Gospel Story Finder

Simone’s eighth birthday was a very special day—he was baptized on his birthday! His family were members of the Church when he was born, so he had looked forward to this day for a long time.

Robert (Bobby) Harris of Roy, Utah, is a well-rounded student. He was quarterback on the football team and a pitcher on the baseball team. He was honored by being selected for the All-State Academic Football team. In addition to his athletics, he has won many art awards.

Bobby served in several leadership positions. He was student-body president of his high school and served on the seminary council. Bobby is in the Roy 12th Ward, Roy Utah Central Stake.

Certainly Sister Sylvia Rosen has learned the power of faithful patience. Sylvia is a young single mother from Utah with four children, one of whom is affected by a severe developmental disorder resembling autism. At a time of already great challenge in her life, she was diagnosed with advanced cancer. With renewed faith in our Heavenly Father, she let go of some activities and devoted herself to her top priorities: taking care of her family and pursuing medical treatment for her condition.

Today she continues to struggle with life’s challenges, but all her activities are mediated by a beautiful spirit of waiting on the Lord. As her health permits, she makes gifts for friends and delivers meals to neighbors in need of comfort. The more she gives to others, the more peaceful becomes her countenance. “I need all my faith and patience,” she says. “I am fighting for my life.”

Sister Rosen has learned the truth of Isaiah’s promise: “They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles” (Isa. 40:31).

Julia Nompi Nqubeni was born 20 December 1917, the youngest of five children. Her father, a school teacher, died when she was four. Her mother struggled to make a living as a school teacher and washer woman. In spite of poverty and other major obstacles, Julia pursued an education and began a teaching career. She eventually became one of the first black women in South Africa to become a school principal.

“Nothing exciting happened to me during the summer,” Lin complained to his friend Harvey. “So how can I write a theme about it?”
“I went to my grandmother’s in August,” Harvey volunteered, “and my seven cousins came …”
“And you roasted eighty-four ears of corn,” interrupted Lin. “You already told me all about it. But that doesn’t help me with my assignment!”
“Oh, you’ll think of something,” Harvey told Lin as he went out the back door. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”
As Lin stared at the blank piece of paper before him on the kitchen table, he remembered Mrs. Rogers had told the class that they could make up a story for their “Summer Happening” theme if they couldn’t think of anything else.
Lin decided that was just what he’d have to do. As he reached for his pencil, an idea flashed into his mind and he quickly wrote at the top of his paper:
Through Darkest Africaby Lin P. Wang
The title pleased him, and immediately he began to write:
The natives were restless. I listened to the drums beating. What were they saying? They stopped. I waited. My cat, Chu, waited too. Suddenly I heard a noise. …
Tap, tap. Lin leaped from the table and hurried to open the door.
“Hi, Mrs. Turner,” he said. “Mom’s upstairs. Come in, and I’ll call her.”
The little lady’s gentle blue eyes twinkled behind her glasses. “I came to see you, Lin,” she explained. “The temperature is supposed to drop tonight, and I’m afraid Carmen might catch cold. Could you put in my storm windows for me?”
“I’d be glad to,” Lin said, pulling on his plaid jacket.
“Carmen’s from Brazil, and she’s used to a warm climate,” Mrs. Turner explained as they crossed the street.
Mrs. Turner unlocked her front door and called, “Carmen, I’m back.”
Squawk, squawk! the parrot answered.
Carefully Lin latched the storm windows on the inside.
Later when he arrived home eating one of Mrs. Turner’s chocolate donuts, he read what he had written.
It didn’t quite please him, and so he changed the title to THROUGH DARKEST BRAZIL and continued to write:
A giant parrot flew past, flapping its wings. Mad with rage, it attacked me. I fought it off and so did Chu. Then something long and thin slithered through the tall grass. It was …
Br-ring, br-ring! Impatiently Lin answered the telephone.
“Hi, Lin!” said a familiar voice.
“Hi, Mr. Martin. What can I do for you?” Lin asked.
“I need your help.” Mr. Martin replied. “Can you come over to my house immediately?”
Lin zipped up his jacket and jogged down the street to Mr. Martin’s house. A tantalizing spicy smell came from the open door, and Joy, a blonde cocker spaniel, barked a friendly welcome.
“My dinner guests will soon be arriving,” Mr. Martin began as he opened the door, “and I can’t leave the kitchen. Joy needs her evening walk, and I wonder if you could possibly take her out for me?”
“Sure,” said Lin.
After the cocker finished sniffing Lin’s sneakers, the dog plunged down the driveway, dragging Lin along.
When they turned the corner, Lin saw Chu vigorously washing his ears.
Woof, woof! Joy also saw Lin’s cat and jerked the leash from Lin’s hands.
Hisst, hisst! Chu hunched his back angrily and his fur stood straight up.
Lin grabbed Joy’s leash just in time and took her back to Mr. Martin.
Mr. Martin gave Lin a steaming dish. “Have some of my curry,” he said. “It’s the food of Indian princes. Thanks for helping me, Lin.”
Lin hurried home with his dish of curry. As he nibbled the spicy rice and chicken, he read his theme. He quickly took his pencil and changed the title to THROUGH DARKEST INDIA Then he wrote:
… a man-eating tiger. Roaring, it leaped through the darkness. Chu fought off the vicious animal. I staggered into the clearing and stood before the campfire eating curry, the food of Indian princes.
“Hello, Lin,” Dad said as he appeared in the doorway. “Has your homework kept you busy?”
“It sure has!” Lin replied. “Harvey dropped by, I put in storm windows for Mrs. Turner, and Mr. Martin asked me to take Joy for a walk. In between I’ve been working on my theme.”
Lin slipped his “Summer Happening” theme into his notebook and stretched. Being a writer was hard work!

