Gospel Story Finder

The next time we caught some tadpoles, we made sure we took the fighting fish out of the aquarium. Then the tadpoles lived just fine. One morning when we woke up, however, they were all gone; and in their places were some tiny toads. We rushed into Mom and Dad’s bedroom to tell them. They could hardly believe that the tadpoles had changed so fast.

When the toads grew bigger, we let them live in our flower beds. They slept during the day and came out at night to catch insects on our lawn. In the winter they buried themselves in the ground and hibernated.

As Church members unearthed their ancestral past, Sister Stoffers began wondering how they might experience the joy of serving in the temple on their ancestors’ behalf, given the expense of traveling to the Santo Domingo Dominican Republic Temple.
Considering her resources, she remembered the youth and adults in her home ward near Ogden, Utah, USA. With their enthusiasm to serve, could they fill the gap and help their brothers and sisters in Barbados?
Sister Stoffers’s home-ward bishop liked the plan and rallied the support of youth and adults. Soon, names from Barbados were being shared instantly on FamilySearch.
Now, as often as their schedule permits, a battalion of youth converge on the Ogden Utah Temple, where Bishop Rob Smout pulls from a stack of ordinance-ready printouts to divvy among the youth. The talkative youth grow whisper quiet as they contemplate the unusually spelled names of people with whom they have no connection but feel a spiritual kinship.
Participation has been widespread across the ward. On certain Saturdays, a family of five boys arrives early at the temple to enjoy the sunrise over the Wasatch mountains before performing baptisms.
“It’s become a ward quest,” said Bishop Smout. “It has united the ward. Many have become involved and take names routinely, including those who haven’t attended the temple in years. Others have come back into activity to participate.”

It was family home evening, and everybody had a part to do. Mom was conducting. Dad was giving the lesson. The kids were in charge of prayer, music, and activity—except for Thomas. This week it was Thomas’s turn to bear his testimony, and he was feeling kind of embarrassed.
Thomas had shared his testimony before, but it had been a long time, and he couldn’t quite remember what he was supposed to say. So when the opening song was over and the prayer had been said, Thomas frowned.
“It’s your turn,” Mom reminded him.
Thomas looked out the window at their evergreen tree, wishing somehow it could tell him what to do.
Dad sat down next to Thomas and asked him what was wrong.
“I don’t know what a testimony is,” Thomas said quietly.
“Well, I can help you,” Dad said. “It’s telling us some of the things you know are true or things you believe. You could talk about how you like reading scriptures. That always helps you feel the Spirit.”
But Thomas wasn’t feeling ready. Everyone was looking at him, waiting for him to do something. He shook his head. “I can’t. I don’t know what it is.”
Dad patted Thomas’s arm. “It’s OK. You can do it another time.”
Later that evening Thomas sat in bed holding his Book of Mormon. Dad was right—reading the scriptures always did make him feel better. He tried to read a chapter a day, but the chapters were starting to get really long. He opened his scriptures to 1 Nephi 17.
“That’s a long one!” Thomas whispered. He said a little prayer to Heavenly Father asking for help. Then he was amazed at how quickly the time passed.
Just before Thomas turned out his light, Dad came in to say good night.
“Guess what, Dad?”
“What’s that, buddy?”
“I haven’t read my scriptures for a whole week because the chapters were getting too long. But tonight I wanted to, so I said a prayer, and Heavenly Father helped me. I read the whole thing, and it felt like only five minutes. Prayer is a good thing.”
“Thomas, do you know what you just said?” Dad asked with a smile. “You shared your testimony!”
“Really?” Thomas asked. “What do you mean?”
“When you talked about prayer and how it helped you—that’s a testimony of prayer.”
Thomas’s mouth dropped open in surprise. He thought about all the times people had taught him about testimony. He realized he had shared a testimony!
Thomas felt so good he felt like laughing. He gave Dad a hug.
“Wow, I did it!” Thomas said. “Dad, can I bear my testimony next week in family home evening? I know it’s not my turn, but I want to talk about prayer.”
“I think that’s a great idea,” Dad said.
As Dad left the room, Thomas thought about all that had happened that day. He was grateful for family, scriptures, prayer, and many other things. Right then, he was most grateful for a testimony. He knew how to share one and what it meant.

