Book of Mormon Mondays - Forgiveness

I came across one of the best stories of forgiveness in the Book of Mormon this weekend.  It's one that I hadn't really taken much notice of because the person being forgiven is a character we usually consider practically perfect, Captain Moroni.  I mean afterall, in Alma 48:17 it reads, "Yea, verily, verily I say unto you, if all men had ceen, and were, and ever would be, like unto Moroni, behold, the very powers of hell would have been shaken forever; yea, the devil would never have power over the hearts of the children of men."

Moroni is amazing.  If I was in his shoes, I definitely wouldn't have stepped up to the plate as he did.  But Moroni isn't perfect.  Nobody is but Christ.  And in Alma 59-60, he makes a mistake.  In these chapters, Moroni becomes angry with Pahoran, the chief judge of the Nephies, because his armies hadn't received enough supplies and man power to fight the war.  Moroni writes Pahoran a letter chastising him for not sending him the things that he needs and speaks very strongly to Pahoran.  There's too many things to quote, you'll have to read chapter 60 to see what I mean.

As it turns out, Pahoran was having just as many problems, if not more, as Moroni was having.  Pahoran was dealing with rebels who were so against him and the war, that they joined with the Lamanites and were planning on taking over the Nephite lands.

Now if I were Pahoran, I would be pretty angry for getting such an angry letter with no provocation (at least any that I knew of).  Moroni hadn't asked why he wasn't getting the supplies he needed, he just accused Pahoran of various things. 

But amazingly, Pahoran didn't respond with anger; he doesn't fire back with a why are you treating me this way response.  First he is understanding of Moroni's feelings and says in Alma 61:1, "...I do not joy in your great afflictions, yea, it greaves my soul."

He then goes on in verses 2-8 to explain why things were the way they were in a non-defensive way.  And then he ends his letter to Moroni by asking him to come to his aid to defend their land from the Lamanite-rebel army.

As I was reading these two letters, I was really impressed with Pahoran's kindness and forgiveness.  If I had received a letter like that, I would be so angry and probably would have written an angry letter solving nothing.  Pahoran is an example to me of how we can respond to things that have the potential to offend us.

Book of Mormon Mondays - Peace to my Soul

Well, I've been bad.  No posts for a week!  But I do have a good excuse.  I was in Arizona visiting my grandparents and aunt and uncle doing a bit of family history work along with some sight seeing and game playing.  I have a lot to tell and a ton of pictures to post, but I just got back last night and haven't had the time or energy to get things together, yet...  It will happen someday this week.

And as all good vacations end (even bad ones), so did this one, and I was really dreading going back to real life.  Moving out of our apartment, getting taxes done, getting back to work, paying bills, etc.  I was feeling really anxious.  This week is going to be pretty stressful and I have been feeling it.

So last night and this morning I prayed really hard for strength and courage (sounds overly dramatic, doesn't it?) to face the challenges that I knew would be coming.  And when I read scriptures this morning with Derek, this is what I read.

11 Yea, and it came to pass that the Lord our God did visit us with assurances that he would deliver us; yea, insomuch that he did speak peace to our souls, and did grant unto us great faith, and did cause us that we should hope for our deliverance in him.  (Alma 58:11)

That sounds a little dramatic, too.  But the part that spoke to me were the words "visit us with assurances," "speak peace to our souls," and "grant unto us great faith."  Those were all words I needed to hear.  They were the words I wasn't able to form in my mind as I prayed, but were what I would have said.

Book of Mormon Mondays - Just a quick thought...

Just a quick thought for today.  I was reading yesterday night about Helaman's 2,000 stripling warriors, Alma 56.  That's 2,000 boys.  2,000!  And I think they were only the second generation since the people of Ammon were converted.  In verse 46 Helaman says, "For as I had ever called them my sons (for they were all of them very young)..." 

The thought that really struck me last night and this morning was that the group of people Ammon taught must have been quite large to produce 2,000 sons who were willing to fight for their freedom.  I wonder if he knew the effect that he would have on future generations.

