Gospel Story Finder

Danna looked out the window. She could see Papi coming home from work. He was later than usual.
“Is something wrong, Papi?” Danna asked when Papi came inside the house. He looked tired and sad.
“Well, I had a hard day at work,” Papi said. “And now I’m late for an important meeting at the church.”
“May I help you?” Danna asked. She was worried about Papi.
“Could you please ask Mami if she can make me some food to eat in the car?” Papi asked. “I need to hurry and change into my church clothes.”
Danna ran to tell Mami. She was already in the kitchen making a sandwich.
“Is that for Papi?” Danna asked. “He said he’s late.”
“Yes, it’s for Papi,” Mami said. She put an apple and some juice next to the sandwich.
“Papi is sad, and I don’t know what’s wrong. Do you know?” Danna asked.
Mami sighed. “Papi has lots of things to do. His back has been hurting lately too.”
“I want to do something to help him,” Danna said.
“What if you said a prayer? You can ask Heavenly Father to help him feel better,” Mami said.
Danna went to her room. “Dear Heavenly Father,” she prayed, “please help Papi. And please help me know how I can help him. In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.”
After her prayer, Danna grabbed a piece of paper. She had an idea!
Dear Papi, she wrote. Thank you for everything. Thank you for doing your calling even though you come home tired sometimes. You are a good example for me. You are a child of God, and He loves you! With love, Danna.
Danna left the letter in the kitchen by Papi’s food. Then she walked outside without making a noise.
Danna was playing with her little sisters when Papi came out a few minutes later. He had a big smile on his face. “Thank you for the letter, Danna,” he said. He gave her a hug and a kiss. “You helped me feel Heavenly Father’s love.”
After Papi left for his meeting, Mami asked what had happened. Danna told her about the letter. Mami smiled and gave Danna a big hug.
“Thank you, Danna. With that little note, you ministered to Papi.”
Danna hugged Mami tight. She was grateful Heavenly Father had answered her prayer. It felt good to help Papi like Jesus would.

Kendra:
I was so mentally, physically, and spiritually exhausted. I actually moved to Florida for a few months. One day I just cried out to God, “I’m tired of the arguing. Please help me figure out if this Church is right.”
As I prayed, peace came to me. Once I came back to North Carolina, I didn’t have all the negative energy I had before. I used to leave the room when the missionaries came, but after this experience, I started interacting with them and cooking dinner for them. But I still wasn’t ready to go to church with Kevin.
I started searching for another church that my children would be interested in, but no matter how good a church was, my daughter, Aryanna, would say, “I want to go to church with Daddy!” We eventually agreed to go one Sunday to Kevin’s church, and the next Sunday we’d find another church.
Later on, a friend I made in the ward texted me and asked if I wanted to sing in the choir for a stake conference. Why does she want me to sing? I thought. I’m not a member. I kept battling it, but finally I said, “Sure, I’ll do it.”
It wasn’t like singing in other churches where there’s a band, it’s loud, and it feels like you’re at a concert. We sang “Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing.” The words of the hymn and the sweet sound of the music really touched me.
Kevin:
A few months later, we were sitting in fast and testimony meeting, and Kendra said to me, “I think you should go up and share your testimony about prayer because of what it did for Dad.”
Kendra’s stepdad had just had a massive heart attack. We called on the ward to pray for him and our family during that time. Thankfully, he pulled through.
“I think you should do it,” I said. She got up and bore her testimony. It was so amazing. After this, things just started to unfold for her.
Kendra:
At the beginning of 2018, I kept hearing the name “President Monson.” At this time, I didn’t know this was the prophet. One night the missionaries came over and asked how I was doing.
“I’m doing fine,” I said, “but a person’s name keeps coming to my head, and I don’t know who it is.”
“What’s the name?” They asked.
“President Monson.”
“Kendra, that’s not just any name,” they said. “That’s the name of the prophet who just passed away. You should look at some talks he gave and see what the Lord wants you to learn from him.” I looked at some of his messages, and they were really touching and helped me. From there, it just seemed that the gospel kept coming back to me.
When we would go out to eat before, I would usually order a sweet tea, but Kevin would say, “You don’t need a sweet tea; get something else.”
One day I went to a fast food restaurant for my lunch break and ordered a sweet tea. A few minutes later, an employee said, “At the very moment you ordered a sweet tea, the machine broke.”
She said it would take about an hour to fix the machine. I only had 30 minutes for lunch. I just ordered a soda instead. At that point I laughed and said, “All right, I get it now!”
I wanted to join the Church, but I also didn’t want to make my mom mad. My mom played a big role in my decisions while I was growing up. She was a minister, so I constantly listened to her instead of going to church and learning for myself.
I was a little hesitant when we set a date for my baptism. The missionaries came over, and we talked about it.
Finally, I asked my daughter, Aryanna, “Do you want to be baptized?”
She said, “Mom, I’m ready whenever you are.”
She told me that when she went to church, all the girls ran and greeted her. They took her to Primary classes and were always friendly. They wanted her to be part of things. She became really good friends with one of the girls. That’s what she enjoyed about it.
At Aryanna’s baptism, she cried tears of joy. When I saw her, I thought, I’m where I need to be.
Kevin:
I know Heavenly Father brought the gospel to our family because He loves and cares about us so much.

