Gospel Story Finder

Sister Franco, Second Counselor in the Primary General Presidency, talked about one of her favorite Primary teachers when she was growing up. Back then, Primary was held on Tuesday afternoon. Every week, her teacher made the class a chocolate cake! Years later, Sister Franco found out that her teacher walked instead of riding the bus so that she could save enough money to make those cakes. She was unselfish and loved her class.

Two years later the Prophet came out of Liberty Jail and planned a winter trip to Washington D.C. to seek federal help for the Latter-day Saints who had lost their homes and property in Missouri. Not far from the nation’s capital, the horses pulling the stagecoach ran out of control of the driver for about four kilometers. Joseph carefully opened the door of the swaying stagecoach, pulled himself up over the side to the driver’s seat, where he got control of the reins and stopped the horses, saving the lives of the passengers. This event was confirmed by a letter of appreciation that appeared in a local newspaper.

Include youth in planning. One Young Women president identified a key to organizing youth activities that invite increased participation and foster unity: “Our activities have been much more successful since we encouraged the youth to take a more active part in planning and organizing them. They came up with great ideas like doing a service project at a local elementary school and having a progressive dinner. Because the ideas were their own, they really cared about their success.” When offered opportunities to help, many young people discover that preparing for a youth conference, dance, or activity can be just as fun as attending one.

Later, while he was a university student, his sister encouraged him to serve a mission. Their father was angry with him for leaving his studies, but Elder Egbo regularly wrote him letters describing everything he was doing and what he was teaching.
To Elder Egbo’s amazement, near the end of his mission, his mission president read to him a letter from his father that said he had been baptized. “Tell him I will be waiting for him,” his father wrote.

Anyway, the first day of school Mrs. Dawson was a little disorganized and kept us a couple of minutes late in drama class. I grabbed my books and ran as soon as she let us out.

I raced into chemistry just as the bell rang, which earned me a dirty look from The Embalmer, but he didn’t say anything. He had just started to tell us about how often we would have labs when the door opened and in came Danny.

Mr. Palmer’s eyebrows knitted themselves together in the middle and he said, “Well, if it isn’t the ten o’clock scholar. You’ll have to do better than that if you want to pass this class.” And then he sort of laughed, like it was a big joke, but I didn’t see anything very funny about it. You could tell Danny didn’t either. He limped over to an empty desk and sat with his head down all through class.

We talked about it at lunch, and we couldn’t figure out how come the school board would let a guy with no more feelings than that teach school. Joe Nelson said that his dad said that the school board are a bunch of bozos, so we figured that must explain it.

“Pornography brings a vicious wake of immorality, broken homes, and broken lives. Pornography will sap spiritual strength to endure. Pornography is much like quicksand. You can become so easily trapped and overcome as soon as you step into it that you do not realize the severe danger. Most likely you will need assistance to get out of the quicksand of pornography. But how much better it is never to step into it.”Elder Joseph B. Wirthlin of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, “Press On,” Ensign, Nov. 2004, 103.

I’ve also learned that the more good you do, the closer the Holy Spirit is to you. I often help people on the street if they are carrying lots of things. Recently, I saw this woman carrying some items on her head. I didn’t know the woman or anything about her, but I walked up to her and asked if I could help. She accepted, so I took some of the things she was carrying.
When we got to her house, I found out that she is a baker. At that time, I was not working, and I needed a way to save up some extra money. She didn’t know that I needed work. Out of the blue, she told me that she wanted someone to help her bake bread in exchange for pay. She offered me specific times that fit perfectly in my busy schedule. I don’t think it was a coincidence but a blessing from God for helping others. To me, this was Heavenly Father saying, “My boy, I see the good that you’ve been doing!”