Book of Mormon Mondays - Humility

Alma 52:17 reads as follows...

17 And it came to pass that Teancum made preparations to make an attack upon the city of Mulek, and march forth with his army against the Lamanites; but he saw that it was impossible that he could overpower them while they were in their fortifications; therefore he abandoned his designs and returned again to the city Bountiful, to wait for the coming of Moroni, that he might receive strength to his army. 

How much humility did it take for Teancum to realize that there was no way he and his army could mount a sucessful attack on the Lamanites and then stop, return home and wait for someone else to come help him?   There are plenty of generals in history who haven't been so wise and have foolishly put their armies in harms way because they wanted the glory of the win. 

And how can I apply this in my life?  Well, I know there are plenty of times when I don't want to admit that I can't do something on my own so I don't seek help.  And then I look stupid...

Maybe I should learn a lesson from Teancum!

Book of Mormon Mondays - I need some help

I'm doing something a little different with my post today.  Instead of writing about what thoughts I've had, I need some of yours.

It's been a trying week this last week.  On Tuesday morning, my mom went from being completely normal (well, her normal, she has pretty severe MS) to completely non-responsive.  We were worried that she had a stroke.  My dad called her hospice nurse, who then called the doctor, and they said to take her directly to the emergency room.  They did a few tests, ruled out a stroke of any kind and determined that some of her blood levels were off.  Way off.

We decided to put her in the hospital for a couple of days to even out those levels and then try out some new medicines for her mental state.  To make a long story short, they were able to get her levels back up to normal--strange how little things can make a big difference--and they were able to start her on a new medication.  She didn't have any adverse reactions so we took her home on Friday evening.

And things have kept going down hill. The medicine has her pretty drugged up so she's not really her self.  She's doing a lot of weird things.  Some of it is pretty disturbing.  We're hoping that once the medicine has a few days to level off in her system, she'll start improving, but she's been a little unwilling to take any pills.

So here's where the Book of Mormon Mondays comes in.  I've never been really good at studying the scriptures.  I read them often, but I'm not very good at studying to find an answer.  What are some scriptures (from any volume of scripture) that you have found that have given you strength or comfort in trying times?

PS:  In the time it took to write and post this, my mom has perked up quite a bit!  It's pretty encouraging!  There's still a ways to go, but I think things are going to be a lot better than we originally thought! :D

Book of Mormon Mondays - We Must Be Watchful!

I don't know how many times I have read the war chapters in Alma.  Each time I have, I've always thought, why are these in here?  I'm not learning much from them beyond the obvious!

But then today, I had a thought.  As I was reading Alma 47, I was amazed at the cunning-ness (Is that a word?) of Amalickiah!  He was so careful not to appear suspicious.  I don't think anyone suspected his treachery to gain the Lamanite throne.  But in the end, he did.

It reminded me of how watchful we need to be to prevent and avoid the evils in our world.  They are so pervasive and seemingly unsuspicious!

Book of Mormon Mondays - Fighting the Good Fight

Derek and I were reading Alma 43 yesterday, and was particularly struck by these two verses...

Alma 43:30, 45
30 And he also knowing that it was the only desire of the Nephites to preserve their lands, and their liberty, and their church, therefore he thought it no sin that he should defend them by stratagem; therefore, he found by his spies which course the Lamanites were to take. 

45 Nevertheless, the Nephites were inspired by a better cause, for they were not fighting for monarchy nor power but they were fighting for their homes and their liberties, their wives and their children, and their all, yea, for their rites of worship and their church. 

I was impressed with how slow the Nephites were to go to war, but when the Lord told Alma that it was the right thing to do (defend their homes and families).

I was even more impressed with the wording, "therefore he thought it no sin that he should defend them by stratagem," in verse 30.  To me, that means that it's important to stand up for what's right; to fight for what's right, if you will. And I don't mean in a violent way.

There are many times in my life where I'm afraid to fight for what's right, for big things and for small things.  I think most of the time, my hesitance is because I'm worried I'm going to offend or bother someone.  But this scripture story has inspired me to do more! 