The smell of lasagna filled the kitchen as Chrissy’s family sat down at the table. She quietly bowed her head as her father gave the prayer. After the prayer, Mother began to serve the lasagna while Father asked what everyone had learned in church that day.
Greta and Roger, Chrissy’s older sister and brother, had learned about Emma Smith, the Prophet Joseph’s wife. They said that Emma was called an “elect lady” by Jesus Christ.
Chrissy asked, “What’s an elect lady?”
Father explained, “An elect lady is a woman who is very special because she has been chosen or set apart by Heavenly Father.”
Chrissy smiled because she liked Emma Smith and was happy that Jesus Christ had called her an elect lady. Chrissy knew that Emma had been a very courageous person.
When it was Chrissy’s turn to tell what she had learned in Primary, her smile disappeared and her eyes filled with tears. She sobbed, “I wish I only had to sing two songs on Sunday like my friend Jaimey does at her church. I don’t want to sing in Primary anymore.”
“You used to love singing,” Mother said. “What happened?”
“Eric said I sing too loud. He says singing is silly.”
Mother stood up and left the kitchen. In a moment, she came back carrying her triple combination. When she found what she was searching for in it, she asked Chrissy, “Did you know that Emma Smith was given her very own revelation from the Lord?” Chrissy shook her head. “Well,” Mother continued, “Section twenty-five of the Doctrine and Covenants is Emma’s very own revelation, and in it Jesus Christ tells her some very special things.”
“Is that where He calls her an elect lady?”
“Yes, that’s right. It also talks about a calling Emma received from Him. Did you know that He asked her to make the very first hymnbook for the Church? He knew that she would be good at collecting hymns for the Saints to sing. After He asked her to make a hymnbook, the Lord told her something very special about singing. Would you like to hear what He said?”
At Chrissy’s nod, Mother read verse twelve: “‘For my soul delighteth in the song of the heart; yea, the song of the righteous is a prayer unto me, and it shall be answered with a blessing upon their heads.’” [D&C 25:12] Mother put the book down and asked everyone at the table, “Who knows what that verse means?”
Roger smiled and said, “That means Jesus Christ likes to hear us sing.”
“That’s right, Roger,” Father said. “It also means a song is like a prayer. We are always reverent during prayers because we are speaking with our Heavenly Father. Hymns are just like prayers, and that is why it is important to sing with all our hearts.”
Chrissy smiled as she thought about how Emma Smith had obeyed Jesus Christ and made Him happy. She thought of Eric and the mean things he had said. She decided that she would be like Emma and have the courage to do what is right. “I can’t wait for church next Sunday,” she announced. “I’m going to sing with all my heart. I am going to make Jesus happy.”

Toward the end of the school year, Karen invited me to a Gold and Green Ball, whatever that was! I had never been to a dance in a church, and I had to dress in a suit! I was amazed to see a gym in a church building.
But what went on in the gym surprised me even more. Adults and teenagers were talking, laughing, and even dancing together. My friends had always thought it was “uncool” to like your parents. All over the nation there was an uproar about communication breakdown between parents and their children. But these people all seemed to be friends, regardless of age.
I asked Karen about it. She said it was because of the Church. As she took me on a tour of the building, I pondered what she had said. By the time I went home that night, I felt these people were unique, choice in some way I didn’t fully understand. They had a lot to be proud of.

