Texas Family has Quintuple Miracles
A master's degree in statistics helps a young Texas mother count her blessings after the birth of healthy quintuplets.
By Kathleen Rappleye, with Rachelle Wilkinson
Meridian
Readers Help Starving Families in Kenya
Residents of Kenya, who were helped
by the donations of Meridian readers, tell their stories of life
today in this beleagured African nation.
By Patty Liston
Latter-day
Saints and Others Need Help in Kenya
Latter-day Saint families are among
the many who are suffering because of the recent post-election
uprisings in Kenya. Read their story here, and learn how
you can help.
By Patty Liston, with additional information by Mary
Harris
Where Two or Three are Gathered
A wife and mother learns life lessons as she lives with her family in the small African country of Djibouti, where Sunday is Friday and the population is 94 percent Muslim.
By
Gretel Backman Patch
Latter-day
Saints in World War II
Throughout the Pacific Theater and
the Western Front, Latter-day Saint servicemen learned that even
in the foxholes, there could be spiritual consolation and peace
during times of war.
By Robert C. Freeman
The
Silver Lining of War
LDS
soldiers who have been on the battlefront understand all too well
what Mormon felt when he reported that “it is impossible
for the tongue to describe, or for man to write a perfect description
of the horrible scene of the blood and carnage which was among
the people.”
By Dennis A. Wright
“Renounce War and Proclaim Peace” — What the Scriptures Say about Armed Conflict
War is a complex issue — socially, politically, economically, and religiously. However, members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints are able to rely on clearly articulated doctrines and principles as they seek to formulate their own stance toward armed conflict in general and toward specific wars in particular.
By Andrew C. Skinner
Vodka,
a Troubled Family, and the Gospel in Siberia
An addiction to vodka almost tore
apart a young Russian family. But the missionaries knocked on
the door, and the family embarked on a new and better life.
By Marvin R. VanDam
Siberia's
Suleymanovs (Or the Little Girl, the Soprano, the Genealogist,
the Physician, the Soccer Star, and the Conversion.)
A medical problem that could not
be treated in a small Siberian city resulted in the conversion
of a small family that spanned two continents and involved a whole
cast of players.
By Marvin R. VanDam
Latter-day Saints Find a Home in Bulgaria
Only sixteen years ago the ancient country of Bulgaria, which had long been a backwater of Eastern Europe, was still trapped in the orbit of the Soviet satellite system. But with the fall of the Berlin Wall and the disintegration of the USSR in 1991, an unprecedented freedom came to Bulgaria — and the restored gospel of Jesus Christ. In the course of the past 16 years, the Church has established a solid foothold of faithful Saints in Bulgaria.
By Marvin R. VanDam
The
Mormon Trek of 1997
As Margaret Clark walked from Winter
Quarters, Nebraska, to the valley of the Great Salt Lake, she
was part of the world of her ancestors who had passed that way
so many years before. But unlike them she hiked along in the accouterments
of the modern world —
Nikes
and a cell phone. And with that cell phone she established a legacy
all her own.
By Steve Orton
Church
Pioneers in Ukraine Await Temple in Kyiv
It is noteworthy that two of the
great early pioneers of the Church in Ukraine are full-blooded
Jews who found the Church thanks to a brochure that was sent by
a middle school student from Riverton, Utah.
By Marvin R. VanDam
The
"Lost Boys" of Flor Azul
An LDS boy learns that it may be impossible
for one person to save the world, but everyone can choose where
to serve. He works with the "Lost Boys" of Flor Azul,
helping a community of orphans improve their lives one brick at
a time.
By Sunny McClellan Morton
Household
of Faith: Life is Good -- Enduring the Double Whammy
“Sometimes the Lord calms
the waters, but more often he calms the child in those waters.”
By
Margaret Blair Young
Captain
Mervyn S. Bennion: Pearl Harbor Hero
Excerpted
from Saints at War: Experiences of Latter-day Saints in World
War II
Wounded and dying, a Latter-day Saint
Naval Captain continued to work for the safety of his men.
Household
of Faith: Where
is My Refuge?
Since
there is no watching life from a safe position, how do you find
refuge?
By
Margaret Blair Young
Household of Faith
Dodge
Ball and Disrupted Plans: Our Month in Europe
We learned that challenges and disrupted
plans, however painful or frustrating at the time, leave some
of the best memories.
By
Bruce Young
One Year in
A
Look at the Making of a New Democracy
by
Sylvia McMillan Finlayson
"That
the Works of God Should be Made Manifest”:
The Life of Nancy Young Layton
Though her body was never healed,
the works of God were made manifest in the life and even through
the tragic illness of Nancy Young Layton.
