Gospel Story Finder

I have seven loving sisters ranging in age from 4 1/2 to 19 years. I’m the third daughter. My beautiful-spirited parents just announced that there is going to be another addition to our family. Since I haven’t exactly been a peacemaker in our home, I decided that this new baby is going to be loving and friendly to everyone “he” (???) meets so that he won’t be as unhappy as I have been in the past.
The story “Orphaned” in the October 1986 issue has helped me love and appreciate the wonderful family that I have even more! I strive harder each day to be the kind of person I should be.

Raiarii and his brothers liked helping Kali catch fish. One day Raiarii said, “Let’s pray that we can be safe and catch lots of fish.” That day Kali caught more fish than ever before! Kali decided to always pray before he goes fishing.

I have a friend, a prominent and highly successful lawyer. When he was married, his wife said to him, “Let’s resolve to spend one-quarter of our discretionary time to improve the community in which we live.” Many years have passed, and that resolution has been kept. The husband, now a widower, is properly given credit for dynamic and unselfish leadership in one project after another to improve the water and the environment and to build with tremendous foresight public facilities that have blessed the lives of all the citizens in the area of the nation in which he lives.

It was a hot summer day, and I was six years old. My mom took my three sisters and me on a wonderful holiday to Hornby Island, British Columbia. The island has wonderful beaches. We collected crabs and created habitats for them to play in before we let them go at the end of the day. We built sandcastles and took bike rides.
One day I was in an inflatable tube. I wasn’t wearing a life jacket. I lay down on my tube and closed my eyes. The water gently rocked me back and forth, lulling me to sleep. I didn’t realize how quickly the wind was moving me away from the shore. When I opened my eyes, I found myself moving swiftly past a large sailboat out into the open waves. I became frightened and wondered what to do. I began to pray for help and safety. I also screamed for help. A man heard my cries and came to my rescue. He swam out and pulled me to shore. Soon I was safe in my mom’s arms. I know that Heavenly Father answered my prayers that day.Martha B., age 6Alberta, Canada

A few years ago, Sister Nelson and I visited Samoa, Tonga, Fiji, and Tahiti. Each of those island nations had heavy rains for days. Members prayed that their outdoor meetings would be protected from the rain.
In Samoa, Fiji, and Tahiti, just as the meetings began, the rain stopped. But in Tonga, the rain did not stop. Yet 13,000 faithful Saints came hours early to get a seat. They waited patiently through a steady downpour. They then sat through a very wet meeting.
We saw great faith at work among each of these islanders—faith to stop the rain and faith to keep going when the rain did not stop.

I found $20 on the floor of my classroom. I thought of all the things I could buy with $20, but then I remembered a story in the Friend about a boy who found a wallet at recess and turned it in to the lost and found. I gave the money to my teacher, and she gave me candy for being honest. The best part was the feeling I had inside. It was the Holy Ghost telling me I did the right thing. I know the Church is true, and I always want to be honest so I can be a missionary someday.

A young man returning from his mission shared his experience with faith. He acknowledged it as a miracle in his life. He said: “I was the first of six children born to my parents. My mother and father taught me when I was young the principles of the gospel. Faith was taught through the example of both my mother and father. When I was only 10 years old, my father, this great example of trusting the Lord, was killed in an accident. I was young and had many feelings to deal with that were new to me.” This young man said he realized that he had two choices available to him: “I could have become bitter towards the Lord and lost all that I now have, or I could trust the Lord. Because of the example of my parents, trust was the path I chose. Choosing faith has made all of the difference.”

One friend told me of an experience he had with his father more than 40 years earlier, when he was a teenager. My friend played on the high school basketball team in a small, predominantly Latter-day Saint town in Wyoming. One night a few of the other basketball players got into some trouble. Later my friend’s father said to him, “It’s sad that this happened. I know if you had been there, you would never have allowed such a thing to occur.” This statement of trust expanded the boy’s trust limit with his father as nothing else ever did. It was suddenly easier to talk to his father about matters that demanded trust.

