Gospel Story Finder

Karoly Takacs, a Hungarian, was recognized as the best pistol shot in the world. More than anything he wanted to win in the Olympics. But one day driving home, Takacs was in a crash, and doctors had to amputate his right arm—his shooting arm.
Takacs’s recovery was slow. It wasn’t a physical challenge, but an emotional one. He had hit bottom. People wanted to help but there was little they could do. Takacs began to avoid his friends; even his family didn’t know where he spent his time. But Karoly Takacs was preparing. In solitude he had trained his left arm and his aiming eye, a training that’s far more of an intellectual mastery than most people realize. By the next Olympics, Takacs was ready.
When the pistol event was over, this one-armed Hungarian stood, the cheers rising about him, on the topmost step of the winner’s platform with a gold medal around his neck.
Takacs showed us something more than his ability to shoot. He proved that human beings have a largely untapped comeback capacity. He discovered for himself the exciting fact that hitting bottom does not mean defeat, but that it just signals the end of downward movement. As one friend told me, “The bottom can be something to bounce on.”

I’ve helped motivate my family by asking my parents what we are going to do. I try to offer fun and original ideas that the entire family will enjoy. I offer to give the lesson for family home evening. Preparing special treats works well to bring the family together for an evening. Try to make home evening something that your family wants to come to, not something they dread each week.Jarrett Lever, 15, Holladay Fourth Ward, Salt Lake Holladay South Stake

Teenage siblings, Latoya and Cruzze Sanderson, recently found comfort and answers to their questions as they met with missionaries and attended sacrament meetings and youth classes and activities.
Cruzze says, “Who I am now compared to where I was is a huge blessing from Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. [At my baptism], after I came out of the water, I felt refreshed, like a weight was lifted off my shoulders.”

In our early Church history, the vast majority of our members were opposed to slavery.28 This was a significant reason, along with their religious beliefs, for the hostility and mob violence they experienced, culminating in the extermination order issued by Governor Boggs in Missouri.29 In 1833 Joseph Smith received a revelation stating, “It is not right that any man should be in bondage one to another.”30 Our commitment to freedom of religion and treating all people as sons and daughters of God is central to our doctrine.

What a special joy it was to see the young people I had taught grow to adulthood, serve missions, marry in the temple, and start families of their own. Dozens of these “adopted” children still stop by to say hello and make my day brighter, and I’m happy when I see them in the Fresno California Temple, where I now serve.

Today I asked Father to teach me to chop and split wood. He replied that Mother would not have wanted me to do a man’s work. That is true. Mother always wanted me to be a lady. But Father has too much to do. He can get no man to help with the farm and no woman to help in the house because we are Mormons. I explained that I keep running out of wood for the range, and if we want hot meals, I must learn to handle an ax.
So he taught me. It is harder than it appears, and tonight my hands are blistered badly. I intend to wear my second-best Sunday gloves tomorrow when I chop.

“See you later!” Patrick waved to the missionaries as they left his house. He always liked the feeling he had when the missionaries came over—it was a warm, good feeling.
The missionaries had been coming to Patrick’s house a lot lately. They were teaching his family about Joseph Smith, the Book of Mormon, the priesthood, and all sorts of other things about The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Patrick and his mom had even gone to church with them. Patrick liked Primary because they sang and colored and listened to stories.
“If Mom and Dad join the Church, I can go to Primary every Sunday,” Patrick thought happily.
Mom was excited about the Church and all the things the missionaries taught. But Dad just seemed to listen because Mom wanted him to. After the missionaries taught Patrick how to pray, he knelt down every night and prayed that Dad would want to go to church.
One evening, Patrick saw Dad lying on the couch. He didn’t look so good.
“Dad, are you OK?” Patrick asked.
“Sure, buddy,” Dad said. “I just have a little stomachache. I’ll be fine.”
Patrick didn’t think Dad looked fine. He went to find Mom.
After feeling Dad’s forehead, Mom suggested they go to the emergency room.
“No, I’ll be OK. I just need to—” Dad groaned and scrunched up into a ball as a look of pain came over his face.
Patrick was worried. Then he thought of something. “Why don’t we call the missionaries?” he said. “Maybe they can give Dad a blessing.”
Patrick had learned about blessings when the missionaries had taught them about the priesthood. He knew the priesthood was the power to act in the name of God and that someone with the priesthood could heal the sick, just like Jesus did in the Bible.
Mom looked at Dad. When he nodded his head, she went to call the missionaries. A little while later there was a knock at the door. The missionaries said hello to Patrick and Mom. Then they went straight to where Dad was lying on the couch. The missionaries took out a small container of consecrated oil and placed a drop on Dad’s head. Then they placed their hands gently on his head and gave him a blessing.
After the blessing, Dad was smiling and had tears in his eyes. He didn’t look like he was in pain anymore. Dad sat up and shook the missionaries’ hands.
“Thank you,” Dad said.
Patrick smiled too. That warm, good feeling was back, and he knew Dad was going to be OK.
The next morning, Patrick was excited when he realized it was Sunday. As he and Mom got ready for church, Patrick saw Dad standing in front of a mirror, tying his tie. He was going to church with them!
“Ready for church, buddy?” Dad asked Patrick.
“You bet!”
Patrick felt happier than ever before. He silently thanked Heavenly Father for answering his prayers and for sending two missionaries with the power of the priesthood to bless his family.

