by Jessica

Around the time that I was finishing high school, my parents ran into some financial difficulties. Everyone goes through something like that at one point or another. Since there were still 3 children living at home, food was something that was essential, especially since two of us were teenagers. One day, my mom asked me if I wanted to go grocery shopping with her. I was a little confused that we didn’t take the turn to the Wal-mart, but instead headed towards a western part of town. We went to a white building that didn’t really look like anything special. When we got into the building, it was like a mini grocery store. I asked my mom what this place was, to which she replied, “It’s called  the bishop’s storehouse.” She went on to explain that a bishop’s storehouse is run by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (sometimes mistakenly called the Mormon Church). When families or individuals of the Church are going through hard times, they can meet with their bishop (the leader of a congregation) and put together a list of basic foods and supplies they need.

The private contributions of other members of the LDS Church make the bishop’s storehouse possible. One Sunday a month, the members of the The Church of Jesus Christ are asked to fast for two meals. The money that they would have spent on those meals is given as a fast offering to the bishop of their ward. With these finances, the bishop helps provide for those who don’t have enough money to cover their expenses at that time. The Church owns ranches for meat and large farms and orchards. Food grown on these farms is canned by volunteers. 

The welfare program of the Church is well known throughout the world. People from all walks of life travel to Church headquarters to see firsthand how the Church cares for the poor and needy without creating dependency on the part of those who receive or bitterness on the part of those who give. A president of a country, after visiting Welfare Square, canceled the remainder of his appointments for the day. “There is something here that is more important than anything else I have on my schedule,” he said. “I must stay and learn more” (“Inspired Church Welfare,” Ensign, May 1999, 76).  

Workers in the bishop’s storehouse are all unpaid volunteers. I wanted to help out when we were getting food from the Church, so I volunteered to help out at the Storehouse. It was such a wonderful experience to give back to the Church and the Lord when they were providing for me and my family. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints,not only provides food for families, but it can also provide clothes and job counseling. Deseret Industries is a thrift store owned by the Church that trains people and teaches them essential skills to help them find a job. 

Knowing that the Church will always be there for me, if I am ever in need, is a feeling that I cannot express. I know that nothing comes free, though. Volunteering to help the Church can provide many blessings in your life. I love paying fast offerings and working at the Storehouse, just having the feeling that I’ve done something good for others, and that I’m a part of something that works so well to help others.

by Jessica

In the beginning, when a powerful spirit was cast down for rebellion, “he became Satan, … the devil, the father of all lies, to deceive and to blind men, and to lead them captive at his will” (Moses 4:4). He and the spirits who follow him are still deceiving the world. Modern revelation declares that “Satan hath sought to deceive you, that he might overthrow you” (Doctrine and Covenants 50:2–3). Satan’s methods of deception are enticing: music, movies and other media, and the glitter of a good time. When Satan’s lies succeed in deceiving us, we become vulnerable to his power.

I do not believe in ghosts. That is something I tell people all the time. I then go on to explain in further details, my beliefs. A ghost is defined as someone who has died, but wanders the earth as a spiritual entity. It is my belief that people who have passed on to the other side have far better things to do, than wander the earth haunting buildings. I do believe that there are spirits, minions of Satan that will do anything they can to get our attention in hopes that they can possess our bodies.

The things that people do, such as use Wigi boards; Bloody Mary and other things that invite evil spirits… only work, because they want them too. When you go into something, wanting or thinking that a spirit will appear as a result of your actions, it will happen. Satan’s minions were not able to get mortal bodies, because they did not follow God’s plan. Instead, they followed Satan’s plan in the pre-mortal existence, and were on the wrong side in the War in Heaven. They were cast out with Satan. While others who aligned themselves with Christ go on to receive mortal bodies, then perfect, resurrected bodies, the progress of Satan’s minions stopped. They will always be spirits. They are always around, waiting for people to invite them into their lives.

Shows like Ghost Hunters disturb me in many ways. The reason being, that when I watch the show, I notice that the people in the T.V show invite and taunt the spirits to show themselves. If the building was not haunted before, it is when the people in the show invite those spirits. And for what? For ratings, to scare other people and viewers? We should not be encouraging shows that invite evil spirits into our life.

“Satan cannot seduce us by his enticements unless we in our hearts consent and yield. Our organization is such that we can resist the devil; if we were not organized so, we would not be free agents.”

