Gospel Story Finder

Of his mission, he says, “We met with people who had been thrust out of their homes. The meaning of family became evident to me as we taught families whose parents were on the other side of the Berlin Wall.”

Adult leaders of the youth in the Hong Kong China Stake asked the youth council to choose their own service project. After the youth looked into their community’s needs, they decided to teach children from low-income families at a local school. Around 125 youth taught over 80 schoolchildren about developing talents, making healthy food, holding family gatherings, and creating true friendships.
“This was not just a one-time influence,” said Anita Shum, stake Young Women president. “What the youth have done with the kids could have a lasting effect.” She added that the youth now have good memories and experiences that will bless them forever.

I am like a Butterfly
Ready or not
To spread my wings
Into an unknown world
Of flying
Breaking free of that shell
Transforming me
Into the person I will be
In the unknown world

I felt scared to try a new food, so I said a prayer. I know Heavenly Father helped me be brave to try it.
Olivia C., age 4, Tennessee, USA

When the Explorers returned to Guayaquil, they shopped for souvenirs and visited some of the historical sites of the city. Walter P. Crespo, the Scout executive for Guayas Province, explained the history of the various monuments and their significance to the citizens of Guayaquil. He even showed them where a branch of the Church held its meetings.
“Boy, to think that just a few months before, my family was sitting in the Tabernacle in Salt Lake City,” Nik comments, “and then to realize I was in South America—what a great time to live!”

1 That’s a great jack-o’-lantern, Wendy! Want me to help you put in the candle?
Thanks, David.
2 David, when you said you wanted to join the Mormons, I gave my permission reluctantly. I thought that you were making a big mistake.
I know.
3 Well, I was wrong. You’ve become an even better son and brother.
Thanks, Dad. I’m just trying to be the kind of person you taught me to be.
4 I think maybe we were afraid you’d become a fanatic and write us all off as sinners.
How could I ever do that? You’re the greatest!
5 Well, it’s pretty easy for people to focus on their differences.
It says right in the Articles of Faith that we should respect all religions. Joseph Smith knew what it was like when people didn’t.
6 So, what do you think?
Outstanding! What do you think?
Likewise!

Born in Salt Lake City, Utah, USA, in September 1951 to Oliver T. and Myra Davies, Bishop Davies was raised in a family where love and work were guiding principles. If he wanted something, he was to earn it. When persistent pleas to his mother failed to get him a longed-for toy, he considered his options. He still remembers the physical strain and resulting satisfaction from pushing an old-fashioned lawn mower through a neighbor’s tall grass.

Before he started to carve the turkey, her uncle said, “Well, Elizabeth, I’ve never seen kernels of corn at my place like this before. They must be part of the tradition that you wish to share with us.

“Yes, Uncle John,” said Elizabeth. “My father usually tells the story of the corn, but I’ll do it since he isn’t here.”

“Many years ago,” she began, “during one of the early winters, the Pilgrims had very little food. Because their corn supply was almost gone, each Pilgrim was given only five grains of corn to plant. The following years they had more corn. But the Pilgrims wanted their children to always remember the sacrifices and the hardships that made the survival of their small settlement possible. So each year when they celebrated Thanksgiving, they placed five grains of corn by each plate. My family still does it so we won’t forget those brave days either.”

“That’s a wonderful tradition you’ve shared with us,” Aunt Emily said, hugging Elizabeth. “I think we should all carry it on. It will give us strength for the days to come.”

Michael Molling, 12, from Orem, Utah, was selected to be the young Vincenzo. For Michael, being cast was a pleasant surprise. He and a friend had been handed a flyer in the local shopping mall. He went to the studio, filled out a card with his name and address, and had his picture taken. He was called to come back for another picture-taking session, then received a phone call telling him he had the part.

“They called and said I got the part,” Michael explains. “After I hung up I ran and did somersaults and jumped all over the couch. I was happy.”

For his scenes, Michael had to learn to quote scripture in Italian. And he had to learn to put up with makeup and old-fashioned shoes several sizes too big as part of his costume. “The hardest thing,” says Michael, “was memorizing the words. When I would start to talk, I would start moving my knees, and the director would have to tell me to not move my knees. I didn’t even know I was doing it.”

My father died when I was seven. I was the oldest of three small children our widowed mother struggled to raise. When I was ordained a deacon, she said how pleased she was to have a priesthood holder in the home. But Mother continued to direct the family, including calling on which one of us would pray when we knelt together each morning. I was puzzled. I had been taught that the priesthood presided in the family. There must be something I didn’t know about how that principle worked.

For example, when her family was invited to a picnic one Sunday, Íngrid said, “No, thank you. We are members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and we can’t go on the picnic because it’s Sunday. We try to keep the Sabbath Day holy.” When someone offers her a drink that is not in keeping with Church standards, she says, “No, thank you—we believe that Jesus said that we shouldn’t drink that.”

