Gospel Story Finder

When my grandmother was about 19 years old, she developed a disease that caused her to be very ill. She later said, “I couldn’t walk. My left foot was all out of shape after I had been in bed for several months. The bones were soft like a sponge, and when I touched my foot to the floor it felt like an electric shock.”12 While she was confined to bed and at the height of her suffering, she obtained and studied pamphlets from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. She was converted and later baptized. Many times a particular challenge helps prepare us for something vitally important.

Prior to our experience of losing Benny, there was another particularly difficult time in my life when my faith and belief in myself were tested. One night I found myself praying to the Lord that He would bring me home. Life was hard, but I knew the Lord loved me. I felt that if I could return to His presence, everything would somehow be okay. This is now a prayer I am incredibly grateful the Lord didn’t answer in the way I had hoped at the time. In that moment, instead of calling me home, the Lord touched my heart with the closest thing I have ever had to a vision—a vision that changed my perspective and that has buoyed me up as challenges have come into my life, including losing our sweet Benny.

As I prayed that night all those years ago, I felt the Lord give me perspective about my choice to come here. This certainly isn’t doctrine, but I share this personal and meaningful experience in the hope that it may be meaningful for you in some way too.

In this vision I felt I could see the War in Heaven. I don’t know about you, but for some reason the War in Heaven had always felt very impersonal to me—like we were all up in heaven together, standing around in an almost pep-rally-type way as teams were being picked. We had to choose our team in this very loud and chaotic scene. I am not sure why this had always been my thought on the War in Heaven—maybe because we refer to it as a war, which would imply some sort of chaos.

But this night I had a very different perspective. Instead of being amidst a crowd, I pictured a very personal experience with a loving Father in Heaven. I pictured Him sitting me down individually and presenting to me the plan to follow His Son, which would include coming to earth, getting a body, and facing the inevitable difficulties of life.

In all of my premortal and angelic exuberance, I saw myself saying, “Yes, yes! Of course that is what I want! I know I can do it! Send me down!”

But then I pictured a wise and kind Father gently putting His arm around me and in a calm voice saying, “But Tiff, it is going to be hard. Life isn’t going to be easy. When you are twenty, your first marriage is going to end. At thirty, you are going to face the reality of being a victim of sexual violence. At forty, you are going to lose Benny. Are you sure this is what you want to do?”

I then pictured myself taking a moment, looking at this plan that the Lord had designed just for me, and then, with all the faith my eternal self could muster, even more resolutely saying, “Yes, of course that is what I want. I know I can do it.”

As members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, one of the core tenets of our faith is the gift of agency. We believe that our agency existed before we came to earth and that we made the choice to keep our first estate and come here. In thinking about that choice—and having the perspective that I believe the Lord blessed me with during that particularly challenging time in my life—I realize that if all that life was meant to be was hard, I wouldn’t have signed up for it! I don’t think any of us would have. But when I made this choice—when we made this choice—I believe we had an eternal perspective that helped us to understand that the eternal joy available in and through the Savior far exceeded any earthly pain or struggle we would face.

Yes, I believe we knew life would be hard—to what extent I am not sure—but I also believe that our eternal selves believed in the Lord and believed in our ability to face this earth life and come out on top. Whenever my mortal mind starts to doubt, I remind myself of this ­experience, and I trust the “eternal Tiffany” who, with a grander perspective, believed she could withstand the storms of life with the Lord’s help.

In Malawi, Africa, everyone had to walk. There were very few cars. One afternoon, the Spirit whispered to Elder Henderson to give a ride to a young man walking along the road. Elder Henderson invited Steven, his wife, and his two small daughters to come to church that Sunday. They came, and we taught them the gospel and the blessings of making covenants or promises by being baptized into the Lord’s true church. They were baptized. However, Steven and his little family soon faced some hard challenges. When the landlord found they were seeing Mormons, they came home one day to find all their furniture on the road, and they were kicked out of their house. Then Steven faced some hard temptations at work and made some mistakes.
When Elder Henderson and I flew back to the Utah, we were a little discouraged. Many hungry children had been fed from our factory and our little church group was meeting each week, but could it last without us? Maybe we did more bad than we did good. Maybe it would have been better if we had not come.
Months later, we heard that the Church was growing. A few years later, we heard that our convert friend Steven had returned to church. He had forgotten some of his baptismal covenants and had made some mistakes, but the Lord had not forgotten His part of the covenants. Even though Steven was lost for a time, the Holy Ghost reached out to him and helped him remember the promises he made. Steven repented. He paid back the people he hurt. He confessed his mistakes to the branch president and became a stronger husband and father. Soon Steven and his family were back in church each Sunday and helping others to learn about the Savior’s plan of happiness.
Two weeks ago, we received an email from Steven:
“This morning I went to lead at a new church group, which will soon be organized into a branch. This will be the fifth branch in the capital Lilongwe. As I was sitting there in front and watching these members who have been walking many miles every Sunday to the Lilongwe branch, I was filled with the Spirit, and I was reminded of you. In a few days to come, Lilongwe will be organized into a district (like a small stake). The Church in Lilongwe is growing so fast that we cannot even understand it. I will always remember that Saturday afternoon when you gave me a ride and introduced the Church to me. Steven.”
We learned from this experience that teaching Steven and the Ntoloas is not our work. It is Heavenly Father’s work. We are His servants, and if we are willing, He will use us to bless many, many people.