We were greatly blessed in our effort to obtain visas into Salalah in Dhofar. (See illustration 7.) Our request for visas made months before in the United States had been politely but firmly refused; Dhofar was disputed territory between Oman and Yemen and not a safe place for tourists. When we reached Muscat, Oman, we called on the Minister of Information, a young man, fluent in English, and explained that we had come all the way from America to see the big trees at Salalah because we had an ancient book that reported a Semite family’s building a ship, perhaps from those trees, to sail to America where their descendants became the American Indians. He was astonished.

“Salalah is my home and there are large trees there, but I have never heard this story.” He agreed to give us passes into the war zone if we would bring letters of introduction from the U.S. Embassy in Muscat. We acquired the desired letter of introduction. Because of the tense military situation, we were asked to fly down one day and return the next. We were naturally disappointed to have only 24 hours in Salalah, but we agreed cheerfully. We discovered later that on the day before our arrival at Muscat, the commander of the rebel forces had surrendered to the Sultan of Oman, ending 13 years of hostilities. Thus, two days after our arrival in Oman, the Minister of Information was willing to issue a pass into the war zone.

If you don’t like the thought of graduating from school as the only member of the Church in your class, you can always do what Tammy Shick of the Ridgeway Branch, Pennsylvania Pittsburgh Mission, did. She helped convert two of her classmates.
But her missionary work didn’t stop there. She gave a class presentation on the Book of Mormon and presented a copy of the book to her non-LDS teacher. She also wrote a class research paper on Church history.

