Gospel Story Finder

Missionary work and service projects went together for the Modesto Sixth Ward, Modesto California Stake, when the young people in the ward met for a “Run and Rake.”
In teams of two, equipped with rakes and missionary pamphlets, each pair went from door to door asking if they could rake the leaves from people’s lawns and if they could leave a pamphlet about the Mormons. When their offer was accepted, the entire group lined up across the lawn, and in one sweep, the lawn was raked clean. The group was able to rake three blocks and place many pamphlets. The neighbors were impressed with the young people, and the missionaries gained two new investigators from the project.

When I was in fifth grade, I wasn’t what you would call “popular.” I was just known as a smart kid. I had a talent for cartooning, so one day I started drawing pictures of kids at school. I showed some people my drawings, and I was instantly popular. This was a dream come true! I couldn’t wait until lunch to draw more pictures. Then I remembered that I had promised to watch over the younger children on the playground during lunch break. But I still wanted to hang out with my new cool friends. What could I do? I prayed to Heavenly Father to ask. The answer didn’t come until lunchtime. I was eating and was about to choose to stay with my friends when I had a feeling that I should go do my job. I knew that the Holy Ghost had given me my answer. I watched over the children and knew in my heart that I had made the right choice.

I appreciated the article “How to Be a Disciple of Christ” by President Dieter F. Uchtdorf (August 2012). After I read it, I started thinking that I need to do more to share the gospel. Then an opportunity came. While on a field trip with my school band, a friend and I started to talk about my religion and how it started. He said, “I believe in God and that there is a right church, but how will I know which is the right one?” I told him about Joseph Smith and ended up telling him the story of the Book of Mormon and also the history of the Church up to when the Saints moved to Utah. The whole time, my friend was asking me questions about specific people and wanted me to tell him more stories of people in the Book of Mormon.
None of this would have happened if I hadn’t told him that I was a Latter-day Saint. We must always have the Spirit burning within us so that others may take notice of us and want the happiness that we have because of the gospel in our lives.

This story happened in Iceland.
“Higher!” Evolett said to her friend Anita. They were seeing how high they could jump on Evolett’s trampoline.
Just then, Anita jumped very high. When her feet landed again, it made Evolett fly up! Both girls crashed down on the trampoline. They laughed.
“This is so fun,” Anita said. “Can we play tomorrow too?”
Evolett flopped onto her back. “Yeah! I’d love to.”
“We can play at my granny’s house.” Anita’s granny lived a few houses away from Evolett.
Then Evolett remembered the next day was Sunday. She wanted to go to Primary. It would be fun to play with Anita, but she wanted to make a good choice.
“I just remembered I can’t,” Evolett said. “I’m sorry. I’m going to church with my family tomorrow.”
Anita stood up and bounced again. “Why?”
Evolett started jumping too. “Well, I want to follow Jesus Christ. My family goes to church every Sunday to learn about Him and take the sacrament.”
“What’s the sacrament?” Anita asked.
“That’s when we eat a small bite of bread and drink a little cup of water to remember Jesus Christ,” said Evolett. “Then people talk about how Jesus helps them. And after that, there’s a special class for kids!”
“That sounds fun!” Anita said. “Can I come?”
“Sure!” Evolett smiled.
Anita ran home to ask her granny if she could go to church with Evolett. The next morning, Evolett and her family picked up Anita on their way.
When they got to church, Evolett showed Anita around. She showed her the Primary room, the gym, and the chapel.
Soon it was time for sacrament meeting. Evolett and Anita sat together. Evolett tried to think of Jesus Christ during the sacrament. Then they listened to the talks.
Finally it was time for Primary! Evolett introduced Anita to some of her friends.
“This is my friend Anita,” Evolett said.
“We are so glad you came today. I am Sister Magnusson,” the Primary teacher said.
As Evolett and Anita listened to the lesson about Jesus Christ, Evolett felt happy inside. She liked being at church with Anita. She turned and smiled at Anita. Her friend smiled back.
“Thank you for inviting me,” Anita said on the way home.
Evolett was glad she could follow Jesus Christ. And she was glad that Anita wanted to learn about Him too.
It was fun to jump on a trampoline and fly in the air, but the warm feeling Evolett felt inside was even better.
Who could you invite to church with you?
Illustrations by Fiona Powers

