Gospel Story Finder

Yanina Rastelli and Marianela Salgado live in Godoy Cruz, Argentina. They are both nine years old, and they have been friends for a long time. But they are even better friends now than they were a year and a half ago. Something very important happened in the spring of 1997.
Marianela had come to play with Yanina and her 11-year-old sister, Ornela. Marianela often comes to the Rastelli home, but on this day, when the three girls were talking in the kitchen, Marianela started asking some questions—about the Church, about the Book of Mormon, and about baptism. Marianela had known for a long time that Yanina and Ornela were members of the Church, but this was the first time she had ever asked them about it.
Yanina and her sister answered Marianela’s questions as best they could and were really surprised when she asked if she could have a Book of Mormon to read. “I got my Book of Mormon and offered to let her borrow it,” Yanina remembers. “I thought she would take it home to read later, but when Ornela and I went outside to play, Marianela didn’t want to come. She wanted to sit down and begin reading the book right then.”
For two weeks Marianela went to church with Yanina; then she told Yanina she wanted to be baptized. “I didn’t know what to say,” Yanina recalls, “so I asked my mother what I should do.” Yanina’s mother’s advice was that Marianela should talk to her mother. Yanina and Ornela went home with their friend and helped Marianela tell her mother about the Church. Marianela also told her mother that she wanted to be baptized.
Soon after this, the missionaries happened to visit Marianela’s home. They didn’t know anything about her or her wish to join the Church. When they were getting ready to leave after their visit, Marianela’s mother said, “You know, my daughter wants to be baptized in your church.” This was a very big surprise to the elders—they were happy to learn about Marianela, who already knew about the Church and was waiting to be baptized.
The missionaries began teaching the family about the Church, and eventually Marianela’s mother and her brother, Diego, age 10, both decided to be baptized, too. Marianela’s mother asked Yanina to bear her testimony at the baptism because Yanina had helped the Salgado family learn about the Church. “When I got up to bear my testimony, I started to cry,” Yanina remembers, “but I was very happy—I think everyone in the room could feel the Spirit there. I am so glad that Marianela, Diego, and their mother are now members of the Church!”

Last month the Salt Lake City newspapers carried an obituary notice for Fred Sudbury. It indicated that he was survived by his wife, Pearl, and a son, Craig; that he was a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints; and that his marriage had been solemnized in the Salt Lake Temple. What the obituary notice could not adequately convey was the inspiring human drama which preceded Fred’s passing.
Some years ago, Craig Sudbury and his mother came to my office prior to Craig’s departure for the Australia Melbourne Mission. Fred Sudbury, Craig’s father, was noticeably absent. Twenty-five years earlier, Craig’s mother had married Fred, who did not share her love for the Church and, indeed, was not a member.
Craig confided to me his deep and abiding love for his parents and his hope that somehow, in some way, his father would be touched by the Spirit and open his heart to the gospel of Jesus Christ. I prayed for inspiration concerning how such a desire might be fulfilled. Such inspiration came, and I said to Craig, “Serve the Lord with all your heart. Be obedient to your sacred calling. Each week write a letter to your parents; and on occasion, write to Dad personally and let him know that you love him, and tell him why you’re grateful to be his son.” He thanked me and, with his mother, departed from the office.
I was not to see Craig’s mother for over eighteen months. She came to the office and, in sentences punctuated by tears, said to me, “It has been almost two years since Craig departed for his mission. He has never failed in writing a letter to us each week. Recently, my husband, Fred, stood for the first time in a testimony meeting and said, ‘All of you know that I am not a member of the Church, but something has happened to me since Craig left for his mission. His letters have touched my soul. May I share one with you?
“‘“Dear Dad,
“‘“Today we taught a choice family about the plan of salvation and blessings of exaltation in the celestial kingdom. For me it just wouldn’t be a celestial kingdom if you were not there. I’m grateful to be your son, Dad, and want you to know that I love you.
“‘“Your missionary son,
“‘“Craig”
“‘After twenty-six years of marriage, I have made my decision to become a member of the Church, for I know the gospel message is the word of God. My son’s mission has moved me to action. I have made arrangements for my wife and me to meet Craig when he completes his mission. I will be his final baptism as a full-time missionary of the Lord.’” He heard the message, he saw the light, he embraced the truth.
A young missionary with unwavering faith had participated with God in a modern-day miracle. His challenge to communicate with one whom he loved had been made more difficult by the barrier of the thousands of miles that lay between him and home. But the spirit of love spanned the vast expanse of the blue Pacific, and heart spoke to heart in divine dialogue.
No missionary stood so tall as did Craig Sudbury when, in far-off Australia, he helped his father into water waist-deep and, raising his right arm to the square, repeated those sacred words: “Fred Sudbury, having been commissioned of Jesus Christ, I baptize you in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost” (see D&C 20:73).
The prayer of a mother, the faith of a father, the service of a son brought forth the miracle of God.

