“Praying Like Alma,” Friend, September 2019
Praying Like Alma
Illustration by Ron Baird
When I was little, a really big tornado hit a city called Joplin in Missouri, USA. My dad and many others decided to go help the people in Joplin who were hit by the tornado. I wanted to go too, but I was too young.
That night, we read the Book of Mormon, and I did not know what the words meant. But my mom taught me. One of the verses talked about how Alma the Younger and his friends were trying to get people to leave the church. Alma’s father tried talking to him, but Alma did not listen. So his father prayed that Alma and his friends would change their ways.
That gave me the idea of praying that the people in Joplin would be safe, as well as praying for my dad and many others who were trying to help. Every day when I woke up, I said a prayer to help the people in Joplin. When I said a prayer to bless the food before we ate, I also prayed that the people in Joplin would be safe. At family prayer I did the exact same thing. Finally, when I said my personal prayers before I went to bed, I prayed for the same thing one more time.
I continued to do the same thing every day, and finally my dad came home from Joplin. I continued to do the same thing for one more week after that. At the end of the week, I felt extremely happy about the choice I made to pray for the people in Joplin.