Gospel Story Finder

Recently, the Young Women organization of the Wilton Ward, Elk Grove California Stake, decided to join forces with the Relief Society sisters in their ward and learn to crochet items for those in need and for patrons of the Sacramento California Temple.
The project helped the young women develop in three different areas: they learned a new skill, they got to know some of the Relief Society sisters better, and some of them even extended the activity into one of their Personal Progress projects.
“I had a lot of fun learning to crochet with my friends,” said Stephany Mayer. “Since then I’ve been able to make gifts for Relief Society sisters and babies in the ward. I have also learned to make other crochet items like sweaters and tablecloths.”

When I was Relief Society president for the Luton Ward, I encouraged the ward to collect clothes and other goods for asylum seekers and refugees. I took the goods to the county of Hertfordshire and gave them to refugees there. I started feeling a bit guilty about this, because I was taking donations from ward members into a different county when I knew that Luton itself had a massive population of refugees and asylum seekers that needed help.
I decided to find out who was working with asylum seekers and refugees in Luton so we could give them the goods the ward collected. I attended a National Churches Together meeting and asked. They told me that Care4Calais and another church or two, were helping. I contacted Care4Calais and I also found out how to apply to Churches Together in Luton. A week or so later, I heard back from Churches Together and they told me my application was rejected. I felt so upset. All I wanted to do was help whoever was helping asylum seekers and refugees. So, I phoned the director of Churches Together in Luton and explained to her how shocked and saddened I was. She relented and gave me the number of the Reverend of All Saints and St. Peter’s Church, the main church in Luton helping and supporting the large population of asylum seekers there.
I contacted Reverend David Kesterton and set up a meeting with him. We asked about his church and what they were doing to help, and how our church could multiply their efforts in the work they were already engaged in. At first, he was very hesitant, because he feared we would go in proselyting. We assured him we would not and he agreed to work with us.
We started meeting with the Reverend and put together a proposal to the church to secure some funding. All Saints was opening their doors to asylum seekers twice a week for drop-in sessions where an individual could get a cup of coffee and cake, needed clothing, as well as advice, ESOL support, someone to listen to them, or just an entertaining round of chess to break up the monotony that they feel. They had recently run out of funding. The Church agreed to give £15,000 to provide much needed warm clothing and toiletries as well as vouchers for underwear, school uniform and shoes. We were all thrilled.
To kick off the project, we invited the Reverend to come and speak in the Luton Ward during the second hour of a fifth Sunday meeting. He talked about the support he and his church were giving and how we could be of help. Members of the Luton Ward were encouraged to start volunteering at the drop-in sessions. The youth planned an activity to sort out their overflowing and disorganised toy cupboard, as well as purchasing needed toiletries from local supermarkets for asylum seekers. The Reverend was amazed to see all the youth there bringing toiletries, and even more amazed that the leaders had made purchasing toiletries a competition for the youth. One ward member even volunteered to be Father Christmas for their drop-in session right before the holidays.
We are now coming to the end of this lovely project. A wonderful relationship has developed between the Luton Ward and All Saints and St. Peter’s Church, and I think the Reverend has changed some of his old opinions of us as members of the Church and is more willing to work with us and see our commonalities. He has been very grateful for our help.

As a small boy in grammar school, I had a teacher who made King Arthur and the knights of the Round Table come alive. She caused me to become so obsessed with stories of knights that I played and dreamed that I was one.
One evening I dreamed that I was a white knight on a white horse riding over the greens of England. Suddenly, without warning, a knight dressed in black armor and mounted on a black horse appeared at the edge of the forest. We measured each other carefully, lowered our lances, and charged at full gallop. The lances struck target and both of us were knocked off our steeds.
I scrambled to my feet knowing that swords would be drawn and that hand-to-hand combat was imminent. Fear gripped my heart as I saw my opponent rushing toward me flashing a long, gleaming sword. Instinctively, I reached to my side and drew forth from the scabbard my weapon. That is when the dream turned into a nightmare! For in my hand was a small, dinky dagger—not a long, gleaming sword. I woke up in a cold sweat screaming for help.

As a mission president I emphasized to the missionaries the necessity of developing faith, determination, and courage. How successful I was is illustrated in the case of Elder Smith. Sister Richards and I met Elder Smith six years after he was released from his mission, and he told us the following story. He was seeking employment in a stock brokerage firm in Salt Lake and, after being interviewed in Salt Lake, was sent to the company’s headquarters in San Francisco. In San Francisco there were two persons interviewing him, a young man and an older man with a big cigar in his mouth. The older man, who seemed to be the one with the authority, told Elder Smith he understood that he had been on a mission for his church. Elder Smith said he had. The man then asked, “What kind of a missionary were you?”
Elder Smith answered, “The best missionary in the mission.”
The man was so startled by this forthright answer he almost dropped his cigar. He said, “If you were the best missionary in the mission, you’re hired right now.” Elder Smith had learned to apply the principles of faith, courage, and determination in his life.

One of my assignments at BYU is to direct a performing folk dance company called Traditionz. This ensemble provides outreach performances in elementary and middle schools during spring term. For four weeks, we perform two or three times a day. It’s exhausting, but it’s a lot of fun!

One day a few months ago, we had a three-and-a-half-hour break in the middle of our two shows, which is atypical. While the students were cleaning up their costumes after the first show, I mused on how we would pass the time during the long lunch break. The weather was too chilly to spend several hours outside at a park.

As I was trying to think about what there was to do in the area, I remembered the previous year when we had performed nearby and had gone to the Taylorsville Utah Temple open house. “It’s too bad that we don’t have a temple open house to go to,” I thought. And then I realized, “Wait—there is one going on in Syracuse right now!” I mapped out the distance and, surprisingly, it was only a forty-minute drive there and a twenty-five-minute drive back to our afternoon school. Three-and-a-half hours would be enough time to drive to Syracuse, go through the open house, get some lunch, and drive back to West Valley City for our second show.

