Gospel Story Finder

Did you know that Elder Robert D. Hales lived in New York State but would spend summers on his relatives’ farms in Utah? He learned how to bale hay, ride a horse, and care for sheep and cows.

One day I joined my siblings at the table to do our family scripture study. My mom started our Come, Follow Me lesson, but I wasn’t really paying attention. I was thinking about something else: Is Jesus really real?
In church and in Primary we learned that He is real, but I didn’t know for myself. I thought and thought, but I couldn’t find the answer.
After scripture study, I asked my mom, “Is Jesus real?”
“Good question,” she said. “How about you pray about it?”
“OK,” I said.
That night I said a prayer and asked, “Heavenly Father, is Your Son real?” Then I felt a really warm feeling inside. I knew God had answered my prayer. After that, I said a thank-you prayer to Heavenly Father for answering me. I know He listens to my prayers and that He will also listen to yours.

I remember one night as we knelt down in family prayer, Father said, “Eldon did something today that he shouldn’t have done and is very sorry for it.” And then he said, “If you will forgive him, he will never do it again.” I didn’t want the Lord to know that I had made that mistake that day, but I decided to never do it again.

When I was a child in Scotland, I was also looking for hope. We were a poor, little family—my mother and four children, of which I was the oldest. After my parents’ divorce when I was five, there came a stepfather who was not a good man. We hadn’t experienced much love at home. My mother cleaned houses to make ends meet. Life was tough.
When I was 10, I went to a gospel mission hall. The teacher was without question a disciple of Jesus Christ. One Sunday he taught us about Zaccheus. The Savior visited Zaccheus at home, and Zaccheus became a changed man. He said that he gave away half of his goods to the poor and that if he had wronged any man, he gave back four times as much as he had taken. Jesus said salvation had come to the house of Zaccheus, “for the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost” (Luke 19:10). Although I was young, I found myself wondering if salvation could come to my home. Did Jesus know me? If I was lost, could He find me?

My family was flying from Buenos Aires, Argentina, to a town in the north of that country called Posadas. I was 15, and although I had been on airplanes before, I was not used to flying in a plane as small as that one was. It held about 50 people and must have been about 50 years old. I got a shiver down my back at the thought of crashing but dismissed the idea. The plane was a little shaky, like me at that moment, but I was not terrified because I was with my family
As we began to cross over a large body of water, the plane started to tremble and shake a lot. The terror I had been keeping at bay suddenly overwhelmed me. I closed my eyes and, almost instinctively, said a prayer. I had learned to always pray when in trouble.
As I was asking my Heavenly Father for protection, I felt a calm assurance that everything would be all right. I opened my eyes and looked out my window. It was early morning, and while I had been saying my prayer the sunlight and the lake had merged to make the sky and water a deep blue—both foaming with puffs of heavenly white. It was one of the most beautiful sights I had ever beheld.
My fear left, and the clouds that once caused the plane to tremble now seemed like Heavenly Father’s loving arms,
Feeling safe, I began to study the water and the sky, imagining the raging storms that must occur in both. I thought about my own life, with all of the daily problems, or storms, that I am constantly getting caught in.
Though I had heen a member of the Church all my life, I had never realized before the great influence Heavenly Father can have. I knew then that he truly has provided an escape from the storms of the world. I realized that by praying and by holding to the iron rod, I could rise above the storms and reach spiritual heights where I could feel his love.
I have prayed every day since I was old enough to know how to without ever knowing my prayers were heard. But that day in the sky over Argentina, a simple prayer opened my eyes. That new awareness was only a starting point, but it helped me understand how much love Heavenly Father has for me. That’s one of the many ways I kow that he lives and that I should always call on him in prayer.

