Gospel Story Finder

The final point to consider is how and when to close the speech. Concluding remarks should be timed so that listeners feel refreshed rather than exhausted. Have you ever heard a speaker say four times, “In conclusion …” and then listened as he continued for another five or ten minutes each time? Equally as frustrating is a speaker who goes on and on after making his point. Mark Twain wrote:
“Some years ago in Hartford, we all went to church one hot, sweltering night to hear the annual report of Mr. Hawley, a city missionary who went around finding people who needed help and didn’t want to ask for it. He told of life in cellars, where poverty resided; he gave instances of heroism and devotion of the poor. ‘When a man with millions gives,’ he said, ‘we make a great deal of noise. It’s noise in the wrong place, for it’s the widow’s mite that counts.’
“Well, Hawley worked me up to a great pitch. I could hardly wait for him to get through. I had $400 in my pocket I wanted to give that and borrow more to give. You could see greenbacks in every eye. But instead of passing the plate, then, he kept on talking and talking, and as he talked it grew hotter and hotter, and we grew sleepier and sleepier. My enthusiasm went down, down, down—$100 at a clip—until finally when the plate did come around, I stole ten cents out of it.” (Thesaurus of Anecdotes, ed. Edmund Fuller, Crown Publishers: N.Y., 1942, pp. 58–59.) Don’t wait until the audience has quit listening before you quit speaking.

In Mexico City, Mérida, and Cancún, Mexico, Elder Cook ministered to Church leaders, members, missionaries and religious, government, and business leaders. A youth devotional attended by 800 youth from eight stakes in Mexico City was broadest to 38,000 youth throughout Mexico. And Elder Cook also spoke at a forum in the auditorium of the Mexican Senate, where he called for people of faith to stand firm and united in defending religious freedom.

But perhaps most humbling to me was to hear a single adult sister declare with the fire of pure testimony that the most important work we can do is to prepare for marriage and family. Although this is not her experience, she knows that family is the very heart of the work of salvation. “The divine plan of happiness enables family relationships to be perpetuated beyond the grave.”16 We honor the Father’s plan and glorify God when we strengthen and ennoble those relationships in the new and everlasting covenant of marriage. We choose to live pure and virtuous lives so that when the opportunity comes, we are prepared to make that sacred covenant in the house of the Lord and keep it forever.

My dad had joined the Church in Utah in December 1991. When he came back to Nigeria, we went to church for the first time. I got baptized in January 1992 when I was nine years old. When I was 14, the prophet, President Gordon B. Hinckley (1910–2008), came to Nigeria at Port Harcourt. My family drove from Owerri to Port Harcourt. When we were driving back, the airport is along the Owerri road, we saw the prophet’s car. We told my father “Follow him”.

I had a choice if I wanted to get baptized or not. I wanted to, but I wasn’t sure if I would be able to follow Jesus’s commandments. I thought and prayed, and one week after, I decided to get baptized. I am happy I was baptized.
Darci J., age 8, Utah, USA

I had just finished a round of cancer treatment in San Diego, California, USA, and needed to drive home, more than 600 (965 km) miles away. I was tired and lonely, and I prayed for help and guidance.
I had already made more than 50 weekly trips to San Diego for treatment at the cancer center there, but this trip was harder because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Pandemic restrictions prevented my wife from traveling with me, and I could not fly in an airplane because my doctors worried that I might catch the virus. If I got sick, I likely would not survive. Driving by myself was the only option.
My wife and mother called. They were both worried about me. It was going to be a long night.
When my ministering brother, Brother Brough, found out I was in San Diego and was about to drive home, he also became worried. He called to check on me and then organized a phone brigade. He asked several members of our elders quorum to take turns calling and talking to me for an hour. Their calls would keep me company, awake, and alert.
During my 10-hour drive, I enjoyed the companionship of these good brothers as they talked to me. As soon as each hour call ended, we would say our goodbyes. Then my phone would ring again, and I would happily put the new caller on my car speaker phone.
As I thanked each of the callers, they often said, “I am glad I could help. We are here for you, Brother.”
Remembering the kindness of these good brothers who took an hour out of their night to guide me safely home still brings tears to my eyes. It was indeed a long night, but I will always remember our conversations and the love these brothers showed me.

