Gospel Story Finder

When I was a deacon, my family moved to a new home in a different ward. I was beginning junior high school, so I also attended a new school. There was a marvelous group of young men in the deacons quorum. Most of their parents were active members. My mother was completely active; my father was exceptional in every way but was not an active member.
The second counselor in the bishopric, Brother Dean Eyre, was a devoted leader. When I was still adjusting to the new ward, a father-son event was announced for Bear Lake—about 40 miles (65 km) away. I did not think I would attend without my father. But Brother Eyre issued a special invitation for me to go with him. He spoke highly and respectfully of my father and stressed the significance of my opportunity to be with the other members of the deacons quorum. So I decided to go with Brother Eyre, and I had a wonderful experience.
Brother Eyre was a marvelous example of Christlike love in fulfilling the bishopric’s responsibility to support parents in watching over and nurturing the youth. He gave me an excellent start in this new ward and was a mentor to me.

The greatest blessing came to Elder Castaños after his mission when he met the young Dareydi Santana, his future wife. They received wonderful sacred promises as they were sealed in the Santo Domingo Dominican Republic Temple on June 7, 2001. The same week they were married, Elder Castaños was called as branch president of the Los Angeles Branch of the San Geronimo Dominican Republic Stake. Two years later the branch became a ward and there he served as the bishop for a year, at which time he was called into the stake presidency. The Church grew rapidly during these years and Elder Castaños was blessed to serve 19 more years in three different stake presidencies. On April 1, 2023, he was called as an Area Seventy in the Caribbean Area.

I would really like to thank you for the November 1996 New Era. All the stories were about happiness, and I really needed this. I didn’t have a very good year in school last year, and I always seemed to look at things negatively. The story “A Reason to Smile” made me open my eyes toward the positive things in life.
Laurina WardRock Hill, South Carolina

Heber J. Grant was not a good singer. His mother made him take singing lessons.
The teacher tried and tried to teach Heber to sing. Finally the teacher said, “Heber, you’ll never be able to sing!”
Years later, Heber told a friend how much he wanted to be able to sing a few Church hymns.
“It will take time and effort,” said his friend. “But, you can do it.”
Heber prayed for help. He practiced and practiced. He learned to sing the Church hymns.

One of the first three Latter-day Saint missionaries to the African continent was Elder William H. Walker. He arrived in Cape Town, South Africa, in April 1853 after a seven-month journey. And now his great-great-granddaughter, Sister Lori Humbert, is serving a mission in the same place, along with her husband, Elder George Humbert.
The Humberts didn’t ever think they would travel so far from their Layton, Utah home. But they started reading Elder Walker’s journal when they got their mission call: “We just feel like this is where we need to be now,” Sister Humbert said.
Fast forward 170 years, and the Humberts’ mission involves different kinds of challenges. They serve in the communication department at the Area Office and help to train communication directors in 13 different countries. They moderate the local Church Facebook page and send referrals to the individual missions. They also write and coordinate articles for the inserts in the Liahona magazine from Africa South and Central Area, which are translated into five different languages.
Sister Humbert said her great-great-grandfather’s story helps her today.
“It just impressed me that they left their loved ones behind and went for that long, and they were doing that because they were following what the prophet asked them to do,” she said.
“From him I learned perseverance. Just like his quote, he wouldn’t allow Satan or anyone else to discourage him or stand in their way. Through the troubles he just kept trudging on. The way he lived the gospel principles and loved the people here just helps me understand that I can do hard things and look at things with more of an eternal perspective.”

Elder Brown has fulfilled a number of impactful service assignments. He has contributed hundreds of gravestone transcriptions to the BillionGraves website, aiding individuals around the world in their family history efforts. He volunteers weekly in two local charity shops, where he has become a valued team member and has also served at the Thackray Medical Museum, where he frequently shares gospel messages with those he works alongside.
One of Elder Brown’s museum supervisors, Ross, was particularly influenced by these conversations. Ross now has the Gospel Library app on his phone and has even visited the Preston England Temple grounds—an experience inspired by his time with Elder Brown.

President and Sister Kasue and their children, along with many others, fasted and prayed that the Church would be officially recognized in Kenya. “Sometimes in family prayer I would forget to pray for the registration of the Church in Kenya,” President Kasue remembers. “My children would remind me and say, ‘Oh, Dad, you didn’t pray for the registration of the Church.’ My children had strong faith.” When official recognition was finally received on 25 February 1991, many wept, prayed, and fasted as an expression of gratitude.