“The devil has no power over us only as we permit him; the moment we revolt at anything which comes from God, the devil takes power. (Prophet Joseph Smith)

I am also reminded of a story that I read a long time ago. There was a man who had died on a hospital bed, but was revived five minutes later. In that time, he was shown some things by the Lord. One of those things is that he saw evil spirits lurking around those who were committing acts that were sinful or compromising according to the teachings of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, such as drinking. The man who had died was taken into a bar by the Lord and was shown how much easier it was for an evil spirit to enter a person’s body the more that he/she drank. There was also a moment where he saw one evil spirit that was overlooking an entire city. The man asked the Lord. “Is this city so strong in the gospel, that the evil spirits cannot enter it?” To which the lord replied. “No. The city is so evil that only one of Satan’s followers needs to oversee the entire city. The city is weak and full of sin, and does not have the strength to push the evil spirit out of their lives.

We should surround ourselves with positive things, things that invite the Holy Ghost into our lives, and not the Evil Spirits that roam the earth, waiting for their opportunity to strike. Our bodies are temples, and we should treat them as such. Temples are dedicated houses of God, and God only dwells in holy places. We should a light and a example to those around us, so that they can also receive the gift of the Holy Ghost and have the power to resist the evil spirits in this world.

The story of Paris Thomas has been making the rounds on the Internet. When he was six years old, his father was sent to prison. The family was forced to leave their home and live in a car with pretty much nothing but the clothes they were wearing. Paris’ mother tried to find a job, food, and help for herself and her children but she had a hard time of it and they were homeless for a while. Eventually she did find a job and was able to find a home for the family. Paris dropped out of school.

When Paris was fourteen, Mormon missionaries were tracting through the neighborhood. This means they were going door to door asking people if they’d like to learn about The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which is the real name of the church. Mormon is just a nickname.

His friends teased him about having two white men coming to the house, thinking they were police officers. Paris wasn’t interested in the gospel message the missionaries were giving his family, but finally the missionaries told him that if he wanted to know what was true, he needed to ask God, who is the only source of truth. So Paris did. The answer he got was a feeling of joy, love, and peace, a new experience for him.

How did this change Paris’ life? As he built his testimony and learned more about the gospel of Jesus Christ, he started to understand he was on earth for a reason and God had a plan for him. His brother had died at age eighteen and he hadn’t felt there was much hope for himself either. Now he knew differently. He knew who he was—a child of God—and why he was here.

His mother had lost two sons but she can see she isn’t going to lose Paris. He’s back in school, doing well, and making something of himself. He says he does not want to blame his circumstances for anything—he’s better than his circumstances. In fact, he feels the poverty and the homelessness, the grief of losing his siblings and having a father who was arrested…all those things that often make people give up…have actually made him stronger and helped him become the good man he is. He hopes he can help other people who face similar challenges to move beyond those trials and into something better, just as he is doing.

Meet Paris for yourself. He’s a man worth meeting.

Because his father was a great basketball player, people presume sports came naturally to Tyler Haws. But the truth is, he wasn’t a naturally talented basketball player. Still, he loved basketball and wanted to be really good at it. When he was in third grade, he got cut from a good team and was heart-broken. His dad told him that he would be happy to help Tyler. They’d work really hard and Tyler would get better. He promised Tyler that if he worked as hard as he could at anything in life, good things would happen.

Tyler and his father started to get up very early in the morning during the summers. For two hours before his dad left for work they would run drills at the church, which had a basketball court indoors. They drilled over and over again, doing a hundred or more free throws each morning, for instance, which isn’t exciting, but which helped him master the basic skills. Because he drilled so often he was able to do the right things in real games.

Not only did Tyler make the team, but he went on to become one of the best basketball players in the country in high school, being named Mr. Basketball twice, a rare accomplishment.

His dad feels that having to work harder than the other boys, and not being naturally talented at basketball, was probably a really good thing for Tyler. He learned that what helped him become a good basketball player could help him in all the other parts of his life, too. Setting goals and working hard could get him many of the things he wanted in his life.

One of the things he wanted was to serve as a missionary for his church. Tyler is a Mormon and most Mormon men give up two years of their life to serve God full-time at their own expense. When Tyler was just a child he set a goal to do this when he was nineteen, the youngest age men can go on missions. He worked hard to do the kinds of things that would make that possible. To serve a mission, a young man has to live a morally clean life, even in his teens. He needs to avoid alcohol, cigarettes, and drugs. He must maintain high moral standards in his dating life. He attends church weekly, studies and learns his religion well, develops self-discipline and builds a strong testimony. What Tyler learned from becoming a good basketball player also helped him become a good missionary. He’s now serving in the Philippines for two years.

