1. Barbie Dolls and the Book of Mormon
2. A goal to gain a testimony
3. Truth or Dare!
4. Divine intervention

• (character chart)

1. Young Women's
2. Youth Conference
3. Saturday's Warrior
4. Brigham Young University
• Gratuitous Love Scene
5. Polygamist
6. Temple Wedding
7. Orem High
8. Bordeaux Mission
9. Exmo Conference

Still laughing, I rushed to grab a notebook and started writing down the story we had so far. We then continued the story in the same style, telling how Anita Bandita and her first mate Chiquita Bandita steered their barge off course on purpose and pretended it was an accident. Then they lassoed a whale and had it pull their barge so that they could escape from the grown-ups' barges more quickly. Anita and Chiquita let the boys come with them, but only if they agreed to do all of the cooking and cleaning.

We were having so much fun that we didn't want to stop for dinner. We scarfed down our food as quickly as possible so we could get back to work. Mom and Dad asked us what we were working on, and we told them that it was a story and they could read it when it was done.

Then we got back to giving our heroes more adventures such as one where the whale swallows the magically illuminated rock and Anita wrestles him to try to get it out, but in the end they decide it's a good thing because it makes light shine out of the whale's eyes like headlights to light the way so they can travel even at night. The kids were about to arrive in Candy Land when Mom told us to get ready for bed and family prayer and scripture reading.

Fortunately the chapter we had for that night was a really short one. We were almost to the end of the book, so we were at the part where Moroni is the last of his race and he's wandering around with nothing to do but compile records (like the story about the Jaredites) until he dies. For tonight's chapter Moroni had written out the sacrament prayer on the water. Of course the book said "wine" but everyone knows that water is used for the sacrament.

After the prayer, Lynn and I were about to go back to our story, but Mom said she wanted us to go straight to bed so we'd be ready for the youth service project we were doing the next day. So I put the notebook on my bookshelf to finish later and went to bed.

<- previous page

I was pretty excited about the service project -- it seemed like just the thing that would help me prepare to bear my testimony the following day. Plus I was really hoping that Alexandra would bring Melissa along again so we could hang out some more.

The service project was a canned food drive that was organized by one of the older boys in the ward as his Eagle Scout project. The whole morning Mom drove me, Annette, and Lynn around the neighborhood collecting cans. Annette was still in Primary, but Mom decided she should come along anyway. So we all put on our coats and hats an mittens, and Mom kept the car warm at each stop as Annette, Lynn, and I knocked on doors asking for canned goods.

Then, after going back home for lunch, Mom dropped off Lynn and me at the food bank where the youth of the ward were gathering for the next stage of the project, which was to take inventory of all of the cans we and other people in the community had collected.

Just as we arrived I saw the Dentons' van drive up. Isabel got out of the driver's seat dressed in an outfit that was casual yet somehow absolutely perfect. Her brothers Andrew and David weren't quite at her level of fashion, but they were dressed nicely for boys. Then I was surprised to see the Grants -- Rodney, Jonathan, and Sarah -- getting out of the same van. Their parents must have arranged for the Dentons to give them a ride. All three looked like they were wearing second-hand clothing. Isabel seemed to be pretending not to know them. She made a beeline for the bishop's kids, Marc, Claire, and Kimberly, who were just getting out of Marc's BMW.

next page ->