Friend to Friend

A Stripling-Warrior Family

By Sister Michelle D. Craig

First Counselor in the Young Women General Presidency

“Ye must take upon you the name of Christ, which is my name” (3 Nephi 27:5).

Illustration by Maren Scott

I once visited a family in Chile. One of the children was a boy named Benjamin. He was 10 years old. One night, Benjamin gave a home evening lesson. It was about the stripling warriors from the Book of Mormon (see Alma 53:16–21; 56:42–56). He talked about how brave they were and how they trusted God.

Sometime later, Benjamin’s dad died in an accident. When Benjamin’s mom heard about the accident, she thought of Benjamin’s lesson. She told her family, “We need to be brave like the stripling warriors. We have another battle to fight.”

It was hard for Benjamin’s family. It felt like their lives were turned upside down. They had to move to another house to live with their grandma. They really missed their dad. But they knew they would be together with him again someday. They decided to be a striplingwarrior family.

I walked into their house wanting to comfort them. But I was the one who left feeling blessed. Benjamin told us, “I’m being brave.” Benjamin and his family are fighting this battle so bravely. Their faith is inspiring to me.

We can all be brave like Benjamin. Being brave doesn’t mean never being sad or afraid. It means having faith that Heavenly Father will help us get through tough times. When hard things come our way, we can choose to trust in Him. We can all be stripling warriors!

Stripling-Warrior Search

Can you find eight letters hidden in this picture of the stripling warriors? Unscramble them and fill in the blanks to decode a hidden message. See answer below.

__ c __ __ __ e __ __ __ v __!

Answer: I can be brave!