Members of the Pennsylvania Historical Society hushed as Thomas L. Kane rose to address them. Colonel Kane,7 son of a prominent judge, and member of a highly respected Pennsylvania family, read to them a formal paper about his experiences in the West among the Mormon refugees from Nauvoo. Eloquently he described the exodus from Nauvoo, the poverty and hard circumstances of the refugees, their ready response to the government’s call for a Mormon Battalion, and then told of their beginning efforts in Utah.
The address was so well received that Colonel Kane, at the prodding of a Mormon elder, published it as a “very handsomely gotten up” book of 84 pages titled The Mormons. The Kanes paid for the printing of two editions of 1,000 copies each, then mailed a volume to every United States senator, most of the congressmen, the President, government department heads, and other influential people.
Why his concern for the Saints? Colonel Kane became interested in Mormons four years earlier when he dropped in at a Mormon conference in Philadelphia. Afterwards he talked for hours with Elder Jesse C. Little about Mormonism. He then wrote letters to aid Elder Little in Washington, D.C., circles, and later rode west with the elder to visit the Mormon refugee camps. Near one, he happened to overhear a Saint in earnest private prayer. While listening, the Colonel shed tears. “I am satisfied your people are solemnly and terribly in earnest,” he told Elder Little.
In the camps Colonel Kane became deathly ill. Carefully nursed by Saints, he recovered, but not before witnessing much of the everyday life of Mormons. On his return east he stopped to see the near-ghost City of Nauvoo. At Albany, illness nearly killed him. Fearing death he instructed his father, a judge, to never suffer any evil to come upon the Saints from the federal government, if he had the power to do so. The Colonel survived, and then drew on his first-hand knowledge for his address to the historical society.
Colonel Kane’s published address, some critics said, seemed too sympathetic about the Mormons. With critics in mind he inserted a preface in The Mormons’ second edition to reinforce his conclusions:
“I have been annoyed by comments this hastily written discourse has elicited. Well meaning friends have even invited me to tone down its remarks in favor of the Mormons, for the purpose of securing them a readier acceptance. I can only make them more express. The Truth must take care of itself. I not only meant to deny that the Mormons in any wise fall below our standard of morals, but I would be distinctly understood to ascribe to those of their number with whom I associated in the West, a general correctness of deportment, and purity of character above the average of ordinary communities.”
During his lifetime Colonel Kane became the Church’s “Sentinel in the East.” He advised Church leaders on political matters in Washington, D.C. Once, on his own initiative, he traveled to Utah via Panama to serve as a mediator between the Mormons and the federal army sent against them by President James Buchanan. In 1873 he visited Utah again, this time with his wife. While they accompanied President Young on a long trip south through dozens of Mormon villages, Mrs. Kane wrote down her honest reactions in letters home and in her journal. In 1874 her father published a book based on her Utah writings, Twelve Mormon Homes, “with the design of commanding sympathy for Mormons, who are at this time threatened with hostile legislation by Congress.”8

Only One Woof • Gyp and Sweep were brothers and best friends. And the only time in eight years that Gyp barked was when Sweep won the sheepdog trials.James Herriot5 years and up

Shortly after the death of her husband, in a night of “troubled sleep,” Julia had a dream in which John appeared to her, handed her some overalls, and said, “Go to work.” Describing the result of this dream, she said, “I found a way of getting myself away from the worries of these years, and that was through community involvement.”

She found her time in the MTC exciting and spiritual, working with brilliant MTC teachers and leaders. Every week, she was able to hear from members of the Seventy, and every three weeks, the missionaries would listen to an Apostle.
During her time at the MTC, she was also lucky enough to sing in the October 2018 general conference’s missionary choir.
She said, “It was astonishing and brought me to tears. I really felt the Spirit when we were singing the hymn ‘Hope of Israel.’ It felt like an army of angels were singing with us.”

One concluding example of the purity and paradox lying at the very center of Henry B. Eyring’s soul might sum up this remarkable man’s integrity:
Once President Eyring had a need to provide the sacrament to a group not able to join in the regular setting of a ward sacrament meeting. Before he pursued that kind gesture, he placed a series of rather urgent calls to the bishop of his ward to seek permission to do so. Of course, the bishop willingly and lovingly granted the request.
I cite this particular incident for a purpose. Surely the lesson is obvious to everyone. This is a member of the First Presidency of the Church asking. This is an ordained Apostle, one holding all the priesthood keys any human being can hold on this earth. This is one who could and does give direction to every other ward and stake priesthood leader in the Church, including the bishop of his own ward in Bountiful, Utah, USA. This is one who can overlay his keys on those of any local leader and as a presiding officer of the Church is often required to do so. But with the purity of heart that characterizes everything he does and the paradox not everyone would be so prepared to demonstrate, this is President Henry B. Eyring scrupulously following the protocol outlined for every lay member of the Church everywhere in the world, humbly presenting his petition before the Lord’s anointed and more than willing to take the counsel and abide by the decision of his local leader.

One day while working around our home, trimming the hedges and vines, I had an interesting experience. I was at work with my electric clippers and long extension cord. I had done this often, each time reminding myself of the need to use these clippers with great care in order to avoid cutting things that I shouldn’t.
Suddenly the blades became jammed. Caught between them was the power cord itself. Because I had not seen it in the thicket I was trimming, I had cut into the very line that was providing the power to work.
“Isn’t that one of life’s great lessons?” I thought. “Power, if misused, can cut into the very source of that power.”
Just as the careless use of electrical power can sever the source of that power, so is it possible to misuse spiritual power to sever our spiritual power line. We would then lose that which enables us to generate success in our lives. Proper use of our spiritual power line allows us to learn, to labor, to be obedient to law, and to love. While these capabilities lead to fulfillment, at the same time they also carry risk.