Elder M. Russell Ballard, of the Presidency of the First Quorum of the Seventy, and Bishop Glenn L. Pace, who joined the Presiding Bishopric yesterday, have just returned from Africa, where they went out into the rural areas of Ethiopia. They saw firsthand how the funds you consecrated are literally saving the lives of many who otherwise would die of starvation, disease, and exposure. Your contributions not only have supplied food and medicine where they are so desperately needed, but your contributions also have furnished tents sufficient to put thirty thousand people under shelter from the blistering sun and the cold night winds, with blankets to comfort them. The food and other commodities are getting through to those who need them. There has been no interference with this, but only the best of cooperation.
Elder Ballard and Bishop Pace have been with these suffering people. They say they are men and women of courage and character, but they are defeated and frightened by the terrifying circumstances in which they find themselves. Their lands are dry and naked. There is neither irrigation water nor food. They wander in desperation until they and their children die unless they are fed. A little cracked wheat literally spells the difference between life and death.
Only if rains come and wells are drilled can there be long-term recovery and sustenance. Some of our funds will be used in a joint venture relationship to drill in areas of underground water to bring land under cultivation and make it fruitful, with the hope that there may be long-term as well as short-term help for these destitute people.

Years ago, a woman named Jacqueline Langey-Johnson moved into our neighborhood. She is a caretaker for two young women with developmental disabilities. As a couple, we wondered if Jacqueline might have a difficult time taking care of her property while caring for these young women. We decided to introduce ourselves and see how we could help.
We had a wonderful conversation during which we told Jacqueline we would be delighted to help her with some yard work. She gratefully accepted our offer and told us how difficult it was for her to get outside and do yard work since she couldn’t leave the young women alone in the house.
The Lord was very aware of Jacqueline’s situation and used us to help her find joy in her new home and feel welcomed in the neighborhood. We were thrilled at the chance to serve her and develop a forever friendship.
We soon discovered that Jacqueline was a devout Christian who loved reading about the Savior. So during one of our conversations, we gave her a Come, Follow Me—For Individuals and Families: New Testament manual. Jacqueline absolutely loved the material in the manual and the creative way it was presented—it made reading the New Testament enjoyable and easy to understand.
One day about two years ago, Jacqueline asked if the full-time missionaries could come to her home and teach her more about the Church using the Come, Follow Me manual. Alongside the full-time missionaries, we started having weekly discussions with her. After four months, she wanted to be baptized. She asked me (Bob) to perform the ordinance and my wife (Judy) to be a witness.
Since her baptism in September 2020, Jacqueline has served as a sacrament meeting greeter, assisted the full-time missionaries in teaching others, counseled young adults in our ward with developmental disabilities, met with the full-time missionaries weekly to learn more about the Church, and identified several of her ancestors who need temple ordinance work performed for them. She also currently serves in the Denver Colorado Temple.

All of those choices invite the Holy Ghost. It is the Holy Ghost who can comfort us in the way suited to our need. And by the inspiration of the Spirit, we can have a testimony of the Resurrection and a clear view of the glorious reunion ahead. I felt that comfort as I looked down at the gravestone of someone I knew—someone I know that I can at some future time hold in my arms. Knowing that, I was not only delivered from grief but also filled with happy anticipation.