As I pitched my idea to the students, there were mixed reactions: Some were excited and immediately cheered, “Yes!” More than a few, though, were concerned about the way we were dressed. You see, the dancers were in casual traveling clothes that consisted mostly of sweats. I had considered this and was appreciative of their desire to show respect for the house of the Lord, but I persisted. “If we had planned for this in advance, we would have dressed up,” I reasoned, “but there actually isn’t an official dress code for an open house. People come dressed in all types of clothing. I think the Lord will understand why we are dressed this way, and He’d rather have us come than stay away. If we don’t go today, we won’t have another opportunity to do this during our tour.”

We put it to a straw poll, and it was decided that we would attend the open house. As we got out of the vans and approached the temple grounds, I could tell that some students were still feeling uncomfortable about their appearance. We got our shoe covers on and proceeded to the front doors, where we were stopped and asked to wait a few minutes for a tour to begin.

Looking across the threshold, I noticed a group of about seven people signing to each other. I glanced over at one of my students, Betsy, who had served an American Sign Language mission and now teaches ASL at the Missionary Training Center, to see if she would try to converse with them. After a moment of visually eavesdropping on their conversation, she realized they needed help. She swiftly stepped over to them and chimed in, “I can interpret!”

We proceeded into the temple with this group and stayed with them all the way through the temple tour with Betsy as their interpreter. My students and I watched her in amazement. Some of my students were grinning. Others, like me, had tears rolling down their cheeks. Betsy’s hands were deftly flying, her face was expressive, and her countenance was radiant as she confidently and beautifully served. Her many years of language study and previous service as an ASL missionary enabled her to speak fluently and with love for the gospel. She was dressed in a pink BYU Dance T-shirt and a pair of black joggers, but that didn’t seem to matter anymore. Any self-consciousness about our casual appearance had evaporated.

One by one, students sidled up to me quietly. “We needed to be here,” they whispered in amazement. “They needed Betsy.”

Unspoken, but in all of our minds, was the thought, “What if we had stayed away because of our appearance?”

And then, audibly, the question came: “How did you know? How did you know we needed to come?”

“I . . . I didn’t,” I stammered. And that was true. I was as amazed as they were! I hadn’t followed what I considered to be a strong feeling or what we might think of as a prompting. It was just an idea of a good thing to do with our time.

At the conclusion of the tour, our group waited outside at a distance as Betsy was thanked and hugged by her new friends. Through tears, they signed, “We know you were sent to help us.” It was at this point that they shared their story with her. They had come from a Deaf branch in Ogden, Utah. Unlike us, they had made an appointment for the open house in advance and had requested that interpretation services be provided for them. However, when they arrived, for some unknown reason there was no one there who could assist them. They were understandably very disappointed. It was at this point that the BYU folk dancers walked up to join the tour.

As Betsy’s new friends departed, the rest of my students waved goodbye and silently cheered for them, many signing, “I love you.” This spontaneous gesture touched my heart because it was so genuine and joyful. We were all just Betsy’s ride, but truly, we all felt enveloped in charity, the pure love of Christ.

I left the temple awestruck and filled with gratitude that I was able to witness this beautiful display of God’s awareness of and merciful love for His children. I knew that God knew Betsy. He knew her unique talents and abilities just as He knew the disappointed hearts of those visitors who were Deaf. In ways I am incapable of understanding with my mortal mind, He was able to bring them together in perfect timing.

Do I know how it happened? No. But what I can attribute part of this miraculous experience to are the prayers we prayed together as a group before embarking on our day. Each morning we asked our Heavenly Father for opportunities to connect with those in our path. We included God in our plans and He, like a master choreographer, provided the design.

When he was 15, his family moved to New Jersey, where he had some of his most memorable testimony-building experiences. “It was during that time that my faith matured into a full-blown testimony,” he says. “I grew up with faith among family and friends and others who influenced my life; I don’t recall a time when I didn’t have that belief that the gospel was true. But in New Jersey I became conscious of knowing that it was true and that it mattered.”2
During that time, he and his brother Greg participated in the Hill Cumorah Pageant in New York for two summers. Once when he was about 16 years old, he was searching for a personal testimony of the gospel and thought that the pageant would be the perfect time to get it. He recalls:
“One night after the performance, I decided to go to the Sacred Grove alone. It was a beautiful, clear summer night. I thought, This is it—the place, the time. What more ideal setting could I have? I prayed for a long, long time—well over an hour. Nothing happened. I finally gave up and walked back to Palmyra, wondering, What did I do wrong or what didn’t I do right? What was missing?
“I’ve since thought a lot about that experience. One of the lessons I learned from it was that you shouldn’t try to dictate to God the timing or the content of revelation. It was later that summer—when I was home by myself in a little basement bedroom, reading the Book of Mormon—that a witness came very powerfully. It just overwhelmed me. I know from that experience the truth of what Joseph Smith witnessed and the truth of the Book of Mormon and the reality of the Savior. That hasn’t been my only witness, but it was a great strengthening of my testimony.
“I found that you don’t have to be in a special place to receive that witness. You will receive answers to your prayers if you are earnest and keep asking and searching. … Anywhere in the world, the Lord will speak to you.”3