Thinking about her attitude, I remembered a lesson I learned many years ago when my father died. He died suddenly, leaving my mother a widow with fifteen children, ten of whom were dependent on her. This was a great tragedy in her life. Of course, the gospel, the fellowship of the Church, and our own testimonies gave us a solid base which comforted us and helped us to accept this loss with dignity. In spite of the fact that we never left her alone, it affected her deeply. Although she accepted the will of God, her soul did not find inner peace.
One morning as we were traveling downtown on a bus, she began to feel her loneliness. I noticed it, but also knew that I couldn’t give her the comfort she needed. She cried in silence, but with dignity. A lady passenger came up and said: “You seem to be very sad.” My mother answered, “I have just lost my husband.” Then the lady asked, “Do you have children?” and my mother answered, “I have fifteen children, and each one of them has some trait that reminds me of their father. So I am constantly reminded of him.”
When she heard this, the woman said: “You are truly blessed, because you only lost your husband. I lost my husband, too, and my two daughters in an automobile accident, and I am living alone. So I do understand your pain and sorrow.” Then she added, “Only God can help us overcome trials like this.”
Those who suffer great adversity and sorrow and go on to serve their fellowmen develop a great capacity to understand others. Like the prophets, they have acquired a higher understanding of the mind and will of Christ. To me, this woman was like an angel. She gave comfort and raised my mother’s thoughts toward God in a time of great trial. From that day on, each time my mother felt lonely or abandoned, she would say to me: “Son, pity the woman who lost all. I am grateful that the Lord has blessed me with fifteen children to be my companions in life.”

The man looked down at his hands. He flexed his fingers. Those hands could do so many things. Repair a leaky faucet. Build a table. Lead his wife across the dance floor with rhythm and style.
Then he glanced at the smartphone he’d recently acquired. His hands could do so many things. But could his thumbs do … that?
His Sunday School manual and well-worn scriptures rested next to the device. How he loved those scriptures! He loved the feel of the paper in his hand. All the hand-written notes. The simple weight of them.
And yet he remembered Elder Richard G. Scott teaching that with technology you could carry the standard works and much more in your pocket.1 He touched the faded leather scriptures. He had to admit he didn’t often carry them throughout the week.
But just the other day his grandson used his phone to share a line from one of his favorite recent conference talks. At the time, they’d been out for a Friday-night stroll.
The man didn’t have long chunks of time in his day to study. However, he could easily fit in 5 minutes here, 10 minutes there. He also wanted to access everything the Church had to offer digitally.
A knock sounded at the front door. “Hey, Grandpa!” his grandson said. “Ready to get started?”
The man grabbed his smartphone. His thumbs might not ever fly like those of his children and grandchildren. But maybe they didn’t have to.
“You bet,” the man said. “Teach me!”
As the weeks unfolded, the man discovered more about what his grandson taught him: that the digital world is …
Versatile. “There are some things, like video and audio, that you can’t have in print. Digital has everything in one place. You can also take and preserve notes along the way.”
Comprehensive. “It’s like a huge library. You can carry the Church publications in one hand and study them anywhere.”
Searchable. “Search features can help you quickly find what you’re after.”
Shareable. “If you like something, you can share it. It’s an easy way to share the gospel.”
Efficient. “You don’t have to wait for shipping. And you don’t have to find a place to put everything.”
Affordable. “It costs you nothing to access digital Church materials; and the more people choose digital, the more the Church saves on printing, mailing, and inventory costs.”

As time went on, being surrounded by the normalcy of others drinking alcohol made it difficult for me to keep my standards. Going to pubs with clients and coworkers was a regular circumstance I would find myself in. I grew tired of having to explain myself when I turned down a drink, and sometimes I just wanted to fit in.
But beyond wanting to fit in, I wanted to be an example of a disciple of Jesus Christ, so I learned a few ways to help me resist temptation:
I prayed for strength each morning to make good decisions.
I often listened to conference talks or hymns on my way to work.
I kept my favorite scripture taped to my bathroom mirror to read each day: “Yea, I know that I am nothing; as to my strength I am weak; therefore I will not boast of myself, but I will boast of my God, for in his strength I can do all things” (Alma 26:12).
I enlisted the help of my closest coworkers, asking them to support me when others would offer me “just one drink.” They could tell when I was feeling uncomfortable and would kindly jump in and order me a “sparkling water on the rocks” to help me avoid feeling awkward during these gatherings.
I worked with many other religious individuals who had similar morals. There were a few practicing Muslims whom I bonded with, and we often sat together during work functions so we could have strength in numbers. Surrounding myself with like-minded people who respected my standards helped me immensely (see Ecclesiastes 4:9–10).
I strove to focus on my baptismal covenant to “always remember Him” (see Doctrine and Covenants 20:77, 79), which helped me feel the Spirit more abundantly. I had promised to follow God and be a disciple of Christ, and seeking to always remember the Savior helped me keep an eternal and infinite perspective in the most finite moments of temptation.