Lynn didn’t chatter through breakfast, she didn’t kiss her mother good-bye, and she didn’t bounce out the door and clatter down the front steps. When she saw her friends waiting, she didn’t toss her black curls and smile.
“You have it, don’t you, Lynn?” Mary asked.
“Yeah, I have it.”
“It’ll be great to see Anne’s face when she realizes she’s the only one who wasn’t at the party!” Mary laughed.
Lynn smiled outside, but inside she winced. You’re new in town, she told herself. Don’t blow it!
Lynn, Mary, and Betty walked to school, carrying their show-and-tell items—prizes they’d won at Betty’s birthday party. Everyone in class was bringing one. Anne was the only person in third grade who hadn’t been invited—and she didn’t even know it!
At school, Anne leaned across the aisle to Lynn.
“Hey, Lynn, what did you bring for show and tell?”
Lynn’s heart sank. “Nothing much, just some doll clothes.”
“I’m so excited—I found a cocoon! I’m going to put it in a jar and watch the butterfly come out!”
“That’s great.” Lynn’s voice sounded hollow. She felt awful. But Mary and Betty were the prettiest, most popular girls in class. Anne was, well … different. Not a snob, as Betty’d said—just shy. She was really smart and read a lot of books. And even though her family had money, Anne didn’t even dress in expensive clothes. She cared about books, and nature, and other people. Maybe Betty and Mary are jealous, Lynn thought now.
Jealous? Of Anne? But it kind of made sense. They probably wished that they had all that money—they’d spend it on clothes and stuff. And they probably wished that they were as good in school as Anne.
“Show-and-tell time,” announced Mrs. Sears. Books slapped shut, desk tops squeaked, and kids got out their treasures.
“Tina?” called Mrs. Sears.
Tina rose and went to the front. She looked straight ahead. “I brought this horse, which I won at Betty’s birthday party for pinning the tail on the donkey.”
“How nice,” said Mrs. Sears. “Tim?”
Tim showed his prize from Betty’s party. Lynn glanced sideways at Anne. She looked a little sad. She probably doesn’t really mind, Lynn thought. But her hands started to feel cold and clammy.
One by one, the children showed off their prizes. Now Anne’s chin trembled and her face started to crumple. She bowed her head a little, to hide her face with her blond hair.
Finally it was Anne’s turn.
Anne tossed her head and stood up. The class was completely silent. Lynn thought that Anne was going to be OK, but tears formed in Anne’s eyes. She took a deep breath and said shakily, “Mrs. Sears, I’m sorry—I don’t want to share anything today,” then slumped into her seat.
“Lynn?”
Lynn looked across the aisle. Anne didn’t look at her. Lynn looked at Mary, who hissed, “Go on!” Taking a deep breath herself, Lynn stood. “Uh, I don’t have anything I want to share today, either.”
Betty glared angrily from her desk.
“Sam?”
“Me, either, Mrs. Sears,” Sam said apologetically.
A few more kids took their turns, and Anne still sat looking down. Then it was time for recess.
Outside, Anne sat alone. Lynn slowly walked up to her. “Anne, I’m really sorry.”
“You knew all about it, didn’t you?”
“Yes. I’m really sorry, though. I just wanted to be part of the group. It was dumb.”
“Yeah, well, thanks … for not showing your prize.”
“Did you notice that Sam didn’t do it, either?” Lynn asked.
They looked around the schoolyard until they spotted Sam. He looked over, smiled, and started toward them.
Lynn linked arms with Anne and thought that maybe she would be part of a group—a group she could be truly happy in—after all.

My son Derek has global apraxia, which means he has a hard time speaking. Derek loves family home evening and spends months preparing lessons to share with the family.
One of his most memorable lessons was “Lehi’s Dream.” He strung rope all over the house and outside too. We started the lesson by listening to a CD of the hymn “I Believe in Christ” and looking at a picture of Lehi’s dream displayed on the table. Derek then took us, one by one, along the rope.
As we walked along, there were pictures of Christ on one side and distractions (such as the radio, TV, and games) on the other. We knew we had reached the end when we heard music—Derek’s favorite song, “I Know That My Redeemer Lives.”
After everyone had gone through, Derek turned on the DVD The Testaments and had us watch the end, where Jesus Christ appears to the people of the Americas. The Spirit was so strong as my son conveyed his testimony of the Savior without using any words.
Wendy Thompson, USA

Martin enjoyed reading the Book of Mormon and recognized the Spirit and direction it provided in his life. A few months later, after receiving a personal testimony, Martin Biney was baptized and confirmed a member of the Church. As a new member of the Church, Martin attended every week, but for many years, his wife and children stayed home. Brother Biney states, “After I was baptized and received the gift of the Holy Ghost, I felt blessed. I had more confidence and felt impressed to go back to boxing.”
The Lord blessed Martin and, in 1997, at the age of 34, Martin Biney again became the middleweight boxing champion in Japan.

