Stopping by the mall, I found an adorable pair of jeans. I thought they were a little bigger than the jeans I usually wore, but they still looked stylish. I wore them the next day at school and at a wrestling tournament, where I had stepped in a puddle and splashed some mud on them. I even got a little food on them when I ate a snack.
When I got home that night, I realized that they did not fit me quite as well as I thought they did. I decided I would just wash off the spots and return them since they didn’t fit me properly.
As I headed to the store, I felt returning the jeans was not honest because the store expected the jeans to come back in original condition. But I pushed the prompting aside, returned the jeans, got my money back, and left the mall. As I drove out of the parking lot, I was overwhelmed with guilt. I prayed to Heavenly Father, asking Him to give me the courage to do what I knew I needed to do.
I drove back to the mall, entered the store, grabbed my pair of jeans off the shelf, and went to the cashier. Although I felt a little foolish buying my jeans back with the money the store had just given me, I knew I had made the right decision and that Heavenly Father was pleased with me. Every time I wear those jeans, I am reminded of my determination to be honest, no matter the cost.
Tierra P., Idaho, USA
After wearing and slightly soiling a new pair of jeans, a student returned them despite feeling prompted that it was dishonest. Overwhelmed with guilt while leaving the mall, she prayed for courage and went back to buy the same pair with the refund money. She felt peace knowing she had done the right thing and now remembers her commitment to honesty whenever she wears them.
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👤 Youth
Courage
Honesty
Light of Christ
Prayer
Repentance
May I Have This Dance?
Brad’s father recalls family trips to the park where older members played on the big field while Brad and his younger brother played on the small diamond and then watched from the dugout. He uses the literal fence between fields as a symbol of maturity and challenges Brad to choose the 'ballpark' he wants to play in by committing to goals regardless of others' opinions.
He reminded me of when our family would go to the park to play baseball. The older family members would leave Chris, my younger brother, and me to play at the small baseball diamond while they went around the wire fence to the grown-ups’ baseball field. “Do you remember how you two would play until you were bored, and then both of you would climb to the top of the dugout to watch the grown-ups play ball? That fence always seemed a tangible measure of age and ability. Now it can be a symbolic measure of maturity as you judge in which ballpark you’d like to play. You need to commit to your goals, never caring about what they may say. It is up to you to reach the fence as early in life as you can.”
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👤 Parents
👤 Children
Agency and Accountability
Children
Family
Young Men
“Plain, Simple Truths”:
After a difficult day, a young woman prayed to know she was loved. Immediately after saying amen, her older sister entered and said she loved her. The experience strengthened her testimony of prayer.
I have found that when I get on my knees and pray, I am comforted and I feel Heavenly Father’s overwhelming love for me. An experience I had recently with prayer helped me know with a surety that He answers our prayers.
I had been having a very difficult day, and when I got home from school I immediately went to my knees and asked Heavenly Father to help me know that I was loved. Right after I said, “Amen,” my older sister came into my room and told me she loved me. I was overcome with the Spirit, and this experience definitely added to my testimony of prayer. I pray every day—and try to keep a prayer in my heart.
Shannon Watson, age 17,Highland 20th Ward, Highland Utah East Stake
I had been having a very difficult day, and when I got home from school I immediately went to my knees and asked Heavenly Father to help me know that I was loved. Right after I said, “Amen,” my older sister came into my room and told me she loved me. I was overcome with the Spirit, and this experience definitely added to my testimony of prayer. I pray every day—and try to keep a prayer in my heart.
Shannon Watson, age 17,Highland 20th Ward, Highland Utah East Stake
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👤 Youth
Family
Holy Ghost
Love
Prayer
Testimony
Young Women
Our Families’ Personal Progress
At 15, Katya’s father invited missionaries to teach her but expressed his own disinterest. Katya met with them, felt it was right, remembered earlier feelings from church as a child, and chose to be baptized.
Both Katya’s and Ivana’s families joined the Church shortly after the Kyiv Ukraine Mission was organized in 1992. But both families drifted into inactivity before either girl was old enough to be baptized.
At age 15 Katya was returning from a trip with a community youth group. She was surprised when her father told her that he had invited the missionaries to teach her. He made it clear that while she was welcome to listen, he was not interested.
Katya set a time to meet with the missionaries. “As I listened, I felt that this is the right way to go. I remembered those feelings I’d had going to church as a child. And after a while, I decided to be baptized,” she says.
At age 15 Katya was returning from a trip with a community youth group. She was surprised when her father told her that he had invited the missionaries to teach her. He made it clear that while she was welcome to listen, he was not interested.
Katya set a time to meet with the missionaries. “As I listened, I felt that this is the right way to go. I remembered those feelings I’d had going to church as a child. And after a while, I decided to be baptized,” she says.