Seminary students in the Medicine Hat Alberta First, Second, and Third wards decided to do something special to better understand the Old Testament.
One morning each week, seminary students and leaders devoted time to building a replica of the tabernacle the Israelites built while they were in the wilderness. The students studied the scriptures carefully to make sure their building was accurate, although they built their tabernacle two-thirds the size of the one described in the scriptures. They also built the structures for the inside of the tabernacle described in the Old Testament.
This project served as a great way to learn a little more about the experiences of the Israelites. The students became very involved in reading the Old Testament as they were better able to see what was a so carefully described in the scriptures.

May I share with you an account of an opportunity of service which came to me unexpectedly and in an unusual manner. I received a telephone call from a granddaughter of an old friend. She asked, “Do you remember Francis Brems, who was your Sunday School teacher?” I told her that I did. She continued, “He is now 105 years of age. He lives in a small care center but meets with the entire family each Sunday, where he delivers a Sunday School lesson. Last Sunday Grandpa announced to us, ‘My dears, I am going to die this week. Will you please call Tommy Monson and tell him this. He’ll know what to do.’ ”
I visited Brother Brems the very next evening. I could not speak to him, for he was deaf. I could not write a message for him to read, for he was blind. What was I to do? I was told that his family communicated with him by taking the finger of his right hand and then tracing on the palm of his left hand the name of the person visiting and then any message. I followed the procedure and took his finger and spelled on the palm of his hand T-O-M-M-Y M-O-N-S-O-N. Brother Brems became excited and, taking my hands, placed them on his head. I knew his desire was to receive a priesthood blessing. The driver who had taken me to the care center joined me as we placed our hands on the head of Brother Brems and provided the desired blessing. Afterward tears streamed from his sightless eyes. He grasped our hands, and we read the movement of his lips. The message: “Thank you so much.”
Within that very week, just as Brother Brems had predicted, he passed away. I received the telephone call and then met with the family as funeral arrangements were made. How thankful I am that a response to render service was not delayed.

Australian Corey Karaka knows that each challenge, change, or opportunity can help you grow.
Corey Karaka grew up in a suburb of Sydney, Australia, where, as the oldest of six brothers, he grew up like many typical Australian boys. He played rugby, soccer, basketball, and learned to swim. In fact, he quickly became a good enough swimmer to make it to the national swimming championships at the age of 12, qualifying a year early. As a boy, Corey thought he actually might want to make swimming his career, but then a whole world full of choices started coming his way, and he began taking advantage of some great opportunities.
First was his short opera career.
Opera? Why would a boy who loved sports want anything to do with opera? But Sydney, after all, has one of the most famous opera houses in the world. And Corey just happened to have a grandmother who had been an opera singer. She taught her grandson (in fact, she teaches music lessons to all her grandchildren) to sing while he was still a boy soprano. Corey auditioned and was hired to sing with Opera Australia. He remembers it as a fun time, going to rehearsals and dressing up in makeup and costumes. Corey says, “It wasn’t an intense experience for children. There are scenes where you come in as part of the chorus. It’s a shame that my voice broke, but it was a good experience.” Plus, his mother, Caragh, says, “He put away the money he earned for a mission and university.”

It is reported that on one occasion when Sir Isaac Newton was thinking seriously concerning the nature of light, he cut a hole in a window blind and a ray of light entered his room. He held a triangular piece of glass in the range of the light, and there were reflected in great beauty all the colors of the rainbow. And for the first time man learned that all of the glorious colors of the universe are locked up in a ray of white light.

When Elder Rasband got his mission call to the Eastern States Mission, he was disappointed. He had wanted to go to Germany, like his father and brother had. He prayed to feel OK about his mission call. After his prayer, he opened his scriptures and started reading. The scriptures he read (D&C 100:2–3, 5) let him know that his mission was exactly where Heavenly Father wanted him to go. After that, he was excited to serve a mission! He also learned that the scriptures could answer his questions.

Can you remember a moment when someone gave you a gift that changed your life? This October marks 40 years since I received one of the greatest gifts in my life. While I was in high school, I noticed that one of our classmates had a light that was different from most of the other young people. I enjoyed being around him. One day he told me he was a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Then he offered me a gift: a copy of the Book of Mormon. He invited me to read a few pages and meet with two friends who could answer my questions. Those friends were the missionaries.

