I could stand behind and share with others.

When he was president of Pioneer Stake, he worked with leaders to be sure each family had food and presents to celebrate this holiday.
Because his stake was so good at taking care of each other, he was asked to direct the ___________________ program of the Church.

This morning, you decide, is an omelet morning. You hop out of bed and chop the veggies. You heat the frying pan. You crack the egg … and your little brother cackles with laughter.
“You did it again!” you groan. Yes, he boiled some eggs in their shells and then snuck them back in with the fresh eggs. It’s his favorite trick. If only there were a way to tell the difference between fresh eggs and hard-boiled ones. Why, that’d be almost as useful as being able to discern between “real” and “fake” information.

I was in the Navy at the end of World War II when I was a very young man. My training took place near San Diego, California. Everyone in the Navy had to know how to swim, or they wouldn’t let him out of boot camp (training camp). I had learned to swim as a boy and could do it quite well.

One day an officer said, “All of you who can swim get to go to San Diego for the day. Those who can’t must have a full day of swimming lessons. So those of you who can swim, line up over here, and we’ll put you on a bus and take you into town.” I lined up with the swimmers—there were about 30 or 40 of us. But instead of having my group get on a bus, the officer marched us into the gym, where the swimming pool was.

I thought, You’re mixed up, fellow. We’re the ones who can swim. But, of course, I said nothing. We prepared for swimming and were ordered to jump into the deep end of the pool.

Most of us obeyed, but about 10 men in our group didn’t know how to swim. They had thought that they could go to San Diego without measuring up. The officer didn’t let them just stand there—he pushed them into the water. He let them go under the water, come up gasping for air, and then go down again. When they came up for the second time, a big bamboo pole was held out to them, and they were pulled to safety. Then the officer said sternly, “Don’t you ever lie to me again!” I tell you, I was glad I hadn’t tried that! The experience taught me the value of being honest and true to yourself at all times.

As we witnessed the feeling that was there, we have felt that we should continue these area conferences. The first such conference was held in Manchester, England, where we had about 14,000 there. We were in Mexico City next, where we had representatives from all the Central American countries and from Mexico. There we had 16,000, and to see what had happened from the time I first went down there in 1945 was an inspiration. To see congregations that at that time were meeting many times in houses with dirt floors! Many of the women came barefooted, showing the extremes of poverty; very few leaders—and now to go back after these few years and see under one roof well-dressed, fine-looking leaders taking their own responsibilities as bishoprics, stake presidencies, high councilors, stake mission presidents—it is one of the miracles. The world is asking the question, “How are you able to do it?” and there is only one answer: that when we become fellow citizens in the kingdom of God we must be men and women different. And that is what the holders of the priesthood must say to themselves: “We can’t be holders of the priesthood and be like other men. We must be different, because priesthood means a fellowship in the royal household of the kingdom of God.”

A friend of mine named Bret went to a local ski resort with some friends to ride the Alpine Slide, a hillside attraction patterned after a toboggan run. There were two parallel tracks on the slide, and one of Bret’s friends wanted to race. They waited until no one was in front of them, then pushed off down the mountain.
Halfway down the slide they came to a sharp curve with a warning sign, “Caution, Slow.” Bret thought this was his chance to pull ahead, so he approached the curve at full speed.
The toboggan jumped the track. Thrown free, Bret slammed into the hillside, then slid a long way over tough, rocky terrain. He wasn’t dressed for protection, and his entire right side was scraped from his ankle to his wrist.
That evening his dad soaked Bret in the bathtub so he could peel the clothing away from the torn skin. Bret fainted from the pain. He spent the next three days in bed taking medication, wondering if the agony would ever end.
“I learned a lesson I’ll never forget,” Bret now says. “I couldn’t believe how bad it hurt and how long it took to get better. The people who put up those warning signs knew what they were doing.”
Bret had started out doing something that seemed safe and fun. And that’s exactly what it should have been. But then he deliberately ignored the warnings, got going too fast, and before he knew it, the situation took control of him.