The Korea Servicemen District held a youth conference, choosing Mt. Sorak and Sogcho, Korea as the site. The youth spent three days getting to know one another and having fun together in such activities as swimming at the East Sea beach, riding the tram to the top of the mountains, hiking to a Buddhist temple before dawn, and eating native dishes.
The group heard speakers with a message for youth and held a special testimony meeting.

Finally, let me tell you about a woman I have never met but whom I love dearly because she was true to her covenants. My great-great-grandmother Charlotte Gailey Clark was one of the last 295 people to receive their covenants in the Nauvoo Temple prior to the beginning of the great exodus west. The temple had been closed since the Saints were being forced to leave, but all those who were worthy had not yet had an opportunity to receive their endowments. My great-great-grandmother and her husband would be leading their family west, and she wanted her covenants with her before she set out on that journey. I have thought about her so often these past few months. I someday want to say to her, “Grandma, thank you for keeping your covenants. I am so blessed to be your granddaughter. Your faithfulness has blessed me and my family—and will continue to bless all of us throughout the generations.” And sisters, our children and grandchildren will one day be able to say the same to us, and of us. One day they will thank us for keeping this “bag” of covenants with us and using them to bless the lives of our families.

In November 2019, I listened to Elder Gong’s Face to Face event about the Children and Youth program with my family. Afterward, my bishop gave us booklets to help work toward our goals.
My first goal was to finish reading the Book of Mormon before my eighth birthday to prepare for my baptism. I had already started reading it but without much enthusiasm. But that day I made a plan with my dad. We figured out how many chapters I had to read each day to finish the Book of Mormon before my baptism. I started reading every day and marked when I finished reading each section.
As I read, I wanted to do more good things. So I joined the worldwide fast President Nelson announced to help control COVID-19. I was glad that I could do a full fast. My parents encouraged me to also pray and fast to gain my own testimony of the Book of Mormon and of baptism.
On the first Sunday in May, I prayed and fasted. Soon after, I finished reading the whole Book of Mormon. I was excited for my baptism—on my birthday. I felt ready to make this covenant with God! I know the Book of Mormon is true. I liked reading it, and I am happy I achieved this goal with the help of my family.

I was with a bishop the other day who told me of how his eight-year-old daughter came in and woke him up in the middle of the night to ask him a question. The next morning the bishop explained to the girl that he was a very busy man and had a lot of work to do and needed his sleep. He would be most grateful if she didn’t wake him up in the middle of the night.

The little girl waited patiently and finally in an almost exasperated manner she said, “Yes, Daddy, but you don’t understand. You see, you’re the bishop, and I had a problem.”

When I was 13, my mother became very sick. She was diagnosed with a serious cancer in its last stage and was given six months to live. My father didn’t want us children to know, so I didn’t find out how sick she was until she had only a month left to live.
I wasn’t old enough to understand what was happening, and I hesitated to visit her in the hospital. My bishop encouraged me to bring her the sacrament, but I didn’t want to. I thought that she would come home soon. But my bishop persisted because he knew she didn’t have much time left.
When I finally went, my bishop blessed the sacrament, and I passed it to my mother. She was so sick that she didn’t talk much. But she told me, “Do not let go of the iron rod” (see 1 Nephi 8:19–20, 24, 30).
My mother soon passed away, but I remembered her parting words to me. Following her advice has blessed my life.

Luis Espinal has found an interesting solution to this kind of peer pressure. “I know people who have vices and they would really like to get over them, but they don’t think they have anyone to help them. I try to be a good friend to them, and I bring them all to church. Some leave, but some continue coming, and some become members.”

