Gospel Story Finder

Merrell: Well, I gained a feeling of self-worth and determination to do my best. For example, while still in elementary school, I worked long hours in the hayfields, cutting and raking, and sometimes I would run into difficulties that would cut into my productivity. But no matter how many or how few rows I had cut, when my father came out to see my work in the evening, he would say, “Boy, Merrell, you got a lot accomplished! Did you get all that done while I was gone?” I was convinced I was the fastest cutter in the valley! I don’t know if I really was or not, but my father always made me feel that way.

A few years ago, I had a life-changing experience during a sacrament meeting in our home ward in Arizona. As the sacrament prayer indicated our willingness to “take upon [ourselves] the name of [Jesus Christ],” the Holy Ghost reminded me that Jesus has many names. This question then came to my heart: “Which of Jesus’s names should I take upon myself this week?”
Three names came to my mind, and I wrote them down. Each of those three names contained Christlike attributes that I wanted to develop more fully. In the week that followed, I focused on those three names and tried to embrace their corresponding attributes and characteristics. Since that time, I’ve continued to ask that question as part of my personal worship: “Which of Jesus’s names should I take upon myself this week?” Answering that question and striving to develop the related Christlike attributes has blessed my life.

May 1899
While seeking wisdom in prayer on how to solve the Church’s financial problems, President Snow received a revelation emphasizing the law of tithing.

In 2012, in an effort to decrease the rate of childhood deaths in developing countries, LDS volunteers in Ghana sent 1.5 million text messages to their fellow Ghanaians, notifying them of an immunization drive sponsored by a Church partner.

A young boy learns about the joy of service as he helps at the bishops’ storehouse with his mother.

The schoolroom in the basement of the converted church looked large and bare, even though a long table and some chairs were set up in the center. The pale green walls were lit by fluorescent lights the length of the ceiling, and a noisy radiator hissed in the corner. The room was not cold, but as I shivered in worry and tension I felt as though I were still outside in the snow.
The situation was not in itself frightening: I was to teach a group of refugees who had been driven from their homes on the other side of the world, and who could not yet speak the language of their new country.
I was not frightened of them. They were the kindest and most willing of students. But they needed so much. They had suffered the terrors of war. They had been driven out of their familiar patterns of life into a world almost completely alien to them. My experiences in the world seemed so small compared to theirs. I was afraid I would not be able to help them.
I now realize that I cannot change many things about the situation of my students. I cannot change the war that drove them from their homes. I cannot change the fact that they will now have to spend many years rebuilding their lives and overcoming emotional scars. I cannot give them everything they need to be happy and comfortable in their new country.
These ideas seem simple, but they were difficult for me to accept. I wanted to believe that I could make these people happier. And I could, as I later realized—but not by solving their problems for them.
My first insight into how I could best serve came as I thought about how the Lord helps me. Sometimes he gives me direction when I ask. But much more often, he blesses me with a sense of his love. He assures me again and again that he loves me and accepts me as I am. Despite my imperfections, I know he has a vision of my potential that is far above my own, and that he will help me reach it.
This feeling of God’s love for me has been the greatest blessing of my life. But as I thought about my own service, I found that giving this kind of love was far down on my list of ways I could help others. I had focused on solving others’ problems, rather than on loving them unconditionally.
As I began to think of my refugee students as people to love, rather than as people to help, my anxiety over them left me. I found new energy and joy in their service. What is more, it quickly became evident that I was doing more good than I had done before. My students developed confidence in me and began asking my help in doing things they could not do for themselves. These opportunities would not have come if they had not first learned that I loved them.

Illustrations by Maine Diaz
Josh showed Calvin his car. It was really cool! When Josh left the table, Calvin put the car in his pocket. Josh came back and frowned. “Where’s my car?” Calvin was quiet. The car felt heavy in Calvin’s pocket. At recess, Calvin didn’t feel like playing. He felt bad for taking the car. Calvin gave the car to Josh. “I’m sorry I took it,” Calvin said. Josh smiled. “That’s OK. Do you want to come to my house and play cars?” Calvin smiled. “Sure!”
Josh and Calvin are having fun playing with their cars. Can you find 10 more cars in Josh’s room?

I wanted to share the light the gospel brought to my life, so exactly one year from the date of my baptism, I sent in my application to serve a full-time mission. Hoping that my father’s heart had softened, I told him about my decision. His reaction was unexpectedly angry. I sat quietly in my room all night, and after work the next day, I was too scared to come home. I was still working when my father came into my workplace. After a long silence he finally asked, “Do you really want to leave all of these things—your home, your friends, your education, your work—only to go someplace you don’t even know?” I said, “Yes.” After that, we did not talk until the day I left for my mission. That day came 10 short days after I received my call to serve in the Utah Salt Lake City Temple Square Mission.

