Gospel Story Finder

Dinner at the Ferland’s was always a glorious affair—plates heaped with home-grown tomatoes, beans, and pickled beets, with lamb and potatoes browned together until the meat was tender and the vegetables sweet. In the wood-burning oven, an apple pie simmered. The room spoke of families and of love.
It was at such a dinner that father called his wife and children near. Christine noticed a happy mischief in his eyes, a spark of something that for too long had been distant.
“We have to make your mother happy,” he said, looking each teenager firmly in the eye. He let them guess what he was planning to do.
After a minute he said, “Whatever it takes, we’re going to the temple.”
Of course, saying and doing are two different things. But even when he wasn’t attending his meetings, Jean-Claude Ferland had never thought of himself as anything less than a Latter-day Saint. He was still friendly with people from the branch, still in contact with home teachers, still “active” in his heart. So when he decided to be involved, he gave full dedication.
Sunday meetings were not considered optional. Service projects, branch parties, cottage meetings, whatever was asked, the Ferlands would gladly participate. Callings were willingly accepted, instructions from the branch president explicitly heeded. Even tithing, which had been a struggle in the past, was now a privilege. Once, when it was paid twice by mistake, mother and father decided to “let the Lord keep it.”
Time passed quickly. In August 1986, interviews were held and recommends were signed. The dream was coming true.
Christine can see it still, every time she closes her eyes—the Washington D. C. Temple, its white spires bright against the woods. Inside, everything is calm and bright. People smile and share a great peace.
In a sacred room, maman and papa, dressed in white, kneel at the altar. Christine, Clément, and Marie Claude, also in white, kneel beside them. Hands are placed on hands, children and parents sealed. By the power of the priesthood they are given the promises of eternity.

Blindness can’t stop 12-year-old Rhett Jones from doing just about anything else his fellow deacons do. On Sundays you’ll find him in the Riverdale Second Ward, Ogden Utah Riverdale Stake, passing the sacrament and collecting fast offerings with the rest of his quorum.
In the summer you’ll find him at Scout camp, where he earned seven merit badges last year. His target shooting was incredible. He was able to hit a tin can target 23 of 25 times by having a leader ring a bell in the area of the target, then shooting toward the sound.
Rhett realizes it is especially important to set an example for his younger brother Josh, who is also blind.

As this day happened, I had a chance to reflect on how far we had come together. The journey had not been very smooth but in every hardship that we faced, the Lord made a way for us. Our journey began from the day I took Joanita’s hand for her baptism in 2017 in the waters of Makindye Ward where we all started our journey on the covenant path.
A few days later, I stood at the door of our meetinghouse and watched her as she cleaned the chapel. I loved that moment, and I remember imagining her as my wife but I didn’t pay any attention to it. Under the leadership of Gerald Baryamujura as our bishop, I had a chance to serve as a ward clerk and participated in the ward councils. At this point in time, Joanita had traveled outside Uganda for work, and we had never exchanged phone numbers and were not close. For some reason her name never went out of my mind whenever we discussed members that were no longer attending church.
In 2019, I invited members to a Christmas devotional using the Church email system and she was one of the few members who replied to that email. The long search had come to an end. Unfortunately, I didn’t see this email until February 2020 and promised to minister and follow up with her even during my time when I was on mission.
Does it sound more like a dream? Was it a sign of revelation received for a woman who was to be my eternal companion?
With my desire to go and serve the Lord burning bright, I left for my mission on September 2, 2020, and she never stopped writing every week to me for two years. Was this the sign? I had not thought about it yet, but I could feel that there was a strong connection growing between us due to the time she invested in writing and asking more about the plans I had after my mission. Close to the end of my mission, we wrote about the possibility of having a physical date. We tried to schedule time for it, but this didn’t seem like something possible though we still hoped for the right time.
As my head battled thoughts of how to marry and when to do so, I had no job, was scared of starting a family and surviving was still hard for me as an individual since I was almost on my own. On the day when I returned home, in his counsel, Bishop Baryamujura emphasized that when I get married things will work out for me. I heard it, but where could I start from? The Lord knew that I was thirsting for His righteousness and kingdom, and He prepared a way for me. This was manifested through the leaders that I had, my bishop and my stake president, to whom I made myself accountable from the day that I dated Joanita. I remember sitting down for a moment and not understanding how things would work out. I was scared but she turned to me and asked what the problem was. I replied, “I do not know what the future holds for us.”
From this point I started to feel that things were to work out when she turned to me and said that the Lord was to provide a way for this relationship and that I should not worry. It is true, life was hard for a returned missionary as I was in Africa, but I knew that this is what our Heavenly Father wished for all of us and it is a commandment for our exaltation.
Eleven months passed from the day that I returned from my mission when we were legally married on August 5, 2023. We helped each other overcome our weaknesses, and we counseled together on matters pertaining to our family’s temporal and spiritual affairs. Our greatest goal and desire was to have an eternal family and it was from the day that we decided to get married and grew each day as we got to understand each other better in our relationship as husband and wife. To this joy was added the joy of expecting a child. For these blessings bestowed upon us as a family, I truly had reason to shed tears of joy in the celestial room as we waited to be led to the sealing room. The long wait was over, my heart became closer to hers as we sat and reflected on these experiences and how far the Lord had brought us.
My eyes felt as though they had been translated to see her eternal beauty. Indeed, there was no one that my heart and my entire life desired to commune with at this moment other than my wife. This feeling sparked and boosted all the desire that I had to have her and to be only hers forever. As we knelt at the altar, the promise of being a husband that would preside over his family in meekness and love unfeigned was followed by other blessings and I uttered a “yes” that was firm and unwavering. I could feel her faith too and her face shone to manifest this.

