Gospel Story Finder

The Los Angeles California Stake has an uncommon collection of cultures. The Westwood wards are basically Caucasian; the Hollywood and Wilshire wards have Mexican, South and Central American, South Pacific, and Far Eastern cultures. And then there’s the fast-growing Spanish Branch where all meetings are conducted in Spanish. The new Korean Branch is solely conducted in the Korean language. And there also is the Ward for the Deaf, a special ward where sign language is used.
The Los Angeles Stake Young Women organization, in an effort to bridge the gap between the hearing and the deaf, embarked last fall on a program of training the Laurels, Mia Maids, and Beehive girls in the deaf sign language. The deaf language missionaries were called upon to teach the classes, and the girls quickly became adept at the basic signs. Later, members of the Ward for the Deaf also helped.
The young women of the Ward for the Deaf were just as excited watching their hearing sisters try to communicate with them as the hearing girls were in learning the new language.
One of the high points of this effort was at the June stake conference when representatives from all wards and classes “signed” the three verses of “I Am a Child of God” before the congregation. The song was conducted by a Laurel from the Ward for the Deaf. Later, as the congregation rose to sing “The Spirit of God Like a Fire Is Burning,” the stake youth stood in front and “signed” the song while the congregation sang. The members of the Ward for the Deaf stood with their hearing sisters and “signed” the song with them.
A few weeks later something else new happened—the girls from the Ward for the Deaf joined in the Young Women summer camp. At the end of the week, everyone was able to “sign” a poem and another song for camp visitors. Several of the hearing girls are planning to continue their education in sign language.
It was exciting and fun to learn a new language, but the girls found it equally gratifying to be able to know and understand their deaf sisters, a valuable step in gaining greater appreciation for all.

Following his RAF service, Elder Kearon’s father went to work as a defense contractor in Saudi Arabia. Patrick, as a seven-year-old boy, learned an important lesson there in obedience, memorably recounted in his first general conference talk as a General Authority. Ignoring his parents’ instructions to wear shoes during a desert camping trip, he went exploring in “flip-flops” and suffered a scorpion sting in the arch of his foot.

With growth came the imperative for a permanent meeting place, and on November 22, 1996, Larry B. Duke, president of the Ghana Accra Mission, dedicated land for the construction of a chapel. The construction was completed within a year, and members began worshiping in the new chapel on February 8, 1998. The chapel was officially dedicated on March 11, 1999, by President Larry Bodhaine. This marked a new chapter in the branch’s narrative, further amplifying missionary activities and community engagement. Full-time missionaries played a pivotal role in fostering the branch’s growth, baptizing numerous converts, and fortifying the faith of members.

For the Savior’s mandate to share the gospel to become part of who we are, we need to become converted to the will of God; we need to love our neighbors, share the restored gospel of Jesus Christ, and invite all to come and see. As members of the Church, we cherish the Prophet Joseph’s reply to John Wentworth, the editor of the Chicago Democrat, in 1842. He was requesting information about the Church. Joseph concluded his response by using the “Standard of Truth” as a preface to the thirteen Articles of Faith. The standard conveys, in a concise way, what must be accomplished:
“No unhallowed hand can stop the work from progressing; persecutions may rage, mobs may combine, armies may assemble, calumny may defame, but the truth of God will go forth boldly, nobly, and independent, till it has penetrated every continent, visited every clime, swept every country, and sounded in every ear, till the purposes of God shall be accomplished, and the Great Jehovah shall say the work is done.”

