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The history of the Church in Brazil actually began in Germany, danke very much. The first known member in the country was Max Richard Zapf, who was baptized in Germany in 1908 and immigrated to Brazil in 1913. After years passed with no Church contact, Zapf learned there was another German LDS family, the Lippelts, living in Brazil. These two families—who became fast friends—represented the beginning of the Church’s permanent presence in the South American country.

After being arrested at age 14, Donald Kelly knew something needed to change in his life.

In 1960, I was living near Hamburg in West Germany and was called to be the mission YMMIA president. Half of the members of our mission lived in East Germany, which necessitated having counterpart Young Men’s and Young Ladies’ presidents serving in the same capacity in East Germany. Because the Church members were scattered over a large area, we made a special effort to plan as many activities as possible that could be attended by all the youth of the mission. This presented some problems peculiar to our mission, since half the mission was in West Germany and West Berlin, and the other half was behind the Iron Curtain. It was impossible to hold any activities in the eastern sector, so we scheduled all of our programs in West Berlin so that the East Germans could also attend. They could easily board a subway in East Berlin, ride across the border into West Berlin and attend the meeting, then return to their homes without difficulty.

There are very few things I can stand at a pulpit and testify I know are true. Among them are that I know my Heavenly Father and Heavenly Mother love me with an infinite, unfathomably deep and perfect love, and they are far more merciful to me than I deserve. The second is that I know that Jesus Christ, my brother and Savior, died for me, knows me—my pains, shortcomings, sins, weaknesses, joys, and strengths—entirely, and that He has never and will never abandon me.

I was a 29-year-old United States Air Force fighter pilot, hanging from a parachute, slowly descending into hostile territory. I looked below my dangling legs as I watched my doomed F-4 Phantom shudder, shake, and cartwheel its fiery way to the ground. Missing its tail section and a large part of the left wing, it was now totally engulfed in flames. It was hard to imagine I had been sitting in the cockpit, at the very center of the fireball, a few seconds before. Finally, I saw it hit the ground with a huge concussion that I could see but not hear. The fire and smoke reached into the sky several thousand feet. I thought for a few seconds how unlikely it was for a small-town Texas boy to be involved in such a monumental problem as this was turning into.

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Being “called into the office” is always a little frightening. I was serving as the Music Chairman for the Primary General Board when my advisor, first counselor Virginia Cannon, asked to see me in her office. She explained the wonderful and overwhelming opportunity we were going to have to prepare a new children’s songbook.

In a room full of dwarves, elves, and ogres, Brian says it was the bald human who stuck out like a sore thumb.

Author Robert Millet said that if there is a question he has been asked 1,000 times during his life, which includes nearly 40 years as a religious educator, it would be, “How do I distinguish between my own voice and my own thoughts and the voice of the Spirit?”