Bill Hoagland watched through the window as the supply plane approached the tiny island that would be his home for 12 months. Just a dot in the water, he thought, lost in mile after mile of waves. He knew the navigation station was vital to the U.S. Coast Guard, and he knew his job as hospital corpsman on the island would be important too. “Maybe I can get so involved in my work that time will pass quickly,” he thought again. “But look at the island. It’s so small … and what about my wife and the baby?”
Tires screeched on packed coral and sand, grabbing for a hold on the runway. Then there was a whirr as the sound of the motor caught up with the braking plane. Soon Bill was talking to new acquaintances, discovering what men do on Tern Island, one of the French Frigate Shoals 500 miles northwest of Hawaii. Mostly they tried to make time pass more quickly. Of course, there were movies, swimming, and hobbies like collecting glass balls that break from fishing fleet nets and drift ashore. There were weekly steak fries and Ping-Pong tournaments, but nothing to remind anyone about home, except letters that arrived once a week on the supply plane.
Bill went to the barracks to unpack. He shook a book out of his seabag, and fresh memories crowded in on his mind. Before leaving San Diego, California, he and his wife had heard a broadcast from one of the wards of the local Mormon church. Both had been impressed, not just by the speakers and their well-delivered talks, but by something else. Bill and his wife had been searching together for a nameless something that would give meaning to their lives. On their way back to Indiana, where she was to stay with relatives, they had visited Salt Lake City and picked up a copy of the Book of Mormon along with some pamphlets. Now the book lay before him.
The desire to go swimming and fishing tempted Bill for the next few days, but he resolved to study and to use his year alone to advantage. Soon he was absorbed in the story and testimonies of Lehi, Nephi, Mosiah, and King Benjamin. He was also deeply impressed with the testimony of Joseph Smith. Intense reading and long hours of study eventually led Bill to Moroni’s promise. He pondered it, then knelt and prayed. He got up with knowledge in his heart that the book from his seabag did indeed contain the truth. Sleep was sweet that night.
In the morning he wrote a letter to President George W. Poulsen, Jr., of the Hawaiian Mission, and asked how he could be baptized. He knew this would be a problem because he could not leave the island and the only contact with the rest of the world was the weekly plane flight and an occasional visit from a ship carrying heavy equipment.
President Poulsen sent Bill a copy of A Marvelous Work and a Wonder and encouraged him to study it while he tried to make arrangements to get two elders out to the island somehow. Bill read the book and then sent it to his wife, as he had done with other books and pamphlets as he finished them. And he waited, studied, and prayed.
Bishop Hal K. Hess of the Kaneohe First Ward smiled as he chatted with President Poulsen on the phone. He had seen enough in his years of Church work to know that sometimes chance meetings are more than coincidental. He hadn’t been unduly surprised to run into an old LDS friend in the Hawaii Temple a few weeks before. After all, Lieutenant Gerald Foster traveled quite a bit in his work for the Coast Guard. But to think that Brother Foster was now assigned as a pilot at Barber’s Point Air Station, the field where the supply flights to Tern Island originated!
“I’d be glad to help,” Brother Foster said, noting that he could probably arrange to make the flight. But he warned that getting permission to fly two missionaries out to the island would have to come from Coast Guard Headquarters in Washington, D.C., and that would mean red tape galore. Wait a minute! There was another LDS pilot at the same base, a friend Brother Foster had introduced to the Church, Lieutenant Anthony Beardsley. Brother Beardsley normally flew to Guam, but perhaps the commanding officer would do them a favor. It was worth a try.
Brother Foster still recalls with amazement: “The Coast Guard is not a large service, and there were certainly not many Mormons in it in 1964. It was fortunate indeed that two pilots, both elders, were stationed at Barber’s Point at that time.”
“Brother Foster and I were classmates at the Coast Guard Academy,” Brother Beardsley remembers. “He helped my wife and me join the Church two years before, and throughout our military careers, we managed to follow each other from one duty station to another. I feel that in Hawaii we were placed in a position to answer someone’s prayer.”
The commander, after hearing the unusual circumstances, granted permission for the pilots to fly together. With instructions and authority from the mission president to interview William Hoagland and, if they found him worthy, to baptize him, the two lieutenants took off on June 4, 1964.
Bill had already been pacing up and down the runway long before the speck appeared in the sky and drew nearer. The plane was only scheduled for a two-hour stop, and there was a lot to accomplish in that short time period. Finally the Grumman Albatross circled in and taxied to a halt.
Brother Foster interviewed Bill in the base’s small library, then the three men went to the sick bay (which was also Bill’s room) and changed into white clothing. They went outside and waded about 20 yards off shore. Fifty yards away, across a narrow lagoon, a reef smothered the fury of 20-foot Pacific waves. Inside, the water pooled, calm, clear, and warm, with gentle breakers lapping at the shore. Sunlight dazzled its reflections across the surface as terns and bosun birds swooped overhead. Everything was silent.
Lieutenant Foster performed the baptism. Bill felt warm inside as the water rushed over him. “I knew it was the greatest day of my life,” Brother Hoagland says. “We were dripping with water and shaking hands as we hurried back to prepare for the confirmation.” Soon Elder Beardsley was inviting Bill to receive the Holy Ghost.
The men had just enough time for lunch, and then the plane flew away. “My new-found brothers were gone,” Brother Hoagland recalls, “but I was not lonely. I had their love and good wishes and the Holy Ghost to comfort me. I felt part of something great and good.” In his two months remaining on the island, he studied a religious correspondence course from BYU and bore his testimony to his wife Kay in his letters. One month after her husband’s baptism, she was baptized in Fort Wayne, Indiana, after receiving the missionary discussions.
Editor’s Note
Brother Hoagland didn’t forget the lessons he learned on Tern Island. That August he visited his pilot friends in Hawaii and attended his first official Church meetings. His new duty assignment placed him in New York, and he quickly became a deacon, then a teacher, priest, and elder in the Brooklyn Branch. Shortly after becoming an elder, he was called to be a counselor in the then new Staten Island Branch presidency. Then he returned to Hawaii, where he and his family were sealed in the temple. Since then he has been a bishop in New Orleans, Louisiana, and a branch president in Salem, Illinois. He is currently serving in the U.S. Navy at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba, where he was recently unanimously elected mayor of the U.S. community and serves as branch mission leader for the Church.

