“Friend to Friend,” Friend, Apr. 2000, 8
Friend to Friend
I am the light; I have set an example for you (3 Ne. 18:16).
An adventurous three-year-old, one day I wandered out to visit my father in the fields. We lived on a farm in Kaysville, Utah, and I walked about a quarter mile down the road past our neighbor’s house and then headed out to find Dad.
I didn’t know it, but my dad was already headed home another way. So there I was, out in the middle of the field, surrounded by oats taller than I was. I had no idea how to get home.
I don’t remember being scared. I don’t even remember trying to find my way home. I just played in the fields until I got tired, then lay down and went to sleep. I didn’t know that I was lost at all.
Of course, my parents were not so calm. They began frantically searching for me, and when they couldn’t find me, they called others for help. The whole town of Kaysville spent the entire night looking for me. People drained the ponds and tramped down the crops and waded through the ditches. I had no idea I’d created such a stir!
The next morning, Ben Webster, a friend of my father’s, visited my folks. “I’ll find your boy,” he promised them. Then he headed out into the fields and walked right to where I was! I remember him picking me up and carrying me home to my mother. I learned at that young age that the Savior cares about little children—even when you’re three years old and not sticking very close to home!
One of my favorite stories in the scriptures is in 3 Nephi, where the Savior is preaching to the people. After He has finished teaching, He invites the little children to come to Him. All the children crowd around Jesus Christ, and He blesses them individually (see 3 Ne. 17).
The Savior knows each one of you individually. He loves you and watches over you. He knows where you are and what you need. There is no doubt in my mind that He knew where I was in that field. He also knew Ben Webster and how to guide him to where I was.
The Savior is one of my heroes. All children—and adults, too, for that matter—should have heroes. Find heroes in the scriptures and in Church history and in your families.
My great-grandparents are two of my heroes. They settled in Kaysville, Utah, where they built a home for their growing family. They had just finished their home, when John Taylor, the President of the Church then, needed a place to stay. My great-grandparents offered their new seven-room, two-story home to the prophet.
President Taylor and his office staff moved in, and my great-grandparents and their children moved to an old log cabin behind the home. While President Taylor lived in the house, my great-grandmother cooked and washed for him and his office staff, along with the cooking and washing she did for her own family. She and her husband worked very hard to serve the prophet of the Lord. When I read about what they did, I am impressed with the examples they set. I want to live the same kind of life they did.
These are the kinds of heroes we should follow in our lives—heroes who are kind, unselfish, and obedient. Heroes who listen to the Lord and live righteous lives are heroes who last forever. They are the kinds of heroes whom someday we will be able to meet face-to-face.
Another of my favorite scriptures is in 1 Nephi 3. Many of us are familiar with verse 7, in which Nephi tells his father, “I will go and do the things which the Lord hath commanded, for I know that the Lord giveth no commandments unto the children of men, save he shall prepare a way for them that they may accomplish the thing which he commandeth them.”
In verse 15, Nephi shows again how serious he is about being obedient, when he tells his brother, “As the Lord liveth, and as we live, we will not go down unto our father in the wilderness until we have accomplished the thing which the Lord hath commanded us.”
When we know that the Savior loves us and when we have righteous heroes to follow, we are even more obedient to our Heavenly Father. We know that He would not ask us to do anything that wasn’t good for us. We know that He will bless us and guide us. We know that He will always be there for us.
Children, know that your Heavenly Father loves you. So does Jesus Christ. They are there for you, and They will take care of you. Just as They sent Ben Webster out in the field to find a lost three-year-old, They will send you the help you need!
As a one-year-old
His childhood home
In front, on old Doll with his brothers Marion and Doral, at age four
As a four-year-old
With Mom and friends at age eighteen
Elder Roueché and his wife, JoAnn