There are other impediments to our doing unto "the least of these, my brethren." One is a subtle cynicism and mockery of those who do try to do good the best way they know how. I remember the heartbreak of a story about a new convert who was so full of the joy and light of his own conversion that he wanted to express his love and appreciation to everybody. He would come early to sacrament meetings and go about shaking hands with everyone, old and young. Perhaps he was a little too effervescent, but I think his enthusiasm for greeting people did the ward good, until one poor irritated soul said to him, "Oh, go sit down, George, people will think you're running for Bishop." A few people around him laughed at the joke. George, however, was absolutely crushed that his genuinely loving behavior was held up to public ridicule. He sank within himself and was never the same again.

Moroni gave Joseph possession of the plates, breastplate, and interpreters on September 22, 1827. When Joseph Smith first put on the spectacles, “his entire past history [was] revealed to him,” David Whitmer recounted. This experience, Whitmer believed, helped Joseph recognize the greater supernatural power God had now given him. Joseph Knight Sr., who was at the Smith home in Palmyra when Joseph returned from the Hill Cumorah, remembered conversing with Joseph about the sacred relics the morning after he gained possession of them. “It is ten times Better than I expected,” he remembered Joseph saying. He recalled further the Prophet’s particular fascination with the spectacles. “He seamed to think more of the glasses or the urim and thummim then [than] he Did of the Plates,” wrote Knight, “for, says he, ‘I can see any thing; they are Marvelus.’” Indeed they were, for as the Prophet’s mother, Lucy Mack Smith, recalled, by means of the instrument “the angel showed him many things which he saw in vision.” One major purpose of the spectacles (and also the seer stone) was to help protect the plates and Joseph’s life. Lucy said her son “always kept the Urim and Thummim about his person” so “he could also ascertain, at any time, the approach of danger, either to himself or the Record.”

In January 2019, Brother Santosh came to Kolkata from Odisha to receive the ordinance of baptism. He came to know about the gospel in a very challenging time of his life. During that time, the scriptures comforted him and helped him to overcome the hardships he faced. The story of Alma’s faith has taught us that when we sow love, we receive love. And just like Alma, Brother Santosh had felt the same love of the Savior. His quest to know about the only true Church, led him to contact the Elders through internet. As he came to know more about the gospel, he felt the Spirit testify to him about the truthfulness of the gospel and the Church. He feels extremely happy about his decision and truly blessed to be a part of the Church.

In 2006, Elder Henderson and I went to live in Malawi, Africa. The company that Elder Henderson worked for had a desire to help thousands of orphan children who were dying of starvation. It was hard work in that poor country, but Elder Henderson and his colleagues built a food factory, gave jobs to many workers, and were able to feed about 80,000 children every day. It was a great experience to help so many children.
We lived in the capital city of Lilongwe. There were only a few members of the Church and no church meetings. We had a small truck, and Elder Henderson and I started to do missionary work at night. We began to hold Sunday meetings in a room where corn was stored. We found a member of the Church, Brother Ntoloa. He now was married to a lady who was not a member, and they had a little boy. One night, we visited their one-room house in a cornfield to teach Sister Ntoloa the gospel. They had one light in the room, and we could all sit together as we taught this dear lady about the Savior and the Book of Mormon. As we were starting, it began to rain. The little house had an iron roof, so the rain was very, very loud. Then… the electricity went off. Quickly, they brought two small candles for light.
“What shall we do to teach Sister Ntoloa?” we thought. It felt so empty and cold, and rain was pounding down. Then Elder Henderson turned to 3 Nephi, the story about the Savior coming to the people in America after the resurrection. We took turns reading by the small light. We had to read loudly to hear each other. When we read about Jesus Christ showing his hands and feet, a very strong feeling came into the room. The Holy Ghost came into the dark and cold and touched our hearts that the story was true. We felt warm and close. Sister Ntoloa could feel the Savior’s love for her.
Sister Ntoloa followed the feelings of the Holy Ghost and was baptized. She made the covenants of baptism that her husband had made, and together, they started a new life. Brother Ntoloa was a schoolteacher. They were poor but began to pay their tithing. One month, the government did not give the teachers their salary. Three weeks went by with no pay, and one night, the family only had a little corn to eat – not enough for the three of them. Brother Ntoloa told his wife to cook the corn. Then they went down on their knees as a family, and the father prayed. He told Heavenly Father that they had done all they could. They walked five miles to church every Sunday. They had stopped drinking tea and were keeping the Word of Wisdom. He had worked hard, and they had kept the covenants they had made when baptized, including paying their tithing. Now, they did not have enough to eat.
As they said “amen,” someone knocked at their door. It was a friend who had his arms full of lovely vegetables. He said that he had some very good luck and had extra and asked if they wanted to share his food.
They were able to have a good meal that night. It was a miracle. The Ntoloas learned that the Lord would keep His promises to them. On Monday, Brother Ntoloa received his pay. His wife started to go to school and also became a schoolteacher. Soon our little church group grew to be a branch, and Brother Ntoloa was called as the branch president or bishop. They had kept their covenants with faith. God had poured out His blessings. They were a happy family in their little house, and now they were leading and showing others how to have the same blessings.