My husband Kevin and I were baptized last May. Soon afterward he was called to the position of branch magazine representative. The New Era is a wonderful, uplifting, “good read.” The stories and addresses build our testimonies. Our first child is expected soon, and sometimes when I’m low or moody, I reach for the New Era and my sad heart or dampened spirit finds something inspiring to give it new courage.
Linda GrayFawley, Southampton, England

Others who are first in the hearts of Church members include May Anderson, who served for fourteen years as the second general president of the Primary Association, and who for thirty-eight years was the editor of the Children’s Friend. Prior to becoming the Primary president, May was a counselor to Louie B. Felt, the very first general Primary president. One day while May and Sister Felt were walking along the street, they saw a badly crippled boy and were inspired to establish a hospital to help boys and girls who need care. This was the beginning of the Primary Children’s Hospital, which has made it possible for children all over the world to “give that sick children might live.”

Recently, I had the opportunity to sit at the back of a chapel during a sharing time session of Primary and watch a lively group of youngsters keep a music teacher very busy. For a final song the director asked the children to sing “I Am a Child of God.” They quieted down, and for the first song of the entire session the voices unified in quality instead of quantity. The words rang throughout the chapel with an angel-like resonance:
Lead me, guide me, walk beside me,
Help me find the way.
Teach me all that I must do
To live with him someday.
[Hymns, 1985, no. 301]
These pleading words sank deep into my heart that day and stirred my soul. What a great burden of responsibility the Lord has placed upon us as parents: to take these children and lead them in the ways of holiness, to guide them through the perils of mortality, and to walk beside them on the straight and narrow path which leads to eternity. Yes, the responsibility is ours to teach them all they must do so that someday, as the mortal is changed to immortal, they will be prepared to return to the presence of the Father and dwell with him and their Elder Brother, Jesus Christ.
As I sat there in the back of the chapel, I silently asked myself, “Am I doing all the things which I must do? Can my wife and daughter walk alongside me with confidence that I will lead them into the celestial kingdom? ‘Lead me, guide me, walk beside me. …’” Stop. Stop for one minute and ask the same question of yourself: “Can my spouse and children walk alongside me with confidence that I will lead them into the celestial kingdom?” The Savior said, “Seek ye first the kingdom of God” (Matt. 6:33).

“How many does it take to hold family home evening? Two? Three? One?” A counselor in a stake presidency asked this question at a meeting I attended many years ago. His answer was that it takes no more than one person, and he challenged everyone to hold family home evening weekly.

Following the sensational Brigham Young University basketball victory over Notre Dame, Danny Ainge’s father was asked if his son might break his professional baseball contract for a better offer in basketball. His father replied, “Danny has a contract. Honor and integrity are more important than money.”

A recent nationwide survey found that nearly 8 in 10 Americans “believe that miracles still occur today as [they did] in ancient times.” A third of those surveyed said they had “experienced or witnessed a divine healing.” Many Latter-day Saints have experienced the power of faith in healing the sick. We also hear examples of this among people of faith in other churches. A Texas newspaperman described such a miracle. When a five-year-old girl breathed with difficulty and became feverish, her parents rushed her to the hospital. By the time she arrived there, her kidneys and lungs had shut down, her fever was 107 degrees, and her body was bright red and covered with purple lesions. The doctors said she was dying of toxic shock syndrome, cause unknown. As word spread to family and friends, God-fearing people began praying for her, and a special prayer service was held in their Protestant congregation in Waco, Texas. Miraculously, she suddenly returned from the brink of death and was released from the hospital in a little over a week. Her grandfather wrote, “She is living proof that God does answer prayers and work miracles.”

At a virtual focus group with youth in California, we asked quorum and class presidents what they had observed after holding weekly presidency meetings. A 14-year-old unmuted her microphone before we even finished asking the question and said, “I feel closer to the Savior. Because when I started thinking more often about how to help my friends become closer to Him, I came closer to Him too.”

I have always loved the feeling that the temple brings to my life. When I was called to serve a mission in an area where I would not be able to attend the temple, I was afraid that I would be without that feeling for two years. Then I found that Heavenly Father has sent us a gift that can bring a similar feeling no matter where we are. I am very grateful for the Liahona. When I read the messages in the magazine, I feel the same spirit I felt in the temple.Elder Allan Herbert Silva, Brazil Goiânia Mission

A small branch with big ideas can accomplish a lot—and do a lot of good at the same time, too. That’s what the members of the Toukley Branch, Sydney Australia Newcastle Stake, discovered when they pooled their talents to put on a family fun musical that helped strengthen testimonies and introduce nonmembers to the Church.
Twenty parents and 21 youths worked together for five months of rehearsals to perfect the show. The parents helped with make-up, costumes, ticket sales, promotion, and orchestra, and the young people performed on stage.
“It made me feel good to have mum in the production,” said Shelly Benson, one of the performers. “I felt that I could lean on her for encouragement.”
The purposes behind the show were to help the building fund (the branch has land but not a chapel), to commemorate the Sesquicentennial, to serve as a missionary tool, and to create a fun experience for adults and the youth of the branch.
Sister Gayle Shearim wrote the play, weaving in concepts from the plan of salvation. Because the Toukley Branch is small, she invited members from neighboring wards to participate, too. Since the stake boundaries are 150 miles north to south, and 40 miles across, some participants had quite a commute.
But the results made all the hard work worth it, they said. Not only did the show bring the performers closer, two baptisms were reported as a direct result of the play, two inactive members were reactivated, and over 2,000 people were exposed to the gospel in Sydney, Newcastle, Gosford, and Toukley, Australia—big results for a little branch.