Gospel Story Finder

One of my early childhood memories is of listening to my mother teach the missionary discussions. She was a stake missionary, and in those days, missionaries used flannel boards to teach the discussions. Mother practiced her discussions by teaching us.
One of my favorite discussions was the one about the pre-earth life, this life, and the resurrection. It was crystal-clear on the flannel board. I loved those lessons, and hearing the missionary discussions helped me understand the gospel better.

When residents of Bear Creek called for help, over 175 youth and leaders from the Dallas Texas Stake answered. They helped with the restoration and cleanup of the historic, 150-year-old area, the oldest black community in Dallas County.
The youth worked hard to help restore and preserve some of the historic homes in the area. They also prepared some of the historical buildings that will be moved nearer to a recreation center site.
The residents of Bear Creek expressed their gratitude for the “wonderful job” the LDS youth did in helping them clean up their homes and neighborhoods. They were amazed that so many could be brought together from such distant places in such a short time.

Our family lived in Hamburg, Germany, during World War I when food was rationed. City-dwellers often tried to purchase food from farmers, who sometimes had a little surplus. When I was fourteen years old, my mother gave me money for a railroad ticket and sent me to the country to try to buy food.
After a two-hour train ride, I arrived at a village where I began walking door to door. Though I visited more than forty houses, no one would sell me anything.
I was determined not to return home empty-handed and decided to walk the 4.5 kilometers to the next village where the train did not go. After walking about forty-five minutes and visiting all the houses along the way, I found a farmer who sold me forty-five kilos of potatoes. I could not believe my luck! The most I had hoped for was some butter or a few kilos of bacon.
The farmer lifted the sack of potatoes crosswise onto my shoulders, and I started back the way I had come. Before long, I realized the difficulty of my task—the potatoes weighed at least as much as I did. If I dropped my load onto the roadside and rested, I feared that I might not be able to lift it back onto my shoulders.
In the midst of this dilemma, I recalled my mother, who had taught me the scriptures and the power of prayer. I remembered an episode in the Book of Mormon where the Nephites, who were in bondage to the Lamanites, asked the Lord to lighten their burdens. The Lord had answered their prayers, and it occurred to me that the Lord might also lighten the weight of my burden. (See Mosiah 24:15.)
I began to pray. Instantly, I felt as if the load had been taken off my shoulders. I was able to walk with ease all of the way to the train station without resting.
At the station, another miracle occurred. Village police had the authority to confiscate any food found on passengers. Many people tried to hide their food, but there was no way I could hide the forty-five kilo sack of potatoes. However, as I boarded the train, nothing was said and I was allowed to take the potatoes home to my mother.
My search for food brought my family the physical nourishment we needed during a difficult time and developed in me an unshakable testimony that the Lord hears and answers prayers.

Who wouldn’t choose President Monson as a friend? He gives away his trains at Christmastime, he gives the clothes off his back and the shoes off his feet to people who don’t have any, he gives countless hours to those so often forgotten in care centers or struggling for life in hospitals, and he shares his joy for life with all of us when he wiggles his ears. What’s not to like? When a group of missionaries was asked to identify one of President Monson’s greatest attributes, almost all chose his love for people. One even suggested he wished he could live next door to the prophet because he knew they would then become good friends.

On another occasion Heber C. Kimball, one of the counselors to President Brigham Young in the First Presidency of the Church, stood that same boy on a table and prophesied that someday he would be a greater man in the Church than his father, and his father, Jedediah M. Grant, was a counselor to President Brigham Young.

About a month ago I was sent by the First Presidency to hold a series of Church conferences in South America. Frankly, I didn’t know quite what to expect of that land. I had thought of South America as a rather primitive jungle area. I expected the people to be a little backward, perhaps in need of education and training in the ways of modern civilization. When I saw those countries and their people, I couldn’t have been more astonished.
I saw great cities there with ultra-modern, high-rise buildings and modern conveniences on every side. Traffic was as heavy as in our great cities in North America. They were building apartment houses, offices, subways, roads, and factories with feverish haste to try to meet the needs of an expanding economy.
Frankly, I fell in love with the people of South America. When I first went there I knew no one, but I was received with such warmth and hospitality that when I left a few weeks later I found myself with many new and choice friends, giving them a brotherly abrazo or hug of affection as we parted.

As involved as the Drummonds are in sports, you might think their grades would suffer a bit. But not so. “They’re both on the honor roll,” says their dad. “They have to maintain B averages. That’s my rule. And no underwater basketweaving or sandwich making courses, either.” He then goes on to recite their schedules—solid, difficult classes every one, with the exception of baseball, which the Drummonds take very seriously. Of course, since Tom made the rules, he’s always there to help his kids accomplish them. It’s not uncommon to find the family studying together in the evenings.