Evan’s inspiration to help orphans living thousands of miles away in China began with his visit to that country in December of 1996. Evan accompanied his parents, Dave and Mary Pressley, when they adopted his little sister, Marianne Kai Yue. “After I got home, I just wanted to help some babies who are not as fortunate as my little sister, who has found a family.” Marianne and Evan have two older brothers, Ben, 19, and Dan, 18.
As a result of traditional prejudice against females, hundreds of girls are abandoned daily in China. Evan’s little sister was one of them. She had been left on a doorstep in a small village when she was only one day old. On a note attached to her clothing was the handwritten date and time of her birth: “April 15, 1996, 9:23 A.M.” Eight months later, when the Pressleys took her home, she weighed only 10 pounds. Poor nutrition is a fact of life for Chinese orphans. Their caregivers are very loving but lack the funds to feed the babies well.
In the spring of 1997, Evan sent a handwritten letter to Lily Nie and Joshua Zhong, directors of the agency the Pressleys went through to adopt Marianne, informing them of his project. His goal was to raise $2,175. He exceeded that goal and came up with a total of $2,418 (and 45 cents). He made a list of specific things he wanted done with that money: repair a child’s cleft palate and lip; buy a heavy-duty washer and dryer; provide enough formula for eight babies for one month; buy a crib and some toys; set up a small children’s health clinic. All this for $2,418! “Money goes a long way in China,” Evan explains.
In August of 1997, Evan hand-delivered the money to Lily and Joshua. And they more than honored his request. Joshua, who affectionately calls this “the Evan Project,” traveled to China last fall with the money and carefully carried out Evan’s itemized list. He even chose the child that would have the cleft palate surgery. The funds went to the Fusan Children’s Welfare House in Liaoning Province in northern China. “There are more than 150 children there,” Evan says, “and 95 percent of them are handicapped. They’ll never be adopted.”
Was Evan’s project easy? “A lot of people turned me down. I almost quit when I knocked on one man’s door and he told me that he wouldn’t contribute. He even admitted that he was hard-hearted!” Very discouraged at this point, he says, “I fasted for 24 hours and prayed. I told Heavenly Father that I really needed to do this, for the babies in China, and would he please help me find people who wanted to give.” Evan’s prayers were answered.
Several articles were published in the newspapers about the Evan Project. Later, Joshua Zhong sent a letter to one newspaper thanking the people of Craig, Colorado, for their support. He also sent a letter to Evan expressing his feelings. “I want to thank and salute you for an incredibly moving and successful fund-raising effort. I am deeply touched by your love for the Chinese children. … You are an amazing kid with a very BIG heart!”
What does this “amazing kid” have in mind for the future? You guessed it. He’s not through helping orphans in China. He’s given it a lot of thought, and he’s getting close to earning his Eagle Scout Award. For his project he’s going to do something like gathering baby formula—lots of it—to send to Chinese orphanages. After all, when you have a BIG heart, it can strrreettch a whole lot to make room for one more Chinese baby … or 50 … or 150.

It’s six in the morning at the Redondo Beach chapel. The cultural hall is filled with chairs. Slowly, seminary students begin filing in. Only today it’s not a normal seminary morning. Something is different. Sure, you can smell the French toast cooking in the kitchen. Breakfast is in about 30 minutes. What’s out of the ordinary, though, is that not all of the teenagers in the room are Latter-day Saints. Some have never even been in an LDS church building before.
On this Monday, it’s the monthly version of Bring a Friend to Seminary, an idea hatched by Linda O’Brien, the seminary teacher who challenged her students to invite nonmember friends to seminary once a month. This morning, Aarika and many other students are enthusiastic participants.
Today, four of Aarika’s friends have come for the lesson—and the food. “Once you get them to come, they have a great time. They have so much fun, and then they tell another person. But I do kind of mumble the six-in-the-morning part,” Aarika says, laughing. “They’re not sure what to expect, but they’ve told me their days have been so great because it started out with a prayer and talking about the scriptures.”
When Aarika was attending her first year of seminary, she was unsure about the program. “I thought, Who am I going to ask? But now I’m really comfortable, and it’s a lot easier now.”
Sharing the gospel is so much a part of Aarika’s life that she can’t remember a day when she didn’t talk about the Church with someone.
As seminary ends, Aarika and her four friends leave. They’re all smiling.

Shortly after my call to the Presiding Bishopric, I received a letter from one of my uncles. “Dear Glenn: I saw you on television last Sunday. Do you realize what an accomplishment it was to get your old reprobate of an uncle to watch general conference?”

That summer he and his wife celebrated their fiftieth wedding anniversary. After the reception I walked them to their car and said, “You know, with this calling, I have received the sealing power. If you will commit to a temple marriage, I’ll tell you what I’ll do for you. I’ll perform the ceremony for free.”

A year passed, and as I arrived home late one night, a message awaited me. “Please call your uncle no matter what time you get home.” I called and he said, “Glenn, I’m calling to collect on your golden wedding anniversary offer of a free marriage sealing in the Salt Lake Temple.” I asked, “Are you serious? When?” He said, “My bishop thinks I can be good enough by December.”

A year ago I sealed them to each other and then sealed two of their sons to them. After fifty-one years of marriage, my uncle and aunt received their crowning glory and blessings. The entire family cried.