On one occasion, arrangements had been made for Elder Taylor to speak to a large group near Columbus, Ohio. Shortly before the meeting, some of the brethren overheard that several men were planning to tar and feather Elder Taylor.
Undaunted, Elder Taylor stood before the congregation and began his remarks by stating:
“I see around me the sons of … noble sires, who, rather than bow to the behests of a tyrant, pledged their lives, fortunes and sacred honors to burst those fetters, enjoy freedom themselves, bequeath it to their posterity, or die in the attempt. …
“… I have been informed that you purpose to tar and feather me, for my religious opinions. Is this the boon you have inherited from your fathers? Is this the blessing they purchased with their dearest hearts’ blood—this your liberty?”
Then, tearing open his vest, he said, “Gentlemen come on with your tar and feathers, your victim is ready.”8
The audience was silent, and no one moved. Elder Taylor paused for some moments, and then he continued to preach with power for nearly three hours.

Aïolah and Evaline V.
Aïolah V. of France is a 12-year-old Beehive. So is her sister Evaline, who turns 13 in a month. “I’m glad my sister is here to help me move from Primary into Young Women,” Aïolah says.
One of their favorite things is Personal Progress, but when they read about one goal, they laughed. “Learn to play a musical instrument,” it said.
“We’ve been playing for years,” Evaline says. But then they talked with their mother. She helped them to see that they could use music to fulfill another goal: service.
Aïolah and Evaline are now preparing to perform in sacrament meetings and talent nights, give concerts for children and seniors, and accompany missionaries as they sing.
“Personal Progress is nice,” Evaline says. “It lets you do what you love and do new things too.”

I was recently made aware of two visiting teachers who did all of the grocery shopping for an invalid sister for over a year. Then when she needed to have her blood pressure taken daily, they assumed that responsibility willingly.

Illustrations by Bryan Beach
K.C. played with his CTR ring during Primary. He tossed it from hand to hand.
Whoops! It slipped from his hands and fell to the ground. He couldn’t see where it fell. Then it was time to go to class.
After Primary was over, Sister Ballard saw a CTR ring on the floor. I wonder if K.C. left this behind, she thought.
She slipped it in her pocket to give to him later.
A few days later, K.C. realized he had lost his CTR ring. He looked everywhere, but he couldn’t find it.
K.C. knelt down. “Heavenly Father, please help me find my ring,” he prayed.
That same day, Sister Ballard was making dinner.
“Take K.C.’s CTR ring to him,” she felt the Spirit say.
I can’t go now, Sister Ballard thought. I’m too busy!
K.C. kept searching and praying. “Please, Heavenly Father,” he said. “Please help me find it.”
“Get K.C.’s CTR ring and take it to him,” Sister Ballard heard the Spirit say again.
She set down the carrots and went to get the ring.
K.C. came downstairs and told his mom what had happened.
“I’ve prayed and prayed, but I still can’t find it,” he said.
Just then, there was a knock at the door …
It was Sister Ballard!
“I felt like you needed this,” she said, handing K.C. his CTR ring.
K.C. smiled as he happily put his ring back on. His prayer had been answered!

The importance of taking advantage of every hour of precious time allotted to each of us here was impressed forcibly upon me by an incident in my own family. A young mother came with her beautiful flaxen-haired six-year-old daughter to her grandparents. The mother asked if we would like to hear a beautiful new children’s song which the daughter had just learned in her Primary class. While the little mother accompanied her, she sang:
“I am a child of God,
And he has sent me here,
Has given me an earthly home
With parents kind and dear.
“I am a child of God,
And so my needs are great;
Help me to understand His words
Before it grows too late.
“I am a child of God,
Rich blessings are in store;
If I but learn to do His will
I’ll live with him once more.
(Chorus)
“Lead me, guide me, walk beside me,
Help me find the way.
Teach me all that I must do
To live with him some day.”
—Sing with Me, no. B-76
Her grandparents were in tears. Little did they know then, that hardly before that little girl would have had the full opportunity for her mother to teach her all that she should know in order to return to her heavenly home, that the little mother would be suddenly taken away in death, leaving to others the responsibility of finding the answer to the pleadings of that childhood prayer, to teach and train and to lead her through the uncertainties of life.