“From infancy I had enjoyed the simplified and pictured Bible stories, but the original Bible seemed so interminable in length, so difficult of understanding that I had avoided it until a challenge came to me [as a teenager attending stake conference. The speaker] gave a discourse on the value of reading the Bible. In conclusion she asked for a showing of hands of all who had read it through. The hands that were raised out of the large congregation were so few and so timid! … I was shocked into an unalterable determination to read the great book.
“As soon as I reached home after the meeting I began with the first verse of Genesis and continued faithfully every day with the reading.
“What a satisfaction it was to me [a year later] to realize I had read the Bible through from beginning to end! And what exultation of spirit! …
“I commend it to you” (“What I Read as a Boy,” Children’s Friend, November 1943, 508).

Another sacred family history event also occurred while I served as a missionary. Upon arriving in Peru, I was assigned to Callao, the port of Lima. It was most remarkable because, unbeknownst to me at the time, the tombs of my Swiss ancestors were in that very city. A relative eventually told me about the tombs, but I was unable to find them before being transferred to another city.
However, I believe the Lord wanted me to find my ancestors. While missionaries are seldom assigned to the same branch twice, I was. Almost a year later, I came back to Callao, and this time I discovered there were two adjacent cemeteries, one where my Schlupp ancestors are buried and the other where the records (dating back to 1820) for the family are stored. Searching through the records, I finally came across what I was looking for: “Elizabeth Schlupp, 57 years old, buried September 16, 1875; Ana Maria Schlupp Kruse, 66 years old, buried January 24, 1918.” I had found my Swiss ancestors!
I was ecstatic. I was able to complete four generations of my family history at last. Of all the places I could have been assigned, the Lord had called me not once but twice to Callao—the place where I could locate my Swiss ancestors.

Kim has consistently worn modest clothing. The other day I asked for her opinion on what she considers to be a modest skirt, a modest blouse, and a modest swimsuit. Instead of coming up with exact measurements for hemlines and necklines, we discussed the principles surrounding modesty and the challenge of finding modest clothing that looks attractive. We had fun brainstorming ways to creatively lengthen a skirt. Finally Kim said, “If I’m not comfortable when I first put something on, it usually means it’s immodest and I won’t be comfortable wearing it. I’ve learned to never buy it. I just put it back on the rack.”

A year later, I reflected on the previous Christmas and thought about what I could do to have a better Christmas in the mission field. I realized that my feelings of sadness the year before came from focusing on myself instead of on the Savior. I also realized that Christmas is a time to remember the Savior’s birth and that I should be happy to serve Him as His representative.
In talking with my companion, we decided to buy lollipops to give to members, investigators, children, and anyone else we came across on Christmas Day. We also practiced Christmas hymns to sing. Joy flooded my heart on Christmas Day as we met with people, sang hymns, and gave away lollipops.

Another happy day she remembered was the day she met the missionaries.

“I have been a member about three and a half years. My mother—she’s not a member—says it happened by chance. Two elders knocked on our door and my father opened it. They taught us right then. My father, my elder sister, and I later joined the Church. My mother and my two brothers, 14 and 8, didn’t join. It’s a hard thing not having the whole family in the Church. Sometimes mom wants me to stay home and do chores instead of going to meetings. My sister and I try to do our best to keep up with the housework and to help each other out so we can still go. I need to have the Church and feel the Spirit. It’s worth all my life. When I don’t get to go to a meeting, I can tell I haven’t been. It’s easier to get depressed or upset. When I do go, my life feels more complete. I feel happy. My daily chores are a breeze.”