Another beautiful woman was honored for her caring, her serving, and her leadership. As a nurse she comforted the wounded in World War II. As a wife and partner with her husband, she built a worldwide business which blessed the lives of many. And today she, as a widow, continues daily service to her state and community. She seems to always be smiling. Perhaps this is because she has found the key to happiness. She has always been a missionary. She has ever been there when needed.

Fifteen Malaysian villages in the outlying Simunjan Junction area of Sarawak now have a reliable supply of clean water, thanks to help from Latter-day Saint Charities (LDSC), a humanitarian arm of the Church.
Using supplies provided by LDSC, some 100 villagers, young and old, worked together to enlarge a dam and lay a three-inch (8-cm) diameter pipeline to communities in this area, all within just a few months’ time.
“It is easy to take clean water for granted,” said George Mak, a Church spokesman based in Hong Kong who has witnessed many such projects throughout Asia. “But when a dam or well or some other supply is brought to a village, … it’s an emotional thing to see.”
When clean water was available in the past, it was often limited in quantity and only to be found several miles away. Getting the water would take a person away from family and work and children away from their classes for hours at a time.
Humanitarian projects sponsored by the Church encourage participation by locals where possible. Emphasis is placed on helping people to help themselves and to become more self-reliant.
At a ceremony to mark the completion of the project, village leader Chief Augustine expressed gratitude to all who had helped bring the fresh water to his people. “Only heaven knows how we will be able to say thank you,” he said.
Other villagers and guests spoke at the ceremony, including Jimmy Donald, a member of the Malaysian Federal Parliament.
The ceremony was held near the dam where the pipeline starts. Normally this area is reached by climbing very rugged terrain, but the villagers had cut and dug a trail through the jungle. This included making several hand-lashed bamboo bridges across the treacherous ravines for the benefit of visitors.
At the conclusion of the ceremony, officials turned on the valve, allowing water to flow into the small holding reservoir.

But Brian’s quickness isn’t what really impressed his baseball coach the first year Brian played. What most impressed coach Marcus Cloud from Hempstead, Texas, was the kind of example Brian set for his teammates: he never swore, he didn’t talk back, and he went out of his way to befriend his teammates.
“Brian carried himself in a way that was real positive, outgoing, and it always seemed like there was something a little bit different about him,” says Coach Cloud. The coach couldn’t figure out what the difference was, but he was so intrigued by it that he started following Brian’s example. When Coach Cloud found out that Brian didn’t drink tea, he decided not to drink it either.
And when Coach found out that Brian was a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, he made up his mind to look into that too. Coach Cloud first met the missionaries at Thanksgiving dinner at the Blacks’ home. That night, he told the missionaries he wanted to know about the religion Brian practiced. Soon the coach was meeting with the missionaries regularly and talking to Brian. “Brian filled in a lot of blanks for me. I would go and talk with him about the things that I had read in the Book of Mormon, and he was actually able to answer a lot of questions for me,” says Coach Cloud.
But the most important question Brian’s coach asked him came on the bus ride back from a baseball game in the nearby town of Columbus. He asked simply, “Brian, do you think I have what it takes to be a member of the Church?” Brian smiled and answered, “I would say you do.” But despite Brian’s reassurances, Coach Cloud still wasn’t sure if he was ready for baptism.
A week later, Brian’s baseball team suffered a huge loss to a rival high school. After the game, the players sat in silence waiting for the bus to take them home. Everyone was depressed, especially Coach Cloud.
Brian walked over to the coach to cheer him up. Intending to comment on the game, Coach Cloud looked up at Brian. But instead of replaying the day’s gory defeat, he said, “Brian, I am going to be baptized.” If Brian was shocked by the announcement, so was his coach. But Coach Cloud says he knew he needed to join the Church.
Brian was thrilled. “It was neat that it was my baseball coach getting baptized,” says Brian, who as a priest in the Waller Branch was able to perform the ordinance. Brian says the experience strengthened his friendship with Coach Cloud. In fact, last summer the two took a trip to Utah to visit temples in the area and see Brian’s grandparents.
Unable to resist his coaching instincts for even a second, Coach Cloud made Brian work out every day but Sunday during the trip, no matter what. While they were on the road from Texas to Utah, they would often stop at rest stations and lay out orange cones so Brian could run sprints.
Far more important than the athletic training, however, was the spiritual conditioning Brian received from the trip. He and Coach Cloud were able to do baptisms for the dead at the Provo Utah Temple and visit several Church history sites. And Brian and his coach had plenty of time to talk about Brian’s plans to serve a full-time mission. “I’m looking forward to the spiritual experiences you get from a mission,” says Brian.
It’s Sunday, and the Waller Branch’s sacrament meeting is about to start. Brian sits with his family, his arm around his younger brother Brent, 8, who is dressed in clothes identical to the big brother he looks up to. Coach Cloud walks in and quietly sits down beside them.
Although his friendship with Brian has been sealed by both victory and loss on the baseball field, it’s here, enjoying the gospel, that the two feel their greatest bond. It’s a bond formed because of Brian’s example—on and off the field.
“If youth were to learn something from Brian, it’s that it is important that you set the right example,” says Coach Cloud. “There are people like me who would love to know about the gospel, but they don’t know where to look.”
Until a shortstop with quick feet and a strong testimony comes along, that is.