People thought it was a little weird for him to leave the Brigham Young University basketball team to serve a mission. He was doing great, was important to the team, was following in his dad’s footsteps as a basketball star. Why give that up to serve a mission?

Because he’d promised God to serve Him first, and that meant a mission came before basketball. And his father served a mission, too.

Tyler admits it would have been a hard decision to make if he’d waited until he was an eighteen year old basketball star to make his decision. He was able to make the right decision because he made it young and devoted his life to working toward it. He says he has learned that when he puts God first, God blesses him.

And basketball will always be there when he returns. For now, Tyler is putting first things first, just as he always has.

Meet Tyler Haws by watching this video about him.

One reason people like to tell stories from the Bible and Book of Mormon is that they are filled with exciting people. There are lots of flashy heroes and villains. The bad guys are regularly held up as bad examples and warnings. The heroes get Sunday School lessons written about them and the children sing songs about them. But the scriptures are not just about the stars of the show.

When I was in drama classes, everyone tried out for the starring roles. No one wanted to have a small walk on role with no lines to say. However, every writer knows that every character in a story is absolutely important to the story. Writers never put anyone into a story who doesn’t have an important job to do. Leave out the smallest character and the entire book can fall apart. The same is true for the scriptures.

The same is true for real life.

Let’s look at one Book of Mormon person who had a small part to play in the stories told and see if we can learn some things that will apply to our own lives, especially if we’re the quiet type and not the flashy hero type.

The Book of Mormon begins with a teenager named Nephi. Nephi is pretty much your typical hero type of teenager. He’s probably about fourteen when the Book of Mormon story starts and he was the first author. He didn’t write about his life until he was much older, but it’s mostly from his point of view. He was tall for his age, a good hunter, athletic, strong, self-confident…you know the type, right?

Nephi was the youngest of four brothers. His two oldest brothers were brats. They had a bad habit of beating up Nephi and his next oldest brother Sam. Later, as adults, they’d even try to kill them. But Nephi, sometimes with the help of angels, always wins out over them.

But Nephi isn’t the star of this article. In this article we’re dealing with Sam, who is mentioned only a few times in the entire story of Nephi’s life. What do we know about him? He was a middle child—the third of the boys. There were some sisters too, but we think they were already married and living elsewhere by the time the story begins. Like Nephi, he was righteous, which means he tried to do what God wanted him to do. He obeyed his parents, was nice to his younger brother…that’s pretty much all we have in the way of facts. But if we read between the lines, we might see that Sam is a quiet hero.

Here’s some background information on the story, in case you haven’t read it. The father of these boys was Lehi and he was pretty rich. The kids had good lives because of that. But then Lehi got called to be a prophet and after that, things got pretty complicated. People got mad at Lehi for telling them to repent and they wanted to kill him. This was in Jerusalem just before it fell. You can read about the fall of Jerusalem in the Bible.

Once things got too dangerous, God told Lehi to take his family and only the things they really needed and get out of Jerusalem forever. They weren’t even suppose to take their gold and silver or any fun possessions. Laman and Lemuel, the two bad brothers, were pretty mad at leaving their comfortable life and heading off on a permanent camping trip. Wealthy to homeless—on purpose. Nope, not their style.

Nephi and Sam, though, trusted their dad when he said this was what God wanted, and they went without complaint. That’s the first sign of a hero—doing the hard stuff without whining, and in the scriptures (and in modern life), a sign of a hero is doing what God wants you to do without whining. So far, Sam qualifies.

After they’d been traveling for a while, God told Lehi to send the boys back to Jerusalem alone. In those days only a few people had copies of the parts of the Bible that had been written so far. Lehi didn’t have one, but his wicked relative Laban did.  The boys were to convince Laban to give them his copy, which also included their family history.

How did each boy react to being sent on this long trip for a book?

Laman and Lemuel whined. It was too far, too hard, too scary. (Laban was really wicked.) No heroes here.

Nephi gave a rousing speech to his father, in which he said he’d go because he knew God would never give them a commandment unless He prepared a way for them to keep it. It’s a great, hero-worthy speech and there have been songs written about it.