Elder Forsgren’s sister, Erika, had an interesting experience that prepared her and Peter to receive the gospel. A few months before her brother’s arrival, she was attending church, as was her custom. During the singing of a hymn, she saw a person stand before her and say, “On the fifth day of July a man will come to you with three books and all those that believe in the things written in those books shall be saved.” When her brother arrived with the Bible, the Book of Mormon, and the Doctrine and Covenants, she believed his testimony without question.1

There is an area in Yucatan so fertile and weather-favored that the jungle grows rapidly. Needy peasants make a clearing and plant a crop, but constantly the shrubbery and forest creep in, and unless the owner is diligent and persistent to keep down the undergrowth, it will soon take over his little farm and turn it into jungle again.

In one of the countries where there are members of the Church, I talked with a wonderful bishop who told me that on Sunday he and his wife must decide whether the family will have a second bowl of rice for that day or go to church. They ride to church in jeepneys, little open-air taxis made out of jeeps. The transportation for the family costs so much that they do not have enough money to buy food. The bishop is a school teacher with two college degrees. He teaches six days a week and is paid less than 85 American dollars a month. He and his wife and family of seven children and his mother live in a tiny room without running water or toilet. Yet they are all clean and neat. Two children are in high school. All are faithful members of the Church; they love the Lord.

Earlier, Sig Verano had told one pair of missionaries that they could come to visit as friends, but not as teachers. Before one of them went home at the end of his mission, he and his companion stopped by to visit and to invite the Veranos to meet his parents at a small farewell gathering hosted by friends. The Veranos were so impressed with the loving Latter-day Saints they met that they began taking the missionary lessons again.

When the Prophet Joseph Smith organized the Relief Society on 17 March 1842, 18 women were present. Three were teenagers. Lucy Mack Smith, mother of the Prophet, later gave profound instructions for Relief Society sisters of any age when she admonished them to “cherish one another, watch over one another, comfort one another and gain instruction, that we may all sit down in heaven together” (Minutes of the Female Relief Society of Nauvoo, 24 March 1842).

Whenever anyone said something nice to Dan, he couldn’t—or wouldn’t—accept it. A typical conversation went something like this one with his teachers quorum adviser:
“Hey, Dan, glad you came! We can really use your help on the ward basketball team.”
“I’m no good at basketball. The only reason I came was because the other guys kept calling me.”
“Well, get warmed up. We need your outside shot.”
“I don’t have an outside shot. I don’t even have an inside shot.”
“So … what do you do in a game?”
“Mainly try to get the other team to feel sorry for me,” Dan said glumly.

Let’s take another look at Dan, this time with a more positive light in his life:
“Hey, Dan, glad you came. We can really use your help on the ward basketball team.”
“I’m glad to be here.”
“Well, get warmed up. We need your outside shot.”
“Okay. Maybe I can work with Steve a little. He’s good at passing, and that, along with what I can do, should be a good combination. You know, I feel a little sorry for the other team.”

