Gospel Story Finder

Participating Athletes
Keith Barney of the Alpine 11th Ward, Alpine Utah Stake, competed in the five-kilometer cross-country race and in the sit-ski division of the men’s biathlon. He is also a cyclist with the U.S. Paralympic team.
Brother Barney lost the use of his legs in an accident when he was 14 years old. Today he works in the rehabilitation center at the University of Utah Medical Center. He teaches the newly disabled how to live rich, productive lives.

From ancient times comes an example which emphasizes this truth. Darius, through the proper rites, had been recognized as legitimate king of Egypt. His rival, Alexander, had been declared legitimate son of Ammon; he, too, was Pharaoh. Alexander found the defeated Darius on the point of death and laid his hands upon his head to heal him, commanding him to arise and resume his kingly power, concluding, “I swear unto thee, Darius, by all the gods, that I do these things truly and without fakery,” to which Darius replied with a gentle rebuke, “Alexander, my boy … do you think you can touch heaven with those hands of yours?”

Brethren, are we prepared to touch heaven as we fill our priesthood callings?

Once a group of children was playing in a home where the Prophet was hiding from wicked men who wanted to kill him. They overheard the older people tell of the Prophet’s danger, and one seven-year-old girl said, “I know what we can do. We can pray and ask our Father in heaven to keep Brother Joseph safe from harm.”

A few minutes later the Prophet went past a bedroom door in time to see the children kneeling together and to hear their simple prayer for his safety. Tears filled his eyes and then rolled down his cheeks. As the children rose from their knees, one of them said, “Now I know Brother Joseph will be safe.”

Then the Prophet returned to the room where his older friends had come to guard him through the night. He told them that they could go to their own homes, for he knew that prayers of children are heard and answered and that he could sleep in peace that night. And he did!

I’ve read the feedback from other readers and enjoyed how certain articles seemed to be written specifically for them. A lot of articles have helped me with trials but never as much as “Alone in a Crowd” in the June 1988 issue. That article could’ve easily been written by me. My younger brother (13) and myself (16) are the only members in our immediate family, but we go to different wards. My friends often invite me to sit with them but there are also times when I sit alone, and it certainly does get lonely. To all of you who are “Alone in a Crowd,” cheer up and listen to the song “You’re Not Alone.” It helps, believe me! And hey, Heavenly Father would never leave us!
Kimberly ArmerWinnipeg, Manitoba, Canada

Last year Mary Jo Morrison and her daughter Jodi received some wood from the project. “Normally, we would have had to buy the wood,” says Mary Jo. “I was very appreciative. It was not just logs, either. The wood was cut, and split, and ready to burn. I work full-time, but this year Jodi is able to go up and help. Those kids work hard.”
“It gives you a good feeling to be doing something for people who can’t go up and chop the wood themselves,” says Jodi, a first-year Beehive.

In addition to the joys, Emily has known some of the heartaches that come with life in the capital. She has cried for the homeless people who lie on the city’s heating grates, and she remembers them every day in her prayers. Last Christmas she helped her sisters make huge gingerbread houses that were sold to raise money for the homeless.

I will never forget the day I decided to go on a mission. My mother and I were the first in our family to join the Church. The missionaries came to our home and taught us many great things that we didn’t know before: about the Lord’s true Church, prophets, the priesthood, and how it was restored again after a great apostasy. Their teachings and invitation to come and see how the Church was organized made us feel the Spirit as we had never felt before. Eventually my mother and I decided to join the Church.