After graduating from Utah State University, I obtained my first teaching job. My first year was extremely difficult, but after a few years I was enjoying my job and my students. I began to feel impressions that I should return to school for a Master's degree. I resisted these impressions. I explained to Heavenly Father that graduate school wasn't really necessary since what I wanted was to get married. Why take the time and money to get another degree when I was perfectly happy to wrap up my career and get married? Like Tommy, all I could hear was "you aren't going to get your gumball."

Well, finally I stepped away from the gumball machine and returned to school and the moment classes began, I knew I was where I needed to be. Now I'm here at BYU-Idaho, something I could not have done without an advanced degree, and I'm working on my PhD at Idaho State University. This is not the life I planned for myself, but it is a deeply rewarding life that has brought me a lot of happiness. When God asks us to step away from the gumball machine it is often to give us other blessings...things that he knows will make us happy and help us to grow.

The Bobcats’ soccer team was holding tryouts for new players and Jim’s dream had always been to play on that team. They were the city champs.
He ran all the way to the soccer field, but slowed down when he spotted the Bobcats’ black and bright yellow striped shirts. There they are, he reveled silently. All over the field, kicking, dribbling, and heading their soccer balls.
A small dark-haired boy was dribbling his ball along the edge of the sideline toward Jim. He ran like a whippet, keeping the ball close to his feet. When he saw Jim, he stopped and smiled. “Hi! Trying out today?” he asked.
Jim nodded.
“What position do you play?”
“Right or left wing.”
“Me too.”
The boy turned and started up the field. A No. 3 was printed on the back of his shirt. He darted and swerved, making quick turns as he dribbled among the other players. Jim watched him for a few moments. No. 3 is good and very fast, he decided.
Walking over to the coach, who was wearing a black sweat suit with the word Bobcats in yellow letters across the back, Jim took some deep breaths and tried to relax. His stomach felt kind of funny.
The coach was surrounded by boys in different colored shirts and shorts. He turned and, seeing Jim, smiled at him.
Jim swallowed. “My name is Jim—Jim Simpson,” he said.
“Ah! Yes, Jim! Your coach called and talked to me about you. So you want to play for the Bobcats?”
Jim nodded.
The coach smiled and pulled out a whistle from his pocket. He blew it once. All the Bobcats ran toward him.
“Ok, boys, let’s have a practice game. All of you not in uniform take off your shirts—the Skins against the Bobcats. You new boys, listen as I call your name and position.”
Jim finally heard his name. “Jim Simpson, right halfback.”
Right halfback! He had been playing wing for five years. It was his special spot. Jim decided not to say anything. All the boys ran out onto the field and took their positions. The coach blew his whistle and the game began.
The ball was kicked right by Jim. He hesitated momentarily and missed it. He glanced at the coach, but he wasn’t watching. The Bobcats’ No. 3 had control of the ball and was pressing hard down the field. Jim ran toward him and reached out to kick the ball away, but No. 3 had quickly turned and headed toward the sideline. Jim was right behind him. No. 3 stopped and tapped the ball up into the air with his foot. Jim ran around the player and reached for the ball, but No. 2 had already started dribbling away toward the penalty area. Jim raced after him. He saw No. 3 chip the ball to the waiting Bobcat center forward who was right in front of the net. The center forward jumped up and headed the ball down to the right of the goalie’s outstretched arms. It shot past the goalie and bounced off the back of the net.
As the Bobcats ran back toward the center of the field, No. 3 called to the Bobcat center, “All right!” “Good work, boys!” the coach congratulated them.
Jim looked down at his cleats and frowned. The Bobcats were a tough team, but maybe he could slow down their No. 3 by trying to keep him away from the ball. For the rest of the half, Jim stuck close to No. 3 and kept after him, never letting up. Sweat trickled down the sides of his face. His blonde hair stuck to his forehead.
Once No. 3 turned and said, “What are you, my shadow?”
Jim grinned and raced after him to the other end of the field.
But a few seconds later, his smile faded as he watched the Bobcats score again. No. 3 had assisted on the goal by swerving the ball around three Skin defenders to a waiting teammate, who turned and shot the ball under the crossbar. The score was now 2–0.