In another instance, a Laurel class president determined that she was going to fulfill her responsibility to activate a girl even though her leaders felt the situation was almost hopeless. Her bishop told her that because of some problems in the home and for other reasons, there was very little chance this girl would ever come to church. The other class members laughed when they learned helping this girl come back to church was to be one of the goals of their class president.
Nevertheless, she was determined to become friends with this girl and asked for and got the help of a neighbor girl as well. They began by saying “Hi” whenever they saw her and always stopping to talk to her for a minute. Then they started finding reasons to visit her. She was selected to be a member of the Booster Club (an organization whose purpose is to boost the morale of the team) for her high school wrestling team. The Laurel class president took her a flower and a note expressing congratulations. This process went on for three or four months. Finally, one Sunday the girl accepted an invitation to come to Sunday School. The next week she was there again, and that week she also attended Mutual. Because of her courage and faith, a young Laurel influenced a girl of her own age to take the first step toward activity in the Church.

While still a BYU student himself, my father—like almost every graduate in this auditorium—was profoundly touched by the mentoring and friendship of remarkable professors at this university. He particularly recalls a conversation with Dr. Robert K. Thomas, who served as the university’s provost.

“The problem,” said Dr. Thomas, “is that so many of our students leave with the idea that they should seek material prosperity, worldly influence, and prestige—that this is what the Lord meant when He said, ‘Let your light so shine before men.’”

Then, lifting his hand and tracing a rising arc, he said, “But all too often, by the time their star is up—the light is out.”

Looking my father squarely in the eye, he said, “Don’t let that happen to you.”

Sister Jensen was facing some difficult problems. She had prayed for help and for peace of mind, but the answers seemed slow in coming. One particularly frustrating day, she cried out in prayer, “O God, why hast thou turned away from me when I need thy help?”
“Then to my mind,” she recalls, “came the still, small voice. It seemed to say, ‘When have I forsaken you? Was I not there when … ?’ Suddenly I remembered the many, many times in my life when I had received the Lord’s help and when I had felt of his great love for me. It was I who had not remembered him.”

I remember reading about a young Heber J. Grant being asked by the First Presidency to go down to Provo, Utah, and ask Brother Jesse Knight to give the Church $5,000. The Church was in very serious financial trouble, and $5,000, along with some money being given by some other brethren of means in the Church, would keep the Church financially solvent for a period of time.

Elder Grant made an appointment and visited with Brother Jesse Knight who was one of the richest men in Utah and in the Church at the time. Brother Knight had found a very rich silver mine and had stated that the Lord had led him to it in order to bless the Church.

Elder Grant told "Uncle" Jesse, as he was called, that the First Presidency needed $5,000. Uncle Jesse was not happy with the request, as the First Presidency was coming to him again and again with such requests. "Look, Heber" he said, "I've done about all I can do. Now you had better take your request elsewhere." To which Elder Grant replied, "I only ask one promise: go home and pray about it tonight. In the morning, I'll be back and you can answer no or yes; but all I ask is that you tell me what you really feel after you have prayed." Brother Knight agreed to that.