It was my turn to stop someone and talk to them about the Church. I had been in Germany only two days and I was already terrified of the people and my calling as a missionary.
I frantically searched the street for someone I thought might react positively. I wondered how I was ever going to do this for the next 18 months.
I didn’t want my companion to know how scared I was, so I held my breath and walked up to a woman in her early 40s. But instead of asking her the questions I had intended to, I turned from her and ran. The anticipation was more than I could handle—I had to escape.
When I was finally able to collect my thoughts, the embarrassment swelled inside of me and I desperately wanted to hide. My fear had been exposed, and it was preventing me from being a good missionary.
Unfortunately, as the days went by, my fear did not subside, and I began to worry I would never be a happy, brave, and successful missionary. My fear became the main topic of all my private prayers.
Nothing seemed to help until I had been in the mission field about two weeks. It was a chilly spring morning and my companion was making breakfast. I was sitting on the floor looking up scriptures on missionary work and reading them out loud.
“Doctrine and Covenants 84:88,” I said. “And whoso receiveth you, there I will be also.” [D&C 84:88] My voice broke. My mind raced as I realized the support I had as a missionary.
I started again, “And whoso receiveth you, there I will be also, for I will go before your face. I will be on your right hand and on your left, and my Spirit shall be in your hearts, and mine angels round about you, to bear you up.”
I had no reason to be afraid of teaching people about the gospel. Heavenly Father was on my right hand and on my left, and his angels were around me to make me strong. From that morning on, whenever a wave of fear came over me, I just imagined those angels all around my investigator, my companion, and me. There was no way I could lose with that kind of support.

How cheaply some men and women sell their good names! I recall the widely publicized case of a prominent public figure who was arrested for taking an item costing less than five dollars. I do not know whether he was ever convicted in the courts, but his petty misdeed convicted him before the people. In a measure, his foolish act nullified much of the good he had done and was capable of yet doing.

The first lesson was learned when we were newly married and had very little money. I was in the air force, and we had missed Christmas together. I was on assignment overseas. When I got home, I saw a beautiful dress in a store window and suggested to my wife that if she liked it, we would buy it. Mary went into the dressing room of the store. After a moment the salesclerk came out, brushed by me, and returned the dress to its place in the store window. As we left the store, I asked, “What happened?” She replied, “It was a beautiful dress, but we can’t afford it!” Those words went straight to my heart. I have learned that the three most loving words are “I love you,” and the four most caring words for those we love are “We can’t afford it.”

