Stories from General Conference

Prize Possession of A Little Boy

Elder Costa in General Priesthood last night (April 4, 2009) shared the story of his seven year old son who was once taking a shower when the power went out. His mother yelled up the stairs that he needed to come down the stairs for family prayer and that he should bring a candle because it was pitch dark. To this instruction, the mother added that he must be very careful with the candle because if he dropped it, it could burn the house down. A few minutes later the little boy was hear clumping and clanging down the stairs. His mother asked him why he was making so much noise and struggling so much. The little boy said that he was carrying his scriptures with the candle. He further went on to explain that if the house was going to burn down, he wanted to have his scriptures with him. (Elder Costa is in the Presidency of the Seventy)



The Egg Salad Sandwich

President Monson told a story about Jamie's mission in this same conference session. He said that there was once a boy named Brad, who was a drummer in a Northern Utah High School Band. The Band was invited to play in the Calgary Stampede Parade in July where Jamie was serving on his mission. All of the band members were excited to compete in this contest because 350,000 watch this particular parade. The band members each did many fund raising projects to get enough money to take the trip from Utah to Calgary.

After traveling all day in the bus, the band stopped for the night in Cardston, Alberta (near where Great grandpa Robison was born in Aetna). Early the next morning the Relief Society in Cardston gave each band member a sack lunch. Brad was sitting in the back of the bus and because he wasn't hungry, just tossed his sack lunch on the rack above the seats. Little did he know that inside was an egg salad sandwich. If you leave an egg salad sandwich in the hot sun for several hours, bacteria will form and you will get food poisoning. Well, Brad's sack lunch sat in the sun for hours. Just before arriving in Calgary, Brad decided to eat his lunch. He grabbed that sack lunch, which was very warm by now, and gulped down his sandwich. Moments later, he was doubled over in pain from the food poisoning. He had to use the bathroom in the bus over and over again. Soon all the band members exited the bus to perform their very important musical numbers, but Brad was missing. Two of his friends searched for him and found him at the back of the bus lying on the floor, doubled up in pain. Both friends had just been ordained Elders so they gave him a blessing using the Priesthood. Instantly Brad felt better, they exited the bus, and the band won the contest. But more importantly, the two young elders had been found worthy to give a blessing on the spot. Oh, that we might always keep ourselves pure enough to call upon the priesthood at any time.



The faith of a Three-Year Old

Sister Barbara Thompson told the story in General Conference this morning of staying with her neices aged 3 and 5 in Boise, Idaho. For Family Home Evening, the Dad and Mom acted out (no not Adam and Eve) the story of Lehi's dream. The mom was the iron rod (the word of God) and had the children hang on to her tightly while the dad who was acting like the muddy water (the evil of the world) tried to pull the children away. It was a great and memorable lesson and they had fun. At the end of the lesson and refreshments, the mother asked the children to remember to pray for the Bishop who needed surgery on his eyes. The three year old little girl then prayed for the Bishop that Heavenly Father would fix his broken eyes. The next day was Sunday. In Church, there was the Bishop conducting the meeting. The little three year old and the five year old knowing looked at the bishop and then at each other and said to each other "Heavenly Father fixed the bishop's broken eyes."

Questions:

1. What was the little boy's most prized possession and why?

2. What makes a Priesthood blessing work and why should we follow that example?

3. What did the little three year old pray for and what was her reaction at Church? What should we pray for?