One year and one month after his baptism, Samuel Owusu Amako was called to serve as a full-time missionary in the Ghana Accra Mission. He began his service in January 1988, and midway during his service, in June 1989, the government of Ghana suspended all Church activities and public meetings. With his missionary service being interrupted for a while, Samuel went to teach in a private elementary school in Cape Coast.
When “the freeze,” as the restrictions were called, was lifted in 1991, he resumed his missionary service. During his mission he encountered people from different parts of the world, and tales of their countries intrigued him. So, after returning home from his mission in December 1991, he made plans with some of his friends from his early days in the Church, who had also completed their missions, to get travel visas and to see the world. Obtaining travel visas in Ghana to certain countries that were of interest to him and his friends proved to be difficult during that time, so in November 1993, he and some of his friends, including his high school classmate Albert Frederick Alexander, who had also joined the Church and had become a returned missionary, left Ghana. They arrived in The Gambia in December 1993 where they had heard it was easier to get travel visas. His friend Charles Amoah was the first among them to travel to The Gambia.
What is interesting is that when Samuel and his friends joined their friend and brother, Charles Amoah, in The Gambia, Samuel’s interest in pursuing his goal of travelling abroad waned considerably for reasons he admits he doesn’t know and he never bothered about. Samuel eventually abandoned his desire to travel abroad from The Gambia. He had somehow found The Gambia as a home, which he now strongly feels that God knows something about that.
In The Gambia, Samuel and his friends met often in the home of his friend Charles Amoah to partake of the sacrament and teach one another. This was in 1994. Sometime during the latter part of 1994, they met the Endecotts. Michael Endecott was a member of the Church from the United States and was living in The Gambia with his family. The friends met in the home of the Endecotts on a couple of occasions till the Endecotts travelled back home to America. During that time, two of the Endecotts’ sons were baptized in The Gambia.
Later all the friends, except Albert Frederick Alexander, left The Gambia. Some travelled back home to Ghana whilst some travelled abroad. Charles Amoah travelled back to Ghana and is currently serving as a counsellor in a mission presidency in Cape Coast; Stephen Amoah travelled to the United States and lives in Utah with his family. Ernest Arko sadly passed away in Cape Coast after a brief illness during one of his visits to Ghana. Samuel Amoah lives in Ghana.
Samuel, however, stayed behind and found employment in The Gambia, hoping to still, at some point, realize his dream. During the early days of his employment, he noticed a beautiful young woman working in another department. As he describes it, “My antenna was switched on,” and he enquired after her, wishing to know if she were married. He was told definitively that she was not, so he approached her to ask for a date. She rebutted him, telling him she was married already. Recounting her response, Samuel laughed and said, “She lied!”
Persistence paid off and eventually his requests for a date proved fruitful. After a period of courtship, Samuel and Fatou Badjan were married. There was no Church presence in The Gambia at that time, and Fatou was Muslim, so they were married civilly and began to raise their family there. But Samuel’s faith and dedication to the Lord never wavered—he knew that the covenant path leads to a temple sealing. Without any formal Church presence in The Gambia, Samuel and his friend Albert F. Alexander met every Sunday with their families to partake of the sacrament. Samuel and his friend sometimes invite friends to join them.
When some members moved into the area, and his missionary efforts continued. The little congregation grew, and for the next 25 years, he welcomed Church members and friends into his home for Church services. These efforts were unofficial as the Church did not have legal status in The Gambia, and the country had not been dedicated for the work of the Lord.
In June 1988, Elder Terrence Vinson, then-President of the Africa West Area Presidency, accompanied by his counsellor, Elder Marcus Nash, visited The Gambia. They met with Samuel, his wife, Fatou, their children Sampson, Daniel, Princess Amelia, Hannah, his sister Juliana Sandra and Albert Frederick Alexander, his longtime good friend, fellow Church member and fellow returned missionary.
Elder Vinson and Elder Nash authorised them to meet as a group and hold sacrament meetings. It was an exciting moment. The two sons of Samuel, namely Sampson and Daniel, were later baptized by Samuel after the visit by the General Authorities.
The year 2022 turned out to be what Samuel describes as the most momentous year in the history of the Church in The Gambia.
In January 2022, President Hugo Martinez, President of the Africa West Area Presidency and his First Counsellor, Elder Larry S. Kacher, also visited The Gambia. They met with Samuel and his family and the group in The Gambia.
In February 2022, Elder D. Todd Christofferson of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles came to The Gambia to dedicate the country and to meet with government officials to pave the way for the Church’s legal status.
Fatou Badjan Amako, Samuel’s wife, finally joined the Church and was baptised in February 2022, shortly after Elder Christofferson’s visit.
Finally, on June 10, 2022, the Banjul Branch of The Gambia was formally organized, and Samuel Owusu Amako was made its first branch president. In September of that year, Daniel Nana Kofi Owusu Amako, Samuel’s second son, was called as the first missionary of the Church from The Gambia to serve a full-time mission. He served in the Congo Brazzaville Mission.
Princess Amelia Nana Ama Ahima Amako, Samuel and Fatou’s eldest daughter, joined the Church in October 2022.
In August of 2024, Samuel and members of his branch made the journey from The Gambia to Accra, Ghana. He was returning to the place where he began his missionary service so many years before, and where there is now a temple, so that he and his family could be sealed in the house of the Lord. They met their son Daniel there, who was returning home from his mission just in time for the sealing.
Besides the unspeakable joy of becoming an eternal family, Samuel experienced the additional sweetness and tender mercies of the Lord in a most special way. The president of the Accra Ghana Temple, who sealed Samuel and his wife and children, was John K. Buah, the very same missionary who had confirmed Samuel a member of the Church. And the incoming temple president, who will replace President Buah, is President Anthony M. Kaku, who baptized Samuel. According to Samuel, “God is the unfailing compass of our lives.”
A pioneer in establishing the Church in Gambia, Samuel Owusu Amako reflects on his reasons for going to the Gambia in the first place: to get a travel visa and see the world, something which has never happened. “How did I miss that?” he asked rhetorically with a big smile just before returning to his home with his family. He knows that he was led to The Gambia for a higher purpose, a mission that began on that harmattan-cold December morning in 1986 when he “failed to flee”.