Beehives from the Vacaville Third Ward, Vacaville California Stake, decided to do something about the environment in their area, and started their own ward recycling program, calling it “BEE-A-RECYCLER.”
The Beehives sent a sign-up sheet around the ward for those who wanted to participate, and twice a month the girls went to those homes, picking up the plastic, newspapers, glass, and aluminum that were set out for them. They then placed thank-you notes on each door. Everyone who participated felt they were making a real contribution toward helping the environment.

He had an interesting band that performed on different occasions, and on March 6 he and his friends went serenading:
“We, numbering five, consisting of guitars, mandolins, banjo and a harmonica, which I played and also led the string band with. We had a glorious time being invited in a number of places to partake of molasses candy, popcorn, and refreshments of all kinds and descriptions.”

While he was attending a religious boarding school in Nigeria, Elder I. Raymond Egbo’s older sister kept inviting him to “come and see” what The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints had to offer. At 14 years old, he started going to seminary in the evenings.
While reading the seminary course of study, Elder Egbo came to Doctrine and Covenants 135 and the martyrdom of Joseph Smith.
“Something powerfully touched me, and I knew that the Prophet Joseph Smith was a prophet of God. I knew he was killed for the truth,” said Elder Egbo, who soon joined the Church. “I still feel right now how I felt that day when I read it.”

Jogging not only works wonders on the physical self but can be a great aid to the mental self also. The film tells a story of a New York journalist who, after a number of heart attacks and other personal problems, decided to kill himself. He went out and began running and thought that he would be dead in just a short time and that nobody would really know he had committed suicide. He ran and ran to the point of exhaustion, but he was unsuccessful at doing himself in. He tried again and again but to no avail. The only thing he seemed to be accomplishing was that he could run faster and farther each day. After doing this for a few days, his spirits so improved that he decided to go on living—and running.
This man was probably very lucky that he did not kill himself. Before a person begins a jogging program, he should have a complete physical examination. A person should begin slowly at first, working up to the program of good vigorous exercise that will be best for him.

My sister is a busy teenager, and we used to have so much fun. I find if I keep asking her nicely, she will find time for me.
Benjamin N., age 9, Colorado, USA

Church members in London celebrated the anniversary by helping clean up Tottenham, a city that experienced the August 2011 riots. In a regional park, volunteers weeded, built flower beds, and cleared litter.
Members also served at a children’s hospice, where they cleaned garden pathways and made the hospice grounds more accommodating to the children and their families. Charlotte Illera helped coordinate the project. “It was really hard work, but it was really sort of joyful work as well,” she said. “Even a little thing like sweeping up can be such a benefit. You don’t need to have any great skills. Just little things can make a difference to other people.”
Rudi Champagnie shared his view on the inspiration behind the First Presidency’s invitation to serve: “I think this revelation was to bring us closer together—to bring us out in the community, to meet new people.” He continued, “To see the Church getting involved in the community is a wonderful thing. To be a part of it is even more special. It has strengthened my testimony, and it has given me the desire to do more.”

Close isn’t good enough—especially in horseshoes—for Kelly Jean O’Brien.
Kelly is the new junior girls Horseshoes Pitching World Champion. The Mia Maid president from Spokane, Washington, won her title in LaFayette, Indiana, by defeating seven other girls in the final competition.
Kelly won her state title twice, at ages 12 and 13. She took third place in the world competition in Eureka, California, two years ago. This year, at 15, she worked her way up through all the intermediate contests and qualified for the world pitching at LaFayette. To win she had to pitch against each of the other finalists once. She plans to defend her title this year in the junior girls’ division at Bristol, Pennsylvania, and then compete in the women’s world title bracket in 1977.
Kelly started pitching horseshoes when she was 11 years old after watching a neighbor pitching in his backyard. Kelly is a self-taught student of the game and practices every day during the summer. Now she plays three or four matches a week in club competition.
A convert to the Church of two years, Kelly throws 60 percent ringers, often pitching five or six in a row. Her best string is 16 straight.