That night when he prayed, he heard a voice say, "Give my servant Heber $10,000." "But Lord," he exploded, "Heber only asked for $5,000!" "Give Heber $10,000."

Well, when Elder Grant showed up the next morning, there was a $10,000 check waiting for him. Brother Knight said, "Take it and go and don't ever ask me again to pray about a donation."

As some of you might know, Brother Knight literally gave his entire fortune away before he died to support the Church and BYU. Without him, BYU would have closed its doors.

Sister Bonnie L. Oscarson’s great-grandmother was named Isabelle. When Isabelle was 12 years old, she was hired as a servant by a rich family. Not only did she get paid for her work, she also received dance lessons, beautiful clothing, and trips to the theater with the family.
When the family decided to move away four years later, they asked if they could adopt Isabelle. This would mean Isabelle could have nicer things and her family would have more money. However, it would also mean that Isabelle would not be raised in the Church. Isabelle’s mother decided that Isabelle should stay with her family, even though they were poor, so that she could be raised in the Church.
Sister Oscarson said she was grateful for this decision because now Isabelle’s descendants are members of the Church. (See “Be Ye Converted” from the Sunday morning session.)

As an example of this I would like to tell you about a wonderful mission president and his darling wife I met while I was on was on a church assignment in Argentina. I had occasion to ask him how he came to join the church. He told me that as a teenager, one day he was with some friends looking for something to do. They invited him to come to a church dance with them that night. So he did. He said, “I loved the way everyone treated me. I loved the music they played. I loved the way I felt while I was there.” So he asked his friends if he could come to church with them the next day and they happily agreed to take him. He had those same kinds of feelings when he was at church. By the way, that teaches the principle that the spirit can be felt when we are participating in good, wholesome recreation as well as in the reverence of a church meeting. Remember the thought “when I do good, I feel good.” Well, one thing led to another and he was taught the gospel, joined the church and soon went on a mission. When he returned from his mission he began going to institute and young adult activities where he met the lovely young woman who became his wife. They were married in the temple and in due time had their first baby. With reverence in his voice he said “When it was time for that baby to receive a name and a blessing, I could do it because I held the Priesthood. That day I was so thankful for the great blessing of the Priesthood. When it was time for the child to be baptized he, of course was able to baptize and confirm the child because, and he said it with awe, I held the priesthood.

The years passed and he continued to faithfully serve where called in the church, always thankful for the blessings his membership brought. Then he told me, “When my child was ready to receive a patriarchal blessing, I was serving as the Stake Patriarch and I was able to give the blessing to my own child. Time went on and so did his service in the church and then the day came when his child was ready to be married in the Temple of the Lord. At that time he was serving as a sealer in the temple and had the humbling privilege of performing the eternal marriage ordinance for his own child.”

He was overwhelmed with the blessings that had come into his life because he had gone to a church activity to have fun, where he felt the spirit of the Lord.

We have all seen recent images in the news: thousands of evacuees being flown from Afghanistan. Many arrived at air bases or other temporary locations in Qatar, the United States, Germany, and Spain before continuing to their final destinations. Their needs were immediate, and the Church responded with supplies and volunteers. At Ramstein Air Base in Germany, the Church provided large donations of diapers, baby formula, food, and shoes.

Some of the Relief Society sisters noticed that many Afghan women were using their husbands’ shirts to cover their heads because their traditional head coverings had been ripped off in the frenzy at the Kabul airport. In an act of friendship that crossed any religious or cultural boundaries, the sisters of the Ramstein First Ward gathered to sew traditional Muslim clothing for Afghan women. Sister Bethani Halls said, “We heard that women were in need of prayer garments, and we are sewing so that they can be [comfortable] for prayer.”