When I met with the missionaries, they taught me the doctrine of Christ and invited me to follow the prophet Moroni’s invitation: “When ye shall receive these things, I would exhort you that ye would ask God, the Eternal Father, in the name of Christ, if these things are not true; and if ye shall ask with a sincere heart, with real intent, having faith in Christ, he will manifest the truth of it unto you, by the power of the Holy Ghost” (Moroni 10:4).

I read several pages of the Book of Mormon and prayed. Although I did not yet have a deep understanding of all the things that the missionaries were teaching me, I felt in my heart that what I was reading was good and came from God. I received the confirmation of Moroni’s promise: “And by the power of the Holy Ghost ye may know the truth of all things” (Moroni 10:5).

After I was baptized into The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, some friends tried to convince me that I had made the wrong decision. But each time I faced such doubts or opposition, I received renewed confirmation through studying the scriptures and praying to stay true to the covenants I had entered into with God. Since then, the Book of Mormon has been my companion and has become an immeasurable treasure in my mortal journey.

An American Indian, George Crum, is believed to have invented the potato chip. One day when he was working as a chef in a hotel restaurant in Saratoga Springs, New York, a guest at the hotel sent his plate back to the kitchen, complaining that the fried potatoes were too thick. George felt insulted. “I’ll show him what thin is,” he fumed.
With that the chef cut a potato into paper-thin slices. Then he dropped them into a vat of boiling oil to cook. After removing the slices from the oil, he sprinkled them with salt and sent the dish of crisp chips out to the guest.
To the chef’s surprise, the man loved the chips, and so “Saratoga Chips” were born. Soon many people in the area were selling them.

I was seven years old when my foster sister, Patty Lou, came to live with us. My younger brother and sister and I were anxious for this new baby. Mom and Dad said that she needed a new family. We knew about foster children—they were newborn babies our neighbors brought home until a good family adopted them. We were excited to be a foster family, too.
But the baby our parents brought home was not what we expected. For one thing, this baby was nine months old, a lot bigger than a newborn. She had brown hair and big, dark eyes, but she never smiled. And even though she was old enough to sit up and crawl, she couldn’t do either one—she could only lie there and stare at us.
We three kids stared at her, too. Patty had a large red birthmark on her face that covered half of her cheek, nose, and lip. I had a birthmark on my leg, a light brown one, but Patty’s was different and it was hard not to stare at it.
Mom explained, “Even though Patty is still a baby, she has had a rough start already. We don’t know why, but her family neglected her and left her alone in her crib for many hours every day. They didn’t play with her or hold her or love her. As long as she lives with us, we are going to take care of her and show her lots and lots of love. I think that’s what she needs, don’t you?”
Overnight, our lives changed. The old crib that was gathering dust in the garage was put up in my brother’s bedroom, and suddenly there were bottles and diapers and baby toys all over the house.
At first, Patty just watched us with her pretty dark eyes, but it wasn’t long before she smiled for the first time. She started to coo and kick her legs, and soon she could sit up, propped up by piles of pillows and one of us sitting close enough to catch her if she toppled over.
I loved to entertain her in sacrament meeting with little toys and games. Other times, my brother and sister and I made funny faces to make her laugh. We were quickly learning to love our little foster baby.
I soon noticed how people stared at Patty in stores or restaurants. I didn’t like it, especially when someone was mean to her. I had learned in Primary that we should love everybody, no matter what they looked like on the outside. I had angry feelings inside, but my Primary teacher told us a story about Jesus and some people who had a disease called leprosy. Even though other people were mean to the lepers and called them names, Jesus loved them and blessed them. I knew that He loved Patty, too, and I tried to be kinder to everyone.
One day, I saw my parents looking at the newspaper and talking about Patty. They showed me that there was a picture of Patty in the paper, along with a little story that told about Patty’s need to be adopted. I read, “Patty is looking for a real family who will love her and take care of her.”
I noticed that Dad was very quiet and Mom had tears in her eyes. Patty had lived with us for almost a year, and it was hard to think of her going to live with anyone else.
Not long after that day, Mom dressed Patty in her prettiest outfit and put a ribbon in her brown hair. She told us, “There is a young couple who want to come and see Patty and take her on an outing to the zoo. They might want to adopt her, so I want everyone on their best behavior.”
I felt hot tears sting my eyes, and I ran to the bedroom I shared with my sister. I didn’t want to see the people who might take Patty away. I couldn’t pretend that I was happy that she might be adopted. I cried long and hard. By the time I came out of my room, Patty was on her way to the zoo.
Our family seemed to walk on tiptoe in the days that followed. We knew the adoption agency would call to let us know what this young couple had decided, and we jumped every time the phone rang. Finally one night the call came. The look of relief on my father’s face was clear—Patty was staying.
I bundled Patty up and put her in the stroller. While she waved her hands at all the neighbors, I pushed her happily around the block. I didn’t even mind when a group of kids pointed their fingers at her birthmark and started to laugh. I stopped the stroller and gave her a big hug. I was so happy, I thought I would burst!
Patty was our one and only foster baby. We put in our own application to adopt her, and she soon became an official part of our family. We changed her name to Patricia Lin and waited for the day we could go to the temple as a family to be sealed to her forever.
I remember waiting in the children’s room that wonderful day in the St. George Utah Temple, all four of us dressed in sparkling white. A temple worker came to take us to the sealing room at the top of a long staircase. As we entered the beautiful room and saw our parents and grandparents gathered around the sacred altar, little Patty called out, “Hi, Grandpa!” I remember how the Spirit flooded our hearts and made us all cry tears of joy. Patty was now part of our eternal family, just as if she had been born to our parents. We were a “real” family at last!