Four years ago, my husband and I were called to be over our ward trek, held in Wyoming at Martin's Cove. We have a large number of youth in our ward; when we made the reservations, the missionaries in charge of scheduling actually thought we were a stake. Even though our youth in the ward were extraordinary, our bishop realized the value of experiencing hard things for understanding and learning the gospel principles. We really wanted the youth to understand, if only minimally, a portion of the hardship that the pioneers faced.?As we planned the activities, we tried to add challenges—not to discourage but to encourage our youth to increase their faith to know they could do hard things.
We departed early from our Harvest Hills ward house at around 4:30 in the morning. We traveled 12 hours east through Western Wyoming until we landed with three buses and 120 youth at Martin's Cove.
Though wearied from travel, a meal and square dance were on the schedule. Around 7:00 p.m., the youth gathered with their assigned families and were instructed to prepare to start the trek.
There was a lot of energy and high spirits as each family loaded up their handcarts and lined up for our trek in the wilderness. By design, the youth didn't know how far our camp was when we took to the trail. There was laughter and singing of pioneer songs, but after the first hour, things started to quiet down. I'm sure the youth were all wondering at this point, "Are we there yet?" We trekked on for yet another hour. The shadows had grown past being distinguished from the light and had melted into dusk when we pulled up to an overlook of the Sweetwater River. There, a short devotional was given from 1 Nephi 17:13: "And I will also be your light in the wilderness; and I will prepare the way before you, if it so be that ye shall keep my commandments; wherefore, inasmuch as ye shall keep my commandments ye shall be led towards the promised land; and ye shall know that it is by me that ye are led."
The light from the dusk was all but gone.
After the devotional, the exhausted youth were instructed that we had yet further to go. "But the path is so dark," a youth commented. "How are we going to see to find our way?"
Then, on signal, the leaders handed each youth an industrial-strength glow stick to act as their "light in the wilderness"[9] to navigate in the dark and to help see the path as they moved forward into the unknown.
We expected there would be some grumbling and complaining, but it never surfaced. The youth seemed to understand the difficulty and sacredness of sacrifice. It was an amazing sight to see a line of yellow lights silently making their way along in the still, cool Wyoming night. One of our leaders, James Helfrich, reported,
"I was pushing the cart at night with Ben Orchard. We didn't know where the road was going, how long we had been pulling, or even what time it was. We only knew that the trail was leading us forward. Why did we follow the trail rather than go our own way? We didn't know who made the road or even where it would take us! This road was a metaphor for our travels through mortality. Rarely does the Lord give us a roadmap. He gives us instead a glimpse of just a few feet ahead and faithful Saints to follow. If we trudge on with all our strength, if we follow our leaders and try to be an example to those behind us, we will reach the end."
The youth walked an additional two hours in the dark until they came to our campsite. One of the most difficult unsung tasks was completed by the four couples who had gone ahead and set up the tents—in the dark, in a windstorm, with 20-plus variations of tents, and they still prepared scones for when the youth arrived. Both the leaders and the youth did hard things. Although exhausted, the first leg of their journey in the wilderness was completed. It wasn't cut short for any reason, and it was endured well. The youth had accepted the challenge and accomplished this hard thing.

“Two or three nights a week I would wake up, frightened, unable to go back to sleep. Eventually, I began to fear sleep itself,” says Jan Sara of South Jordan, Utah. “Well-meaning friends offered suggestions, but nothing helped. Every night I asked Heavenly Father to help me have a good night’s sleep, but every night I would awaken in fear. I began to wonder what was wrong with me.
“One night as I knelt to pray, instead of asking Heavenly Father to help me sleep, I asked him what I could do to get rid of my terrible dreams. A strong feeling came to me to read the scriptures before I went to sleep. I got out my Book of Mormon and turned to Alma 37:37: ‘Counsel with the Lord in all thy doings … ; yea, when thou liest down at night lie down unto the Lord, that he may watch over you in your sleep.’ Since that night, I have changed my scripture reading time from morning to just before I go to bed. The peaceful feelings that come to me as I ponder the Book of Mormon help me to sleep, and the nightmares have ended.”

When I was dating, I was seeking an eternal companion who would be a noble father. Since I grew up without that example in my childhood, it was harder for me to know all the characteristics that a noble earthly father should have. I was disappointed that my patriarchal blessing did not give more detailed direction about the person Heavenly Father wanted me to marry. It said only that I should seek someone who could take me to the temple. But even this seemingly simple instruction was challenged. Although I had some positive dating experiences, I often worried that either such a man did not truly exist or I was meant to suffer endless trials of the heart.
Despite my experience-driven anxiety, I continued to pray for a husband who would be a righteous father for my children, who would love them and stay present in their lives. Like my faithful mother, I knew that no matter what happened, I would be able to lean on my Eternal Father for support.
To my surprise and delight, my prayers were answered on Heavenly Father’s perfect timetable. It is healing for me to observe my husband’s loving example of what a father should be. I’m grateful he follows the examples set by prophets and apostles and that he chooses to cherish and love me unselfishly. His example as a loving husband also blesses our children. My heart is full of gratitude for his faithfulness through trials, his example of hard work, his worthiness to exercise the priesthood, and the pure, unwavering love he demonstrates as a young father.