I’d like to share a personal experience:

15 miles southeast of Rexburg is a town called Ririe. On this day, March 6th 1990, 17 years ago, the Ririe High School boys basketball team won the A-3 State title. This little town of about 550 people was on top of the world. When the team came home from the tournament, hundreds of people met the bus to cheer them as they rolled into town. They were heroes. They really were a ‘Cinderella Story’….they were so unknown at the tournament that the announcers kept talking about the team from ‘Rearie’ instead of Ririe. This small group of boys had worked together with dogged determination through their whole season and had captured the first State title in the school’s history. The whole community was a-buzz with joy and pride. Four days later, on March 10th, one of the team’s star players, Cory Radford and his teammate and close friend Bruce Hill had gone fishing near Salmon, Idaho. They fished all day and then decided to stay up and fish all night because there was a full moon. They left the next morning with very little sleep.
On the drive home, both boys fell asleep and their car veered head-on into a motor-home RV, killing them both instantly. The news of the accident stunned the whole Snake River Valley. And the community that had been celebrating their highest of highs only days before, was now grieving and hurting in their lowest of lows. All the people were asking in disbelief “How could this happen? Why would the Lord allow this to happen? These were good boys. Why?”
I might add that I was the President of the Ririe Stake at the time and I can tell you this tragedy nearly shattered the faith of a whole community. In counseling and talking with people, and frankly on the days that I tried to make sense of it myself, I wondered “Why hadn’t the Lord nudged them awake? Or miraculously guided the car out of harm’s way? These were good boys from good families. Future missionaries. Surely they qualified for such divine intervention.”
After much prayer and fasting to know how to counsel people, this truth was confirmed to me. I came to know that the Lord knew of this situation, that He did indeed have the power to stop it, but He didn’t. Therefore it was His will….and it would be ok.
I tell you this story to pay tribute to Cory, but I tell it today to also pay tribute to his parents, Lynn and Cindy Radford. They are here today seated on the stand next to my wife Sharol. All their friends and neighbors came to them and said “This is so sad. So unfair. This is your oldest son – what will you ever do?” I pay tribute to them because they, at that moment of deep tragedy, helped us all understand an important lesson. Their strength in the face of a desperately painful situation showed all of us that they didn’t determine that it was bad or good, but they knew it was the Lord’s will and that eventually everything would be alright. Their trust in the Lord helped sustain everyone else’s trust in the Lord’s plan.

The youth of the Bountiful Utah Central Stake were planning a youth conference for the first week in June. They were planning some exciting events right in their own area. They planned a day at a water slide, an evening barbecue, a day of workshops, a dance, and more. It was going to be great fun. But the week before their youth conference, mud slides and floodwaters had inundated dozens of homes in Bountiful. It didn’t seem quite right to be planning an activity when so many people needed help. The youth decided to cancel their youth conference and offer their time and strength in helping their neighbors.
Julie Merrill, Lisa and Lori Dearden, Michelle Reading, Jim Summers, Bob Foster, Betsy Ann Wiscombe, and Adam Birmingham and nearly 100 percent of the youth in their wards turned out dressed in old clothes and with shovels over their shoulders to be assigned a home to help clean. This group was shown to a home where mud had filled the bottom level.
At first the group gingerly waded into the mud careful not to get too much on their clothes, but as bucket after bucket was filled and lifted in a bucket brigade out of the house, they didn’t hesitate to get dirty. As the group was working, one boy called out, “I know a song we should sing. We should sing, ‘Give Said the Little Stream.’” His suggestion was met with groans. The heavy mud started to take its toll on young muscles, but their good spirits won out. Someone missed the bucket with a shovelful of mud. Another retaliated, and soon everyone was yelling to stop the mud fight, but since everyone was already covered, it did little damage.
The youth went back the next day and the next until the home they were working on was as clean as they could get it and ready for reconstruction work.
How did they feel about shoveling mud instead of having fun at their youth conference? Julie Merrill said, “It was nice to help other people. I was worn out, but I felt like I was helping. I didn’t really mind the change of plans.” Lori Dearden actually preferred the change of plans. “I’m still a Beehive so I couldn’t go to some of the joint activities at the youth conference, so I didn’t mind the change of plans. It was hard work, but we were really excited to finally see the floor. We left it really clean with all the walls washed down. It felt good to help.”

After two industrious weeks, members of the Bulawayo and Nkulumane Zimbabwe stakes completed two service projects at two centres—the Ramstein Salvation Army Home of the Aged and Qinisani Daycare Orphanage.

The time period of the service projects was packed with clearing of the yard, cleaning of the centres and construction of a rabbit cage. Donations of four rabbits were made to the two centres.

President Mzingaye Ndlovu, a leader for the Church in Buluwayo, addressed the attendees at the handover, a joyful event where members of the Church sang Christmas carols for the elderly.

“Continue to follow the example of Jesus Christ and also light the world here at Ramstein Salvation Army Home of the Aged. Our Lord Jesus Christ, went about in a ministry that extended over a period of three years. [During that period of three years] nothing was about Him. He sought to lift others,” Ndlovu said.

Nikki Estevez arrived in Adelaide, Australia from the Philippines in September 2019.
A few weeks after her arrival she was having a particularly hard day, struggling with the language and feeling very low, when she heard a voice saying, “I like your hat.”
When she turned around, she saw two missionaries from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints smiling at her. Nikki noticed their badges and knew they were missionaries because her best friend growing up in the Philippines was a member of the Church.
The missionaries were serving in the Adelaide City Branch at the time and as they weren’t too far from the branch meeting place, they asked Nikki if she would like to have a look where they worship each Sunday.
As Nikki had no plans and needed a distraction to lift her spirits, she agreed.
One of the first things she noticed when they arrived was a painting of the First Vision, which depicts Joseph Smith being visited by God the Father and His Son Jesus Christ in 1820. As she looked at the artwork, the words “This is My Beloved Son. Hear Him!”1 came to her mind.
Nikki said that at that moment she felt that all the things she had been through in her life prepared her to join the Church.
Nikki remembered seeing that painting at her friend’s home and asking why Jesus was in that picture. Her friend’s mother explained the First Vision to her so when Nikki saw that painting again, she remembered her friend’s mother’s explanation and in particular the words “This is My Beloved Son. Hear Him!”
Nikki said that at that moment she felt goosebumps, which she later recognised as the Spirit speaking to her.
Nikki had the missionary discussions and was baptised in November 2019, three months after arriving in Australia.

