Gospel Story Finder

In Heredia, north of San José, Jeremy and Estefania Brandaris and their son study the gospel as a family. “Our son is very active, so he’s easily distracted,” Estefania says. “Pictures, videos, repeating phrases, and playing games help him learn. Now his favorite word is Jesus.”

I was having a difficult time in school one year. I was shy and didn’t make friends easily. One evening, I decided to go for a walk to find some relief.
I found a secluded corner and spent some time pondering and praying about what I wanted. Feeling as if no one understood me, I desperately longed to have someone in my life who could see me for what I was inside, for what I could be. I wanted someone who knew all my faults yet still loved me. I wanted someone who realized that I was (and still am) trying so hard to be better. I didn’t want to feel so alone all the time.
I don’t know how long I was there, but I poured my heart and soul out to Heavenly Father. I cried until I didn’t think I could cry anymore. Then I stood up and started walking back home. As I was walking, I looked down at my shadow. Instead of the usual one shadow, I had two. It wasn’t a miracle or anything; it was just the effect of multiple streetlamps. But when I saw those two shadows, the thought came into my head: “You are never alone. You’ll never walk alone.” I know now that this thought came from the Holy Ghost and that this experience was a blessing to comfort me. That one simple thought reminded me that things would work out and that Heavenly Father knows me perfectly.

On the shores of Southern California’s sultry Salton Sea, white pelicans nest in temperatures as high as 110º F (43º C), yet their eggs can only survive below 105º F (41º C). To protect the eggs until they become nestlings, one of the parents will periodically wade out to splash in the shallows. On returning, it will relieve its mate and wet the eggs with its breast feathers and shade the eggs with its body.

One day we were looking at the movies in our house. I told my mom that we should get rid of one of them because it was not a good movie. My mom agreed. I felt good about making that choice.
Wade C., age 7, California

I think of such a man I once knew, not a member of the Church. He was a graduate of a great university. His potential was unlimited. As a young man with an excellent education and a tremendous opportunity, he dreamed of the stars and moved in that direction. In the company which employed him in those early years, he was promoted from one responsibility to another, each with improved opportunity over the last. Before many years had passed, he was in the top echelon of his company. But those promotions brought him into the cocktail circuit. He could not handle it, as so many others cannot. He became an alcoholic, the victim of an appetite he could not control. He sought help but was too proud to discipline himself in the regimen imposed upon him by those who tried to assist him.

He went down like a falling star, tragically burning out and disappearing in the night. I made inquiry of one friend after another and finally learned the truth of his tragic end. He, who had begun with such high aim and impressive talent, had died on skid row in one of our large cities. He had felt certain of his strength and of his capacity to live up to his potential. But he had denied that capacity; and I am confident that as the shadows of his failure closed around him, he must have gone out and wept bitterly.

In January 2023, a ceremony to recognize all students who have reached a significant milestone in their journey to improve their education was held at the Kolwezi stake centre. Recipients of EnglishConnect and PathwayConnect certificates and associate and bachelor’s degrees from Ensign College and BYU–Idaho were recognized. Elder Sylvain Kongolo, an Area Seventy, presided over the event. A provincial minister of education also attended the ceremony and spoke highly of the Church’s efforts to improve the Congolese people’s education.

Sarah from Uganda said taking this class helped her have better conversations with her nonmember husband. “It was lovely to discuss these topics with him after class and be more educated to have calm, respectful discussions and see his view of the Church change for the positive,” she said.

Children of the Papeete Tahiti Stake love pioneers! They gathered with their parents for a stake Pioneer Day activity honoring the pioneers who journeyed to the Salt Lake Valley in 1847.
Each ward built a pioneer wagon—some made with bicycle wheels and one with cardboard horses. The children marched in a parade, played pioneer games, and enjoyed delicious food.
Pioneer Day is also a special day to remember people in every country who accept the gospel and help teach it to others. All of these people are pioneers too!

Ask a child to leave the room while you hide a picture of a home. Invite the child back in, and ask him or her to go “home.” Tell the child there is someone who can help. Turn off the lights, give a child a flashlight, and have him or her guide the “lost child” to the “home” by shining the light on the floor. Our latter-day prophets have taught the importance of families. Just as the flashlight helped light the way to the home, our prophet’s counsel becomes the tool we need to strengthen our families. Cut a picture of a family into puzzle pieces, and write counsel from our prophets on each piece. (See recent conference issues and “Come Listen to a Prophet’s Voice.”) Then attach the pieces to tools used for building (screwdriver, measuring tape, and so on). Divide the Primary into groups, and have each group choose a tool. Ask the groups to discuss how the prophet’s counsel can be a tool to build our families and be prepared to (a) say what they can do to follow the counsel and (b) suggest a song or hymn that reinforces the counsel. Have them place their puzzle pieces on the board, and report and sing.

We usually judge others when they are at their best and ourselves when we are at our worst. Bill was quite surprised when he stopped by the Beckstead home and saw Tom dressed in mechanic’s coveralls and covered with grease. The Beckstead’s three-year-old was crying and the teenager had the television on loud. The house was slightly cluttered, and Sister Beckstead had curlers in her hair.