Charles Francis Adams, grandson of the second president of the United States, was a successful lawyer, a member of the U.S. House of Representatives, and the U.S. ambassador to Britain. Amidst his responsibilities, he had little time to spare. He did, however, keep a diary. One day he wrote, “Went fishing with my son today—a day wasted!”

On that same date, Charles’s son, Brooks Adams, had printed in his own diary, “Went fishing with my father today—the most wonderful day of my life” (quoted in Scott Walker, Daily Guideposts: 1994 [Carmel, N.Y.: Guideposts, 1993], p. 67).

Gabe King, 15, of Jeffersonville, Indiana, wasn’t exactly looking for a service project. But when he found out about his neighbor’s misfortune, he couldn’t help but act.
While working in his orchard, the neighbor fell out of a tree. He was hurt badly enough that picking the apples himself was impossible. If the apples weren’t picked, he wouldn’t be able to make a living. Gabe organized a group of about ten young women and men to join him in an apple-picking party. They chose a cool day in October and picked all day long to bring in the man’s crop.
“He was very grateful and really happy,” Gabe explains. “He would have lost a lot of money had we not picked his apples. It was a great feeling to know how much it meant to him.”

Peter recalls serving as his father’s companion as a new home teacher during a particularly busy period in his father’s life. Elder Christofferson was working as corporate counsel and serving as stake president, but he still made time for teaching his children. “I was inspired by my father’s faithfulness in being a great home teacher, despite his having limited time,” Peter recalls. “One of the sisters we visited was a shut-in. Father cared for her tenderly, making sure that she always had the sacrament and that her needs were met.”

Margaret Judd Clawson (pictured at age 18)

“The night before we left, … Henry Ridgeley, came to bid me farewell,” wrote Margaret. “Under our trysting tree we each vowed eternal constancy—for four years, at least.”

Eternal constancy gets hard when there are several nice young men in your company. Soon Margaret, who was 17, was eying another boy.

“He used to say such lovely things to me—told me that I was beautiful and intelligent, and even went so far as to say that I was amiable, something I had never been accused of before. He told me that I was the only woman he ever loved and that we were just suited to each other. I began to believe him, and when he proposed, what could I say but ‘yes.’ Well, the course of true love did run smooth, at least until we got into the Valley. Then we had the usual lovers’ quarrel but not the usual making up. In a short time he let me know that another girl appreciated him, if I did not.”1

I am a 24-year-old young man who has gained a strong testimony of the gospel of Jesus Christ by following the prophetic admonition to hold family home evening. Although I am the only member of the Church in my family, after I was baptized, I realized that family home evening could strengthen us, and I decided to introduce it at home.
The whole family now knows that Mondays are special days when we gather as a family to learn gospel truths. Sometimes we resolve problems in the family or discuss challenges, needs, or interests of individual family members. I have learned how to really commune with my Heavenly Father and to counsel with my family members in love. As a result, we have been more united, which is a great blessing.
In addition, family home evening has laid a strong foundation for my family in the gospel of Jesus Christ, and they are now investigating the Church. In fact, the full-time missionaries join us for family home evening once in a while.
I know that when I get married, my family will be blessed through family home evening, but I am also grateful that I’ve been able to make family home evening an important part of my life now. I know that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is true and that the family home evening program is inspired of God.
Lebani Butawo, Zimbabwe

Kirsten Christensen is one high school student who is glad she chose a foreign language as an elective course of study. A Laurel from the Tempe Eighth Ward, Tempe Arizona Stake, Kirsten spent four weeks last summer in the Federal Republic of Germany. She was one of more than 70 high school students from the United States who received study grants for excellence in the study of the German language. They were selected on the basis of high scores in a national testing program administered by the American Association of Teachers of German (AATG). While in Germany, Kirsten lived with a German family and attended Nuremberg High School. In addition, she visited cultural and historic sites and toured East and West Berlin. The grant was awarded by both the AATG and the West German government.