I learned something of how prophets feel about those who may be left on the outside looking in — or in other words excluded. It is a simple story, but one that for me conveyed a powerful message. Some years ago I had been asked to make a brief report to the Church Board of Education regarding some things that were being done here to allow more students to attend our school. (I notice from a recent press release that you continue working to make that happen.) I made my report with some emphasis on how many fewer had been denied admission during the current year than had been the case for the previous year. It was a significant number, in the thousands. In retrospect, I think I may have sounded more pleased with that progress than I wish I had. As the report was concluded, there seemed a momentary silence, and then President Hinckley asked: "What happened to the "few" who were still not admitted?" His thought was not about the many who were in, but rather about the few who were not. With prophets as with temples the point is the inclusion of all who wish it.

President Grant loved his 10 daughters and was very close to them, but the fact that his only 2 sons died while still children was a deep and lasting sorrow to him.
Through many years of traveling to carry out his Church responsibilities, President Grant felt lonely whenever he was away from his family. His return home was marked with great joy. His daughters remember how on these occasions he would tell them of his experiences, walking around the house with a child on each foot and delighting in their company.12

I have noticed that quite often, when we talk about our Savior, we talk about the resurrection, but we rarely talk about what would have been our circumstances if there had been no atonement by Jesus. I remember a discussion in a class many years ago when I was a teenager, when one of the students asked the teacher—this was not here at BYU—what would have become of our spirits if there had been no redemption by Jesus.

He said, “Well, I do not know what would have happened to our spirits, but I give it as my guess that, if there were no atonement by Jesus, we would still go on to whatever degree of glory we had merited, but we would have to go there as spirits without bodies because Jesus brought to pass the resurrection, and if there were no resurrection we would have no bodies.”

None of us in the class knew enough about the gospel to know whether that was the right answer or not. But sometime later, on my mission, I was reading 2 Nephi and I realized that if Jacob had been in that meeting that day he would have said, “Now wait a minute. This is what the atonement of Jesus does for us. It not only brings the body forth from the grave, but it redeems the spirit from what otherwise would have been an endless, miserable condition with the devil.” Or, to say it in other words, every man, woman, and child, everybody who belongs to the family of Adam, would have become sons of perdition had there been no atonement by Jesus Christ. Jacob, knowing that and having commented upon it, then says these words—which we have already read but need to read again:

O how great the goodness of our God, who prepareth a way for our escape from the grasp of this awful monster; yea, that monster, death and hell, which I call the death of the body, and also the death of the spirit. [2 Nephi 9:10]

I knew I could pray with this kind of specificity because of a lesson I learned when I was a junior in college. I had started planning my summer, and my eyes were set on an internship in the western United States. I wasn’t interested in going home to Indiana that summer, and I worked really hard to ignore the quiet, persistent promptings from the Spirit that spending time at home was what would be best for me. But eventually, I couldn’t shake the feeling.

Still… I was not graceful about embracing this prompting in the beginning.

I remember praying, almost annoyed, saying, “Okay, Heavenly Father. If You really want me to go home, here’s what I’m going to need.” Then I laid it all out, very specifically, but not very tactfully. It’s a good thing He loves me, and you, enough to listen, even when we’re having and expressing growing pains. I prayed, saying:

It felt like an impossible list. But, Heavenly Father took my very specific, somewhat demanding prayer and answered it in the way I had hoped—down to the smallest detail. For me, it was a miracle.

The very next morning, I felt prompted to do something I’d never done before: I looked at the university's career website. Students, don’t wait like I did until your junior year to visit Career Services. Make an appointment with them this week; they will be happy to help you. Thankfully, my scrolling didn’t last long. My heart nearly skipped a beat when I saw a new posting—just three places from the top: marketing and communication, paid, a housing stipend, airfare to and from the internship? And, it was in my hometown—just three miles from my parents’ home. There was no reason for this regional company to advertise on a BYU–Idaho job board.

