63. Daniel in the Lion's Den

A short talk given by ten-year-old Anna Cleverly on Sunday, February 19, 1989, in the Primary of the Bountiful Twentieth Ward, Bountiful Utah South Stake. The talk was published in the March 1989 issue of the Family Journal. Anna at the time was a fourth grader at Bountiful Elementary.

My talk is on Daniel in the lions’ den. Daniel lived a long time ago. One day the king’s princes got so jealous of him they wanted to kill him. They made up a law that said nobody could pray for thirty days. Then the princes spied on Daniel at his home. They saw him praying, so they reported it to the king. The king liked Daniel, and he didn’t want him to be killed. Then they threw him in the lions’ den. And then he prayed the lions wouldn’t eat him. The next day the king rushed to see if he was hurt, and he wasn’t. Then the king threw all the princes in the lions’ den, and they were killed instantly by the hungry lions. I hope we can all pray like Daniel. I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

60. The Influence of the Book of Mormon

A report published in the October 1988 issue of the Family Journal on nine-year-old Anna’s participation in the Primary sacrament meeting program in the Bountiful Twentieth Ward, Bountiful Utah South Stake, on Sunday, August 21, 1988. Anna at the time was just about to begin her fourth-grade year at Bountiful Elementary.

In the Primary children’s sacrament meeting program on Sunday, August 21, Anna was assigned to talk about how the Book of Mormon has influenced her life. Despite a lot of suggestions and coaching during the week or two before the program, no one knew what she was going to say. No hints. No rehearsing. Nothing.

As she stood at the pulpit, looking out over the vast congregation, Anna simply said: “If it wasn’t for the Book of Mormon I wouldn’t be here because my mom and dad wouldn’t have gone to Brigham Young University and they wouldn’t have met and got married.”

That was all. Short and sweet. And the congregation loved it.