After winning a silver medal in the 1960 Olympic 400-meter hurdles in Rome, Cliff Sushman fell in the 1964 Olympic trials and missed a chance to go to Tokyo. Several fans in his hometown wrote to Cliff expressing sympathy. His reply:
“Don’t feel sorry for me. I feel sorry for some of you.
“In a split second all the many years of training, pain, sweat, blisters, and agony of running were simply and irrevocably wiped out. But I tried. I would much rather fall knowing I had put forth an honest effort than never to have tried at all … Each of you is capable of trying to make your own personal Olympic team, whether it be a school football team, the singing club, the List of students who receive high grades in school, or whatever your role may be. Unless you strive to achieve more than is readily available to you, how can you be sure what you can attain?
“… Certainly I was disappointed in falling flat on my face. However, there is nothing I can do about it now but get up, pick the cinders from my wounds, and take one more step, followed by one more and one more, until the steps turn into kilometers and the kilometers turn into success.
“I know that I may never reach my goal. The odds are against me, but I have something in my favor—desire and faith.
“Some of you have never known the satisfaction of doing your best in sports, the joy of excelling in class, the wonderful feeling of completing the job and looking back on it knowing you have done your best.
“… There is plenty of room at the top, but no room for anyone to sit down.”

Acts of selfless service are performed daily by countless members of the Church. There are many which are freely given, with no fanfare or boasting, but rather through quiet love and tender care. Let me share with you the example of one who made such a simple yet profound choice to serve.

A few years ago, Sister Monson and I were in the city of Toronto, where we once lived when I was the mission president. Olive Davies, the wife of the first stake president in Toronto, was gravely ill and preparing to pass from this life. Her illness required her to leave her cherished home and enter a hospital which could provide the care she needed. Her only child lived with her own family far away in the West.

I attempted to comfort Sister Davies, but she had present with her the comfort she longed to have. A stalwart grandson sat silently next to his grandmother. I learned he had spent most of the summer away from his university studies, that he might serve his grandmother’s needs. I said to him, “Shawn, you will never regret your decision. Your grandmother feels you are heaven-sent, an answer to her prayers.”

He replied, “I chose to come because I love her and know this is what my Heavenly Father would have me do.”

Tears were near the surface. Grandmother told us how she enjoyed being helped by her grandson and introducing him to each employee and every patient in the hospital. Hand in hand, they walked the halls, and during the night he was close by.

Olive Davies has passed on to her reward, there to meet her faithful husband and together continue an eternal journey. In a grandson’s heart there will ever remain those words, “Choose the right when a choice is placed before you. In the right the Holy Spirit guides.”

In my late teens I joined the Church against the wishes of my family. When I was in my 20s, I began working on my family history after my father passed away. Soon after, I became a busy wife and mother raising young children, and the family history work stopped.
Because I didn’t have any family in the Church, I had a strong desire to research my family history. I loved doing it and always longed to have more time to work on it.
When I was 33, my life took an unexpected turn when my health began to decline. Where I once was able to hike with my family, taking a walk around the block became difficult. Cleaning house in two hours on a Saturday became impossible, and I was just happy if I could get through vacuuming. Where I once had a large circle of friends, now my circle of friends declined because I could no longer be there for them as I had in the past.
It was at this time that I began to take up my family history again. My daughter began doing research for her dad’s side and in one evening completed work that had taken me years to do. I completed several generations on my line and submitted the names to the temple for the work to be completed. I had always wanted to go through the temple for my family members myself, but my health and the distance from the temple made it impossible.
After submitting the names, I began to cry, feeling like I had let my family members down since I wouldn’t be there with them on the special day the ordinances were done for them. A week later as I logged on to FamilySearch.org to check the progress of their temple work, I saw something amazing. Not only was the work being completed, but members in the Accra Ghana Temple were doing the work! I was so surprised to see members halfway around the world completing temple work for my little family. I burst into tears again thinking of the sacrifices of the people in Ghana as they made their way to the temple for my family. I am so grateful for those members of the Accra Ghana Temple district who did what I could not: attend the temple and grant my family the blessing of temple ordinances.