After losing his eyesight, my grandfather fasted and prayed that if he was to remain in darkness, the Lord would give him peace. He states that almost within the hour “my mind was enlightened and the cloud of darkness had lifted from me.” He could see again, not with physical eyes, but spiritual eyes. Later, Alma Benjamin Larsen was called to be a patriarch, where he served for 32 years. Like the sons of Mosiah, my grandfather fasted and prayed, and as a result, he was given the opportunity to bless thousands of God’s children.

Even though I had been to church only a few times, my home teacher faithfully visited me. One night he called and asked if I would share some thoughts about eternal families in the next Gospel Principles class.
“Yes, I’d love to,” I said.
I didn’t think much of it until the next morning. That’s when I realized I had agreed to talk about eternal families to a group of people who probably already knew all about it. I didn’t have a clue what I could say to them.
Over the years, I had made choices that separated me from the gospel. How was I supposed to share my thoughts about something I wasn’t sure I even believed? I felt confused. Then the words to the hymn “I Am a Child of God” (Hymns, no. 301) came to my mind. I had not heard those words in years, but I knew them by heart. Then it struck me: I needed to ask God if I actually was His child.
At that time, I was rearranging the furniture in my bedroom, so with my bed askew in the middle of the room, I kneeled next to it and waited for the words to come. What could I possibly say to God? I wasn’t sure He even existed. In that moment, my heart’s deepest desire brought these simple words to my lips: “God, are You really there? And if You are there, am I Your child?”
The answer came immediately. It was as if He had been waiting for me to ask. I felt God say, “Yes, Camille, I am here, and you are my child.”
When I opened my eyes, I was still in my disheveled bedroom. Everything around me was in disarray, but I felt like my life had been put in perfect order. I knew that I was a child of God, and that was all that mattered.
In class on Sunday, I simply told my story of how I came to know that I am a child of God. “If I am His child,” I said, “then so is everyone else.”
It took another three and a half years for me to make all the positive changes I needed to make, but my life has never been the same. Since that day, I have never doubted who I am. I know that Heavenly Father is always there. He loves me because I am His child.

In 2004, I was managing the completion of the Manhattan New York Temple project. As a Church Project Manager, I was responsible to hire a professional construction company to ensure that the design approved by the First Presidency and Presiding Bishopric was indeed delivered on schedule and according to the design. The temple in Manhattan is very unique. It was constructed within an existing multi-level, multi-use building that required an interior renovation to become a temple. The only other temple to have multiple uses within the structure of the building is the Hong Kong China Temple. When we began, the temple design was comprised of a part of the ground floor for the Baptistery and the fifth and sixth floors for other ordinance and administrative spaces. The second, third and fourth floors of the building were used by the members as meetinghouse space. Through the course of the project the temple space grew to include a clothing issue and Public Affairs offices on the second floor and some other administrative office spaces on the fourth floor. Another item added was a steeple topped by an Angel Moroni statue. When new space is added to a project it requires new designs, modifications to the contract, additional funds and additional time. We try to incorporate enough time in the project to accommodate some minor changes, but not to the extent of the changes required to complete the Manhattan New York Temple. When I was asked to add a steeple and Angel Moroni to the temple, we had completed the interior finishes of one of the endowment rooms on the fifth floor and the Public Affairs offices on the second floor. Because the steeple was to be placed upon the outside corner of the building, the structural design required us to run steel columns and beams from the underground parking level of the building to the roof. The general contractor had to remove and replace all of the newly placed finishes to accommodate the new design. With only 3.5 months remaining to the temple dedication, I received instructions to replace the exterior façade to the temple on the street level, which consisted of commercial storefronts which were not consistent with the exterior of a temple. This may seem like a simple task of replacing a wall, but my efforts were met with insurmountable obstacles that only the hand of the Lord could overcome.

I prescribe to a technique taught by President Gordon B. Hinckley as described in his book entitled, Standing for Something. President Hinckley said,
“If there is any one thing that you and I need, to help us find success and fulfillment in this world it is faith – that dynamic powerful, marvelous element by which, as Paul declared, the very worlds were framed. I refer not to some ethereal concept but to a practical, pragmatic, working faith – the kind of faith that moves us to get on our knees and plead with the Lord for guidance, and then, having a measure of divine confidence, get on our feet and go to work to help bring the desired results to pass.” [9]
After pleading with the Lord for guidance on how to accomplish the task before me and not receiving an immediate answer to my prayer, I pondered the steps required to building the façade of the temple. I got on my feet and scheduled a meeting with the general contractor.
I sat across the table from the superintendent for the general contractor and relayed to him our latest challenge and dilemma. Picture in your mind a man already stressed and challenged to complete the project on time to allow the Open House to proceed as scheduled. Invitations had been sent to visiting VIPs and there was no latitude to extend the contract time to complete the project. President Hinckley scheduled the temple dedication almost one year earlier due to his tight schedule. The superintendent, a non-member, sat silently for a moment before responding. He looked me in the eyes and said, “Cory, what you are asking us to do is impossible with the remaining time before the Open House and Dedication. You need to let your prophet know it cannot be done. Our company cannot take on that liability and will not do this added work.” Obviously, the superintendent didn’t know what a prophet was and from whom he received direction. My heart sank. I didn’t know what to do. I returned to my hotel in a daze, wondering how to proceed. I earnestly pondered the situation for a few days. After letting my supervisors know that the general contractor refused to help with this new directive and that I didn’t know how best to proceed, I went to my knees. I pleaded for guidance and direction. When I arose I reflected upon President Hinckley’s words and had a renewed confidence that I needed to pursue every possible solution to bring this task to completion. I could not see how the temple could realistically be completed on time, but I knew that if President Hinckley said the temple would be dedicated on a certain day, I had to commit to doing everything I could to make it happen. And so the journey began.