Book of Mormon Mondays - Murmuring

I'm sure you've noticed a lot of people murmuring in the Book of Mormon.  The two that stick out to me the most are Laman and Lemuel.  It seems like they are always murmuring!

1 Ne 2:11 Now this he spake because of the stiffneckedness of Laman and Lemuel; for behold they did murmur in many things against their father, because he was a visionary man, and had led them out of the land of Jerusalem, to leave the land of their inheritance, and their gold, and their silver, and their precious things, to perish in the wilderness. And this they said he had done because of the foolish imaginations of his heart.

1 Ne 3:31 And after the angel had departed, Laman and Lemuel again began to murmur, saying: How is it possible that the Lord will deliver Laban into our hands? Behold, he is a mighty man, and he can command fifty, yea, even he can slay fifty; then why not us?

1 Ne 17:49 And it came to pass that I, Nephi, said unto them that they should murmur no more against their father; neither should they withhold their labor from me, for God had commanded me that I should build a ship

Yesterday, in Relief Society, the teacher mentioned something about murmuring.  I'm not exactly sure what she said, partly because as soon as she said it I started another train of thought, and partly because I was just struggling to pay attention all day yesterday.  Bad, I know... but it was just one of those days!

As soon as she mentioned murmuring, I remembered a thought that I had a few months back.  I was thinking about the members of the church during the time of Christ.  Many times they seemed to have little faith, or little understanding of His teachings.  And then I was struck with the realization that I can not judge those people's actions.  It was probably just as hard, or harder to have faith when Christ was on the earth as it is now when we're waiting for him to return. 

So as an extension of that thought, I realized that I couldn't judge Laman, Lemuel, or anyone else who murmured in the scriptures.  I wasn't there.  I don't know the whole story.  But what I do know was that they had it TOUGH!  Lehi's family had to leave almost everything behind and travel through the desert for several years.  The Arabian Desert.  Not a fun desert. 

Now, I'm not trying to make excuses for Laman and Lemuel's actions.  They definitely could have done better.  Lehi's whole family was dealt the same hand and many chose to be postive and full of faith.

But I did stop and think that maybe I should be a little less critical of the "bad guys" of the scriptures.

Book of Mormon Mondays - Keeping the Commandments

Alma 36:1, 30
1 My son, give ear to my words; for I swear unto you, that inasmuch as ye shall keep the commandments of God ye shall prosper in the land.

30 But behold, my son, this is not all; for ye ought to know as I do know, that inasmuch as ye shall keep the commandments of God ye shall prosper in the land; and ye ought to know also, that inasmuch as ye will not keep the commandments of God ye shall be cut off from his presence. Now this is according to his word.

Alma 37:13
13 O remember, remember, my son Helaman, how strict are the commandments of God. And he said: If ye will keep my commandments ye shall prosper in the land—but if ye keep not his commandments ye shall be cut off from his presence.

Alma 38:1
1 My son, give ear to my words, for I say unto you, even as I said unto Helaman, that inasmuch as ye shall keep the commandments of God ye shall prosper in the land; and inasmuch as ye will not keep the commandments of God ye shall be cut off from his presence.

In each of these chapters, Alma is teaching his sons Helaman and Shiblon, and he says almost the exact same thing each time.  I guess he's a normal parent!

And I thought the wording was interesting.  He says when you keep the commandments you will "prosper in the land," a definite temporal benefit.  Then he says when you don't keep the commandments you will be "cut off from His presence."  Saying if you keep the commandments, you can be in his presence.  A definite spiritual benefit. 

What thoughts have you had as you've read the scritpures?

Book of Mormon Mondays - Emphasis

I was struck with how much more meaning this verse had to me when I added a little ownership emphasis on some pronouns and verbs.

Alma 32:23

23 And now, my brethren, I desire that ye shall ^aplant this word in your hearts, and as it beginneth to swell even so nourish it by your faith. And behold, it will become a tree, ^bspringing up in you unto ^ceverlasting life. And then may God grant unto you that your ^dburdens may be light, through the joy of his Son. And even all this can ye do if ye ^ewill. Amen.