While preparing to teach a family home evening lesson, I wanted to give my children some perspective on the daily rigors and challenges of missionary work. As I opened my missionary journal to look for a suitable example, I found a summary of a not-so-uncommon day.
First, my companion and I went to see Maria, who was washing clothes. “Could you come back later this morning?” she asked.
We went to see another investigator, but he was sleeping. When we returned to Maria’s home at 11:30 a.m., she was still washing clothes.
Later, at 3:00 p.m., we had an appointment with another investigator. When we arrived, he was making grease.
“I’m really busy right now,” he told us. “Can you come back later?”
We returned to Maria’s home, but she was now washing dishes. Then we went to visit another investigator named Junior. He was busy cooking.
“How about tomorrow?” he asked us.
I wrote in my journal: “We try to plan really well, do our best to keep our appointments, and make plan B and plan C. We pray for inspiration. There’s got to be a more practical way to help people.”
As I reread those experiences through more mature eyes, I chuckled. The lesson I had intended to teach my children about developing resilience to face disappointment now seemed less important than the lesson I had just been taught.
My exasperated plea of 30 years before seemed funny to me now. The answer to my exasperation was right there in my plea. Thinking of my younger self, I mused, “Elder Jackson, what if you had tried to help people by helping them in their time of need?”
Today, if my companion and I found Maria facing a burden of laundry and dishes, we would say, “How can we help you?”
Today, if the man we had scheduled to visit was busy making grease, we would exclaim, “Can you teach us? We’d love to help you!”
Today, if we found Junior busy preparing food, we would say, “We’re at your service! What would you like us to do?”
As a young missionary, I tended to look at service as something to schedule rather than as something to offer when needed. Today I try to teach people about the love of Jesus Christ by showing them His love.

“When I was older, I had a remarkable spiritual experience. I had taken my family to Burley, Idaho, to see my wife’s family. Coming back, we had a flat tire on a very sharp curve. I stopped the car on the curve because I didn’t want to ruin the tire. As I pulled off the two-lane highway and started to jack the car up, I had the strongest impression to move the car ahead. I ignored the feeling and continued to jack the car up. Luckily the car slipped off the jack. I again had an impression to move the car ahead. I said, ‘OK,’ and I pulled it ahead about twenty yards from where it had been to the straight-away. I had the wheel off and was about ready to put the spare tire on, when I saw two cars speeding west, one car passing the other. Then I saw another car coming from the opposite direction. The three cars passed each other on the curve exactly where our car had been. I don’t know how many of us would have been killed if we had not moved. From then on I’ve tried to follow my impressions the first time—I don’t wait for a second time. When you follow your impressions, you don’t always know what would have happened if you hadn’t done so, but it pays to heed them.”

But yesterday, as engineer,
I tunneled through with zest
A lofty peak so trains could reach
New cities in the West.

At the community pool I looked in the lost and found for a missing piece to my goggles. I didn’t find the piece, but I saw a mermaid doll. I thought it was mine, so I took it. When I got home I found another mermaid doll in my room. I knew the one I had found at the pool was not mine. I could have kept both, but I wanted the person who had lost the doll to find it. We returned the extra doll to the pool. I know that I chose the right thing to do, and it made me feel happy to help someone else.

The third reason on the list was: Dad.
It was just over a year since his father had ordained him a priest. He still remembered part of the ordination. “Always remember the priesthood isn’t like clothing you can take off when you enter a room. The priesthood goes wherever you go. Don’t take it into places or situations where it doesn’t belong.”

Thank you so much for printing the article “Hungry for More” (Mar. 1997). I have been reading the scriptures, and I know they are true. I have felt the Spirit while reading them, but I knew something was missing. Now I know I need to feast and study, not just read.
Charlene WestonLaketown, Utah

Our last daughter left for college this past month, and the eighteen years of daily living with her were suddenly over. Where had they gone? What minute, what hour, what day or night had swallowed up all those joyous, giggling, growing-up years? The first night she was away, I slipped into her bedroom, looked at her record player, and thought of all those times I had mechanically said, “Would you turn down the music!” And I thought, too, how often in the days ahead we’d be longing to hear the music. Thank God she and her parents have many wonderful memories to savor in the years ahead.

A young man who had decided to get married rather than serve a mission was persuaded to obtain his patriarchal blessing first. “During the blessing, he had a glimpse of who he was in the premortal world. He saw how valiant and influential he was in persuading others to follow Christ. Knowing who he really was, how could he not serve a mission?”1 This is just one example of how knowledge of premortal life can make a difference for us.

“As he talked and after he had finished his speech, my heart kept beating fast to testify to me that what he said was true. I kept thinking of the promises made to me in my patriarchal blessing, that the Lord would guide me to the right one.”
Marshall Gardener,Yuma First Ward, stationed with the Navy at Long Beach

Spencer sent his less-active sister a link to President Russell M. Nelson’s conference address and reported, “She read the talk, and a window was opened.”