Women and men who can hear the voice of the Lord, and who respond to those promptings, become invaluable instruments in His hands. I will never forget an experience I had following a stake conference. I was asked to participate in a blessing for a young woman who was suffering with cancer. The family were converts, and they had found peace through the promptings of the Spirit. Prior to our giving the blessing, this dear sister said to me: “Elder Ballard, I am not afraid to die, but I would like to live here with my family. I am prepared to accept the will of my Father in Heaven. Please bless me to find peace and to know that He will be with me.” What faith, insight, and courage the Spirit had blessed her with! A few months later the family advised me that Heavenly Father had called her home. She died in peace, and the family lived in peace because they were familiar with the Spirit. One of the sweetest messages the Spirit will relay is how the Lord feels about you. And that reassurance will strengthen you in a way that almost nothing else can.

Danny found his mother’s best shoes all caked with mud and dirt after a rainstorm. He cleaned, polished, and shined them. Then he polished and shined them again. Finally, when they looked like new, he took them to his mother. She was very surprised and very pleased. She hugged him, then took some money from her purse and put it into his hand. Later, when she put on those newly polished shoes, she felt something in the toe of one of them. It was the money she had given Danny. It was wrapped in a small note that said, “Mother, I did it for love.”

In a sense, the most important leadership assignment we have is that of leading and motivating ourselves. It was always a thrill to watch missionaries motivate their sometimes reluctant physical and spiritual selves to higher achievement. For instance, while driving through Waynesboro, Virginia, one day with two missionary assistants, I read aloud a sign on the front of an impressive looking high school. “Waynesboro High School, home of the little giants.” It was Elder John Greenland from Tooele, Utah, who made the comment, “That’s kind of a bad program. If I were going to be a giant, I wouldn’t want to be a little one. I’d want to be the biggest, strongest giant that ever was.” He knew the real meaning of the sign, but he was, in a sense, delegating to himself a responsibility and committing himself publicly to strive for perfection. And that is the kind of a missionary he was—a giant on the way to becoming the most dedicated, effective, obedient, hardworking servant of the Lord he could possibly be.

The Coopers are driving a long way to visit Grandma!
Will we ever make it? It’s taking forever.
Speed up, Mom, so we get there faster.
I’m going the speed limit now.
Can’t you go a little faster?
Remember the twelfth article of faith?
Oh yeah. The part about obeying the law.
Well, if we don’t make it tonight, we do have blankets …
… and sleeping bags!
… and food!
Ha, ha, ha!
Twelfth Article of Faith
“We believe in being subject to kings, presidents, rulers, and magistrates, in obeying, honoring, and sustaining the law.”