As a boy, I was inspired by a story of courage in Nauvoo, which involved my grandfather’s uncle. In the spring of 1844, some men were plotting against the Prophet Joseph Smith. One of the leaders, William Law, held a secret meeting at his home in Nauvoo. Among those invited were nineteen-year-old Dennison Lott Harris and his friend, Robert Scott. Dennison’s father, Emer Harris, who is my second great-grandfather, was also invited. He sought counsel from the Prophet Joseph Smith, who told him not to attend the meeting but to have the young men attend. The Prophet instructed them to pay close attention and report what was said.
The spokesmen at this first meeting denounced Joseph Smith as a fallen prophet and stated their determination to destroy him. When the Prophet heard this, he asked the young men to attend the second meeting. They did so, and reported the plotting.
A third meeting was to be held a week later. Again the Prophet asked them to attend, but he told them this would be their last meeting. “Be careful to remain silent and not to make any covenants or promises with them,” he counseled. He also cautioned them on the great danger of their mission. Although he thought it unlikely, it was possible they would be killed. Then, the Prophet Joseph Smith blessed Dennison and Robert by the power of the priesthood, promising them that if their lives were taken, their reward would be great.
In the strength of this priesthood blessing, they attended the third meeting and listened to the murderous plans. Then, when each person was required to take an oath to join the plot and keep it secret, they bravely refused. After everyone else had sworn secrecy, the whole group turned on Dennison and Robert, threatening to kill them unless they took the oath also. Because any refusal threatened the secrecy of their plans, about half of the plotters proposed to kill these two immediately. Knives were drawn, and angry men began to force them down into a basement to kill them.
Other plotters shouted to wait. Parents probably knew where they were. If they didn’t return, an alarm would be sounded and a search could reveal the boys’ deaths and the secret plans. During a long argument, two lives hung in the balance. Finally, the group decided to threaten to kill the young men if they ever revealed anything that had occurred and then to release them. This was done. Despite this threat, and because they had followed the Prophet’s counsel not to make any promises to the conspirators, Dennison and Robert promptly reported everything to the Prophet Joseph Smith.
For their own protection, the Prophet had these courageous young men promise him that they would never reveal this experience, not even to their fathers, for at least twenty years. A few months later, the Prophet Joseph Smith was murdered.
Many years passed. The members of the Church settled in the West. While Dennison L. Harris was serving as bishop of the Monroe Ward in southern Utah, he met a member of the First Presidency at a Church meeting in Ephraim. There, on Sunday, 15 May 1881, thirty-seven years after the Prophet Joseph Smith had sealed his lips to protect him against mob vengeance, Dennison Harris recited this experience to President Joseph F. Smith (see Verbal Statement of Bishop Dennison L. Harris, 15 May 1881, MS 2725, Historical Department, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Salt Lake City; the account was later published in the Contributor, Apr. 1884, pp. 251–60). Dennison Harris’s posterity includes many notable Latter-day Saints, including Franklin S. Harris, long-time president of Brigham Young University.

September 3, 1837 First Sunday meeting held in Preston auditorium called the Cockpit.
October 7, 1837 Mary Smithies was first infant blessed in England.
December 25, 1837 About three hundred Saints attended first conference of British Mission, held at the Cockpit. Branches had been established in over twenty areas. Ten priests and seven teachers were ordained, one hundred children were blessed, and Word of Wisdom was publicly introduced.

Some years ago a special child was born to a young mother. This child was born without eyes. It was normal in all other respects except there was nothing to resemble eyes or sockets above the nose. This mother might in bitterness have said, “Why did this have to happen to my child?” or “Why did this have to happen to me?” Instead she said, “The Lord must really love us and have confidence in us. We really must be favored to have been given this child. To think the Lord picked our home, knowing how much special love and care this child would need, is very humbling and comforting. We are grateful for this special child and for the blessings it will bring to our home.”

In my training as a new General Authority, I found myself in Costa Rica with Elder F. Arthur Kay and others. In prayer and fasting, we visited families who were less active. The stake president and bishops had fasted and prayed that the Lord would indicate to them the choice families to be visited, and the families were then notified of the planned visits.

We first entered the home of a young, successful businessman with a lovely wife and children. A former leader, he had transgressed the laws of the Church. As the Spirit of the Lord spoke through his servants, tears came to all our eyes as the couple committed to prepare to go to the Lord’s house, the beautiful new temple in Guatemala, to be sealed for eternity.

3 You are with a group of friends at school. They don’t know what your religion is and make some false and misleading statements about our church. What would you do?
Become embarrassed and say nothing.
Tell them that you are a Latter-day Saint and that you think they may have been misinformed. Ask them if they would really like to know the truth about what Mormons believe. If your friends are interested, have your parents arrange a visit by the missionaries.
Tell them that other churches have a lot of faults too.
If you have chosen the following answers, 1. c, 2. a, 3. b, 4. c, 5. b, you have strong convictions, know how to stand up for what you believe is right without hurting the feelings of others, and can be a good missionary by your example.

Then in late June he parked his wagon in the Joseph W. Young train’s campground about two miles northwest of Florence, Nebraska. For the next two weeks Zeb was a taxi driver, taking his wagon into Florence, picking up passengers for the Young train, and shuttling them to the campground. July 5 was a typical taxi day for him: “I left camp and went to Florence, after a load of Saints. The day was very warm, and I was very tired after my day’s work.” Missouri River steamers unloaded company after company of Saints at the giant LDS campground in Florence, congesting it; “emigrants stowed away in every nook and corner,” is how Zeb described it.
On July 11 Zeb and his train pulled out and started the “back” part of the trip, 1,000 miles to Utah.

Sister Amy A. Wright remembers a night several years ago when she was undergoing treatment for stage 4 ovarian cancer. She was in so much pain that she was past feeling. Despite her testimony and her faith in Heavenly Father, the Savior, and the plan of salvation, she was in need.
As a young child, Sister Wright had been taught by her mother and Primary leaders that when feeling afraid, lonely, or in need of the Spirit, she should sing a Primary song.
“But that’s for children,” she thought now. “Does that really apply to me?”
Then came the answer—and the song.
“I am a child of God too,” Sister Wright remembered. “So, in my mind, I started singing, ‘Heavenly Father, are you really there?’1
“That’s as far as I got. Every fiber of my being was enveloped with the love of God. It was tangible, which was strange because I couldn’t feel anything else. I knew He was there, that He knew exactly what I was going through, and that He was a loving God.”