As Orson continued his search for deeper religious truths, the persuasive voice of Sidney Rigdon soon convinced him to join the Campbellite movement. The new sect’s belief in baptism by immersion for the remission of sins struck a responsive chord in the mind of young Hyde. At Sidney Rigdon’s invitation, Orson moved to Mentor, Ohio, to live with the Rigdon family, where he entered the Burton Academy and was ordained an elder in the Campbellite church. In the fall of 1829 he accompanied Sidney Rigdon on a mission throughout Ohio.
Orson’s beliefs in Campbellism were challenged in 1830 by a group of unusual young men who visited Kirtland. Among these were Oliver Cowdery, Peter Whitmer, Jr., and Parley P. Pratt. Their message concerned the coming forth of the Book of Mormon and the restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Orson received the peculiar doctrine with mixed emotions. He resolved to read the famed “Golden Bible” (Book of Mormon), and after having read a portion of it, preached against it several times. After one such occasion, however, his opinions began to change. He recorded, “For the first time, I thought that the ‘Mormon’ bible might be the truth of heaven; and fully resolved before leaving the house, that I would never preach against it any more until I knew more about it, being pretty strongly convicted in my own mind that I was doing wrong.”1
As he reexamined the message of the Mormon elders, the rebuke of the Spirit caused Orson much unhappiness and deep remorse. The Prophet Joseph Smith was living in Kirtland, and Orson, eager to know the unusual man of whom he had heard so much, frequently attended meetings, public and private, at which the Prophet spoke about the new religion. He attended meetings at which he “heard the arguments pro and con, but was careful to say nothing.” In his autobiography he wrote:
“I marked carefully the spirit that attended the opposition, also the spirit that attended the Mormons and their friends, and after about three months of careful praying and investigation, reflection and meditation, I came to the conclusion that the Mormons had more light and a better spirit than their opponents.”2
Orson was baptized in the Chagrin River by his friend Elder Sidney Rigdon (who had converted to Mormonism), and was then confirmed and ordained an elder by Joseph Smith and Sidney Rigdon on the banks of the river. During the month of November, Orson enthusiastically accepted a call to serve a mission with the Prophet Joseph Smith’s older brother Hyrum. Soon after returning, he was called to serve a second mission to the eastern states, with the Prophet’s younger brother Samuel as his companion. They proselyted without purse or scrip, relying on the hospitality of those contacted for their food and lodging.

At the end of every session, they invited me to pray. Again I resisted. I had never prayed and felt very awkward at the very thought. Eventually, they wore me down – I agreed. They suggested a simple format, and I knelt and voiced a prayer.
And while I grappled for words, I felt a bright effusion of light in my mind. It was something real and profound. I suddenly felt that there were other ways of knowing beyond the limits of human reason. This spiritual experience unlocked my soul to God and all the associated possibilities.

My parents were hardworking. They made every penny stretch as far as possible. That was probably the reason everything they gave me was always two or three sizes too large.
When I was thirteen years old, I wanted football shoulder pads and a helmet more than anything else. On Christmas morning, I opened my packages and there they were: shoulder pads and a helmet—sized to fit Goliath!
“Mother, they’re too big,” I complained.
“Be grateful for what you have, Joseph,” she said. “Don’t worry—you’ll grow into them.”
When I put on the new equipment, the shoulder pads hung so far over my shoulders that about the only things they protected were my elbows.
Even though I stuffed cotton and newspapers into the helmet, it jostled every time I took a step. When I ran, it would turn and turn until I was looking out through an ear hole. One time I rambled for a long gain right into a tree. Each time I was tackled, the helmet would spin 180 degrees and I’d get up looking like my head had spun with it. How I yearned to grow into that helmet!