I lived in California, USA, with my family growing up. In the summer we harvested grapes at a vineyard. We had a big family, and we all worked together. I was young, but my father taught me to work hard.
We cut bunches of grapes off the vine. Then we piled the grapes on a metal tray. When the tray was full, we took it to my father. He spread the grapes out to dry into raisins in the hot sun. The owner of the vineyard paid my father for the raisins we made.
Each time we took grapes to my father, he told us, “Go forward and harvest on.”
So we went to the next vine to harvest the next bunch of grapes. We did this again and again. We focused on the next vine and the work ahead of us. We didn’t let ourselves get distracted by what was behind us.
Every week my father paid my siblings and me for our work. He taught us to take out 10 percent for tithing. We saved the rest. When we had enough, we each bought a wooden airplane or our favorite candy. We spent Saturday afternoons playing in the park with our airplanes and eating our candy.
My father’s saying to “go forward and harvest on” has become a tradition in my family. It teaches us the value of hard work. It is important for us to “go forward and harvest on” in all we do. When we work hard and follow what God asks us to do, we can find joy in life.

This Saturday morning, youth from the Richmond Ward are spread out in five different locations around the city. The first stop is a small house in the middle of Richmond. Fourteen-year-old Zack Harton and his friend Will Jones are stationed here, raking leaves, pulling weeds, and having fun.
Zack doesn’t personally know the family his group is helping, but he does know that this family is investigating the Church. Therefore, he knows that he’s also setting an example. “It makes me feel good, because I’m helping someone in need—just as I would help my own brother and sister if they needed help,” Zack says.
His friend Will is also investigating the Church and is glad that Zack invited him to come along today. Will has already caught on to the wonderful feeling that comes from service. “I feel that I have an obligation toward other people,” Will says. “I started coming with Zack to Scouts and never knew it was going to get into this. But I just think it’s wonderful that somebody would care enough to do this. While we were working in the yard, everyone would just help one another. You didn’t even have to ask. I could just feel God around me.”

In 1991 we moved into a small branch. Several months before our youngest son’s eighth birthday, my wife, the Primary president, asked him who he wanted to perform his baptism. Of course he wanted his father to perform the ordinance. My wife told him that probably was not going to happen. He did not accept that answer and set about the task of activating his father. He was quite relentless, and in short order I found myself serving as the Scoutmaster, and I later baptized and confirmed my son.

As a boy, I learned a great lesson of faith and sacrifice as I worked on my grandfather’s farm during the terrible economic depression of the 1930s. The taxes on the farm were unpaid, and Grandfather, like so many, had no money. There was a drought in the land, and some cows and horses were dying for lack of grass and hay.
One day when we were harvesting what little hay there was in the field, Grandfather told us to take the wagon to the corner of the field where the best hay was, fill the wagon as full as we could, and take it to the tithing yard as payment of his tithing.
I wondered how Grandfather could use the hay to pay tithing when some of the cows that we were depending upon to sustain us might starve. I even questioned if the Lord expected that much sacrifice. Ultimately I marveled at his great faith that somehow the Lord would provide. The legacy of faith he passed on to his posterity was far greater than money, because he established in the minds of his children and grandchildren that he loved the Lord and His holy work more than earthly things. Grandfather never became wealthy, but he died at peace with the Lord and with himself.