The game continued with the Bobcats easily passing the ball from one to another. The Skins chased after them, never getting control of the ball for very long. Twice the Bobcats shot at the goal and missed. Then late in the second half, the Bobcat sweeper sent the ball halfway down the field toward No. 3, who lightly turned the ball with his foot and started to work his way to the sideline. Jim ran beside him, trying to get the ball, but No. 3 was always a step ahead. Suddenly No. 3 stopped and tapped the ball up into the air with his foot. Jim muttered, “Just like last time.”
But this time Jim didn’t run to the side. As the ball started down toward the ground, he reached with his foot under No. 3’s right leg and backheeled it. He had a happy grin on his face as he turned and quickly moved the ball back down the field toward the Bobcats’ goalie. He dribbled around the Bobcat halfback and passed to the Skins’ center halfback, who streaked up the middle of the field. Jim kept up with him. He looked over his shoulder and saw No. 3 close behind him. Then Jim poured it on. With a burst of speed, he pulled ahead and turned toward his teammate, who passed the ball to him. He heard the Bobcat fullback, who was all by himself in front of the goalie, yell, “Help!”
Jim tore down the field toward them. The goalie crouched between the goalposts. Jim knew he had to fake the fullback out, and he knew how to do it. As the fullback tried to get the ball, Jim leaned his body to the left. The fullback leaned in the same direction. So did the goalie. With his right foot, Jim shot the ball past the fullback to an opening right between the goalpost and the goalie. The goalie dove down on the ball, but it slid out and Jim was right there. Stepping over the goalie’s arm, his left foot reached out and smacked the ball into the net. The score was now 2–1! A second later the coach blew his whistle. “Game’s over!” he called.
Raising his arms above his head, Jim leaped up into the air. He had worked hard for his goal.
No. 3 walked over to him. “Say, shadow, that was a good goal.”
“Thanks.”
“Jim!” the coach called across the field. “Stick around, I want to talk to you.”
No. 3 touched Jim’s arm. “Hope you made the team.”
Jim shook his head wearily. “I made a goal, but I don’t think I played good enough for the Bobcats.”
Sighing, he sat down on the grass. He watched No. 3 run down the field toward the water fountain. It looked like the Bobcats had a terrific wing. I’m just not fast enough, Jim concluded. Even if the coach asked me to be on the team, I’d probably spend all my time standing around on the sidelines. I’d probably never get a chance to play because their other wing is good too.
“That was some goal!”
Jim looked up as the coach sat down next to him.
“You have good balance—leaning one way and shooting with the other foot.”
“I saw it done on TV, and I’ve been practicing.”
“Sounds like you’re pretty serious about soccer.”
Jim smiled, “It’s my favorite sport. I’d like to learn how to play it better.”
“I’ve been watching you play, Jim. I came to quite a few of your games. You know it isn’t often that someone takes the ball away from Tony—he’s No. 3. He’s a fast wing, and you control the ball well. You’d make a good halfback. I think you two would make a great combination. How’d you like to come to the team’s regular practice next Tuesday?”
Jim could hardly believe what he heard. His eyes sparkled as he nodded his head. “I’d like that, coach. I’d really like to be a Bobcat.”
“Good, because that’s just what you are!”

I remember watching other kids reading with delight in class. Everyone in my family could read and did a lot of it. I once asked my brother, Rob, what was so great about reading. He smiled when he told me that when you read it’s like a whole new world opens.
I had heard the stories of Joseph Smith only being 14 when he received answers to his prayers. I wanted to experience this new world of reading. I was 13, living in Arizona with my dad. In early October, I prayed, sobbing into the sheets of my bed, begging the Lord to grant me the gift of reading. I promised that if he would grant me this great blessing, I would read the Book of Mormon from cover to cover.
Amazingly, in less than 18 days, I jumped six reading levels and was up to the same grade level as others my age. Once I had been told that was impossible. The miracle happened. I struggled but kept my promise and read the whole Book of Mormon. I have since moved on to the other scriptures.
Now that I am 15, I bear my testimony that the scriptures are so important that Heavenly Father allowed a girl with a learning disability to read. I know it is important to him that all of his children read his sacred books. The scriptures have changed my life forever.