“Look at this dress!” I screeched at my mother as she walked into my bedroom. “Do you know how many hours of cherry picking and baby-sitting it took to pay for this dress? Now look at it. It looks terrible after just the first washing!”
My mother calmly picked up the dress and looked at the label.
“Dry clean only,” she read as she looked up at me sympathetically.
“Oh,” I sighed slowly. “I didn’t even look at the washing instructions. I wouldn’t have bought it if I had known it wasn’t washable.”
I sat down on the bed despondently.
“It’s just one dress,” my mother said as she put her arm around me.
“But that’s the problem,” I answered. “it’s not just the dress. There are those shoes I got on sale even though I knew they were a little too short. They were such a great buy. I can’t stand to wear them now because of all the blisters I’ve gotten from them. Then there are those beautiful blue velvet pants. I haven’t got anything to wear them with. Even my new blouse is out now. I saw it for a fraction of the price I paid for it at the department store yesterday. I worked all summer long cherry picking, baby-sitting, housecleaning, and selling my crocheted hot pads door to door just to buy a few new clothes to start school with and now I can’t wear any of them.”
“Well, chalk it up to experience. You’ll know better next time,” my mother said cheerfully as she walked out the bedroom door.
That’s what got me started on the road to a budget-minded shopping guide. Even though I still make mistakes buying clothes, I learned a few dos and don’ts the hard way.

I knelt with my own family, at the conclusion of a great family home evening, the night before our lovely daughter was to be married in the temple. I think she wouldn’t mind my telling you that after we had laughed and wept and remembered, she was asked to pray. I don’t recall much of her prayer, the tears and the joy and the sweetness, but I remember one thought: she thanked God for the unconditional love she had received. This life doesn’t give one very many chances to feel exultant and a little successful, but I felt wonderful that night, and thank God that she really believes and understands what she said. We cannot, my dear brethren, condition our love by a beard or beads or habits or strange viewpoints. There have to be standards and they must be enforced, but our love must be unconditional.

Anna Ruth’s dream of being a missionary to her friends continued to grow—unexpectedly.
“My friend Dawn had heard Diane and me talking about the Church, and mentioned one day that she might be interested, too,” said Anna Ruth. “It just thrilled me. Our stake girl’s conference was a week away, and one of the priesthood leaders in our ward said they had a special fund for someone to take a nonmember girl to it. So my mother helped arrange for Dawn to go. The conference was really inspiring, and Dawn told me that she wanted to be baptized. The next week she started the lessons, and a few weeks later she was baptized.”
And Anna Ruth found out that her dream didn’t end with Dawn’s baptism. “Right after Dawn was baptized, a friend of mine that I’ve known for years told me that she wanted to go to church with me on Sunday!”

I was baptized in my native Peru when I was 15 years old. Now I am serving in the Russia Moscow Mission. In my homeland, the members of the Church believe in the gospel and know that it helps us to be happy here on the earth. In Russia, there are many wonderful members of the Church who believe the same.
As a missionary, I have friends and fellow missionaries from many countries. I know that it is very important for parents, teachers, and governments to teach respect and love for all nations and cultures.
I testify that Jesus Christ lives. I love my family and my neighbors and remind others to remember to love our neighbors as we love ourselves.
Elder J. Condori,Russia Moscow Mission

Young members of several Brigham City wards have been called to rather unique service. They have been called to work as name-extraction missionaries.
Jeff Wilks, 16, of the Brigham City 20th Ward, Brigham City Utah Stake, spends at least three hours each week copying names from microfilmed records onto standardized cards. His assignment is to work with Norwegian, Swedish, and Danish names. Jeff learned to read the old-style alphabet in special training sessions.
Jeff says he realized the importance of his calling when he participated in baptisms for the dead. “When I go to the temple, I feel just wonderful because I feel I am doing both ends of the work.”
Nancy Francis, 17, of the Perry Second Ward, Willard Utah Stake, has been a name-extraction missionary for two years. She can record 100 names in a three-hour sitting, and she believes the Spirit is there helping her while she works.
All of the young name-extraction missionaries have felt the Spirit while they work, because they are doing the Lord’s work. They not only feel they are helping those who have died, but they feel they are helping themselves as well.
“If I were to die right now, I would meet hundreds of people who are terribly joyful at what we have done for them,” says Jeff. “But even if it had just been one name, it would be worth it.”