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👤 Youth
👤 Parents
👤 Missionaries
Apostasy
Baptism
Conversion
Family
Missionary Work
Testimony
Pillars and Rays
The speaker joined hundreds of brethren to pray for a friend who was unconscious on a ventilator after his heart had stopped. As they pleaded for his life, the friend awoke and removed the ventilator himself. That friend later served as a stake president.
I remember kneeling with hundreds of brethren to pray for a dear friend who lay unconscious on a ventilator in a small, faraway hospital after his heart had stopped. As we united our own hearts to plead for his life, he woke up and pulled the ventilator out of his own throat. He serves today as a stake president.
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👤 Friends
👤 Church Members (General)
👤 Church Leaders (Local)
Adversity
Faith
Health
Miracles
Prayer
Attitude All-Stars
New player Jael Blanco didn’t know volleyball well when she joined Western Hills. Coach Sara Pena taught her the rules and encouraged her to keep trying, helping Jael focus on learning and having fun rather than just winning.
The girls helped each other improve by teaching each other new skills. When Jael Blanco first started playing with the Western Hills team, she didn’t know how to play volleyball very well, but Coach Pena taught her the rules and encouraged her to keep trying. “Sometimes when I play a new sport, I feel like people care only about winning,” says Jael. “It’s not as much fun, because really I just want to learn. Sara taught me how to play volleyball, but she also taught me how to have fun with it.”
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👤 Youth
👤 Church Leaders (Local)
Education
Friendship
Kindness
Service
Young Women
One Special Night
Influenced by her friend Katie’s cheerful, inclusive spirit, Stephanie makes sure everyone is involved in the prom dancing. Her actions reflect the love and inclusivity she has learned from Katie. The experience shows how one friend’s example can shape another’s service.
Stephanie Sheely agrees. She says that her friend Katie “is always cheerful and loves to participate.” Stephanie smiled during the whole prom and made sure that everyone was included in the dancing. This is a trait she’s learned from Katie. “She really loves everybody,” says Stephanie.
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👤 Youth
Charity
Friendship
Happiness
Kindness
Love
Missionary Now
A child describes eagerly awaiting a brother's return from a mission and feeling excited when he came home. While waiting was hard, the child still found joy. Inspired by the example, the child looks forward to serving a mission and seeks to be a missionary now in everyday settings.
I was so excited when my brother came home from his mission. I had a hard time waiting, but I had fun. I can’t wait to be a missionary. I know I can still be a missionary at school, home, or play. I hope that you go on a mission too.
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👤 Missionaries
👤 Children
Children
Family
Missionary Work
Testimony
Joseph F. Smith:
On Molokai, Joseph F. Smith was nursed for three months by Sister Ma Mahuhii during serious illness. Decades later, they joyfully reunited when he returned to Hawaii. Those once unfamiliar had become family to him.
On Molokai, he received motherly care from Sister Ma Mahuhii, who nursed him for three months while he lay seriously ill. She never forgot him, nor he her. “Iosepa, Iosepa,” she cried out when he visited Hawaii nearly 50 years later. “Mama, Mama, my dear old Mama!” he replied.14 Those who had seemed so different from himself at the outset of his mission had become his family.
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👤 Church Members (General)
👤 Missionaries
👤 General Authorities (Modern)
Diversity and Unity in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
Family
Health
Kindness
Missionary Work
Service
Peppermint Ice Cream
A narrator wakes and imagines peppermint ice cream clouds drifting in the sky, pink and white. As the sun rises, the ice cream melts and wafts away.
This morning I awoke with a yawn and a sigh,
Then found peppermint ice cream adrift in the sky.
Delicate pink swirled in clouds of pure white—
Big billowy scoops of delicious delight.
But as the sun crept up to wink at the day,
The ice cream all melted and wafted away.
Then found peppermint ice cream adrift in the sky.
Delicate pink swirled in clouds of pure white—
Big billowy scoops of delicious delight.
But as the sun crept up to wink at the day,
The ice cream all melted and wafted away.
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👤 Other
Happiness
Friends by Mail
A Primary group adopted a 'Primary grandma' each month as part of their 2019 Kindness Garden. They sang the grandmas' favorite Primary songs and listened to their testimonies. The grandmas later helped the children sing in their Primary program.
For our 2019 Kindness Garden, we adopted a “Primary grandma” each month. We sang their favorite Primary songs and listened to their testimonies. They even helped us sing in our Primary program! We love the Friend magazine!