To finish my earlier story, when I came home from my mission, I became frustrated. I knew what God didn’t want me to do, but I hadn’t got an answer about what He wanted me to do. I felt I had petitioned the Lord extensively, counseled with my parents, tried to assess my strengths and weaknesses, and looked at many different majors. I still didn’t seem to get an answer. Finally, my mother gave me some wonderful advice: “Sometimes you need to move forward and trust that the Lord will direct your path.”

Elder Richard G. Scott shared similar advice with us:
At times the Lord will want you to proceed with trust before you receive a confirming answer. His answer generally comes as packets of help. As each piece is followed in faith, it will unite with others to give you the whole answer. This pattern requires the exercise of faith. While sometimes very hard, it results in significant personal growth.[xii]I decided to take my mother’s advice. There was a new major that had only been out for a semester that my father shared with me; it was called business information systems. This degree was similar to our CIT degree, but it had a strong business emphasis. I had an administrator explain that the degree was meant to better bridge the gap between business and computer science. I immediately saw the wisdom of marrying a strong business degree with technical skills. I decided to move forward with the degree.

In contrast to my experience in my engineering program, I was soon excelling in all of my coursework. As I continued in the program, I still remember taking my first database class—and brothers and sisters, if a career had a love language, I knew mine was working with data. My real passion came one day in a lecture about data mining and how you could mine data to help make more informed decisions. I remember leaving that class and walking across the quad and saying a small prayer in my heart, telling my Father in Heaven that this is what I wanted to do and that if someday I could work for the Church doing this, I would be so incredibly happy.

I continued with my education and witnessed, as Elder Scott shared earlier, many packets of inspiration help me through my schooling. As I concluded my education, I continued to receive little packets of inspiration to help guide me on my path. As I searched for a job, I received a full-time offer to work in the institutional research office at the institution I was attending. Although the salary was quite a bit lower than most of my friends that were getting jobs in the business sector, I had carefully prayed with my wife and we felt inspired that this was the job we should take.

Once again, I am eternally grateful for trusting the Lord in this decision. What I could not have seen at that time was the tremendous friends, mentors, and knowledge that would prepare me for the next step the Lord wanted me to take in my life.

Just after I reached my ten-year mark, my boss, who was a great friend and mentor, retired. This caused me to do a lot of soul-searching and I felt like I needed a change in my life. At the same time, my sister invited my family up to Rexburg for my niece’s baptism. After the baptism, we went to the gardens for lunch. When we arrived, I was immediately taken in by the beauty of the gardens. As I started to explore, I found a secluded spot and I took some time to ponder, pray, and seek the Lord’s will for me. I was immediately overwhelmed by the tremendous spirit of BYU-Idaho, which spoke peace to my soul. Almost immediately, I said another prayer in my heart that if the Lord would allow me to work at a place like this, I would be willing to come. Within a few months, we applied for a job that seemed perfect for me, accepted the position, and moved to Rexburg.

Brothers and sisters, I challenge you to seek the Lord’s will for you at this pivotal point in your life and have the faith to trust Him. The Lord wants to bless you in your righteous desires. Sometimes the answers will come quickly, but sometimes we have to be patient and wait for God’s timing. In my earlier story, it would be 12 years before my righteous desire was realized. As I look back, it’s so easy to see how the Lord was performing little miracles along the way that would lead me to where I am now. I understand how easy it is to get lost in what we are currently going through and want the Lord to grant our desires immediately or in a way that we think would be best. I testify to you that the Lord has something wonderful in mind for you, and even though at times it may be hard to see, He is constantly working on your behalf.

When I was 16, a patriarch who had never seen me before and knew nothing of my background gave me my patriarchal blessing. In it the Lord answered specific questions I held in my heart related to some personal challenges. My thoughts about them seemed too intimate to share. One challenge concerned whether I would find a loving woman courageous enough to marry me in spite of my prominent birth defect—one our children might inherit. The answer was yes. I did marry Marie, and we had five beloved children.

The Lord’s answers in that blessing respected my concerns and my privacy. They were phrased so that only I would fully understand their meaning. From that day, I have had a firm personal witness that my Heavenly Father knows me intimately.

I had that demonstrated to me while welding in a shipyard one winter. One day one of the crew came up to me and with the most friendly smile started to call me all kinds of bad names. I quietly said to him, “Bent, you just don’t call me those names.” He was hurt. He said, “Dan, let me show you something. Come with me.” So I followed him across the deck of the aircraft carrier and over on the other side to a catwalk where another member of the crew was welding. He had raised his hood and was watching us approach when Bent started calling him every name he had called me. The other fellow just grinned and called him back the same names with a few innovations and improvements. Then Bent turned to me and said, “See, I didn’t mean any harm by it.” And he didn’t! He had managed to almost entirely divorce sound from sense in his speech.