But by the next year the young apostle’s loyalty was tested. He told the Saints in 1857, “Once in my life I felt a want of confidence in brother Joseph Smith. … It was not concerning religious matters … but it was in relation to his financiering.”11 As part of the great national “Panic of 1837,” the Kirtland Anti-banking Society—in which many of the Church members had invested—failed, and Joseph was blamed. Many apostatized, and others wavered for a time; in fact, Joseph was later to lament that among the original Twelve, only Heber C. Kimball and Brigham Young did not ever “lift their heel against me.”12 The reason Brigham Young remained true, he later testified, was that after his momentary doubt, he immediately recognized his mistake:
“A feeling came over me that Joseph was not right in his financial management, though I presume the feeling did not last 60 seconds, and perhaps not 30. It gave me sorrow of heart. … I repented of my unbelief, and that too, very suddenly, I repented about as quickly as I committed the error.”13
As President Young later recorded: “During this siege of darkness, I stood close by Joseph, and with all the wisdom and power God bestowed upon me, put forth my utmost energies to sustain the servant of God and unite the Quorums of the Church.”14 At one time he offered to “cow-hide” a man who came into Kirtland and shouted through the streets in the middle of the night that Joseph had been “cut off” and he was to take the Prophet’s place. Once he learned of a plan to ambush and kill the Prophet who was returning from Michigan in a stagecoach, and he saved Joseph’s life by riding out to get him off the stage, substituting William Smith as a decoy while they escaped. At the height of the crisis, his vigorous defense of the Prophet succeeded in thwarting attempts to depose Joseph as President. In fact, because of this, Elder Young had to flee the city for his life in December even before the Prophet had to leave. Later he commented concerning this time, “When I saw a man stand in the path before the Prophet to dictate him, I felt like hurling him out of the way and branding him as a fool.”15

Many people love to visit Temple Square at Christmastime. Liza, age 11, and Hiram, age 10, are cousins from Kaysville, Utah, who came to see the beautiful lights and sights on Temple Square.
It can be hard to decide what to look at first. Everywhere trees are covered with tiny twinkling lights in pink, yellow, blue, and green. Above it all, the Salt Lake Temple glows in brilliant white, with the gold figure of Moroni shining at the top.
Liza and Hiram enjoyed looking at some child-sized nativity sets made especially for children who came to the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City.
Artists from several countries created the sets to welcome children from all over the world and help them think about the Savior. Those sets are still displayed at Christmastime on Temple Square. There are sets from Japan, Mexico, New Zealand, and Poland. If you look closely, you can see some unusual gifts for the baby Jesus!

It can be challenging when your standards are not valued or understood. “I struggle too,” says Kathryn. “Who doesn’t? For instance, the no-steady-dating rule. It’s hard. People don’t get it. People make fun of you sometimes. And sometimes they say things that are supposed to shake your faith, but you have to stay strong even though you struggle.”

For example, when Kathryn’s basketball team competes in a tournament camp that lasts through Sunday, her parents pick her up on Saturday night. “You have to deal with your teammates’ rolling their eyes and stuff when you explain our beliefs,” she says.

Living the Young Women Values has helped Joanne Larsen of the Calgary Alberta 12th Ward introduce the Church to a friend. In Young Women meeting they talked about giving a copy of the Book of Mormon to a friend. This class goal got Joanne interested, and she gave a copy to her friend. She also invited her friend to girls’ camp and to ward activities. Now the friend is taking the discussions from missionaries in Joanne’s home.

My family and I made the “Gratitude Tree” from the November 2013 Friend. My dad got brown bags for the trunk and the branches. My brother Mickey and I made the leaves while Dad made the trunk and branches. I liked writing down what I’m thankful for on the leaves.

Second, family history builds bridges to activity in the Church. Family history work solidifies converts and strengthens all members of the Church. Family history research and the preparation of names for the temple can be most valuable in the retention of new members. Faith and confidence grow as family members are included in the saving ordinances of the gospel. During a recent stake conference, I met John and Carmen Day, who were recently baptized. They told me that they had already prepared family names and were planning to enter the temple as soon as they could. Is retention a question here? A new member of the Church can be introduced to family history and temple work very quickly by missionaries, friends, neighbors, and priesthood and auxiliary leaders. Participation in temple ordinances is, after all, at the center of our gospel experience. No official call is required to participate in family history and the accompanying gospel ordinances.

David and Juliana M., ages 4 and 6, South Holland, Netherlands, fill 15 bowls with snacks and put a picture of an Apostle or member of the First Presidency on each one. When one of the Brethren speaks, they eat what is in that cup!