The Secuya family live in a mountainous part of Cebu, with the parents working as farm caretakers to support their brood of five. On weekends, the entire household puts on formal clothes and shoes and start trekking . . . up to twelve kilometers to reach the Busay 2nd Ward meetinghouse of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
“It’s important we go to church every Sunday, because we learn a lot listening to the words of Jesus Christ,” shares Richelle Secuya. Together with her other siblings and parents, Richelle walks through upland paths and then takes off her footwear to ford through streams, after which she 2025 PHILIPPINES AREA PRIORITY FOCUS They Walk the Covenant Path... Through Mountains and Streams and her family wait for a public utility vehicle that brings them to church.
As they attend sacrament meeting, the Secuyas feel a different kind of fulfillment. “We know that Heavenly Father is happy when we are at church, which is His House,” Richelle’s brother Ryle smiles.
Still, the family knows the challenges of keeping the Lord’s command to renew their baptismal covenants as they keep the Sabbath day holy. “I remember our worst experience,” recalls Mitzi Secuya, the siblings’ mother, “we had to walk three to four hours, which we did for a month.”
At one point, the long trek became almost unbearable for her children. “There were times when they would say they were tired from walking and walking,” she admits, “but we still continued because our Sunday would not be complete if we went to church without them.”

I am helped by two questions: Should I love others? Or should I try to be loved? I try always to love others. This choice has obligated me to love those who are unkind. It helps me concentrate on their positive points and prevents me from avoiding them.
Elder François Ngindu Ngindu,Democratic Republic of Congo Kinshasa Mission

We will dedicate a number of new temples beginning the first of the year. Some of these will be larger, some smaller. During the last conference I expressed the hope that we would build 30 new temples during the next two years. I am sure that many thought this was just wishful dreaming on my part. It seemed totally unrealistic.
I am grateful to be able to say that our building people, our architects, our engineers, our designers and furnishings experts, advise me that in all likelihood we will have 100 or more temples operating in the year 2000, nearly twice the number we have today. I assure you that nobody is sleeping on the job—no one who has anything to do with this immense project. I speak of these temples as smaller temples. Actually, they do not look small, they look large. They are beautiful. They are built of the best materials and in the best fashion of which we know. Each will be a house of the Lord dedicated to His holy purposes.
We shall not stop at these. We shall go on building. We know there are so very many locations where they are needed in order that you, the faithful Saints of this Church, may go to receive your own blessings and to extend those blessings to those who have passed beyond the veil of death. We pray that our people will be worthy to use them. Where repentance is needed, now is the time to turn about and prepare ourselves for their use.