This is how to make a Samoan umu. An umu is food cooked by hot stones. First we chop some wood and put the umu stones on top of them. Then we light the wood to make the stones very hot. While the stones are getting hot, we prepare the food. We scrape the skin off the taro with a coconut shell. We peel the skin of the bananas with a long flat stick. We wrap the food in banana leaves and put it on the hot stones. We cover the food with big banana leaves and sacks. After a while the food is cooked.
Paula Schwenke, Age 9Alamagoto, Upolu, Western Samoa

Before Selene was baptized, she prayed to know if the Church was true. She wanted to have a testimony. After she prayed she felt Heavenly Father telling her the Church was true, and she felt that her dad wanted her to be baptized.

“I can’t remember not believing in Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. I have loved Them since I learned of Them at the knees of my angel mother, reading scripture and gospel stories. That early belief has now grown into a knowledge and a witness of a loving Heavenly Father, who hears and answers our prayers.”
Elder Ronald A. Rasband of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, “I Stand All Amazed,” Liahona, Nov. 2015, 90.

Some of you may be familiar with Thornton Wilder’s classic drama Our Town. If you are, you will remember the town of Grover’s Corners, where the story takes place. In the play, Emily Webb dies in childbirth, and we read of the lonely grief of her young husband, George, left with their four-year-old son. Emily does not wish to rest in peace; she wants to experience again the joys of her life. She is granted the privilege of returning to earth and reliving her 12th birthday. At first it is exciting to be young again, but the excitement wears off quickly. The day holds no joy now that Emily knows what is in store for the future. It is unbearably painful to realize how unaware she had been of the meaning and wonder of life while she was alive. Before returning to her resting place, Emily laments, “Do … human beings ever realize life while they live it—every, every minute?”

I remember an experience when I was a young missionary. We met a gentleman during the blessing of a child in church. After the meeting, we exchanged contact information to go to his house and give him the missionary lessons. After teaching him the first lesson, the Spirit was very strong, and the gentleman was very moved by what he had learned. That’s when he asked for our address.

Surprised by that question, my companion and I asked him the reason for such a question. He told us that this message was so important that it would be better for him to come and take the lessons with us. Knowing that the gospel message is based on families, we kindly insisted that we keep going to his house to have the opportunity to teach the other members of his family as well.

Thanks to such an experience, this family is now baptized, sealed in the temple, and live the gospel in great joy. This story teaches and confirms to me that the field is white already to harvest. It also teaches me that if we are worthy, the Holy Ghost will guide us to people that are prepared and will also guide them to us to help them find the path to eternal life.

When I’m sharing the gospel—with nonmembers and members—I often end up teaching myself something. Maybe you’ve experienced this on your mission or while preparing a Sunday School lesson. Many Church leaders have confirmed that declaring our faith and encouraging faithfulness in others will help us receive more personal revelation.7 When we’re “speaking under the inspiration of the Holy Ghost,” we can “always learn something from what [we’ve] said.”8 I’ve started to share more about the gospel on social media, and I bring it up in daily conversations with my friends and family.

Now another. A young man in Mexico City was approved to receive a loan of approximately $1,000 to make it possible for him to attend school to become a diesel mechanic. He has said: “My promise is to give my best in order to feel satisfied with my efforts. I know this program is valuable and important. Because of this, I am trying to take maximum advantage of this for the future. I will be able to serve and help the poor and help counsel my family members. I thank my Father in Heaven for this beautiful and inspired program.”

The first time I heard about the restriction on black men holding the priesthood, I was on my mission. I was baptized in 1984, after the restriction had already ended. Two years later I was called to serve in the South Africa Johannesburg Mission.
While assigned to Bulawayo, Zimbabwe, my companion, Elder Francis Jack, and I visited a less-active sister. Her husband was a theological professor from another church. He asked us why the priesthood had been withheld from men of black African descent. He said many things that bothered me—things I had never heard before. When I walked out of that room, I felt very low and very discouraged.
Elder Jack and I rode our bikes back to our apartment without speaking. When we got there, he looked at me and said, “Elder Dube, what is wrong with you? You seem very disturbed.”
“Didn’t you hear what he said?” I responded. “How could this happen?”
“Elder, do you believe that Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ appeared to the boy Joseph?”
“Yes,” I said. “But what does that have to do with this?”
“It has everything to do with it,” Elder Jack replied. “We believe in revelation, don’t we?”
I thought about his words and what the professor had said. That night I woke up in the middle of the night. I felt happy and at peace.
The answer to every gospel question ties back to what happened in 1820. Knowing that Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ appeared to Joseph Smith means that he was a prophet and that this is the Lord’s Church. If Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ appeared to the boy Joseph, then all gospel principles and questions fall into place. This is a church of revelation, and the Lord reveals certain processes at certain times to His servants, the prophets, and that is what brought peace to me.
I started jumping up and down and woke my companion shouting, “Yes, yes! You are right, Elder Jack! Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ appeared to the boy Joseph! This is the Lord’s Church!”