Mark Twain wrote:
“Some years ago in Hartford, Connecticut, we all went to church one hot, sweltering night to hear the annual report of Mr. Hawley, a city missionary who went around finding people who needed help and didn’t want to ask for it. He told of life in cellars, where poverty resided; he gave instances of heroism and devotion of the poor. ‘When a man with millions gives,’ he said, ‘we talk a lot about it and praise him. It’s praise in the wrong place, for it’s the widow’s mite that is significant.’
“Well, Hawley really got me excited. I could hardly wait for him to get through. I had $400 in my pocket. I wanted to give that and borrow more to give. You could see money in every eye. But instead of passing the plate to collect money then, he kept on talking and talking, and as he talked it grew hotter and hotter, and we grew sleepier and sleepier. My enthusiasm went down, down, down—$100 at a time until finally when the collection plate did come around, I stole ten cents out of it.” (Thesaurus of Anecdotes, ed. Edmund Fuller, Crown Publishers: N.Y., 1942, pp. 58~59.)

I am an 11-year-old member of the Church. I read the Mormonad “Friends Are Easy to Talk To” in the July New Era and tried it with a friend. After two weeks our relationship was not that close anymore. I have learned from this article that if I do not communicate with my Heavenly Father, our relationship will suffer.
Loni Van WagonerBessemer, Alabama

This peer pressure tries to change a person’s attitudes, if not behavior, by making one feel guilty for giving offense. We seek respectful coexistence with those who point fingers, but when this fear of men tempts us to condone sin, it becomes a “snare” according to the book of Proverbs (see Proverbs 29:25). The snare may be cleverly baited to appeal to our compassionate side to tolerate or even approve of something that has been condemned by God. For the weak of faith, it can be a major stumbling block. For example, some young missionaries carry this fear of men into the mission field and fail to report the flagrant disobedience of a companion to their mission president because they don’t want to offend their wayward companion. Decisions of character are made by remembering the right order of the first and second great commandments (see Matthew 22:37–39). When these confused missionaries realize they are accountable to God and not to their companion, it should give them courage to do an about-face.

Laksmi and her family moved to the USA from Cambodia. Laksmi follows Jesus Christ by showing kindness to her family. One of her favorite things is to help take care of her little sister, Rhianna. Laksmi plays with her. They eat ice cream together. And sometimes Laksmi even changes her diaper. “I help her because I love her,” Laksmi says. “Jesus said we should love each other.”

In Zimbabwe, more than 60 LDS youth volunteered to donate blood.

I once heard a stake president mention the great success of one of his elders quorum presidents. He said, “His name is Hershel Pedersen. Perhaps you have heard of him. They used to call him ‘Bones’ when he played for BYU.” Well, I, along with many of you had heard of Brother Pedersen. As a matter of fact he grew up in my stake. He is one of the seven sons of Oliver Cowdery Pedersen, who all went on missions, most of them to Denmark. I heard his report when he returned from his mission, and I signed his temple recommend when he was married. So I was interested.

The stake president continued: “Brother Pedersen has committed himself to qualify every man in his quorum for a temple recommend. They are all qualified now except six.” Some time later when I was with the Church Home Teaching Committee, we remembered this story and asked Brother Pedersen to report on how his quorum had turned out. He said, “We got them all but three. Then they released me to become president of the stake mission. But since my release we got the other three.”

It was about that time Bob began talking again about going on his mission. We hadn’t mentioned it much, but then one day he said, “Well, I guess when we get home I’ll start getting ready for my mission.” From then on, he talked about a mission more and more. One night, about 1:00 A.M., after a long, hard day, he rolled over in his sleeping bag and said, “Dad, tell me about eternal life.” We talked for about two hours. Then, with his last effort, he said, “That’s for me,” and fell asleep. For me that made the whole trip worthwhile.
We slowly made up time, and by the end of the trip, arrived in the small eskimo village at the mouth of the river right on schedule. We had one half of a meal left. Our canoe was so badly damaged we had to abandon it (after notifying Canadian officials). We had run every set of rapids on the river but one (whether we were tired or afraid of the one we portaged around I’m not sure), so we didn’t claim any records. But Bob had been lost and now was found. The day after we returned home, he went to see the bishop and expressed his desire to serve the Lord. He is now serving in the Illinois Chicago Mission.

When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, I was serving as a missionary in the Dominican Republic. My first three transfers as a missionary hadn’t been easy, but I felt grateful for all I had learned and was excited to continue growing as a disciple of Jesus Christ.
So when I was sent home for three months, I was confused and heartbroken. My life felt uncertain and stagnant. I eventually received my reassignment to Iowa City, Iowa, USA. Although I immediately loved Iowa and the people there, I felt like I was starting over. The adjustment was difficult, and I struggled with feelings of inadequacy, anxiety, and loneliness.
I prayed every day for some kind of relief. My feelings were heavy, and I was struggling to bear them on my own.
During my personal study, I read a quote by President Gordon B. Hinckley (1910–2008) that helped my heart feel lighter. He shared:
“The Lord said: ‘Wherefore, lift up thy heart and rejoice, and cleave unto the covenants which thou hast made.’ (Doctrine and Covenants 25:13.)
“I believe he is saying to each of us, be happy. The gospel is a thing of joy. It provides us with a reason for gladness.”
I began to look at the word rejoice in the scriptures in a new light. It was an invitation from the Lord to be happy. Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ know better than anyone of the challenges, pains, and hardships we face—and still They invite us to be happy.
I resolved to accept that invitation. Even though my circumstances didn’t change and my sad feelings didn’t magically disappear, I felt a deeper, underlying sense of gratitude and joy for the blessings and promises of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Elder Gordon B. Hinckley told a story after going into Vietnam that to me was a great lesson. There was a young man, as I remember it, who was in the military service in Vietnam and who joined the Church and was now about to go back to his home country in Southeast Asia.
Brother Hinckley said to him, “What is it going to do to you when you get back home now that you have joined the Church?”
“Oh,” said the youth, “I will be cast out. My family will disown me. I will have difficulty in school. I will have no military rank.”
Elder Hinckley then asked, “Isn’t that a pretty big price to pay?”
And this young man looked at Elder Hinckley and said, “Well, the gospel is true, isn’t it?”
That was a soul-searching question for Brother Hinckley, who replied: “Yes, my boy, with all my soul, the gospel is true.”
And then this young man said, “Well, what else matters then?”

