The Story Of Spencer W. Kimball: A Short Man, A Long Stride By Edward L. Kimball & Andrew E. Kimball, Jr.

The Story Of Spencer W. Kimball: A Short Man, A Long Stride By Edward L. Kimball & Andrew E. Kimball, Jr. 128 pages
 Spencer W. Kimball grew up as an Arizona farm boy. He chased little girls with caterpillers to hear them scream and in high school chemistry laboratory he cooked up such a stench that the school closed down for a day. But the same boy sat up nights to read the whole Bible through by kerosene lantern and sold his horse to get money to serve a mission.
 He always thought of himself as a little man, both sort and unimportant, and because of those feelings he worked twice as hard as others. He could hardly believe it when the telephone rang and J. Reuben Clark, Jr., of the First Presidency informed him of his call to serve as an Apostle. After a spiritual experience in the mountains, he knew for sure that the call was from God.
 As an Apostle he championed the cause of the Indians with vigor and preached repentance fearlessly. But with individuals he showed his kindness—bringing cookies to a neighbor to make amends, visiting the sick, giving dollars to children to start a missionary fund, helping milk the cows on a farm he visited.
 When Spencer Kimball became President of the Church, many people thought that because of his age and poor health he would not be able to do much. Indeed, he once said, “I still wonder what the Lord was thinking about, making a little country boy like me President of his church unless he knew that I didn’t have any sense and would just keep on working.” It soon became clear that the Lord knew very well what he was doing. And because this “little man” kept on working and challenging Church members to lengthen their stride, the world saw an amazing burst of missionary work, temple building, and organizational restructuring. Through him the Lord opened the priesthood to all worthy men and temple blessings to all worthy men and women, whatever their race, in one of the most significant developments in Church history. And all the time he remained the same unassuming person.
 These stories of Spencer Kimball’s life, from farm boy to prophet, show how the Lord can make great use of little men.