Recently, the young women in our ward participated in an activity called “Adopt a Sister” to become better acquainted with the Relief Society sisters in our ward. I know my time in Young Women is not going to last forever, so I was looking forward to participating in this activity. Having a few friends in Relief Society would make me feel more welcome.
As the young women were paired with Relief Society sisters, I listened for a familiar name but did not hear any. My assigned sister was Sister Lemler, a total stranger to me.
We were told to get to know our sisters before an upcoming dinner that was to be held in their honor. At first I was really nervous to call Sister Lemler; I wondered if she would like me. I finally summoned the courage to dial her number. Through a few phone conversations, I learned that she was a really nice person, more similar to me than not. When Sister Lemler was a teenager, things were quite different. I learned she had to wear skirts and dresses to school.
When we were given the assignment to become better acquainted with our Relief Society sisters, my sister, Carolyn, and my friend, Stephanie, and I wanted to visit them. At first I was unable to arrange a time to visit Sister Lemler since she has a full-time job, so I decided to go with Carolyn and Stephanie to visit their sisters. We wanted to bring them something to let them know we cared, so we decided to make them each a small refrigerator magnet—a red heart with a meaningful thought written on it.
When we delivered our hearts and visited with these wonderful sisters, we asked questions like “What was your high school like?” and “What jobs have you had?”
Carolyn’s adopted Relief Society sister, Sister Hinkle, was a retired high school teacher. Stephanie’s adopted Relief Society sister, Sister Pusey, has an interesting job writing books, helping others to find their lost family members, and working with adoptions.
A couple of weeks later, all the young women in the ward prepared a nice dinner for our Relief Society sisters. The room was filled with interesting conversations and laughter. Our Relief Society sisters shared their experiences and travels, and we young women shared our hobbies and interests. Now when I see these sisters during church, they are no longer unfamiliar faces. They are my friends. I look forward to knowing all the sisters in Relief Society, who will become my friends.

A friend told me of an experience she had many years ago when she was a teenager. In her ward was a young woman named Sandra who had suffered an injury at birth, resulting in her being somewhat mentally handicapped. Sandra longed to be included with the other girls, but she looked handicapped. She acted handicapped. Her clothing was always ill fitting. She sometimes made inappropriate comments. Although Sandra attended their Mutual activities, it was always the responsibility of the teacher to keep her company and to try to make her feel welcome and valued, since the girls did not.

Then something happened: a new girl of the same age moved into the ward. Nancy was a cute, redheaded, self-confident, popular girl who fit in easily. All the girls wanted to be her friend, but Nancy didn’t limit her friendships. In fact, she went out of her way to befriend Sandra and to make certain she always felt included in everything. Nancy seemed to genuinely like Sandra.

Of course the other girls took note and began wondering why they hadn’t ever befriended Sandra. It now seemed not only acceptable but desirable. Eventually they began to realize what Nancy, by her example, was teaching them: that Sandra was a valuable daughter of our Heavenly Father, that she had a contribution to make, and that she deserved to be treated with love and kindness and positive attention.

By the time Nancy and her family moved from the neighborhood a year or so later, Sandra was a permanent part of the group of young women. My friend said that from then on she and the other girls made certain no one was ever left out, regardless of what might make her different. A valuable, eternal lesson had been learned.

The gospel and the happiness it can bring are shared by President and Sister Yohanes Depalangga and their family in Bandung.

Brother Dapalangga was born into a Christian family. His father was a minister in a Protestant church. His grandfather had been the first native minister on their home island of Sumba. But his family’s religious beliefs did not fit “with my inner feelings, my conscience. Consequently, I was considered an unruly boy as I constantly challenged those beliefs. I attended a Christian university, and later a Muslim university, but I found no satisfaction when it came to religion.”

Many years later, as a married man living in Bandung, he saw two Latter-day Saint missionaries walking along the street.

“I was impressed with their appearance and especially with their name tags, which publicly declared they represented a Christian church. Most Christians I knew were reluctant to publicize their faith.”

After questioning the missionaries, he invited them to his home. Over the next few weeks, the missionaries taught Brother Dapalangga and his wife.

“Some of the things they taught were so new to us,” says Brother Dapalangga. “It was the first time we had heard of the Savior appearing on the American continent, the first time we had heard of the plan of salvation. For a time, I decided to avoid seeing the missionaries because I was afraid they were teaching false doctrine. But they persisted, even waiting hours for me to come home.

“Eventually, I decided that I should listen to all that the missionaries had to say and then make up my mind if it was the truth. They gave me a copy of the Book of Mormon, and I spent the best part of a week doing nothing but reading and pondering its contents.

“As I began to read, there seemed to be some kind of force telling me it was not true. But I fought against that feeling and prayed that I might be able to complete the book.

“Over a period of time, I prayed often that I might know if the Book of Mormon was true and if the missionaries were the Lord’s servants.

“One night, as I slept, I felt the Lord tell me to delay no longer. He told me the Book of Mormon was true and the missionaries were truly his servants. He told me I should take my wife and family to church, something we hadn’t done because we didn’t feel worthy to go.