By Margaret Blair Young
Household of Faith
A Monument to Jane Manning James
Nothing Feeble in Her Example
Walking from Connecticut to Nauvoo
on bloodied feet was only the begining of the bold legacy of faith
left by Black pioneer Jane Manning James.
by Margaret Blair Young
Household
of Faith
Remodeling Difficult Traditions: The Church in
Buildings and hearts are being remodeled
in Latvia where the gray, deterioration of Communism once held
sway. This is the first-person story of Sister Blair, an early
mission mother, to this Baltic land, where the missionary work
is both grueling and exciting.
By Julia Groberg Blair
The
Challenger Flag
There
is a story behind the shocking accident of the Challenger shuttle
that you many not have heard. It is the story of a flag and a
Boy Scout troop and of persevering in the face of discouragement.
by
David A. Hall
President,
Mapletree Publishing Company
Household
of Faith
Widows’
Mites and Miracles
It’s tithing on a life, the
time young Mormon missionaries offer in the service of their God.
Read about one missionary's pre-ordained journey of faith and
service.
By
Margaret Blair Young
Caring
for Life in Mozambique
Care for Life is a non-governmental
organization that has planted its flag in Mozambique as the place
it wants to serve. Just what do they do in this little known region
of the world?
by
Blair J. Packard
Get Thee Up Into a High
Mountain
In all of humankind, there is a
sense of the sacred, and a yearning to connect with it. Even in
places where governments have tried to channel religious longings
into political paths, there are yet holy mountains, and pilgrims
who will not be kept from climbing them.
by
Julia G. Blair
Latter-day
Saint Building Democracy in Iraq
Dr.
Jim Mayfield is retired but is giving a year of his life to teach
the local leaders of Iraq how to create a democratic nation.
by
Sylvia McMillan Finlayson
One
Year in Iraq
A Personal Look at the Making of a New Democracy
It
has been a year since the United States and coalition forces entered
Iraq to liberate an oppressed people from an evil regime. Dr.
James Mayfield, a Latter-day Saint, is on the front lines teaching
the people democracy. His emails home reveal a different take
on Iraq than you usually hear in the news.
by
Sylvia McMillan Finlayson
Household
of Faith: “Good Spirit, Assure Me!”
The
paint was still wet on that Christmas in China when the church,
closed since 1949, finally reopened.
By Margaret Blair Young
Household
of Faith
“Enlarge Thy Borders Forever”
I
sometimes think of these beautiful people when I feel stressed
by the day’s demands, or when I tell my children to hurry
up (a phrase too often heard in my home). I have mused that third-world
nations are blessed with a lack of televisions, computers, and
MTV, and so there is stillness. You can hear yourself breathe.
You can hear your footsteps on ancient paths. You can hear God,
if you’re listening.
By
Margaret Blair Young
Household
of Faith
My
Cakchiquel Conversion
This is the first article from Margaret
Blair Young who will take Meridian readers on a series of international
journeys to meet the far-flung members of the Household of Faith.
Today, come to a Mayan hut where Margaret first learned that greatness
can take many forms.
By
Margaret Blair Young
Full
Circle
The
Story of a Very Personal Rescue
God sometimes answers your pleas for help in invisible ways, like
a silent hand upon your shoulder, a waft of light across your
heart, a moment of sudden clarity. It is subtle. Sometimes, however,
his interventions are direct and tangible and so evident you can
remember it years later. The blessing for me that day was as direct
and obvious as if God had sent an angel.
By
Maurine Jensen Proctor
Losing
Rogerio
Rogerio was the son of her heart,
selfless, enthusiastic, and eager for his mission. His story highlights
the tragedy of Africa and how important the gospel is in saving
a continent.
By
Cindy Packard
A
Road Less Traveled – Part II
What
would you do if your wife and two daughters returned from Africa
filled with descriptions of the great poverty and need, and with
a passion to help?
by
Blair J. Packard
Saints
at War -- Virgil N.
Kovalenko
Whether it was referred to as the
Mormon Battalion Bus Line or the God Squad, Kovalenko's Sunday
bus group was no joke and afforded divine protection.
Saints
at War-- Richard D. Wilson: Not Taking the Scriptures for Granted
Fighting
a war without having your scriptures is like being baptized without
going in the water. I think I had taken having the scriptures
for granted until I got into a war.
Saints
at War -- Joe J. Christensen: Say Another Prayer
When
I finished and was getting into bed, Howard said, “Joe,
uh, uh . . . spiritually, I am in bad shape. Would you mind kneeling
down again and saying another prayer—only this time out
loud?” And so we did.