The next few weeks were busy ones. School started again, and then my eighth birthday came along almost before I realized it. After my baptism and confirmation, a few things began to change. I started getting up a little earlier each morning to read the Book of Mormon before I headed off to school. That was tough because I hate getting up in the morning, but I was determined to make it all the way through that book.
I also started fasting each month on fast Sunday. There aren’t many things I like to do more than eat, so I slipped up sometimes, but even so, I started noticing a difference in how I felt about testimony meeting.
I began paying more attention to what each speaker was saying, and that made the meeting a lot more interesting. I found out that Sister Johnson had joined the Church when she was twenty-six years old. I thought she’d been a member all her life! And I loved it when old Brother Badger bore his testimony. He had exciting stories to tell about his life and about miracles he had witnessed.
I finished the Book of Mormon early the next summer. There were great stories and teachings in it, and I was happy that I’d reached my goal. But Moroni had written in the last chapter that if you read the Book of Mormon and want to know if it’s true, you should ponder it in your heart and pray to Heavenly Father about it. He promised that if you do that with faith in Jesus Christ and with a sincere heart, the Holy Ghost will help you know that it’s true. I decided to try it out for myself.
The rest of that week I prayed every morning and night. Sometimes I even said a quick prayer in my head when I was at school, but I never saw a vision or even heard a voice that told me the Book of Mormon was true. I felt like giving up, but I really wanted to know, so I just kept on praying.
The next fast Sunday, I fasted to know if the Book of Mormon was true. I spent a lot of time on my knees, and I reread some of my favorite parts. It was amazing how seldom I thought about food.
Testimony meeting was going along great that day. I was even happy for Molly Prentiss when she went up and bore her testimony. Then Brother Badger went to the front to speak. His quiet voice trembled as he spoke of his great love for the scriptures and how he knew of the truth of the gospel.
As he spoke, a strange feeling started in a little spot in my chest. It got warmer and bigger until my whole body was filled with glowing, tingly warmth. When he finished, that warmth seemed to pick me up and carry me right to the pulpit. The lump in my throat loosened into a few words that came right from my soul: “I know that the Book of Mormon is true. In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.”

Elder Melvin J. Ballard recounted a manifestation in this regard where he was embraced by the Savior and felt his love grow:

He put His arms around me and kissed me, as He took me into His bosom, and He blessed me until my whole being was thrilled . . . with deep joy swelling through my whole being, I felt that I was in heaven indeed. The feeling that came to my heart then was: Oh if I could live worthy . . . so that in the end when I have finished I could go into His presence and receive the feeling that I then had in His presence, I would give everything that I am and ever hope to be.[41]

Former Primary General President Joy D. Jones recalled that as a young couple, she and her husband were called to visit and minister to a family who hadn’t been to church for many years. It was immediately clear in their first visit that they were not wanted. After the frustration of additional failed attempts, and after much sincere prayer and pondering, Brother and Sister Jones received an answer to the why of their service in this verse from the Doctrine and Covenants: “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, with all thy might, mind, and strength; and in the name of Jesus Christ thou shalt serve him.” Sister Jones said:
“We realized that we were sincerely striving to serve this family and to serve our bishop, but we had to ask ourselves if we were really serving out of love for the Lord. …
“… We began looking forward to our visits with this dear family because of our love for the Lord [see 1 Nephi 11:22]. We were doing it for Him. He made the struggle no longer a struggle. After many months of our standing on the doorstep, the family began letting us in. Eventually, we had regular prayer and tender gospel discussions together. A long-lasting friendship developed. We were worshipping and loving Him by loving His children.”

Now, those island people who know and understand the covenants of the Lord and the Restoration of the gospel, as they liken the scriptures to themselves, surmise that Hawaiikiroa, the common ancestor, was actually Hagoth.
This is fascinating to me. The ancient history is not just lost away and forgotten but remembered in the traditions of Polynesian cultures
Hawaiikiroa is depicted in the center carving of the koruru, and the warrior depicted on top of the koruru is called the tekoteko. The depiction is of Maui-kai-ariki, the son of Hawaiikiroa and the father of the Maori people.
What is incredible to me as I ponder the meaning is that everything in the Maori whare depicts the ancestors of the tribe. Each figure represents the linage of ancestors, from the oldest in the back to the most recent in the front entrance of the whare.
The third experience that connects all these things together happened to a small-in-stature, much skinnier, palagi missionary with a full head of hair back then in February of 1976. President Spencer W. Kimball and his counselor N. Eldon Tanner and several other general authorities traveled though the South Pacific and held area conferences everywhere they went. They spoke to 1,000 saints in American Samoa on the 17th of February and then traveled to Western Samoa and over three days participated in traditional ceremonies, met with government officials, and held meetings. On the second day, they met with missionaries. President Kimball was getting a cold, so he didn’t meet with the missionaries, President Tanner presided and instructed at that meeting.

And then on the 19th of February, 15,000 Samoan saints gathered in a day of meetings, morning and afternoon sessions.