It sounded simple. For two weeks I was to choose a family member and every day give something small to the person to express my love. I chose my little brother because we usually did not get along very well, and I figured this would be a good opportunity to draw closer to him. I decided to do it anonymously, and for the first week I bought him small bags of candy and various trinkets, leaving them by the side of his bed or under his pillow. After the week was over, I was thinking, Wow, this has got to be the easiest Personal Progress goal ever!
The second week, however, fell during our family camping trip, and the absence of convenient stores seriously complicated things. But I soon found that all it took was a little more creativity. Instead of buying things, I started doing things. I helped him roll his sleeping bag, whittle a marshmallow stick, and untangle his fishing line. Thinking constantly of ways to serve my brother strengthened our relationship incredibly, and I could see clearly the promise being fulfilled: “He that loveth his brother abideth in the light” (1 Jn. 2:10).
The last day of camp I lay in the dark tent, deep in the woods, listening to the soft calls of the birds and the gentle splashing of water from the nearby lake. The wind rustled through the tree tops, and I felt a cool breeze across my face.
“Someone tie up the window,” my brother mumbled sleepily. I felt him shiver beside me and suddenly realized that I had not done anything for him that day. I tied up the window, but since it was the last day, I felt I should give him something extra special. Maybe when we get home, I can buy him something especially expensive, I thought. No, that won’t do. It has to be today, and he is almost asleep. I lay quietly, thinking for a moment, and then rolled onto my side to face my brother.
“Warren,” I whispered.
“Hmmmm?”
“I love you.”
He was quiet for a second before he clearly responded, “I love you, too.”
I lay on my back and looked through the “sun roof” at the clear, dark sky and smiled.

On July 23, 1837, the Prophet Joseph met with Elder Thomas B. Marsh, President of the Quorum of the Twelve. Elder Marsh was apparently frustrated that the Prophet had called two members of his quorum to go to England without consulting him. As Joseph met with Elder Marsh, any hurt feelings were put aside, and the Prophet received a remarkable revelation. It is now the 112th section of the Doctrine and Covenants.20 It gives incredible direction from heaven with respect to humility and missionary work. Verse 10 reads, “Be thou humble; and the Lord thy God shall lead thee by the hand, and give thee answer to thy prayers.”21

My orthodontist told me I needed to have four teeth pulled. My permanent teeth were ready to come in, but my baby teeth were not yet loose. I was very frightened. That same day, the September 2008 Friend arrived. There was a letter in it from a girl my age who went through a similar experience. She said a prayer to help her get through it, and all she felt was a small tug as her teeth were pulled.
It made me feel better to know that someone else had gone through the same thing. Before I went to the dentist, I said a prayer and asked Heavenly Father to comfort me. Like the girl who wrote the letter, all I felt were a few tugs and the teeth were out. I know Heavenly Father can help us when we have difficulties.

The Smyth family of Londonderry, Ireland, may have set a new record. As far as they have been able to determine, they are the first family in Ireland to have three sons serve missions for the Church. All three served their missions in California.
David Smyth served in the California Oakland Mission. Stephen followed his brother and also served in the California Oakland Mission. Lloyd is presently serving in the California Anaheim Mission.
All three young men are outstanding athletes and have won both school and national honors for their abilities.

Elder D. Todd Christofferson explained what he learned from a personal trial: “Though I suffered then, as I look back now, I am grateful that there was not a quick solution to my problem. The fact that I was forced to turn to God for help almost daily over an extended period of years taught me truly how to pray and get answers to prayer and taught me in a very practical way to have faith in God. I came to know my Savior and my Heavenly Father in a way and to a degree that might not have happened otherwise or that might have taken me much longer to achieve. … I learned to trust in the Lord with all my heart. I learned to walk with Him day by day.”25

The beautiful face of Sister Pai on the Altiplano in Bolivia fills my memory with a warm glow. I visited her and her family in January 1975. They had been members of the Church for only three months, but in that time they had learned that President Spencer W. Kimball had encouraged Church members to have gardens. I was thrilled to see their two small vegetable gardens and a flower garden. Each night they covered their three gardens with plastic sheets to protect their treasures from freezing.