It was the beginning of March 2004. I had approximately 2.5 months before the Open House and 3.5 months before the Temple Dedication, which was scheduled for mid-June.
The architects had created a design for the façade or wall of the temple, but that was only the first step in the process. The façade design incorporated a large quantity of ¾” thick polished Italian marble. Other steps necessary to complete this task were to find and purchase the marble stone for the wall, produce shop drawings showing how the stone would be installed and fabricate the shop tickets, which tell the stone cutter the sizes in which to cut the stone. Then the stone needed to be installed and some kind of decorative landscaping element added to soften the look and feel of the walkway outside the temple.
Typically, it takes 4 – 6 months to receive a shipment of stone after the shop tickets are delivered to the stone fabricator or stone cutter. Having managed several temple projects previously, I was aware of some stone suppliers and fabricators. I called them to see if there was any ¾” thick polished Italian marble available. Within a week of informing the superintendent of the need to add a façade to the project design, I had called every stone supplier I knew of, but found no one that could help me.
While pursuing the stone, I also knew that I had to find someone to produce the stone shop tickets, which details each individual stone’s dimensions. I called several firms, but their work load prevented them from taking on another job, especially one that needed to be completed within the next few weeks.
I was at a loss as to what to do next. Constantly seeking for guidance and trusting in the Spirit to provide that guidance, I continued to press forward calling and pleading with anyone I could think of. I spread word of my dilemma throughout the United States and Canada. A week later one of the firms called me and asked if I still needed help in producing shop drawings and the stone shop tickets.

Miraculously, a two-week window opened in the firm’s schedule that allowed them to take on this project. Two weeks was just the right amount of time required to complete the entire job. Almost in tears, I gratefully asked, “Yes, how soon can you begin?” We began producing the shop drawings and fabrication tickets without having any stone yet. A few weeks later, about a month after my conversation with the project superintendent, I received a call from a stone supplier that said he had received a call from a loading dock in Los Angeles, California, that had a shipment of ¾” thick polished Italian marble sitting in a container. Apparently the buyer who purchased the stone many months earlier no longer needed or wanted the stone. The shipping container held the exact amount of stone we needed to within 10 square feet of what the design called for. I gratefully purchased the stone. Now I needed a place to send the stone to be cut and fabricated.
I placed several calls to find a stone fabricator, who would take the stone and cut it to the sizes specified by the designers. Every fabricator I called said their production lines were scheduled out for months and couldn’t be interrupted. Days later I was notified by a fabricator that he had a window suddenly become open and could cut the stone. I immediately called the individual who found the container of stone in Los Angeles and gave him an address to ship the stone. I then called the firm producing the shop drawings and fabrication tickets and requested that the drawings and tickets immediately be sent to the stone fabricator. The stone fabrication would take 3 – 5 weeks, meaning stone installation would commence a week or two before the Open House and continue until the time of the temple dedication.
Meanwhile, the work to complete the interior of the temple continued. The superintendent watched in disbelief as things miraculously came together with the façade.
The final step in this process was to install the stone on the façade. I called several installers and none had the time or willingness to come to New York and install stone on such short notice. Once again the Lord intervened. Several days later I received a call from an out-of-state installer that said a project had fallen through and he now had a crew available to install stone if I still needed them. I called my superintendent and we arranged for the crew to come to New York when the first shipment of stone arrived, which was about the end of April.

As the crew mobilized to begin work, we were again interrupted. Unions are very prominent in New York. The Union began to form picket lines at the temple site because our workers were not from New York. The designated completion date for the project was rapidly approaching, but once again the work was halted while we worked on toward an equitable solution. Through creative negotiating, we were able to resolve the union issue amicably and resume work. It was now the beginning of May and time for the Open House to begin. In spite of the numerous delays we had encountered, the work on the façade of the temple had steadily progressed, and of necessity, continued through the Open House. Even with this disruption, visitors could feel the sacredness of the temple. There were moments when I worried that the temple wouldn’t be completed in time for the dedication, but we continued to press forward. After many long days and long hours, the work was finally completed at the last possible moment. The last planter was placed in the temple entry within 30 minutes of President Hinckley’s arrival to tour the temple just prior to the dedication on June 13, 2004. After the dedication of the Manhattan New York temple, the project superintendent approached me to say it was an absolute miracle we had finished the temple in time. I knew what he didn’t. It was entirely through the Lord’s hand that the temple was finished in time for the dedication. Faith requires that we do all we can to bring about the things we hope and pray for.

Near the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, eggs were hard to come by, so my husband and I decided it was time to get backyard chickens. During her first Utah winter, Alvin, our top chicken and spunkiest hen, who, yes, was named after a chipmunk, stopped eating and got deathly ill. To nurse her back to health, we brought her inside and started force-feeding her medicine from a syringe. After a couple of weeks, she started to regain her strength, so we decided to let her outside for a few hours.

As the other five hearty chickens eagerly ran to greet me, I set Alvin down. Then, to my horror, one by one, Alvin aggressively pecked and attacked each of the other hens. Alvin, my smallest hen, barely well enough to walk, made sure the hens did not forget that she was at the top of the pecking order. As top chicken in my flock, Alvin feeds first, expects to get the best nesting box for laying eggs, and sleeps in the best spot on the perch at night. She has no problem pecking the other chickens and putting them in their place.

Chickens love to feed together, preen together, and stay together. Despite their close-knit community, they are prone to bullying and harassing any chicken they deem as being weaker, different, injured, or new.

When it comes to God’s children, there is no pecking order. One person does not stand above another. Comparing yourself to others or demeaning them does not increase your value or make you better. There is no joy in jealousy, no progression in putting others down, and no strength in backstabbing. These things lead to low self-esteem, incorrect self-expectations, and wasted time and effort.