In early July 1829, with manuscript in hand, Joseph knew the Lord wanted him to publish the Book of Mormon and spread its message far and wide. But the publishing business was unfamiliar to him and his family. He had to keep the manuscript safe, find a printer, and somehow get the book in the hands of people willing to consider the possibility of new scripture.
Publishing a book as long as the Book of Mormon would also not be cheap. Joseph’s finances had not improved since he started the translation, and all the money he made went toward providing for his family. The same was true for his parents, who were still poor farmers working land they did not own. Joseph’s only friend who could finance the project was Martin Harris.
Joseph set to work quickly. Before he completed the translation, he had filed for the book’s copyright to protect the text from anyone who might steal or plagiarize it.1 With Martin’s assistance, Joseph also started looking for a printer who would agree to publish the book.
They went first to Egbert Grandin, a printer in Palmyra who was the same age as Joseph. Grandin declined the proposal at once, believing the book was a fraud. Undeterred, Joseph and Martin kept searching and found a willing printer in a nearby city. But before accepting his offer, they returned to Palmyra and asked Grandin once more if he wanted to publish the book.2
This time, Grandin seemed more willing to take the project, but he wanted to be paid $3,000 to print and bind 5,000 copies before he even started work. Martin had already promised to help pay for the printing, but to come up with that kind of money, he realized he might need to mortgage his farm. It was an enormous burden for Martin, but he knew none of Joseph’s other friends could help him with the money.
Troubled, Martin began to question the wisdom of financing the Book of Mormon. He had one of the best farms in the area. If he mortgaged his land, he risked losing it. Wealth he had spent a lifetime accruing could be gone in an instant if the Book of Mormon did not sell well.
Martin told Joseph his concerns and asked him to seek a revelation for him. In response, the Savior spoke of His sacrifice to do His Father’s will, regardless of the cost. He described His ultimate suffering while paying the price for sin so that all might repent and be forgiven. He then commanded Martin to sacrifice his own interests to bring about God’s plan.
“Thou shalt not covet thine own property,” the Lord said, “but impart it freely to the printing of the Book of Mormon.” The book contained the true word of God, the Lord assured Martin, and it would help others believe the gospel.3
Although his neighbors would not understand his decision, Martin obeyed the Lord and mortgaged his farm to guarantee payment.4
Grandin signed a contract and began to organize the massive project.5 Joseph had translated the text of the Book of Mormon in three months, assisted by one scribe at a time. It would take Grandin and a dozen men seven months to print and bind the first copies of the 590-page work.6
With a publisher hired, Joseph returned to Harmony in October 1829 to work his farm and be with Emma. Oliver, Martin, and Hyrum, meanwhile, would oversee the printing and send Joseph regular updates on Grandin’s progress.7

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.”

Toward the end of 2003, the initiative for centers for young adults began with four centers opening in Copenhagen, Denmark; and Berlin, Hamburg, and Leipzig, Germany. Elder L. Tom Perry of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles further encouraged the growth of the initiative when President Gordon B. Hinckley (1910–2008) called him to preside over the Europe Central Area in 2004.
According to Erik Psota, the current associate area director of seminaries and institutes in Europe, many of today’s priesthood leaders in Europe were under the age of 30 at that time.
“The spiritual impression that came to Elder Perry that the growth of the Church in Europe will come through the 18- to 30-year-olds has had a deep impact on young adults and priesthood leaders at all levels in Europe,” said Brother Psota. Elder Perry’s impression is still relevant to young adults today, he continued, “because it helps them understand their responsibility for the growth of the Church.”

Roberto Vargas was not active in the Church when he moved his family to the northern port city of Antofagasta in 1989. But the warmth of the welcome Roberto, his wife, Erica, and their three sons received from Latter-day Saints was exceeded only by the heat of Chile’s Atacama Desert, the world’s most arid desert.
In Antofagasta, which is sandwiched between the desert sand and the sea, precipitation is little more than a rumor. For the Vargas family, however, the area is beautiful. “Here is where we have progressed most as a family,” says Sister Vargas.
The friendly reception and ward efforts to activate Brother Vargas, a civil engineer for a nearby copper mine, prompted him to have “a long-overdue interview” with his bishop. A calling to the elders quorum presidency soon followed. Today, three years after being called as bishop of the Gran Vía Ward, Bishop Vargas welcomes the opportunity to help others progress spiritually.
“If we have an earthquake, the chapel fills up. If a tsunami warning is issued, everyone returns,” he says. “But I tell people not to wait for a disaster before they straighten out their lives. My family has been blessed here, and I know it is because we are keeping the commandments.”

He recounted an experience where he used his flying skills to help a grieving member attend a family member’s burial on one of the outer islands by adjusting the flight routing to accommodate her. “Her family was relieved and overjoyed to see her stepping down from the aircraft.”