I shall never forget their family home evening, held in the warmest spot in the home—on their bed. Of that experience I wrote in my journal: “The rain and the cold, the walk and the mud were all well worth it. I would have walked one hundred miles to visit with this family and have the privilege of feeling their spirit and their enthusiasm in being members of the Church and learning principles which help them to be healthier and happier.” Blessed, honored pioneers.

David Bednar’s own reliance on the scriptures and his teaching of their importance have been evident throughout his priesthood service. Elder Bednar remembers: “During my training before my mission, we went to the solemn assembly room in the Salt Lake Temple. President Harold B. Lee was there to answer questions from about 300 missionaries. He stood there in his white suit, holding his white scriptures. He answered every question from the scriptures, or he said, ‘I don’t know.’ I sat there and thought that I would never be able to know the scriptures the way he did, but my objective became to use the scriptures in my teaching the way that I saw President Harold B. Lee do it. That desire is the genesis of all my scripture study.”

When I heard about his passing, though, I couldn’t help but be sad and frustrated that my grandfather hadn’t been baptized in this life. So when my sister suggested a year later that we go to the temple and do ordinances for my grandfather, I had mixed feelings. Why would it matter now if he hadn’t accepted it when it was right here for him?
But I prayed about doing my grandfather’s work in the temple, and my heart softened. I knew I needed to do it. When I went to the temple and was baptized for him, something happened to me in that font: I felt the Spirit come into my heart along with a sense of forgiveness and love that I didn’t know I had for my grandfather. My heart was truly turned to him. I felt the truth of the promise that “he shall plant in the hearts of the children the promises made to the fathers, and the hearts of the children shall turn to their fathers” (Doctrine and Covenants 2:2). It was real.

Even if you are the first generation in your family to have embraced the gospel, I imagine you grew up feeling spiritual yearnings. All of us, sooner or later, grow up and leave the places that have nurtured and cared for us. I lived at home while attending college, and it was only when I began teaching school and my parents moved that I had to start being grown up and live on my own.

Last year I had the opportunity to baptize my little brother. It was by far the most spiritual and rewarding experience in my life. As the second of nine children, I was 17 when my little brother Jase asked me if I would baptize him. I immediately felt unworthy. Although I hadn’t stolen anything or committed any major sin, I still felt as if I weren’t ready for such a great honor and responsibility. I felt like this was something my dad would be better at.
I explained my concerns to my parents, but they assured me that I could do this and that it would mean a lot to Jase if I did. With my parents’ encouragement, I agreed to baptize Jase and began to prepare myself mentally and spiritually so I could truly be worthy to use the Aaronic Priesthood power I had received.
On the day of the baptism, as my brother and I stepped into the font, a calm feeling came over me, and I was able to recite the words and perform the ordinance without a mistake. I believe many blessings have come from this one event. I not only drew closer to my brother, but I also drew closer to my family and the Lord. I know that this experience will always stand out as one of the most special in my life and that it will help me as I strive to prepare to serve a mission and give others the same opportunities to be blessed by the power of the gospel in their lives.

“I always like to help the missionaries. Others need to know the gospel. They need to be happy,” says Irene Marques. She is a diminutive, dynamic Gypsy woman who sells clothing in the marketplace. Among the silver rings on her fingers is a child’s CTR ring, a gift from one of the missionaries she aided. Unable to join the Church for several years because of opposition from her family, she nevertheless introduced many other people to the missionaries and the gospel. She has retained that same missionary zeal since her baptism three years ago by an old friend, Joaquim Jose da Silva Aires, president of the Coimbra District.