“This was a special spiritual moment for me. Even now I want to cry as I remember feeling the love of God for me. I felt he cared for me, a man who had nothing, a man who had no great hope for the future. But I know now that the Lord has always taken care of me and my family. He has always watched over us, as he watches over all his children.

“I woke my wife and told her of my experience. She was impressed, as I was, that this was the answer to our prayers.”

From that moment on, the Dapalangga family absorbed the gospel teachings and attended church—but there was a six-month delay before their baptism in 1984. “We had lost our marriage certificate, and the missionaries would not baptize us without proof of our marriage in 1973. Finally we got a copy from a government office.”

President Dapalangga’s family in Sumba has welcomed his involvement in a Christian church. “My father came to visit me and asked me lots of questions. Finally, he told me that he believed the Church was true, but he could not bring himself to break away from his church or his congregation. He took home with him a Book of Mormon, and he uses it to teach the youth. He has sent a number of boys to stay with us so that we can teach them the gospel. Some of the boys have been baptized.”

From the time they accepted the gospel, the Dapalanggas have been active in the Bandung Branch. Within a year of his baptism, Brother Dapalangga was called to serve as second counselor in the branch presidency. He was called to be branch president in 1987. Sister Tini Dapalangga has been active in Relief Society as president and as a counselor in another presidency.

Through their various callings, President and Sister Dapalangga have had the opportunity to share in the challenges and problems that branch members have experienced. “But,” they agree, “even the most difficult problem can be overcome through prayer and a willingness to do the Lord’s work.”

President Dapalangga shares spiritual advice and scriptural knowledge not only with the branch members, but also with everyone who buys products from his sidewalk medicine stall. He tells his customers that the medicine may help them, but the Lord and his ways are the best “medicine” of all.

In addition to medicines, President Dapalangga also sells snakes—live ones. “I get the snakes from snake catchers or farmers in the central part of Java, where there are many cobras. People like to eat the meat and use the skins. They also like the snake oil as a salve for aches and pains.”

Even though they handle snakes, the Dapalanggas are wise enough to stay away from the poisonous fangs. In the same way, says President Dapalangga, “we strive to stay away from iniquity by living the gospel and building our spiritual strength.

“We should believe in the Lord with our whole heart and not depend upon our own understanding. If we accept the Lord and all his ways, he will lead us in the path we should go. I know from personal experience that this church is led by revelation, and we can have revelation in our own lives, too.”

Our family was returning from a weekend getaway to Peace River, Alberta, Canada, about five hours north of our home in Edmonton. Darkness had long since descended on the northern landscape, and although the wind was blowing snow wildly across the road in front of us, all seemed peaceful and calm inside our van.
Suddenly an ominous warning light appeared on the dashboard. I had seen it only once before, years ago, and now I feared what was in store. I quickly turned off all unnecessary power, but the engine soon stalled. I knew we had traveled several kilometers since we had passed the last town, and it would be many more kilometers before we reached the next town. I could not even remember the last time we had encountered a vehicle going in either direction.
As we desperately considered our options, our 11-year-old son, Casson, said, “We need to pray—now!” Not three months before, Casson had been devastated by the loss of his younger brother, who had passed away from cancer. How many prayers had Casson sent up to heaven as he struggled to understand why he had lost his only brother?
My wife and I were not sure how fully he had understood our explanation that our prayers need to be aligned with Heavenly Father’s will and not necessarily with our own desires. Yet here he was, showing us that we needed to turn to Heavenly Father and continue to have faith in Him.
Not long after we had finished praying, the headlights of an approaching vehicle began to sparkle in our rearview mirror. Within seconds a long flatbed truck en route to Edmonton stopped in front of us.
As the driver and I approached each other, he asked in a thick French Canadian accent, “Do you have any children in that van?” When I told him yes, he said he had passed another stopped vehicle several miles back but had not pulled over because of the bad weather. However, as he had approached us, he felt a distinct impression that we had children who needed his help. As a result, he stopped.
Within a few minutes he had our vehicle winched onto his truck, and we were heading to Edmonton. It was a cold trip back, but we were warmed by the sweet confirmation that Heavenly Father does hear prayers. Sometimes the answers come in ways we don’t envision, and sometimes the answers are more powerful and direct than we can ever imagine. We just need to have faith and trust in the Lord.