It was a sweaty Sunday afternoon, and the chapel was stifling. My wife was wrestling with the kids to keep them reverent, and I was wrestling with my eyelids to keep them open. We were both losing.
The speaker didn’t help me any in my fight against sacrament meeting slumber. He was a typical youth speaker, and he followed the pattern of most youth speakers in our ward—he read to us from the book Especially for Mormons.
As he droned on, my wife and I both surrendered: she took the kids out to the foyer, and I decided to grab some shut-eye. I assumed sacrament sleep position number one: weight forward, elbows on knees, head down, face in hands, and soon I was dozing comfortably.
Maybe I was too comfortable or maybe somebody poked me awake—it’s happened before. At any rate, my head slipped out of my hands and “thwap!” my forehead cracked the bench in front of me.
I don’t normally have such headaches in sacrament meeting, but a dull speaker and a stuffy chapel almost always make me drowsy.

When 21-year-old Gisela Silva moved with her family from Mendoza, Argentina, to the nation’s southernmost city of Ushuaia, she wondered whether she’d left behind her chances of marrying in the temple. Mendoza, after all, has a stake filled with wards of Latter-day Saints, while isolated Ushuaia—located on the island of Tierra del Fuego—has only about 600 members attending three small branches.
“My parents had married in the temple, and I wanted this blessing for myself—to marry a faithful member of the Church, someone with whom I could form an eternal family,” she recalls. “But when I arrived in Ushuaia, there were so few young adults here that I wondered whether that would happen.”
Lucas Romano had the same concerns as Gisela. During his mission to Uruguay, his family had moved to Ushuaia. When he joined them after completing his mission, he quickly noticed that young single adult men outnumbered young single adult women. He was determined, nevertheless, to obey the counsel of local leaders to date only members of the Church.
That counsel became easier to follow after Lucas met Gisela at church and she enrolled in English classes at a school where he teaches. He began walking her home after class, and they soon began dating. As they prayed individually about their growing relationship, they say that confirmation came “line upon line, precept upon precept” (2 Nephi 28:30; D&C 98:12).
In April 2005, Lucas and Gisela married civilly, as required by Argentine law, and then were sealed in the Buenos Aires Argentina Temple. Their sealing was significant for the young Church membership in Ushuaia: it was the first of 17 temple marriages in less than four years.

The Granja Viana Ward in the São Paulo Brazil Cotia Stake had a high activity rate among its young men. But their leaders noticed that some of them were facing personal challenges and having difficulty fulfilling their priesthood duties.
After the bishopric and Young Men leaders counseled together, they decided to focus more of their activities on service and not as many on entertainment or amusement. This included visiting less-active quorum members, participating in proselyting with the full-time missionaries, and administering the sacrament to homebound ward members. These activities gave the young men an opportunity to act on the principles they were learning in seminary and on Sundays (see 2 Nephi 2:26).
Over time, “these spiritual activities made all the difference,” reports one priesthood leader.
“We were amazed when on a particular fast Sunday, all of our young men bore their testimonies,” he says. “As they did so, many of them recalled in tears the good spirit they had felt on those occasions. One young man shared the experience of administering the sacrament to an older member of our ward who has been bedridden for three years. His wife, a faithful sister, received our young men with joy and hope. After the ordinance, she shared with them the happiness she feels in her life because of the gospel despite the huge problems and challenges she faces. They felt the Spirit and realized the difference the gospel makes in people’s lives. This experience was so powerful that they will recall it for years to come—perhaps for their entire lives.”
He notes that he had never seen that kind of response from any “football game or funny Mutual night.” Rather, he says, the experience taught him the importance of promoting the kinds of experiences in which youth can feel the Spirit.
“Social activities are important,” he continues. “But spiritual experiences are critical in helping youth build their own testimonies.”

Sister Arrington recalls, “We ended up staying late because people still wanted to put in names. Our last participant was a nonmember. We watched as he added 15 names from his own family. He was so happy to receive his own family tree picture!”

From Ed Kamauoha and Faleoo Itopi and other leaders like them, the young people of Sauniatu learned that despite being poor and often scorned by other men, they are important to the Lord, and he will help them be “Number 1.” Wherever they have gone as they have left Sauniatu, they have established the reputation of working hard and being the best.
Most of the young men who worked on Sauniatu went on missions. Elder Pouono Lameko is now serving a mission in Western Samoa. He spent three years at Sauniatu. He worked on the farm and the waterfall besides going to school. When he talks about his experiences at Sauniatu, his eyes shine and his face looks happy.
“I expanded at Sauniatu,” he said. “Brother Kamauoha encouraged me in school so that I improved and graduated from high school. He was my teacher—now he is my friend.”