President Kimball was the concluding speaker. As I recall it, Lafi Toelupe was translating for President Kimball. President Kimball ended his talk five minutes before the hour, and Brother Toelupe turned to him and said, “President you still have five minutes,” and with that, President Kimball turned to Alma 63 and read these verses: “And it came to pass that Hagoth, he being an exceedingly curious man, therefore he went forth and built him an exceedingly large ship, on the borders of the land Bountiful, by the land Desolation, and launched it forth into the west sea, by the narrow neck which led into the land northward. And behold, there were many of the Nephites who did enter therein and did sail forth with much provisions, and also many women and children; and they took their course northward. And thus ended the thirty and seventh year. And in the thirty and eighth year, this man built other ships. And the first ship did also return, and many more people did enter into it; and they also took much provisions, and set out again to the land northward. And it came to pass that they were never heard of more” (Alma 63:5-8).

President Kimball then said that “the Polynesian people are descended from the Nephite Hagoth.”

President Kimball was reiterating the same things that were said by Elder George Q. Cannon. who served his mission in Hawaii from 1850 to 1854 and later served as counselor to four presidents of the Church. The same statements were made by President Joseph F. Smith who served his mission in Hawaii at the age of 15 in the 1850’s and again lived in Hawaii from 1885 to 1887 and became president of the Church. He visited Hawaii several other times, having a great impact on the saints in Hawaii and especially here in Laie, including dedicating the site for the temple so near us today.

President Kimball told the Samoan saints that “they needed to play an important part in the gathering of Israel.”

When Lisa was nine years old, she felt unhappy and out of sorts much of the time. Everyone in the family wondered why she was so grumpy. One night as she walked into her bedroom, she saw her Book of Mormon by the door.
Of course I’m not happy, she thought, I haven’t been reading the scriptures. That night she read a few verses. She decided that she would read every night. As the days passed, she felt happier and more peaceful.
This habit of reading the scriptures every day, even just a few verses, has blessed her ever since.

I am a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, in the Diala ward in the Kolwezi Stake. I would like to share my testimony dating back to my years of secondary school when I admired a young couple who apparently lived in happiness. After beginning my university studies, I made the decision to get married before completing them, and today I’m blessed with a happy family.
The motivation behind this decision is based on the belief that the best place to nurture light and truth is in our home. The family is regarded as the Lord’s workshop where we learn and live the gospel. Each family member has a sacred duty to help strengthen others spiritually. Eternal families and homes filled with the Spirit don’t just happen by chance! They require substantial efforts, time, and the participation of each member.
Although each home is unique, it is essential that everyone seeks the truth to help make a difference. Today, my greatest joy is that my family and I have been sealed in the Kinshasa Democratic Republic of the Congo Temple for time and for all eternity. We express our gratitude to God, our Heavenly Father, and His Son, Jesus Christ, for the blessings bestowed upon us. Our marriage is a success, and we strongly believe that anything can happen except separation. The Mutobola family remains grateful and united.

One summer my father said that he had a big job for me and my brother, Clay, to do. Pointing to a nearby field with a bunch of lambs in it, Dad said that he’d share any money that we made from raising them and selling them in the fall.
We were excited. There were about 350 lambs, and all we had to do was feed them. However, none of the lambs had mothers. They had all been lost in a violent storm. To feed one or two baby lambs is easy, but to feed 350 of them was a real job. There was plenty of grass, but the lambs needed milk. So we made some long, V-shaped troughs out of boards. Next, we got a tin washtub, ground up some grain, and put it into the tub. Then we added milk to make a thin mash.
We herded the lambs to the troughs and, pointing to the food, said, “Eat!” They just stood there looking at us. We tried pushing their noses down into the milky mash, hoping that they’d get a taste and want more. We tried wriggling our fingers in the mixture to get them to suck our fingers. Some of them would drink, but most of them ran away.
Many of the lambs were starving to death. The only way that we could be sure they were eating was to pick them up two at a time, hold them in our arms like babies, and feed them.
At night the coyotes would sit up on the hill and howl. The next morning we’d see the results of their night’s work, and we’d bury two or three more lambs.
Clay and I soon forgot about becoming rich. All we wanted to do was save our lambs. It really wasn’t too bad until I made a pet of one of the lambs and gave it a name. It was always under my feet, and it knew my voice. I loved that lamb. One morning it didn’t come when I called it. Later that day I found it under the willow trees by the creek. It wad dead. With tears streaming down my face, I picked up my lamb and went to find my father. Looking up at Dad, I said, “Isn’t there someone who can help us feed our lambs?”
After a long moment he said, “Jayne, a long time ago, Someone Else said almost those same words. He said, ‘Feed my lambs. … Feed my sheep.’” (John 21:15–16.) Dad put his arm around me and let me cry for a long time, then went with me to bury my lamb.
Many years later, while pondering Moses 1:39, I came to understand Dad’s words. The scripture reads: “For behold, this is my work and my glory—to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of [all mankind].” As I thought about the mission of the Savior, I remembered the summer of the lambs, and I sensed how the Savior must feel with so many lambs to feed, so many souls to save. And I knew in my heart that He needed my help.