When Elder Widtsoe was released as president of the mission in 1934, I started correspondence with Elder Joseph F. Merrill, who succeeded him. He arranged to send me the Millennial Star, which I received until 1940 when World War II interrupted the subscription.
In January 1937, Elder Richard R. Lyman, successor to President Merrill, wrote that he and Elder Hugh B. Brown would be in Rome on a certain day. I could meet them there and be baptized. However, the letter was delayed because of war conditions, and I did not receive it in time.

You may never have heard the name Arthur Henry Rostron, but on a dark night in icy waters he looked beyond his comfort zone where others had already refused to go and saved hundreds of lives that were without hope. On the night the Titanic hit the iceberg, there were three ships in the area that learned about the disaster. The two closest ships did not respond, but Captain Rostron, whose ship was 58 nautical miles (107 km) away and traveling in the opposite direction, responded to the pleas for help over the radio.

He knew the danger of the icy waters and did not hesitate, but exercised faith and prayed to God for direction. He issued this order to the crew: “Turn the ship around.” It would take them about 3.5 hours to reach the Titanic. During that time, Captain Rostron commanded his ship to proceed at full speed while he posted extra lookouts to maneuver through the ice. En route he had the crew prepare the ship with food, blankets, and medical supplies that would be needed at arrival. Those on board his passenger liner observed the captain often raising his hand to his cap and closing his eyes in prayer. His risky decision to go to the rescue ultimately saved more than 700 lives. Of this experience, Captain Rostron said, “I can only conclude another hand than mine was on the helm.”

Elder Clayton then talked about another stake president, one whose wife had died of cancer during his service as stake president. She left several small children in his care. Many people had also fasted and prayed for her recovery. This story was particularly touching to Elder Clayton because this woman was his wife’s only sister.

Illustration by Allen Garns
On a Saturday afternoon, I was getting ready to go to the beach with my family. They had traveled from Amazonas to La Guaira to spend a few days with me. The sun was bright, the ocean breezes were perfect, and I was happy to see my sisters’ excitement.
Once we were on the road, I remembered that I was in charge of cleaning the church building that day. I now had a choice to make: Should I fulfill my responsibility or continue to the beach with my family? I decided to talk to my mom and sisters about it. They had never been inside an LDS church and enthusiastically offered to help me clean, as long as we headed right to the beach when we finished.
When we entered the church, I explained what needed to be done and how to do it. What we thought would be a quick cleaning job ended up taking four hours because they were so interested! I showed my family each room, the paintings, and the baptismal font. An immense joy filled my heart. I couldn’t believe my family was helping me with something that meant so much to me. While we were there, my teenage sisters, Thalia and Gineska, learned some hymns and asked me questions about the Church.
On Sunday my family attended church for the first time. They were well received in the ward. The young women quickly welcomed my sisters. The sister missionaries met them and set an appointment to meet with them the next day. We held family home evening, and I taught them how to pray. We prayed together often. We also listened to hymns and watched Church videos.
Before my family returned home, I took my sisters to Caracas to see the temple and its grounds. I bore my testimony of temple blessings and encouraged them to find the Church when they returned to Amazonas.
When they left for home, I contacted the missionaries in their area. The missionaries and members of the ward council visited my family and helped them on their way to conversion. My sisters prayed often for our father to give them permission to be baptized.
With great gratitude and joy, I traveled to Amazonas to baptize Thalia and Gineska. The glow in their eyes reflected their hope and their gratitude to Heavenly Father for leading them to the gospel. Through fulfilling an assignment to clean the church, my family came closer together and was strengthened. I will never forget this experience and I know my sisters will not either.

Suppose you are ill and receive a blessing from the priesthood. Your special feelings could well be recorded. Suppose you receive a father’s blessing. The sacred thoughts expressed in such a blessing can give you comfort, hope, and guidance long after they have been spoken. Although the words of a patriarchal blessing are recorded, the anticipation, preparation with fasting and prayer, impressions, and deep feelings you experience at that time are not recorded unless you do it. The sacredness of such an hour recorded while fresh upon your memory will mean more and more to you as the years go by.

Emmanuel Abu Kissi’s experience with his extended family is typical of Church growth in Ghana—one person’s testimony becoming a catalyst for the faith of others.
Emmanuel was studying medicine in London when LDS missionaries contacted his family. His wife, Benedicta Elizabeth, was healed of illness and depression through a blessing they gave her. In what they taught, Emmanuel found answers to questions that had troubled him for years. The Kissis were baptized in 1979.
Both became stalwarts in the growing Church on their return to Ghana. Brother Kissi was a regional representative for several years and is now a counselor to the president of the Ghana Accra Mission. But in the beginning, he probably had no idea how much fruit would come from seeds he sowed in his own family.