Helping our children learn to see others as brothers and sisters can start with our family prayers. For years, our family prayers have included pleas for God to bless our family. By “family,” we mean (and specifically pray for) our direct family (parents and children), our extended family, our ward family, and our neighborhood family. We wanted our children to see those God has surrounded us with as part of our family.

We then get off our knees and try to serve those we pray for. We involve our children in loving relationships with their aunts, uncles, cousins, and grandparents. For example, our children helped us as we cared for my angel mother for the last few years of her life. We most certainly didn’t do it perfectly, but our efforts made a difference.

Take eight lively people, mix them in a small van for 40 hours, adding mechanical failure, rain, car sickness—even seasickness, and what do you get? “Heaven,” according to the Marrero family.
“It was the most spiritual experience of my life,” said Raquel, 14, of her family’s trip to the temple, to be sealed together for all time and eternity.
For many people, a temple trip isn’t quite the sacrifice that it was for the Marreros. They live on the island of Tenerife, which is one of Spain’s Canary Islands, located about 50 miles off the coast of Morocco. When they were finally prepared to go to the temple, the nearest one open was in Germany, so that’s where they headed, crossing the ocean and passing through three countries to get there.
The cost of plane fare would have been outrageous for the family that consists of Luci, 6; Fabio, 8; Oliver, 10; Raquel, 14; Desiree, 16; Oscar, 18; and Miguel and Angela, the mother and father. They worked for two years as it was, the father doing carpentry, and the rest of the family taking on odd jobs at home, like assembling game pieces and cards for a toy factory, to earn the money to travel the way they did.
The way they traveled was in a van, or furgón, as they call it, that Miguel had used his carpentry skills to convert into a camper with two beds. They loaded it onto a ferry and traveled by water the 500 miles to Spain.
“We all got seasick,” said Raquel. “We were glad to see dry land again.”
But that was only the beginning of the journey. Ahead there were hours and hours of driving through Spain, France, and Germany, and sleeping under the stars at night. “To pass the time we’d honk and wave at others with Spanish license plates,” said Desiree. “And we sang every hymn and typical Spanish song we knew—many times over.”
“Dad drove and fixed the car,” added Raquel. They had electrical problems, among other things, which made it difficult to drive at night without stopping every few minutes to fix the headlights. Finally, when they made it to Frankfurt, they pulled over and waited for dawn, so they could drive undistracted to the temple in the light.
Well, almost undistracted. It seems the temple is located in Friedrichsdorf, outside of Frankfurt, and with their limited German, the Marreros couldn’t find it. They finally hired a Spanish-speaking cab driver to show them the way.
“When at last we saw the Angel Moroni on top, it was such a joy,” said Raquel. “It was beautiful—even more beautiful because we’d suffered so much to get there.”
Oh, and the things they found inside! “It was so wonderful when we were sealed—everyone in white, even the little ones, looking so beautiful,” said Desiree. “Now we know that we can be together forever with the ones we love.”
The Marreros spent about four days at the temple, the parents doing sealings, the children who were old enough doing baptisms for the dead. They were reluctant to leave, when the time came, especially since they knew all about the tedious road trip that lay ahead.
But their lives had changed in those four days. “We didn’t quarrel as much,” Raquel noted. “We knew we were an eternal family.”
“The trip was a lot like life, really,” observed Desiree. “You go through some tough times, and you work really hard, but it is worth it when you make it to the celestial kingdom. We made a lot of sacrifices so that everyone could arrive together.”

Jared Ikihega, 16, and Tony Ikiua, 17, both of the Wellington New Zealand Stake, were among youth from the Porirua College invited to display their artwork at Parliament buildings. A member of Parliament visiting the high school was so impressed by their art that he extended the invitation. The exhibit featured designs with a Polynesian influence.
Both young men plan to study art at Polytechnic and are eagerly preparing to serve missions. Jared serves as second assistant in his priests quorum, and Tony serves as quorum secretary in the Porirua East Ward.

The prophet says that the Lord loves effort, so I try to be like Jesus by helping when I see a need. When we were home during the quarantine, I helped my mother make a little school for my two youngest brothers, who have autism. I made small assignments and helped them.