Blayden Thompson, a 16-year-old Explorer from Santa Ana, California, advised Scouts at a banquet honoring astronaut Gerald P. Carr to “Be Prepared for Life.”
Blayden spoke at the banquet as the winner of the Orange County Boy Scout Council’s speech contest. He won a $75 prize and the right to compete in regional competition.
The idea for the speech came from the Boy Scout motto, “Be Prepared,” but Blayden expanded the theme for his talk to include three areas of preparation: “an understanding of history and government, strong spiritual and moral background, and a strong healthy body.”
Blayden is active at Santa Ana High School as a member of the wrestling team and the chamber singers and is also president of his seminary class.

My favorite Christmas tradition is decorating my grandparents’ house. My favorite memory from this Christmas tradition is helping to decorate the tree each year. The older grandchildren help the younger kids to place ornaments on the higher branches until all the ornaments have been put up.
I like this tradition because it helps me spend time serving with my family as we help my grandparents. When I serve them, it helps me focus more on others and not on myself. It fills me with love for my family and for my Savior and brings me closer to them.
Aspen L., 15, Nevada, USA

“One day, I locked myself in a room so I wouldn’t be disturbed and got on my knees to pray. As I repented and explained my fears honestly and sincerely, I felt my mistakes being washed away. I knew that Heavenly Father and the Savior were there comforting me through what I was feeling. This experience has taught me that I need to focus on Them rather than on worldly things. I’ve learned that They will always be there for us, even during our toughest trials.”—Zoe Campbell, Aberdeen, Scotland

May I relate to you my first journey along a personal Jericho Road. In about my tenth year, as Christmas approached, I yearned for an electric train. My desire was not to receive the economical and everywhere-to-be-found windup model train, but rather one that operated through the miracle of electricity.
The times were those of economic depression, yet Mother and Dad, through some sacrifice, presented to me on Christmas morning a beautiful electric train. For hours I operated the transformer, watching the engine first pull its cars forward, then push them backward around the track.
Mother entered the living room and said to me that she had purchased a windup train for Widow Hansen’s boy, Mark, who lived down the lane. I asked if I could see the train. The engine was short and blocky—not long and sleek like the expensive model I had received.
However, I did take notice of an oil tanker car which was part of his inexpensive set. My train had no such car, and pangs of envy began to be felt. I put up such a fuss that Mother succumbed to my pleadings and handed me the oil tanker car. She said, “If you need it more than Mark, you take it.” I put it with my train set and felt pleased with the result.
Mother and I took the remaining cars and the engine down to Mark Hansen. The young boy was a year or two older than I. He had never anticipated such a gift and was thrilled beyond words. He wound the key in his engine, it not being electric like mine, and was overjoyed as the engine and two cars, plus a caboose, went around the track.
Mother wisely asked, “What do you think of Mark’s train, Tommy?”
I felt a keen sense of guilt and became very much aware of my selfishness. I said to Mother, “Wait just a moment—I’ll be right back.”
As swiftly as my legs could carry me, I ran to our home, picked up the oil tanker car plus an additional car of my own, ran back down the lane to the Hansen home, and said joyfully to Mark, “We forgot to bring two cars that belong to your train.”
Mark coupled the two extra cars to his set. I watched the engine make its labored way around the track and felt a supreme joy difficult to describe and impossible to forget.
Mother and I left the Hansen home and slowly walked up the street. She took me by the hand, and together we returned homeward by way of our private Jericho Road.

One young woman found that when she was humble the Lord helped her make the type of decision the prophet spoke of.
“When I first heard these marvelous words by our prophet, it was during the time when I was struggling,” she wrote. “I was currently dating a nonmember friend, and I could see my life changing—and not for the better. As I took the dear prophet’s advice, I got down on my knees and humbly prayed to my Father in Heaven. A few weeks later my Sunday School teacher gave me the answer I needed as we were talking about our choices and consequences that follow. I knew right then that I was going to stop dating this good friend.
“I know with all my heart that the Lord humbled me enough so I could receive the answer I needed. Through this powerful experience I have been able to give this great young man a copy of the Book of Mormon, and within a few short weeks he is going to be baptized.”