Garden Park 7th Ward, Utah, USA
Garden Park 7th Ward, Utah, USA
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👤 Children
👤 Church Members (General)
Children
Friendship
Kindness
Ministering
Music
Service
Testimony
The Key to Opportunity
President Gordon B. Hinckley observed the limiting effects of poverty and lack of education on young adults and sought the Lord for answers. He announced the Perpetual Education Fund in March 2001 and invited contributions. A decade later, donations from around the world helped the initiative thrive and bless many lives.
Among them was President Gordon B. Hinckley (1910–2008), who introduced the Perpetual Education Fund (PEF), patterned after another of Brigham Young’s 19th-century initiatives, the Perpetual Emigration Fund. This new educational fund would become, in the words of President Thomas S. Monson, one of the hallmarks of President Hinckley’s administration.1 President Hinckley had seen poverty and lack of education and training prevent many young adults in the Church from achieving their potential. He sought the Lord for answers.
In general conference on March 31, 2001, President Hinckley announced his vision for the program. He conceded that it was a “bold initiative” but held that “education is the key to opportunity.”2 President Hinckley invited all who wished to contribute to do so, and the program was underway.
Now, 10 years later, contributions large and small from donors worldwide have allowed the initiative—and its participants—to thrive. Elder John K. Carmack, emeritus member of the Seventy and Executive Director of PEF, says it is “rescuing the Saints from the curse of poverty.” It has been successful in that rescue, says Rex Allen, volunteer director of training and communications for PEF, because it is established on eternal principles and comes with prophetic promises that have “an impact more far-reaching than any of us understand.”
In general conference on March 31, 2001, President Hinckley announced his vision for the program. He conceded that it was a “bold initiative” but held that “education is the key to opportunity.”2 President Hinckley invited all who wished to contribute to do so, and the program was underway.
Now, 10 years later, contributions large and small from donors worldwide have allowed the initiative—and its participants—to thrive. Elder John K. Carmack, emeritus member of the Seventy and Executive Director of PEF, says it is “rescuing the Saints from the curse of poverty.” It has been successful in that rescue, says Rex Allen, volunteer director of training and communications for PEF, because it is established on eternal principles and comes with prophetic promises that have “an impact more far-reaching than any of us understand.”
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👤 General Authorities (Modern)
Apostle
Charity
Education
Revelation
Self-Reliance
Service
By Small and Simple Things – The Long-Awaited Blessings of Missionary Service
After finishing his mission in Scotland, Ross Pooley felt regret over not baptizing anyone. Forty years later he looked up a family he had taught who had since attended church in Missouri beginning in 1999 and were baptized twenty years later. His early efforts eventually contributed to their conversion.
Maybe you have felt similar as your efforts at sharing the gospel have seemed to come to naught. Ross Pooley of the Bridlington Ward felt so as he came to the end of his two-year mission to Scotland. Speaking to his Mission President he said, “I was very emotional and expressed my love for my mission, but also some feeling of regret in failing to baptise during my two years of service.”
Fast forward forty years and the picture looks very different. Thinking about a family he taught while on his mission, but who never committed to baptism, he decided to look them up. Deeply religious and long-time investigators of the Church, they started to attend Latter-day Saint meetings in 1999 while living in Independence, Missouri and twenty years later were baptised.
Fast forward forty years and the picture looks very different. Thinking about a family he taught while on his mission, but who never committed to baptism, he decided to look them up. Deeply religious and long-time investigators of the Church, they started to attend Latter-day Saint meetings in 1999 while living in Independence, Missouri and twenty years later were baptised.
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👤 Missionaries
👤 Church Members (General)
Baptism
Conversion
Missionary Work
Patience
Conference Notes
Elder Whiting said he and his wife climbed Mount Fuji in Japan. They focused on taking the next step until they reached the top. He taught that discipleship works the same way—becoming like Jesus Christ one step at a time.
Elder Whiting said that he and his wife climbed a very tall mountain in Japan called Mount Fuji. They focused on just taking the next step until they reached the top. Elder Whiting said that this is how we become more like Jesus Christ—one step at a time.
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👤 General Authorities (Modern)
👤 Other
Adversity
Endure to the End
Jesus Christ
Patience
George Q. Cannon
At age twenty-three, George Q. Cannon was called to the Hawaiian Islands. He struggled with speaking before large groups but, through faith and diligence, overcame his fear and used every opportunity to speak and learn the language.
In 1850, President Brigham Young called George, then twenty-three years old, to serve a mission to the Sandwich (Hawaiian) Islands. Elder Cannon had great difficulty in speaking before large groups of people, but through his faith in the Lord and his great desire to serve Him, he overcame this fear. He never let an opportunity pass to talk to the people and improve his understanding of the language.