A year after Cyclone Gabrielle tried to erase it from existence, the primary school of a small New Zealand community continues to forge ahead, conducting classes in the Nuhaka meetinghouse of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
And now students have a playground, donated through the efforts of many others throughout the country, who have pitched in to help the school thrive.
On 11 February 2023, Cyclone Gabrielle raced through New Zealand’s Hawke’s Bay, and left in its wake destruction and suffering. The Nuhaka Primary School in the small Hawke’s Bay community of the same name suffered extensive damage and was finally declared uninhabitable.
But through a unique collaboration between The Church and the Ministry of Education, the school obtained a wonderful solution to this and moved into the Nuhaka meetinghouse to hold classes.
Nine months later, the school continued to thrive in the church meetinghouse-turned-school during the week and students have settled in, enjoying the benefits of meeting in a building that has been dedicated to the Saviour, Jesus Christ.
Principal Raelene McFarlane said the use of the Church’s meetinghouse has been an answer to many prayers in the small community. Nine months after the school moved into the building, the results couldn’t have been better.
There have been hiccups—an October 2023 rainstorm washed dirt and debris from farmland through a back door and into the building, necessitating the temporary removal of the school to the local M?ori marae (community building) while the mud was cleaned up and the carpets were replaced. But McFarlane says the kids have proven very resilient and were anxious to come back to this building.
“What are the odds of having to pack up twice?” McFarlane said with a laugh. “The marae welcomed us in, and Maui (Aben, the president of the Gisborne New Zealand Stake) arrived that afternoon with the facilities maintenance people, and we got everything in motion to take care of that issue really fast,” McFarlane said.
But five weeks later, when school began again, they were still missing a key component of all elementary schools—a playground area. While there was plenty of grass around the Nuhaka Ward meetinghouse, there were not many shady trees and nothing to climb.
Enter Pacific Assist Foundation. As detailed last September, Pacific Assist Director Callum Blair was able to obtain some stored equipment from Torbay School in Auckland.
After a few months tying down some loose ends, it was shipped to Nuhaka and installed, along with some overhead shade provided by the Church, with the assistance of local missionaries in February.
Elder Nathan Woods, of Garden City, Utah, USA, and Elder Jacob Hughes of Branson, Missouri, USA assisted in the installation of the playground, along with Blair and other members of his Pacific Assist Team. Elder Woods said he and Elder Hughes were delighted to be of assistance.
“As missionaries, we cherish opportunities to serve others,” Woods said. “When you help others, it helps you remember the times that people have helped you, and you remember how it feels and how much those people mean to you.”
Elder Hughes agreed, noting that the opportunity to serve is an opportunity to grow as a person and to appreciate others even more. “It’s amazing to know that when we serve those around us, God remembers that effort.”
He continued, “I think when I get to help someone in a way that brings them joy, it gives me a glimpse of the love He has for them. It was an awesome experience to see how excited everyone was who helped with this.
“They just knew how much joy it would bring to these children who had gone through so much.”
And the kids really appreciated the effort expended to make it possible for them. “They were so excited when it was finally ready for them,” McFarlane said. “We couldn’t keep them focused on their work, so we finally just told them to go try it out!”
Meanwhile, the old primary school is being removed and a new school is being planned for the same site. While McFarlane hopes the new school will be completed and ready to move into in 2025, she says she, her staff and students are so grateful for the gift of the use of the Nuhaka Ward meetinghouse they have now.
“Having to go to the marae last October really reminded us how fortunate we were to be able to hold school in this building,” she reflects. “Everything we need now is here, and we’re able to teach our students all the things they need to grow and thrive.
“It is such a blessing and I’m sure, after we eventually move out into our own new space, that we’ll all look back on our time here with tremendous fondness and gratitude,” McFarlane said. “These kids will remember and talk about this for the rest of their lives.”

After the two brothers returned to surrender state arms as ordered by the governor, Leonora Taylor was in the Smith home when the Prophet went again to say goodbye. And as he turned away, he said “Well, if they don’t hang me I don’t care how they kill me.”

It seemed likely that Willard Richards overheard that statement and that that is why, in the last moments, he offered – and he meant it – to be hanged in the Prophet’s stead. The Prophet’s statement also tells us that he hadn’t yet been made to know exactly how he would die. There had been threats, one of them published in the newspaper, that his enemies would, as the letter said, “make catfish meat of him.”

There was also the problem of a reward offered by the Missourians. They had placed a price on his head – they would pay a thousand dollars for his delivery. So he did not know how he would end his life, but he did not relish the thought of hanging.

Mary Ellen Kimball overheard the Prophet say, as the group stopped to ask for a drink of water on the way to Carthage that morning, “Brother Rosenkranz, if I never see you again, or if I never come back, remember that I love you.” She felt that to her soul, and fled and wept on her bed.

And then there was the pause the group made at the temple, where the Prophet lovingly surveyed that building, the city, the landscape, and then said; “This is the loveliest place and the best people under the heavens; little do they know the trials that await them.”

When they were several miles out from Nauvoo he instructed – and that’s the only way he could get them to do so – that many who had ridden that far with him turn around and go back. John Butler recorded:

We were all willing to live or die with him. Brother Joseph spoke to us all and told us that he was like a lamb led to the slaughter. He also spoke to Brother Hyrum and wished him to return home with us.

We begged him to let us stay with him and die with him, if necessary, but he said, no, we were to return to our home, and Brother Hyrum said that he would stay with Brother Joseph. He blessed us and told us to go. We bade them farewell, and started. We had twenty miles to ride, and we went the whole distance with out uttering one word.

All were dumb and still and all felt the Spirit, as I did myself. I cannot express my feelings at that time, for they over powered me.

As I turned and as we rode away I felt as I suppose the ancient disciples of Christ felt when he said, ‘I must be crucified.

They also stopped at the Fellows’ farm after being met by a menacing group on horseback from Carthage, and Joseph went in and countersigned Governor Ford’s order for the surrender of all state arms in possession of the Nauvoo Legion.

“I am not afraid to die,” he said,