I love reading the Friend! I’m excited every time it comes in the mail. I like reading Matt and Mandy, and the stories make me happy.
My family was discussing how we could help my little sister be kinder. There was a lot of contention, and we wanted the Spirit in our home. I read an article called “Firecracker Charlie” (March 2013). It taught me that for her to be nice to us, we needed to be super kind to her. I’m grateful I can feel the Spirit while reading the Friend.

One Sunday evening after a fireside, my four-year-old son’s Primary teacher came to me and asked, “Did I tell you what Brandon did a few Sundays ago?” Almost apologetically, I responded that I hoped he had not caused a problem. Sister Brown smiled, then described the experience to me.
A lovely little girl in Brandon’s class did not have complete hair growth on her head due to a serious burn she had received as a baby. Through the years, because of her disfigurement, this little girl had suffered considerable thoughtlessness and cruelty from other children. Consequently, she was bashful and had a difficult time attending her Primary class alone. But this particular Sunday she had finally mustered enough courage to come. She sat next to Brandon.
As she sat down, Brandon reached over and gently placed his hand on Carmen’s face. He held her cheek for a moment, exchanging an understanding smile with her. Sister Brown related that it was one of the most touching moments she had ever experienced—that one child could be so sympathetic to another’s need to be loved and accepted.
When I returned home that evening, I gathered my son in my arms. “Sister Brown told me about the time you were so kind to Carmen and put your hand on her cheek to help her feel better,” I said. Brandon smiled shyly. “Oh, I remember that time,” he said quietly.
“It makes me especially proud of you when you are kind to others. Carmen is a pretty girl, and very special to our Heavenly Father.”
“I know. But why don’t the other kids think that?” His look told me that he really did not understand.
“They don’t think that because her head looks different.”
Brandon turned to me and said, “But mom, I didn’t see her head.”
The very essence of the gospel is contained in his statement. How great are the lessons little ones teach!

Looking forward to the promised joy can help us get through the challenges. Despite all the challenges Joseph had to face, he received many blessings and experienced true joy throughout his work to bring forth the Book of Mormon. After the Book of Mormon was published, the Church was organized and Joseph’s parents were baptized. On that day, Joseph went to the woods alone and began to weep with happiness. If we continue through our trials with our heads held high, putting our total trust in God, we will also be able to find joy and peace.

Not too long ago, he and his brothers sang with the Primary children of the Oslo Second Ward in a sacrament meeting. They sang, “I have a fam’ly here on earth. They are so good to me. I want to share my life with them through all eternity.”* These words seem to describe the way Henrik feels about his family. He is very happy that he has a father, a mother, and brothers who work together, play together, and worship together. He is happy they are following Heavenly Father’s plan to become an eternal family.

Robyn Clonts was recently named Outstanding Teenager of the state of Arizona. Robyn is a member of the Clifton Morenci Ward in the Safford Arizona Stake.
Winner of the “Betty Crocker Homemaker of Tomorrow” award, Robyn was also active in seminary and president of the high school honor society and the Student Action for Education group. She serves as pianist in her ward Junior Sunday School.
Robyn handled all her activities while working to save money for college and finished her senior year as class valedictorian.
Robyn, 18, plans to attend BYU this fall.

I’m a farm boy. My family raised cotton, alfalfa, and grains. As a boy I learned that growing cotton requires a certain type of weather. When the weather is too wet and cool, cotton plants grow very fast and spend all their energy growing branches and leaves. But if the weather is hot and the cotton plant has just enough moisture, the cotton balls will grow.
One year when I was a teenager, it had been quite a cool spring with lots of rain. Dad could see that the cotton plants were growing very fast and that he would have a problem meeting his financial obligations if the weather continued in the same pattern. He went to the bank and borrowed some money. Then he took me with him to our bishop’s office and prepaid his tithing for that year, even though it looked like the crop might not be very good. Immediately after he paid his tithing, the weather changed and got very hot. We had a large crop, and Dad met all his financial obligations. Needless to say, I was born of goodly parents who taught me to live the gospel by example.