Sam…just went. That’s all. He didn’t whine and he didn’t give a speech. He just packed his bags and headed off. Okay, that doesn’t sound too exciting and no one has ever written a song about Sam doing that. But here’s what I think—and this is my own interpretation of it. I think Sam was a teenager who was used to doing the right thing all the time, or at least most of the time. I think he’d worked hard to become obedient and now he didn’t need to think about it or give speeches about it. He was a little older than Nephi so he’d had more practice doing hard things quietly, whereas Nephi, being younger, was still pretty excited to realize he liked obeying God and his parents. Nephi was learning the kind of person he was and so he needed to talk about it. Sam already knew. He didn’t need to announce it to anyone. That’s the first thing that tells me Sam is a quiet hero.

As you can imagine, this trip doesn’t go too well. The brothers politely ask Laban for the records and he threatens to kill them. They even offer to buy them—all that gold and silver they abandoned is still hanging around. Laban takes the money and tries to have them killed without giving them the records. The two older brothers get mad and decide to take it out on Nephi and Sam, seeing as how they were younger and obedient. The beating gets so bad an angel has to show up to rescue them. The angel tells the older brothers to behave and warns them that someday, Nephi is going to be the head of the family, lead the church and rule over them.

Hey, wait a minute! Laman and Lemuel don’t like that one bit. In those days, the oldest son always became the leader when the father died. There is no way they want their baby brother taking over what they thought should be Laman’s job. (Can you imagine the church being led by Laman?)

I’m sure you can understand why God was going to skip over Laman and Lemuel. But he also skipped right over Sam, who was every bit as righteous as Nephi. Why did He do that? We don’t know and chances are, Sam didn’t know either. It would have been pretty understandable if he’d gotten as upset as his older brothers. In fact, he had more right to get upset, since he was worthy of the job. But you know what? He didn’t. Nephi wrote about the reactions Laman and Lemuel had to this, but he doesn’t say one word about Sam’s reaction, which means it was so quiet Nephi didn’t give it much thought. Later, when Nephi is the leader, he has to take his followers to live somewhere else because Laman and Lemuel want to kill him. Sam goes with Nephi.

Throughout the rest of the story, the few times Sam is mentioned he is always following the leader, either his father or Nephi. We don’t know if he went home and prayed to know why he wasn’t chosen. All we know is that however he might have felt inside at first—and it would be natural to be a little sad over it—he didn’t use it as an excuse to rebel. He just went about his life doing the right thing, just as he always had.

Sam was a quiet hero. Maybe you are too. Maybe no one will write books or songs about your life, but that doesn’t mean you don’t matter. Sam is in the story for a reason. God wanted him there to remind us that you don’t have to be the leader or the star to make a difference in the world. Nephi depended on Sam’s loving loyalty during the hard years ahead. God depended on it, too.

And God is depending on you too. Quiet heroes are as important as the stars of the show.

Read about Sam and his family in the Book of Mormon.

The story of Sam, to be read between the lines.

Make your standards clear so those who follow you don't get lost.

In this month’s New Era magazine (a monthly magazine for Mormon teens and other teens who want inspiration) there are several stories about teens who had to have courage in an everyday sort of situation. A lot of times we think of courage as involving physical danger, such as running into a burning building to save someone. Most of the time, though, the courage we are asked to show comes from ordinary, everyday experiences.

Deborah Moore wrote about the experience of losing a best friend. When she was in eighth grade, her best friend decided to start getting drunk and doing other things Deborah knew were wrong. Deborah didn’t know what to do but she was worried for her friend’s safety so she finally got the courage to ask her friend not to drink. Her friend chose not to follow her advice or to continue the friendship.

That took a huge amount of courage for Deborah. She knew she might lose a friend by doing this, but she had to try to help her friend if it was at all possible, so she took the risk. A lot of times when we read stories like this one in religious settings, the story ends with the friend deciding to change her life, grateful someone cared about her. That didn’t happen this time, but it doesn’t change the importance of the story.

It’s really an act of love to try to save someone you know is doing something dangerous. You’d want to jump into a swimming pool to save a drowning friend and a friend who wants to start getting drunk often is in more danger than just physical death—she faces terrible danger to her spiritual life, which is more important in the eternal scheme of things.

Every person has agency—the God-given right to make choices—but they face the consequences of those choices. When we care about someone, we can offer them support for making a different kind of choice, which is what Deborah offered. Even though the friend didn’t appreciate the help or accept it, Deborah had done the right thing. She eventually made new friends who supported her wiser choices and helped her to live the way she knew she should live.

Read the original story about this Mormon Teen.