One need look no further than to the many missionaries who have labored in that part of the world, who in obedience to the Lord accepted a call from His prophet to serve a mission. It was said by the Apostle Peter long ago that Jesus went about doing good. As His ambassadors, missionaries in our generation have gone and continue to go throughout the world doing good in the true spirit of the Master. Let me describe one of them. He is typical of so many others who sincerely desire to serve the Lord.
He came from California and grew up in an ordinary sort of way, not a member of the Church. He became acquainted with a girl who was a member of the Church. He was so impressed with her that, on learning that she was a member of the Church, he wished to know more. Latter-day Saint students at the university taught him the gospel while he was completing a difficult scholastic program. He was baptized. Then, working nights and summers, he saved money enough to sustain him, if he spent it with care, for a period of eighteen months as a missionary. He was called to Guatemala. He was a handsome young man with a brilliant mind and a wonderful education in a highly technical field. I met him in the Guatemala City Temple. He grasped my hand warmly. I asked, “Are you happy?”
“Oh yes, so very happy,” he responded. I asked where he was working as a missionary. He said, “Out among the Lamanites, the native people of Guatemala. It is a very small place where there is much hardship, but the people are wonderful, and I love them.”
As I have thought of that tall and handsome young man, gifted and educated, working among the Indians of Guatemala in a jungle village, I have remembered the words of Samuel the Lamanite:
“Yea, I say unto you, that in the latter times the promises of the Lord have been extended to our brethren, the Lamanites; and notwithstanding the many afflictions which they shall have, and notwithstanding they shall be driven to and fro upon the face of the earth, and be hunted, and shall be smitten and scattered abroad, having no place for refuge, the Lord shall be merciful unto them.
“And this is according to the prophecy, that they shall again be brought to the true knowledge, which is the knowledge of their Redeemer, and their great and true shepherd, and be numbered among his sheep.” (Hel. 15:12–13.)
This young missionary, with his associates, was bringing to those among whom he walked “the true knowledge, which is the knowledge of their Redeemer, and their great and true shepherd,” that they might be numbered among His sheep.
This particular young man received no letters from his parents, no money, no encouragement. He had sufficient money, which he had saved, to support himself for eighteen months. Because his mission was ending when we were lengthening missions from eighteen months to twenty-four, he had the option of remaining an additional six months. He asked his mission president with emotion, “Is there some way I can get help to stay another six months to work among these people I have come to love so much?” A person was found to help pay for his expenses, and the missionary was able to serve a full twenty-four months.

In the spring of 1829, Oliver Cowdery was a schoolteacher in Palmyra, New York. As he learned about Joseph Smith and the work of translating the Book of Mormon, Oliver felt impressed to offer his assistance to the young prophet. Consequently, he traveled to Harmony, Pennsylvania, and became Joseph’s scribe. The timing of his arrival and the help he provided were vital to the coming forth of the Book of Mormon.
The Savior subsequently revealed to Oliver that as often as he had prayed for guidance, he had received direction from the Spirit of the Lord. “If it had not been so,” the Lord declared, “thou wouldst not have come to the place where thou art at this time. Behold, thou knowest that thou hast inquired of me and I did enlighten thy mind; and now I tell thee these things that thou mayest know that thou hast been enlightened by the Spirit of truth” (D&C 6:14–15).
Thus, Oliver received a revelation through the Prophet Joseph Smith informing him that he had been receiving revelation. Apparently Oliver had not recognized how and when he had been receiving direction from God and needed this instruction to increase his understanding about the spirit of revelation. In essence, Oliver had been walking in the light as the sun was rising on a cloudy morning.

Susan and Harold Edmundson have never seen their two daughters, Treasure, 15, and Mindy, 13. Yet the couple knows their offspring are beautiful from the inside out, and they share one of the closest family relationships you could imagine.
If the situation sounds unusual, it is. Mindy and Treasure’s parents are blind. Always have been, always will be (in this life). The family lives together in a two-story frame house in Homer City, Pennsylvania, and gets by remarkably well. The parents say their daughters play a big role in that.
“We’ve never known what it’s like not to have blind parents,” say the girls. “Probably the biggest difference would be the things we do around the house.”
If you think you’ve got a lot of household chores, you should try trading places with Mindy and Treasure for a week. And since their mother was diagnosed with cerebral palsy, their workload has increased. “Of course we do all the housework,” they say casually. “We scrub the walls, clean the furniture, make the meals, scrub the kitchen, do the dishes, do the laundry, stuff like that.”
“It’s actually a good thing,” says their mother. “Most girls their age don’t know how to run a house. When they go to college or on missions, they’ll be way ahead of the game. Mindy can whip up a whole meal and make it seem effortless, when I know it’s not. And Treasure keeps the checkbook. I never need to worry about her cashing an extra check or writing one out for something she doesn’t need. They’re pretty special kids.”
Mindy and Treasure are happy to do it. They consider it their natural contribution to the family. And it doesn’t often keep them from doing the things they like. Treasure is a member of a championship cheerleading squad. Mindy loves to rollerskate and take care of her pets—she has several dogs and cats. Both girls attend Young Women midweek activities and Sunday meetings. Treasure also fits seminary into her schedule.
Of course, no one’s life or relationships are perfect. “The hardest thing about our parents being blind is having to ask our friends or their parents to take us places,” says Treasure, without making it sound like a complaint. “The people in the ward are great!” Their Young Women advisers and the other girls in the ward make sure the girls have rides to every meeting and activity.