When I was 14 years old, on a beautiful August morning, Elder Prina and Elder Perkins knocked at our door. They began teaching our family about the true nature of God. In the visits that followed, they taught us how to pray. They also taught us about the Restoration and the plan of salvation. After the third or fourth visit, most of my family stopped listening to the missionaries, except for my 17-year-old sister, Dina, and me. We both felt the witness of the Holy Ghost in our hearts and received the spiritual confirmation that the message was true.
We bought a copy of the Book of Mormon and began reading it. Every day after school, we would race home to get to the book first. While the first one home was reading, the other one impatiently waited until mealtime, ate in a hurry, and then took her turn reading until bedtime. Such was the excitement we felt. We started attending church, and soon we asked to be baptized. Our father readily gave his permission, but our mother was hesitant, and it took one more month to persuade her to sign the permission slip. On the day of our baptism, she and the rest of our siblings went to church for the first time. She felt the Spirit. After hearing our testimonies, she went to the missionaries and asked them to start teaching her again. A few weeks later, Mother and our younger sister and brothers were baptized. My life changed forever, and the gospel of Jesus Christ became the compelling force in my life.

During one of Joseph F.'s visits to Hawaii, his friend Charles Nibley saw an elderly woman emerge from the crowd calling, "Iosepa, Iosepa." Joseph F. immediately embraced her and, with tears streaming down his face, he explained, "Charley, she nursed me when I was a boy, sick and without anyone to care for me. She took me in and was a mother to me!"

That saintly woman, Ma Manuhii, outlived President Smith and attended the dedication of the Laie Temple in 1919. Blind and crippled, she had to be carried into the temple but, while there, she was moved to tears when she heard Iosepa's familiar voice say, "Aloha."

This story took place in the USA.
“Magnolia! Lily!” Dad called. “Time for scriptures and prayer!”
Magnolia flopped on the floor next to their dog, Raindrop. Lily snuggled in her favorite blanket.
Family scripture time was fun. Sometimes they acted out the scripture stories together. It helped Magnolia picture the stories. Plus, Raindrop always helped when there were animals in the stories!
Dad opened his scriptures and read a verse. Then he passed the big, heavy Bible to Magnolia. They each took turns reading.
“And be ye kind one to another,” Magnolia read.*
She frowned. People weren’t always kind to her at church.
“Mom, Dad, can I talk to you about something?” she asked.
“Of course,” said Mom. “What is it?”
“At Primary yesterday, some kids told me we aren’t a good family because Dad isn’t a member of our church.”
Magnolia’s dad belonged to a different church. He went to sacrament meeting with their family on Sundays. He gave talks about the Holy Ghost at Lily’s and Magnolia’s baptisms. Everyone said he did a great job. He was an amazing dad.
“What they said made me want to cry.” Magnolia sniffed. “Why do people have to be so mean?”
Mom and Dad looked at each other.
“I’m glad you told us what happened,” Dad said. “Mom and I love each other very much. And our family is very important to us.”
Mom nodded. “And our family is important to Heavenly Father too. He loves all His children.”
Raindrop snuggled up to Magnolia. She scratched his ears.
“Heavenly Father knows us, and He knows we love each other,” Dad said. “No family is perfect, but we can keep trying our best.”
“But it still hurts when people say mean things about our family,” Magnolia said. “Jesus taught us to be kind to everyone. Saying mean things doesn’t seem like following Jesus.”
“You’re right,” said Dad. “Maybe when you feel like saying something mean, you can remember how you felt when others were unkind to you. Then you can say something kind instead.”
Magnolia took a big breath. “OK.” She was glad she could talk to Mom and Dad.
“Time for a family sandwich!” Dad pulled Lily and Magnolia into a big hug and squeezed them tight. Mom wrapped her arms around all three of them. Raindrop ran circles around everyone.
“I can’t breathe!” joked Lily. Magnolia laughed.
“Now remind me—whose turn is it to read?” Dad asked. He let go of the girls and picked up his scriptures.
“My turn!” said Lily. “And it’s Dad’s turn for prayer.”
When they finished reading, everyone knelt to pray. Magnolia felt peaceful as she listened to Dad say the prayer. She knew Heavenly Father loved her family.
Illustrations by Constanza Basaluzzo