That summer taught me and reinforced something I’ll never forget: Heavenly Father knows me personally. He listens when I pray. And He is more than willing to grant blessings He’s already prepared for me—if I’ll just ask and be humble enough to act.

Being 14 years old this September, I started high school and seminary. With all my new responsibilities, I was beginning to feel less spiritual than I should. I needed something to renew my faith. I had been praying about it and was glad to come home from school and find the October New Era in the mailbox. It was just what I needed! I read it from cover to cover and was really inspired by all the articles, especially “I Thought You’d Never Ask,” “Treat Everyone As If He Were a Mormon,” and “That They May Know.” Two years ago a friend gave me a New Era subscription. I have since renewed it and plan on giving a subscription to a close friend on her birthday. Thank you for helping me to renew my faith.
A New Era ReaderCerritos, California

On 100-year-old Polk Street, teenagers are more often seen cruising than cleaning, but the youth in the Amarillo Texas Stake changed all that with a special service project.
In conjunction with the city’s “Help Beautify Amarillo” project, the teenagers decided to restore some pride to this historic section of town. They came armed with tools and soap to get rid of graffiti, broken bottles, and other litter. About 50 youth participated in the activity that was planned as part of the Stake Standards Night.
This was such an unusual activity for teenagers in this area that it attracted the attention of the local media and was reported on the front page of the paper. Many community leaders commented on the willingness of the youth to work for their community and expressed gratitude to them.
After the project was finished, they headed for the stake center for dinner and a program on individual self-worth, followed by a dance.

President Angel Alarcón from the Puente Piedra stake in Lima, Peru, shared the following experience with me: “Each Saturday, the missionaries, the bishop, some leaders from auxiliary organizations, and I visit less-active members, nonmembers, and new converts from 8:30 a.m. till noon.”
At this point of his story, the words of the hymn came to my mind:
Dear to the heart of the Shepherd,
Dear are the lambs of his fold;
Some from the pastures are straying,
Hungry and helpless and cold.
See, the Good Shepherd is seeking,
Seeking the lambs that are lost,
Bringing them in with rejoicing,
Saved at such infinite cost.
(“Dear to the Heart of the Shepherd,” Hymns, no. 221)
Brother Vargas, whose home was located in an area of limited access, received a call one Saturday morning. It was President Alarcón, calling from his mobile phone, announcing his arrival. Brother Vargas then said: “I am surprised; it is very hard to reach my house.”
To which came the reply: “Well, I am at your door right now, and I wish to speak to you. We need you, and we invite you to come to our Church meetings tomorrow.”
Then the man, who had stopped attending church for many years, replied, “I will be there.” Thus, he started his journey back home.

The second incident comes from a story told by Elder Russell M. Nelson of the Quorum of the Twelve.

[A] beautiful young mother named Svetlana [living in Leningrad, Russia] had importuned the Lord in prayer to make it possible for her to obtain a Bible written in the Russian language. Such a Bible [was] rare, precious, and very expensive. In the fall of 1989, she and her [family] went to Helsinki in quest [of] a Bible. While walking through a park in Helsinki, she stepped upon an object hidden beneath the ground cover of autumn leaves. She picked it up and found it to be the answer to her prayers. It was a Bible written in the Russian language. So excited was she that she joyfully recounted the story of this great discovery to another mother who was also in the park with her youngster. The second mother then [asked] Svetlana, “Would you like to have another book about Jesus Christ, also written in the Russian language?” Svetlana . . . answered in the affirmative. [Russell M. Nelson, “Drama on the European Stage,” Ensign,December 1991, p. 15; emphasis in original]

The Finnish woman, wife of a district president, gave Svetlana a copy of the Book of Mormon and invited her to church. Svetlana took the missionary lessons, joined the Church, and returned to Leningrad with her family. She then invited friends into her home, and many of them responded to the message of the missionaries and were baptized. Svetlana, her friends, and others like them are the pioneer foundation upon which the Church has been built in that part of the world.