When I was in fourth or fifth grade, my family lived in Maryland, USA. There weren’t many Church members at my school. I had friends who were members of the Church and friends who were not.
When I was a teenager, some of my friends did things that were against my standards. But they didn’t try to get me to do them. I am grateful that my friends respected my beliefs. Sometimes I felt left out because I couldn’t do everything my school friends did. But I always felt good about following my standards. I decided I would live the gospel, no matter what. My testimony had grown stronger in Primary and home evening. I came to know that I am a child of God.

Before I was baptized, the missionaries gave me some copies of the Liahona to read. I still remember how I marveled at one of the articles I read, “Jesus the Christ: Our Master and More,” by Elder Russell M. Nelson in the April 2000 issue. I realized then that I had a Savior, that He loved me, and that He was the only perfect example for me to follow.
I believe that from the moment I began to read this wonderful magazine, my heart began to open so I could accept the gospel.
I am immensely grateful to the Lord that today—as in Lehi’s day—we have a Liahona to guide us.Roseana R. Santos, Poções Branch, Vitória da Conquista Brazil Stake

Single Sister Missionaries
At the April 1898 general conference, George Q. Cannon of the First Presidency announced that women could now be called to serve as missionaries.
In 1898, Inez Knight and Jennie Brimhall were called and set apart as missionaries to Great Britain. For more about their mission, see the online Church History article “They Can Bear Testimony, They Can Teach” at history.lds.org.
Currently, the Church has over 20,000 sister missionaries serving missions around the world.

I want to reveal something to you, and I use the word reveal purposefully. I have struggled, really struggled, to frame a paragraph to express what I want to say. And I fear that when I’ve given it to you, many of you will say, “Well, I knew that already,” and regard it as simple and unimaginative—even dull; for what I want to reveal is ordinary, commonplace. That makes it very difficult to have it universally regarded as being important.
But beyond the fact that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, that there has been a restoration of His gospel through prophets—after that, this is the one truth I most want to teach my children. And now the paragraph over which I’ve labored with such exertion:
It is the misapprehension of most people that if you are good, really good, at what you do, you will eventually be both widely known and well compensated. It is the understanding of almost everyone that success, to be complete, must include a generous portion of both fame and fortune as essential ingredients. The world seems to work on that premise. The premise is false! It is not true! The Lord taught otherwise.

When I close my eyes,
I can still see
The old land-worker
Caked with dirt and dust,
Kneeling in the thin layer of mud.
And he stares up into the clouded sky
With eyes as moist as the air
And prays in thanks
Of the end
Of a dry spell.

While attending Succeed in School, Alexis Ahouayito, of the Republic of Benin, West Africa, learned skills that helped him prepare for a mission. He read the Book of Mormon every day, studied, and prayed for the Holy Spirit to be with him. He learned in the program “how to teach with the Spirit and how to teach with authority.” Now he’s Elder Ahouayito, serving as an English-speaking missionary in the Zambia Lusaka Mission.
His mentor, Bishop Legbanon, encouraged him to attend Succeed in School while he apprenticed at the bishop’s welding shop.

Religion wasn’t popular in my household when I was growing up—although my parents had been very religious for most of their lives, my father’s terminal diagnosis, among other trials, led them to leave the religion they were raised in. I was four when he died of cancer and was also the youngest of 13 children, and my widowed mother just couldn’t believe that God would let something like this happen to our family.
But when I was 14 years old, I felt something was missing from my life. I wondered if I had a greater purpose that I wasn’t aware of. I felt like Joseph Smith, as “my mind was called up to serious reflection and great uneasiness” (Joseph Smith—History 1:8). Although I had never heard of Joseph Smith at that time, I began a search very similar to his as I attended many churches in hopes that I would find truth.
And I did, one day, when I saw two young men in suits going to my neighbor’s home. I was curious and asked them if I could come to their appointment. After getting my mother’s approval, I began the missionary discussions and eventually joined the Church.