“All Kinds of Heroes,” Friend, May 2007, 18–20
All Kinds of Heroes
(Based on a true story)
Show forth good examples (Alma 17:11).
Gabe spent a lot of time with his friend Jeff. They were in the same fourth-grade class at school and in the same Primary class at church. Both played on the same little league team.
After baseball practice one afternoon, Jeff invited Gabe to his house to play. Gabe noticed a special feeling in his friend’s room. He looked around to see what made it different from his own. On his walls, Jeff had put up pictures of the Denver Colorado Temple, Jesus with a group of children, and Nephi building a boat.
When Gabe got home, he looked around his own room and saw the posters of hockey, baseball, and football players that covered the walls. Books about sports figures filled many of the shelves in his bookcase. Gabe had always thought of sports stars as heroes. He wanted to be like them when he grew up. Now he thought of the heroes Jeff had chosen.
On Monday, Gabe’s family gathered in the living room for family home evening. Dad gave the lesson. “Tonight we’re going to talk about heroes,” he said. “We can find heroes in all kinds of places. What different kinds of heroes are there?”
“Movie stars,” Gabe’s sister said.
“Dinosaurs,” his little brother added, and everyone smiled.
“Heroes of the Book of Mormon,” Gabe said.
“That’s an interesting answer, Gabe,” his father said. “Why don’t you tell us about a Book of Mormon hero?”
Gabe told the story of his favorite Book of Mormon hero, Captain Moroni. “Amalickiah had turned the people against the righteous Nephites. Moroni tore his coat, wrote on it, and called it the title of liberty. Moroni taught the Nephites about defending their freedom and protecting their families.”*
After family home evening, Gabe told his parents, “There’s a special feeling in Jeff’s room. I want that feeling too.” He paused. “Could I get some new pictures for my room?”
“I think that’s a great idea,” Mom said.
Gabe and his parents looked through a catalog of church pictures. He chose a picture of Jesus and one of Captain Moroni. Then he picked out a picture of Joseph Smith in the Sacred Grove.
Gabe left a few of his sports posters on one wall, and put up his new pictures on the other. Gabe smiled as he looked around his room and felt the peace that his new heroes brought.
[Heroes]
“Carefully selected heroes can give us a pattern for our lives and serve as our role models. They can give us courage to walk the road of life righteously.”
Bishop H. David Burton, Presiding Bishop, “Heroes,” Ensign, May 1993, 46.
Would you like to have Church pictures in your room like Gabe did? Go to www.ldscatalog.com and click on “Pictures & Visual Aids.” You can also download pictures from the Gospel Art Picture Kit in the “Home and Family” section of www.lds.org.
Illustrations by Brad Teare