Without criticizing or judging, Bill learned an important lesson about comparing. “I had seen Tom only in church settings,” he reflected, “and because he always looked immaculately groomed and very well-dressed, somehow I pictured his life to be perfectly controlled and void of everyday human problems. Seeing him in a home setting was somehow comforting. I still admire him a great deal—he certainly hasn’t diminished any in my admiration. But it’s nice to know we are more alike than I had thought we were. Now I wonder how others at church perceive me?”

Meanwhile, back at the house, there was both work and resting to do in between the playing. Three times a day the girls cooked delicious meals and then handled the cleanup efficiently. One night when a Mia Maid was called to help with the dishes, she said quietly to a friend, “Actually, it’s not my turn, but I’ve got to get over the habit of complaining,” and she went to wash the dishes. When she was gone her friend sat in silence for a moment. Then she sighed and said, “I haven’t helped wash the dishes yet. I guess I should go help even though they didn’t assign me,” and she went. Soon an assembly-line sudsfest was underway, accompanied by a spirited medley of folk songs and so much all-purpose hilarity that several more unassigned girls joined in just for the fun of it.

That salutary respite was short-lived. Tensions and hostilities between the Saints and Missourians increased until, in October 1838, Church members were again expelled from their homes. Then, in February 1839, the Young family and more than 800 other Saints were forced to leave the state; they braved the winter cold to seek refuge in Illinois. Since their wagons and animals had been confiscated, most of the destitute Saints walked.

During this difficult exodus, Brigham Young would push ahead with his family, find lodging for them, and then return to escort the weaker and orphaned Saints onward. Mary Ann and the children lived in 11 different quarters during the three-month ordeal.

President Hinckley: … She has run the house all these years. When our children were growing up, I was away much of the time on Church assignments. In the early days, when I had responsibility for the work in Asia, which I had for a long time, I would be gone for as long as two months at a time. We couldn’t telephone back and forth all the time in those days. She took care of everything. She ran the home. She ran everything and took care of the children.

We had a garden in our backyard. When I came home from one of my long assignments, I found that it had all been planted to lawn. She and the children had spaded up that backyard, sown lawn seed, and there was a beautiful lawn! The garden didn’t suffer, because we could plant another garden to the south of us. But that whole backyard became a beautiful patch of lawn.

That’s typical of the way she did things. She was independent and had a great eye for beauty.

Desperate yet undaunted, Father continued to attend the temple daily. As I stood at the window and watched him leave for the temple early one morning, I remembered a day many years earlier, when my little brother was thrown from a horse. Thinking he had suffered only a little bruising and a bloody nose, I was devastated when he died late that night. My world caved in, and for months I mulled over the painful question, Why hadn’t Heavenly Father sent a miracle to save my brother’s life?

I recall reading the story of Commander William Robert Anderson, the naval officer who took the submarine Nautilus beneath the polar ice from the Pacific Ocean to the Atlantic Ocean, a daring and dangerous feat. It recounted a number of other exploits of similar danger and concluded with a statement that the commander carried in his wallet a tattered card that had on it these words: “I believe God will always make a way where there is no way.”

Latter-day Saint youth have a major part to play in the annual Parowan celebration of “Bring the Queen to Iron County, Utah.” Each year Miss Dominion of Canada is a special guest of this rural town’s biggest celebration of the year. Latter-day Saint youth act as hosts and show her an exciting time. This year’s queen, Norma Hickey, 19, said, “I’ve never met such wonderful people. They are honest and warm.”

Truman studied architectural design and innovations in building. The constant pressure of being the Church’s architect was strain on his health, so Brigham Young called him to serve a mission in Europe. There he was not only to preach to the people, but also to visit the great buildings and study the architectural styles. He had been on his mission for thirteen months when he was called to return to help with the Salt Lake Temple.

Min-Yo and the Moon Dragon In this modern Chinese fairy tale about a time almost before time, the moon is about to crash into the earth. The moon dragon might help, but the gossamer ladder to it will only support the lightest person. Min-Yo is that person. She gets to the moon and finds the dragon, which agrees to help—but how? The solution to the problem creates serendipity (a happy, unexpected side effect).Elizabeth Hillman6–9 years

Are our hands clean? Are our hearts pure? Looking backward in time through the pages of history, we find a lesson on worthiness gleaned from the words of the dying King Darius. Through the proper rites, Darius had been recognized as legitimate king of Egypt. His rival, Alexander the Great, had been declared legitimate son of Amon. He too was Pharaoh. Alexander, finding the defeated Darius on the point of death, 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.”
Darius replied with a gentle rebuke: “Alexander, my boy, … do you think you can touch heaven with those hands of yours?” (Adapted from Hugh Nibley, Abraham in Egypt [1981], 192.)

We must be careful of the misuse of credit. The use of credit cards in many places has increased consumer debt to staggering proportions. I am reminded of the story of “an elderly farmer [who] wrote to a mail order house as follows: ‘Please send me one of the gasoline engines you show on page 787, and if it’s any good, I’ll send you a check.’
“In time he received the following reply: ‘Please send check. If it’s any good, we’ll send the engine.’”