Another story had a happier ending. Shannon moved to her dad’s house part way through her junior year of high school. She was shy and had a hard time making friends. She was in choir and hoped she’d find friends there, but it was still pretty hard. However, one girl caught her attention, a girl who was outgoing and popular. This girl had one bad habit though—she took Jesus’ name in vain. That means she used his name as a swear word. This really bothered Shannon, but she was too shy to say anything.

One day, though, Shannon decided she was denying Jesus Christ every time she let the swearing go by without saying anything. She surprised herself by asking the girl not to say His name that way because He was her Savior. The class was startled and became silent but several students agreed with Shannon. The girl who had said the words apologized, admitting she hadn’t really thought about what she was saying and that Jesus was her Savior, too.

So sometimes having everyday courage works out the way you hope it will and sometimes it doesn’t. Having courage, though, means you don’t stop to wonder if you’ll come out ahead. It means doing the right thing for the right reason even if it’s possible the story might have some sad parts to it. In the eternal scheme of things, though, both girls had happy endings because they knew they were doing what Jesus wanted them to do, and that matters more than any temporary setbacks.

Read the original story in the New Era about this Mormon Teen.

What have you done to show everyday courage?

I was reading an article today about a man who was bodysurfing one day when he hit his head on a rock and became a paraplegic. (See Disabled author chooses to laugh, Author: Carma Wadley, Source: Deseret News, 11 October 2010 11:30am.)

At first, he thought his life was pretty much over because he could never be happy again or do anything important. But then he decided that if he was alive, he was going to be really alive. He was married and had children, so he went back to being a father and a husband. He even wrote a book.

His son was sixteen when the accident happened and was bodysurfing with his father when the accident happened. His life changed a lot too that day and many teens in his situation would probably think their life was pretty unfair now, too. He had to spend a lot of time taking care of his father. Probably there wasn’t as much money in the house either. Instead of whining though, he worked at getting really good at taking care of his dad and then decided to use those new skills by choosing to become a doctor working in emergency rooms. He noticed that his dad was willing to work hard and have a good attitude during trials, so when he faced trials of his own, he would remind himself to do the same.

How do you handle the hard stuff in your own life? Do you whine and feel sorry for yourself or do you look for a way to get something good out of it? I think most of us whine sometimes, but if that’s all we ever do, we’re really going to waste a great life. Mormon beliefs teach that God created us to have joy. That’s easy on the great days, but no one has great days all the time. The real test of how much we trust God to help us be joyful is on the bad days.

Would you be joyful if you knew you’d never be able to move again? What if you had to spend your teen years taking care of a disabled parent? What if you had to cope with a learning disability, or being poor, or losing a parent? None of those things are easy and it’s natural to be sad or even angry for a while about all those things. That’s called the grieving process and it’s important. But it’s also important that eventually, you move on and go back to being joyful, even if your circumstances don’t change.

The scriptures are full of stories of people, including teenagers, who had hard lives and went on to do great things. Sometimes having trials gives us that extra courage, strength, and motivation to do things we never thought we could, if we decide that’s what we’re going to let the trials do for us. Reading those stories and the stories of modern people with trials can give us examples to follow. Sometimes, when life is really too hard, we need to talk to a responsible adult, like a parent, church leader, or school counselor. Some problems really require some extra help.

Try it today. Whether your trials are big or small, choose one of them. Ask yourself what you could learn from the trial to make you a better person. Ask yourself if there is something in that trial that you can use to help others. (The author I mentioned wrote a book to help people like him and his son became a doctor to help people like his dad.)

Now decide how your attitude about your trial is going to have to change. For instance, I have learning disabilities. Instead of saying, “Oh, I have dysgraphia so I can’t do much,” I say, “I have dysgraphia. I can do anything other people do, but I might have to do it differently and work harder at it. But that’s fine. It will help me learn to find creative ways to solve problems and to learn not to give up when things are hard.”

Can you see how that attitude can change the way you attack your life? Attack it with joy and a great attitude and you’ll be surprised how much more fun it is to get up every morning.

Rx for Friendship: Be One

Friendship is usually pretty important to most teenagers. Not having friends can make a teenager frustrated and lonely. Having the wrong kinds of friends can cause all sorts of trouble for teens. When you have a best friend, and it’s a real best friend who loves you and has your best interest at heart, it can make the teen years so much more wonderful.