On another occasion a sister approached me at a stake conference in Georgia, USA, and said she had lost her father in World War II. But after the meeting she said to me, “I have to apologize to you. Because my father was killed by Japanese people, I have harbored hatred in my heart.” Then she said, “You told us that your father was also killed during the war, but later you accepted the gospel, which changed your life. And now you are telling us that you love us. I am ashamed of myself. Though I was born in the Church, I have felt hatred toward your people even to this day. But your message has changed my thinking.”
I have had so many similar experiences. I have been able to meet many people, and because of the gospel, we are able to love and understand each other.

As President Schaerrer notes, missionary preparation begins early in the Aaronic Priesthood, and leaders all over the Church are doing their part to increase the number of missionaries. For example, Bishop Willard R. Phillips of the Clovis Ward, Roswell New Mexico Stake, fills time. He lets the boys know that he, the prophet, and the Lord expect them to prepare for a mission. Then annually (twice a year for the priests) he reviews the form with them and discusses the requirements.

On October 9, 1983, President Hunter lost his wife to a lingering illness. Soon after, he underwent back surgery. Doctors said he would be confined to a wheelchair for the rest of his life. But he was determined to walk again, and through remarkable faith and effort, he can now walk with assistance. On April 12, 1990, President Hunter married Inis S. Egan, a widow and long-time family friend.

When I was taking a bath one morning I could see what I thought was a bar of soap on a shelf high above me. I reached up to grab it. Suddenly I had a strong feeling that I should not pick it up. I said to myself, “Who knows what could be up there?”
When I stood up to see what was on the shelf, I discovered that the blue and red object I had seen was not my soap but a razor. If I had grabbed it, I could have cut my hand on the sharp edge. The Holy Ghost warned me, and because I listened I wasn’t hurt.Christina G., age 8, Missouri

For yet others, a testimony of the Book of Mormon comes more slowly, after much study and prayer. I have a friend who read the Book of Mormon searching to know if it was true. He applied the invitation in Moroni to ask God with a sincere heart, with real intent and faith in Christ, if the Book of Mormon is true. But he did not immediately get the promised spiritual answer. However, one day as he was deep in thought, driving down the road, the Spirit testified to him of the truth of the Book of Mormon. So happy and overwhelmed was he that he rolled down the car window and yelled, to no one in particular and yet to all the world, “It’s true!”

These promises came true for my father and for my family. In accordance with what we have been taught, we read the scriptures as a family every day. We have done so for many years. We have read the Book of Mormon several times in our home, and we will continue to do so. As promised, the Spirit of the Lord has come into the heart of our family, and we have felt a strengthened resolution to walk in obedience to His commandments and a stronger testimony of the living reality of the Son of God.

Charles Redd later wrote about the climb up Comb Ridge: “Aside from the Hole-in-the-Rock, itself, this was the steepest crossing on the journey. Here again seven span of horses were used, so that when some of the horses were on their knees, fighting to get up to find a foothold, the still-erect horses could plunge upward against the sharp grade. On the worst slopes the men were forced to beat their jaded animals into giving all they had. After several pulls, rests, and pulls, many of the horses took to spasms and near-convulsions, so exhausted were they.”
“By the time most of the outfits were across, the worst stretches could easily be identified by the dried blood and matted hair from the forelegs of the struggling teams. My father [L. H. Redd, Jr.] was a strong man, and reluctant to display emotion; but whenever in later years the full pathos of San Juan Hill was recalled either by himself or by someone else, the memory of such bitter struggles was too much for him and he wept” (in David E. Miller, Hole-in-the-Rock, Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press, 1966, pp. 138–139).

I have always loved the feeling that the temple brings to my life. When I was called to serve a mission in an area where I would not be able to attend the temple, I was afraid that I would be without that feeling for two years. Then I found that Heavenly Father has sent us a gift that can bring a similar feeling no matter where we are. I am very grateful for the Liahona. When I read the messages in the magazine, I feel the same spirit I felt in the temple.Elder Allan Herbert Silva, Brazil Goiânia Mission