Jessie and Steve Cota saw a need and found a way to fill it. With help from their father, they built a house for an abandoned mother and her five children, who had been living on the street.
The 12-year-old twin brothers, who live in the Nogales Branch, Tucson Arizona Rincon Stake, didn’t wait for a quorum service project or an assignment from the branch president. They went right to work.
“My aunt, who lives in Mexico, met this woman in the hospital,” Steve explains. “She found out the conditions the woman and her children were living in and knew they needed help. She talked to my father, Jose, who is first counselor in our branch presidency, to see if something could be done.”
Something could. Word spread quickly in the branch. Church members contributed what they could, and Brother Cota, a builder, was able to get materials donated from a project he was working on. The aunt donated her own backyard as a site for the new construction.
“Everybody helped out,” Jessie says. “But to be honest, my dad did most of the work.”
Brother Cota, however, gives credit to his sons. “They really enjoy working. They helped put the floor in, hauling buckets of water so we could make the cement. They helped with the framing and with the roof. We’re especially proud of the roof, which has asphalt shingles and should last many years.”
The house the twins built is similar to dozens of others that cover the hillsides of Nogales, which straddles the border of Arizona and Mexico. The house is small, made mostly of plywood, and has no plumbing. But it is now home to a family of six.
It took three to four weeks, working on Saturdays, to complete the structure. “We felt good, knowing we were helping someone who needed help,” Steve says. “We learned a lot doing this together. We learned about how Church members can reach out to help others in the community. We learned about construction. And we got to be better friends with our father.”
“We like to nail things together,” Jessie says. “Maybe I’ll be a builder when I grow up, too.”
Brother Cota just smiles, then says, “The important thing about this is that now the children who live in this house will have a future. They have protection from the weather and a chance to go to school.”
We visit for a minute more, talking about birdhouses the boys are building as a hobby, about Steve’s baseball games and Jessie’s love of football, about future plans to build an outside bathroom to go along with the house.
Then the woman, surrounded by her children, greets the Cotas warmly and poses for a photo with them.
“These,” she says, “are the people who gave me my home.”

King Charles III, at the conclusion of His coronation service in Westminster and before leaving the Abbey, met briefly with representatives of all the major religions. This was an unprecedented moment as part of the coronation but a significant one. It acknowledges the diversity of belief in contemporary Britain and a need for people of faith – and of no faith – to work together for harmony and unity in our communities and in society at large.

Once, long ago, an old man named Chang Kung lived with four generations of his family in a small village. They all lived so happily together that not even the animals fought with each other.
The news of this unusual family spread throughout all the kingdom. When the Emperor of the Dragon Throne heard about it, he decided to try to find out the secret of their happiness.
One day he and the people of his court marched solemnly up to the gates of the Chang family.
“Oh, Royal Highness,” Chang Kung greeted the emperor, “what great honor you bring to our simple household.”
“We have come,” said the emperor, “to learn why there is such peace among you that even your animals do not fight.”
“You are most welcome to see and talk with each member of my household, even down to the youngest among us,” Chang Kung said quietly.
So those who had come with the emperor went all through the rooms of the large house, talking to every person. They found only peace and happiness everywhere. When they reported this to the emperor, he asked Chang Kung to tell him the secret for keeping so many people happy.
Chang asked a servant to bring him his ink stick and brush and then on a bamboo tablet he wrote a hundred characters (words) and gave the tablet to the emperor.
“You have written the same word a hundred times!” the emperor exclaimed. “What does this mean?”
Old Chang smiled gently. “Yes, Most Honored One,” he said. “I have written the word Love over and over again, for that is the only thing that can ever hold the secret to peace.”
When the news of this visit of the Emperor of the Dragon Throne reached the people of the Dragon Kingdom, they all asked for a picture of Chang Kung. They placed his picture over their family hearths and prayed that they too might learn to love each other as much as Chang Kung and his family did so that happiness would come to their homes, to their country, and someday to all the world.

Another great spiritual influence in my life was President N. Eldon Tanner, who served as a counselor in the First Presidency. I first met him when he was my branch president and I was in the Royal Canadian Air Force. He wrote my parents a beautiful letter about me, which my mother kept and which I found after she died. He was very considerate of those of us who were in the air force.
When I moved to Calgary, he became my stake president. He had been the minister of mines and resources in the Alberta Provincial Government and had resigned from that position and gone into private business. A transcontinental pipeline was being planned, and it would be very expensive. The people who were going to finance it were reluctant to risk their money. They said, however, that if Eldon Tanner was the president of the company, they would be happy to put their money into the project. When President Tanner went to the project’s first meeting, he was told that the board meetings would be on Sunday. Eldon Tanner said, “Not if I’m president.” He explained his Church obligations and his belief in Sabbath observance. So the board of directors changed their meeting to another day. President Tanner was president of that company until he was called to be a General Authority. He was a spiritual giant, a wonderful model to pattern my own life after.