In my last post, I talked about a famous Biblical friendship between David (the one who slew Goliath) and Jonathon, the king’s son. Their friendship might have seemed pretty unlikely since God had decided to give David the throne Jonathon would have someday had otherwise. Jonathon had so much character, though, that he was able to put all that aside and become David’s best friend. They were so close that Jonathon even defied his wicked father to save David’s life when King Saul wanted to kill him out of pure jealousy. When David was finally forced to flee the kingdom, they promised to be friends forever, even if they lived far apart.

Do you have a best friend like that? Do you want one? While there aren’t any guarantees that you’ll find that kind of best friend, you can increase your chances of finding a friend by following these rules:

1. First, become the best person you can be. That doesn’t mean getting an expensive wardrobe or acting like someone you aren’t. It doesn’t mean lowering your standards. Instead, be who God wants you to be. Focus on developing the inside you, the parts that count. Be honest, kind, thoughtful, and helpful. People are attracted to kind people. If you want a really great best friend, you need to be a really great person.
2. Decide what kind of best friend you want. Remember that popularity is really unimportant when you’re looking for a forever friendship. You want someone who shares and respects your values. Your friends don’t all have to be the same religion as you, and you might have small ways you are different, but you should share important values like honesty and kindness. When your values are higher than those of your friends, they should respect them and not try to make you lower them, just as you shouldn’t try to lower theirs.
3. Don’t do all the talking. Of course you’re going to talk about yourself sometimes, but you should make sure you’re also letting others talk about themselves. Generally, when people get to talk about themselves, they feel they’ve had a great conversation. Ask questions that show you are interested in the other person—not personal, embarrassing questions, but questions that tell you more about them and that allow them to talk about their favorite subjects, as long as their favorite subjects are appropriate.
4. It isn’t all about you. When deciding how to spend time, make sure you let your friends choose their favorite activities sometimes, even if you’re not that interested in it. Good friends will go to the museum one day because one of the group loves it and to a baseball game the next because a different friend loves sports.
5. Be respectful of your friends’ time. Don’t call too often or talk too long—unless of course, you both love to talk!
6. Be respectful of your friends’ families. If the parents like you, they will make it easier for the friendship to grow and to continue. Don’t wake the family with late night calls on the land line or stay too late. Be a good influence on your friends and be polite to the parents. Clean up after yourself. Be especially kind to younger siblings, who often get jealous when their older siblings have friends over.
7. Surprise your friends. You don’t have to buy your friends expensive gifts, but sometimes it’s nice to surprise them with something that tells them you’re thinking of them. Something simple—a homemade card, a cookie, a note on their social networking site, an emailed picture or comic that made you think of them—just lets them know they matter. Everyone wants to matter.
8. Be whatever kind of friend you want to have. If you treat others the way you want to be treated, you’ll be considered a great friend.
9. If you don’t currently have a friend, be patient. Be nice to people, be cheerful, and pitch in to help. Go to church, join a club, volunteer somewhere. Not only will doing those things keep you too busy to feel sorry for yourself, but they are great ways to meet people with similar values and interests.

10. Look for other friendless people. When we look around for friends, we often focus on the people who already have lots of friends. Look for someone who needs a friend and start there. I knew a girl once who was beautiful, kind, smart and popular. She could have joined any crowd, but she chose to gather up the kids who didn’t have many friends and befriend them. They weren’t the popular kids, but she didn’t care. She was nice to everyone and pretty soon no one was judging her choices in friends. If they wanted to be her friend, they had to accept her other friends. She didn’t dump the unpopular kids when the popular kids went after her. She was a real friend and so other people who were good at friendship wanted her to be their friend also.

Mormon teenagers receive a booklet called “For the Strength of Youth.” This booklets teaches Mormon teens the standards God holds them to. The section on friendship sums up what every teen needs to know about choosing and being a friend: “Choose your friends carefully. They will greatly influence how you think and act, and even help determine the person you will become. Choose friends who share your values so you can strengthen and encourage each other in living high standards. A true friend will encourage you to be your best self.

To have good friends, be a good friend yourself. Show interest in others and let them know you care about them. Treat everyone with kindness and respect. Go out of your way to be a friend to those who are shy or do not feel included.”

Additional Resources:

Friends of the opposite sex are obviously of great interest to teens as well. Find out what it takes to make friends of the opposite sex.

Visit the official site for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (inadvertently called by friends of other faiths as the “Mormon Church”) to learn more about Mormon youth.

David killed Goliath armed only with a slingshot and faith.