How did you come into the Church? Was it a chance discovery or a final stopping point after a period of soul searching?
My road to the Church was a long one. For a long time I had been searching for peace for my soul. I became interested in yoga and practiced it. I did find some peace of mind. But later my anxiety renewed, and I felt a desire to join a church. I began to have the same question as did Joseph Smith. Which church? I tried many different churches but felt no particular sympathies toward any of them. I didn’t know then about the existence of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. In the depths of my soul I heard an answer, “You must visit a church with representatives from America.” I was very surprised by this; nevertheless, I felt reassured. In the spring I bought a ticket to a concert by the Young Ambassadors from Brigham Young University. After the concert I met missionaries who invited me to church. Elder Wood taught me the six discussions. From the very start of the discussions, I felt that this was the very church for which I had been searching.
I am grateful to the Lord that he led me to his church. I was baptized and received the gift of the Holy Ghost. My life greatly changed. I have gained joy, happiness, and peace. I have found the very life for which I was searching.

When I read “When Should I Tell?” (March 2015), I noticed one of my friends was saying rude things to me through texting. I told my parents, and they asked me to tell them if that ever happens again. Thank you for sending the Friend!

Last year marked the Oregon Trail’s 150th anniversary, and to celebrate, young women from the Unity First Ward, Burley Idaho Stake, decided to try a four-day, authentic pioneer trek along the trail that runs close to their homes.
They donned pioneer skirts and bonnets and ditched modern conveniences like makeup for the 32-mile trek. They camped out, pressed their own fresh cider, made “johnny cakes,” and listened to numerous stories about pioneer experiences along the way. Every night two girls kept watch over the horses, camp, and fire.
On the last day, as they tromped into Oakley, Idaho, they noticed a man standing on the balcony of one of the original pioneer homes. As they got closer, they realized it was Elder David B. Haight. He greeted the tired group and invited them into his ancestral home, recounting the history of the area, and bearing his testimony that “the gospel is the hope of the world.” By the time the trek was through, the young women had learned more about hope than they’d ever dreamed.

Many years ago while serving on the Relief Society general board, I was on an assignment to teach and train some Relief Society and priesthood leaders. We had arrived just in time for the meeting to begin, after having spent the morning teaching in another city.
I was the first speaker, following the opening song and prayer. The opening song was announced as “The Time Is Far Spent.”
I was not familiar with the title of this hymn and thought that it was odd that this was to be the opening song. I hadn’t even spoken, and already they were singing that the time was far spent!
As we began singing the song, I soon realized that it referred to the little time that is remaining to publish the gospel message and bring souls to Christ. The words of the fourth verse ran through my mind the whole evening and many times since then. It says:
Be fixed in your purpose, for Satan will try you;
The weight of your calling he perfectly knows.
Your path may be thorny, but Jesus is nigh you;
His arm is sufficient, tho demons oppose.
His arm is sufficient, tho demons oppose.1

“Who discovered America?” the teacher asked. “Columbus,” answered all the students but one. He answered, “I did.” The children laughed. Nevertheless, a point worth noting had been raised. The one had, in truth, discovered all he knew about America:

Putting the Lord first has proved vital for another student with opposition of a different sort. Right through school, Neil Withington, now living in Southampton, battled with dyslexia. “I had a lot of basic reading and writing problems. At 14, during a teacher’s interview about future final exams, I was told I would not pass any of them. I had the intelligence, but there wouldn’t be enough time to read and understand questions, let alone write out answers.
“Then I began attending seminary. I took up the challenge of putting scripture study first. Whereas most of the class would complete a week’s booklet in two hours on a Sunday afternoon, I had to arise at 6:00 A.M. and spend two hours on just one day’s work (four days to a booklet). I soon realized that on days beginning with seminary I did really well at school. On days minus seminary, the opposite happened.
“Dyslexia gradually disappeared. I passed seven O-level and two A-level exams. I failed the English language exam twice, but after completing a mission, I had another try and achieved that too. I now have a good job as a management consultant, involving plenty of reading and writing. I feel that without seminary, none of this would have happened.”