Choosing an eternal companion is one of the most important decisions to make in this life. However, people fall in love and find their eternal companions in many different ways. Even our beloved prophet and apostles experienced times when they had butterflies in their stomachs and unrestful nights thinking about their significant others. Here are the stories of how our prophet and apostles found their eternal companions.

John 7,8

INTRODUCTION: My mother was mostly blind during the final years of her life. A passionate reader, a woman who loved to sew and mend and cook and clean, her infirmity made the favored activities of her life nearly impossible. She did learn to crochet by touch, and made over one hundred Afghans for her grand- and great-grandchildren in those final years, but they were years lived in temporal darkness. But through it all she glowed! There was a source of light in her, a shining certainty, that enabled her to see more clearly than any of those whose love and compassion brought them to her side to read to her and to visit with her and to reminisce with her. The real light of the world, rather than being dimmed by her handicap, increased its brightness and radiance as the weeks and months passed by, until it seemed there was no darkness in her at all. More than any person I have ever known, she knew what Jesus meant when he said, “I am the light of the world.”

INTRODUCTION: If you could fashion a community according to your own desires—one that would conform to your specifications to help you, your family, and your neighbors in the accomplishment of temporal and eternal goals, what sort of society would you create? What would you do about class distinction? About poverty? How would you prevent racial prejudice? How would you avoid criminal activity? Such a society was what the Prophet Joseph meant to establish—a society where men could live in love and peace and plenty and enjoy without restraint the bounteous goodness of God.

Author's Note: I am always interested in feedback and grateful for suggestions about improving these lessons. If you have suggestions or comments, my email is tedgibbons@yahoo.com. Thanks. TLG

Matthew 13

2 Nephi 25:10-2 Nephi 30

In the play and movie "A Man for All Seasons," Sir Thomas More was confined in prison because he refused to sign an oath with which he did not agree. While he was there, his daughter Margaret was allowed to come and visit him to try and convince him to sign so that he could be set free. The following dialog is from their discussion about this matter:

2 Nephi 25:10-2 Nephi 30

Many of us know the First Presidency best by their messages and the service that they give. But what do we know of their life history and the women who have been by their sides?