Next in our series of articles on teens who changed the world, we’re talking about David and Goliath. Saul was the king of God’s people and he had a huge problem—literally. His giant problem was a huge Philistine named Goliath. Everyone was terrified of him. Goliath, according to the Bible, was six cubits and a span, which equals about 9 feet nine inches. That is one scary opponent! In those days, there was a race of people called Anakims who were very tall. Most of them got destroyed when Joshua and his people conquered Cannan, but there were still some left in Goliath’s town and Saul was the unlucky king who had those Philistines mad at him.

 One way battles were fought in those days was for each army to choose a champion. The champions would fight each other, one-on-one, to decide which side won the battle. Of course, the Philistines chose Goliath, and no one in Saul’s army wanted to go up against him.

While this big brave army was busy being scared and trying to get out of defending the Lord’s army, a teenager named David showed up to bring lunch to his brothers. He was the king’s armor bearer, but he was allowed to go home sometimes, something the soldiers couldn’t do. When he arrived, he found the army all in an uproar over having to fight Goliath. Goliath had been taunting them for forty days, daring them to choose a champion, promising his people would be their servants if they won (but of course, he was sure they wouldn’t win.) Most likely, seeing how long it was taking the army to find someone willing to take on Goliath just built his confidence even more. Goliath was an arrogant giant and getting more so.

Saul was getting a little desperate. He promised that whoever went up against Goliath would be given great riches, could marry his daughter, and even cause his family to be free in Israel. Even with all those promises, no one was interested.

David was talking to his brothers when Goliath showed up and issued his challenge one more time. Now David got mad. He asked just who Goliath thought he was, trying to take on God’s army.

David’s older brother got mad at David, suggesting his younger brother ought to go back home and tend his sheep instead of running around wanting to watch the armies. But David had bigger plans than just watching the army. If no one else would fight Goliath, he, a teenager and a shepherd, would just have to do it himself.

Of course, David’s brother was pretty upset by that, reminding David he was just a kid and Goliath was an experienced solder. But David argued that he had at least a little experience. Once, while taking care of his sheep, a lion and a bear came and nabbed a sheep. David rescued the lamb and when the lion and bear attacked, he killed them. David announced he would do to the Philistine exactly what he’d done to the lion and bear, because Goliath was defying God’s army (and therefore God.) He said God would protect him now in the same way God had protected David against the bear and lion.

Saul told David to go ahead and give it a try. What choice did he have, really? No one else was willing to do it. The king gave David his own armor to use and also provided him with a brass helmet and a coat of mail. But David protested he’d never used those things before. He preferred weapons he had experience with, so  he took off the armor and put down the sword. Instead, he found five smooth stones and put them in his bag. He picked up his sling and was ready to go. As a shepherd, he understood slings, which shepherds used to keep animals away from the sheep. Still, to most people, it seemed like a crazy idea to go after a giant soldier with a shepherd’s sling and a few rocks.

When Goliath saw a young boy had been sent to fight him, he laughed. He started making fun of David and even David’s God. David didn’t let the mocking get to him. He knew who he was. He trusted his skills and he trusted God. He responded:

 “45 Then said David to the Philistine, Thou comest to me with a sword, and with a spear, and with a shield: but I come to thee in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom thou hast defied.

  46 This day will the Lord deliver thee into mine hand; and I will smite thee, and take thine head from thee; and I will give the carcases of the host of the Philistines this day unto the fowls of the air, and to the wild beasts of the earth; that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel.

  47 And all this assembly shall know that the Lord saveth not with sword and spear: for the battle is the Lord’s, and he will give you into our hands (1 Samuel 17).

David wasn’t afraid because he knew God was on his side and Goliath, who had defied God, could not call on God for help. So David confidently approached Goliath and killed him with the very first stone, which frightened the Philistines so badly they ran away.

What made David so brave? He was confident because he had prepared for this moment—even though he hadn’t known it was coming—by learning to use his slingshot well. He had also prepared by developing a powerful faith in God. He had taken the time to learn for sure that he was a member of God’s church and to develop his testimony to the point that he had no doubt he would be helped and protected. Finally, he didn’t go into battle for his own glory and honor. He was defending God against the mocking of someone who hated God’s people.

Both his temporal and his spiritual preparation came together to help David change the world when he was only a teenager. This moment would make him famous, but he was going to learn that being famous wasn’t everything he might have thought it would be. The next post will talk about one of the greatest friendship stories in the history of the world—and more danger for David.

Kenda Creasy Dean, author of a book on teens and religion, is not a Mormon, but she found, while interviewing hundreds of teens, that Mormon teens had something other teens did not. One thing she found is that Mormonism gives its teenagers hope for the future.