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👤 Missionaries
Courage
Faith
Missionary Work
Service
Teaching the Gospel
Brooklyn’s Window on the World
Mireille Petrus and her family left Haiti and leaned on the Church as they adjusted to life in the United States. Living in a difficult neighborhood, Sister Petrus teaches fellow Haitians and has prepared her four teenagers to face dangers calmly. They rely on the Spirit to guide their choices.
Mireille Petrus and her family are representative of the faithfulness and diversity of Brooklyn Latter-day Saints. They left Haiti eight years ago to come to the United States and relied heavily on the Church upon their arrival in an unfamiliar society. “The Church has helped us stay on the same spiritual level as before,” notes Raquel, Mireille’s oldest child. Sister Petrus serves as a Sunday School teacher for other French-speaking Haitians in the ward and doesn’t worry very much about raising four teenagers in a neighborhood notorious for crime and poverty. She has prepared them well, and they talk about frightening and dangerous experiences with calm and reassurance. “We have to rely on the Spirit all the time to know what to do and what not to do,” says Raquel.
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👤 Parents
👤 Youth
👤 Church Members (General)
Adversity
Children
Diversity and Unity in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
Faith
Family
Holy Ghost
Ministering
Parenting
Revelation
Teaching the Gospel
That We May All Sit Down in Heaven Together
The speaker prepared a talk on charity by attending the temple, fasting, studying, and praying, but still did not feel charitable. After many prayers and tears, she realized she needed to ask forgiveness from those who had prompted uncharitable thoughts. Though difficult, doing so brought healing, and the Spirit returned.
When I began preparing this talk, I did all the things I knew I should do: I went to the temple, I fasted, I read the scriptures, I prayed. And I wrote a talk. But, sisters, when you choose to write about charity, you need to feel charitable. And I didn’t. And so, after many prayers and tears, there came a realization to my mind that I had to ask forgiveness of those who, unbeknownst to them, were the cause of my uncharitable thoughts. It was hard. But it was healing. And I testify to you that the Lord’s Spirit returned.
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👤 Church Members (General)
Charity
Fasting and Fast Offerings
Forgiveness
Holy Ghost
Prayer
Repentance
Scriptures
Temples
Testimony
The Blessings of Hard Work
His family spent time at a summer cottage on a farm without electricity or plumbing, which required chopping wood and carrying water. The farmer trusted him with moving cows for milking and he helped harvest and haul hay using horses.
Our family had a summer cottage on a farm. It did not have electricity or plumbing, so we had to chop our own wood and carry water from a well. The farmer who owned the farm trusted me to sometimes take the cows to the barn for milking and to let them back out. We harvested and stacked hay and used horses to haul the hay bales to the barn.
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👤 Youth
👤 Other
Employment
Family
Self-Reliance
FYI:For Your Information
Six young men in the Woodridge Ward worked through leadership, merit badges, and service projects to earn their Eagle Scout Awards at a combined court of honor. Their projects ranged from community service to genealogy support. Guided by a longtime Scoutmaster, they set a council record for the most Eagles awarded at once.
Six young men from the Woodridge Ward, Naperville Illinois Stake, received their Eagle Awards in a combined court of honor last fall. At this time they became the largest number of boys ever to receive the Eagle Award at the same time in Illinois’ Two Rivers Council. Those who earned the awards were Mark Benner, Michael Jacobazzi, Robert Jacobazzi, Gary Lund, Steve Saatkamp, and Charles Worlton. To achieve the Eagle rank, each young man earned six skill awards and at least 21 merit badges; served in troop leadership positions; and planned, organized, and directed a service project involving toys for a nursery, painting fire hydrants, collecting clothes for charity, placing genealogy packets in local libraries, painting house numbers on curbs, or doing yard work for a member who had suffered a heart attack. The six new Eagles join three other Eagle Scouts in the Woodridge Ward, all of whom have been guided in the Scouting program by Scoutmaster Don Benner, a Scouting veteran of 20 years.
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👤 Youth
👤 Church Leaders (Local)
Charity
Education
Family History
Self-Reliance
Service
Young Men
Childviews
Jared accidentally hit his friend Kevin with a rock and felt scared to apologize. Remembering Jesus's teachings, he went with his dad to Kevin's house, said he was sorry, and felt better when Kevin forgave him, and they remained friends.
Once I threw a rock and accidentally hit my friend Kevin on his lip. I had to go to his house to say I was sorry. I was scared, but I remembered that Jesus wants me to say I am sorry when I do something wrong. My dad went with me, and I told Kevin that I was sorry. He said it was OK, and I felt better inside. And we’re still friends.
Jared Green, age 6West Lafayette, Indiana
Jared Green, age 6West Lafayette, Indiana
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👤 Children
👤 Parents
👤 Friends
Children
Forgiveness
Friendship
Jesus Christ
Parenting
Repentance