The Young Women of the Mt. Vernon Branch of the Columbus Ohio Stake wanted to get to know their branch president, Kurt Southam, a little bit better. Under the guidance of Cynthia and Bill Dougherty, the girls went to work gathering information and planning the surprise evening under the guise of a youth talent show.
After the first talent number, the spotlight was turned from the stage and fell on the branch president in the audience. Then as the details of his life were told, his brothers and sisters who had flown in for the event were ushered on stage to tell interesting stories of his youth.
The activity was a special one for the young people and the other branch members. The event was covered by the local newspaper.

President Benson was called to the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles on the same day that this man was called. Because President _________________ was sustained first, he became President of the Church before President Benson.

Let me share with you something that has been happening in some stakes and districts in Peru, and in so doing, I will mention some family names: the Causo family, the Banda family, the Vargas family, and the list goes on. It includes over 1,700 names of members who have come home. They are members of different wards, branches, stakes, and districts from all over the country of Peru who were invited by stake presidents, bishops, and leaders of quorums and auxiliary organizations to return home. They accepted the invitation made by priesthood leaders, full-time missionaries, and others who took upon themselves the responsibility to help them return to Church and come unto Christ. To each one of them, we say, “Welcome. Welcome home!”
What made it possible for these persons to return home? It was the combined effort of 14 stakes and 4 districts in a mission laboring for one year to bring about the return of all these persons through reactivation and the ordinances of baptism and confirmation.

In Freiberg, Germany, this past August we dedicated another beautiful and sacred house of God. Before the dedication, when the building was open for public viewing, only a few less than ninety thousand came to enter its precincts. Many stood in the rain for hours.
The faithful Saints sacrificed their money, their jewelry, their comfort to assist in building that temple.
One of their number who attended the dedication wrote: “There was a solemn stillness, and there was not a dry eye. The sun was shining after a long time. … You could sense gladness and enthusiasm and the wish for a never-ending harmony. … Tears, laughter, and gladness; everything was present.”
While recognizing the different political philosophies under which we live, I express sincere appreciation to the officials of the government of that nation for their help in making possible this sacred edifice for the blessing of our brethren and sisters in that land.

In our early Church history, the vast majority of our members were opposed to slavery. 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. In 1833 Joseph Smith received a revelation stating, “It is not right that any man should be in bondage one to another.” Our commitment to freedom of religion and treating all people as sons and daughters of God is central to our doctrine.

I can be like Jesus by being nice to my friends. One of my friends has a lot of video games. While I was at his house one day, he kept playing games without giving me a turn. I wanted to play, too, and I felt like whining and complaining. But I remembered that my mom had told me complaining wasn’t nice. So I let him play and waited my turn. I try to be like Jesus so I can live with Him and Heavenly Father again.

Winning is pretty much par for the course for John D. Langren, Jr. John, a priest from Rockford, Illinois, was a member of the winning team in his state’s high school golf tournament. Earlier he had taken first place in the Youth Classic Golf Tournament in Illinois.
When the Guilford High School golf team took high honors in the state linksmen championship, coach Roger Lindeman named John the team medalist. John had the team’s low score, including a 30-foot putt for a birdie on the 450-yard 16th hole. His coach says that John “is the type of player every coach would like to have. He hits the ball extremely well, works hard on his game, wants to be good, has the right attitude, and is a gentleman.”
In addition to golf, John has played a lot of baseball, basketball, and ice hockey. A member of the Beloit Wisconsin Stake, John attends early-morning seminary and has served as president of his teachers quorum. He also has a 100 percent home teaching record.

There may be more power in your testimony than even you realize. Several years ago I met one of our sons in the mission field in a distant part of the world. He had been there for a year. His first question was this: “Dad, what can I do to grow spiritually? I have tried so hard to grow spiritually and I just haven’t made any progress.”
That was his perception: to me it was otherwise. I could hardly believe the maturity, the spiritual growth that he had gained in just one year. He “knew it not” for it had come as growth, not as a startling spiritual experience.