Mormon teens were able to explain to her that the purpose of life was to grow spiritually and to be tested, with the eventual ability to return to Heavenly Father if they keep the commandments. Other teens, she felt, were more vague about the purpose of life, which tended to be that they were supposed to be happy and feel good about themselves.

The difference between those things is part of the secret to why Mormon teens did better in the interviews. If the purpose of life is to be happy and have good self-esteem, it creates a very self-centered focus on life. Life turns out to be all about you, which is why some people are calling young people part of the Me generation. Mormon teens are taught it isn’t all about them and it isn’t all about this life. They have an eternal goal that requires hard work, sacrifice, and a focus on other people. Now, it just so happens that when you’re working hard, sacrificing, and focusing on other, you will be happy most of the time and you will have good self-esteem, but those are not the only focus.

Yes, God wanted us to be happy, but not in a worldly way. Happiness in a worldly way might mean you get to spend your teen years playing video games and hanging out at the mall. What Mormons are after is joy. They have a scripture that says that man is that he might have joy. Joy is different than plain old happiness. It is the feeling that comes when we make Jesus Christ the center of our world and let our love for Him determine how we will live.

Mormons believe we are saved by grace. Grace came to us because Jesus took on Himself our sins in the Garden of Gethsemane. That doesn’t mean we don’t have to pay any price for our sins; it just made it possible for us to be forgiven for them if we repent. He also died on the cross for us and then was resurrected. Because He overcame death, we can too. So grace allows us to live forever, to choose to repent of our sins, and to return to live with God if we are worthy. This gift of grace is given to everyone who has ever lived on the earth and there are no requirements and there are no actions required, not even believing in God. It is a free gift.

However, what’s free is pretty much never as amazing as what we can get when we’re willing to work for it. So, although living forever is a free gift, we can upgrade our eternal status by keeping the commandments. You can’t just work your way back into heaven, though. This is a little tricky. The truth is that when we love someone we want to make them happy and we want to be what they want us to be. Because we love God and Jesus Christ, we want to do what They’ve asked us to do and to be what they’ve asked us to be. The more we love Them, the more we want this and the easier obedience becomes. So our actions must come from love for God, not for the mere desire for rewards. If we do all the right things on the outside, but our hearts are wrong, we get nothing for it. If we love God and we’re doing what we’re supposed to do because we love Him, that’s when the rewards come.

God said that everyone who says “Lord, Lord” won’t get into Heaven (Matthew 7:21).To get into Heaven, you have to keep the commandments. This is because believing isn’t enough. Jesus also taught even the devils believe in Jesus. It does no good to believe in Him if you aren’t also willing to obey Him and if you don’t love Him.

All of this is part of a great plan of salvation God taught us and that we agreed to before we were born. Mormon teens know they lived with God before they were born. They were spirits there, but they were themselves. After living there and learning and deciding what kind of person they were going to be God taught them it was time to grow up and leave home for a while—just as you will someday. The place we’d be going was called Earth and we’d be born into families and get bodies. But we’d also be tested  here. We’d have trials and be expected to learn how to resolve them and overcome them.

This means Mormon teens don’t expect life to be always easy and fun. They know God won’t always step in to keep us from experiencing hardships because we wouldn’t  learn anything that way. They do know He is listening when they pray, and they know He will answer their prayers, but He won’t always answer them the way we ask Him to. God is in charge and knows what is best for us. He can see much further into the future than we can. Sometimes what we think we want is all wrong. Still, if He makes us suffer for a while or gives us something different than we asked for, He will be there to comfort and guide us. Mormon teens trust God.

Trusting God gives them hope. They know what He promised them—eternal happiness in His presence and the privilege of being with their families forever. They want this and they believe they are capable of getting it. It might be hard work, but Mormon teens aren’t afraid of hard work. They’ve grown up with it.

Can you see how all of this gives them hope? They are in charge of their eternal futures. That doesn’t mean everything on earth will happen just the way they want it, but if they do God’s will, serving God and serving others, they will get the very best God has to offer. It’s entirely up to them. No other person can keep them out of Heaven. God has told them exactly how to get there and they’ve confirmed it through personal prayer, not the promises of men. They’re in charge because they know God is in charge and will always keep His promises.

God makes covenants with His children. He sets the terms but if we do our part, He always does His part. This brings Mormon teens an extraordinary sense of stability, comfort, and hope for the future. It’s even more than just hope…it’s knowledge that their eternal life can be perfect.