Alma is teaching the poor Zoramites who thought that they couldn't pray because they weren't allowed to pray in the churches they helped to build.  This is last verse in the chapter and he is summing up his main point to his sermon.

First he tells them that he desires that they plant the word in their hearts.  He's not going to force them to do or believe anything.  He wants them to have the blessings of the gospel.  To me, when the word desires is used correctly, it is a kind and gentle word.

Second, I put some emphasis on "ye shall plant..." and "by your faith."  For me that reinforced that we have to plant the seed ourselves.  No one else can do it, and you can't live on anyone else's testimony.  We can't be lazy.

And finally the emphasis on "And even all this can ye do if ye will."  I read this in two ways.  First, "will" meaning if we will actually do it.  Things don't happen if we just sit around and wait.  We have to make the effort.  We're told that sometimes, all we have to do is ask righteously!  And second, "will" meaning if we want to choose this course of action (and then actually acting on our desires).  No one is forcing us.  It's our choice.

Book of Mormon Mondays - Being Humbled

I'm not one of those people who really plans ahead for the worst things that could happen.  Well, let me amend that.  I am a plan-ner (making it two syllables makes it sound emphasized to me).  But if I have to spend money to be prepared or I have no inklings of anything negative happening, I tend to procrastinate that kind of preparation.

And I've always felt really guilty about it.  Until I read these scriptures.

Alma 32
13 And now, because ye are compelled to be humble blessed are ye; for a man sometimes, if he is compelled to be humble, seeketh repentance; and now surely, whosoever repenteth shall find mercy; and he that findeth mercy and endureth to the end the same shall be saved.

14 And now, as I said unto you, that because ye were compelled to be humble ye were blessed, do ye not suppose that they are more blessed who truly humble themselves because of the word?

15 Yea, he that truly humbleth himself, and repenteth of his sins, and endureth to the end, the same shall be blessed—yea, much more blessed than they who are compelled to be humble because of their exceeding poverty.

16 Therefore, blessed are they who humble themselves without being compelled to be humble; or rather, in other words, blessed is he that believeth in the word of God, and is baptized without stubbornness of heart, yea, without being brought to know the word, or even compelled to know, before they will believe. 

Now I'm not saying that it's better to be "compelled to be humble" than it is to become humble "because of the word,"  but to me it says better late than never.  I can still be blessed through repentance. 

Obviously it's easier to be humble from the beginning.  But being human and therefore prideful in various degrees, it's not always what happens.

For instance, this weekend I went down to my brother's wedding in Alpine, UT.  I knew I would be seeing my grandparents there, so I thought I would bring my parents' PC laptop with the family history book I've been compiling on it.  I was really excited about showing them my progress, but when I tried to open the program, nothing happened.  Actually something happened, just not what I wanted.  The program sort of half opened, twitched and died. 

I was shocked and really, really nervous.  What if somehow the file for my book was ruined along with the program (which at that point, I thought it was)!  I hadn't backed it up since I moved it from my computer to my parents'!

And that was the first thing my Dad asked me.  My husband and I had worked for HOURS and HOURS on this "little" project.  It's 312 pages!  How sad would it be for us to have to start over again!

And here I was again eating humble pie.  COMPELLED to eat humble pie.  My dad suggested that we try to connect the laptop to the internet and see if that helped.  I tried that at my in-laws house (PS:  They were so great and helpful trying to get us on their network!  We all tried multiple different things, but something on the laptop was preventing us from connecting properly...  Thank you anyway though!)

So I worried about it all the way home (6 hours in the car, and I'm a worrier!).  As it turns out, everything was fine.  My Dad was right, I needed to be connected to the internet for the program to work.  Crisis narrowly missed. 

And can you guess what I did first?  That's right, backed up my file.  Or at least tried, I'm not sure if it really worked. 

I know I'm bound to repeat this same pattern again.  Hopefully less frequently in the future.  I'm trying to improve.  At least now I am comforted to know that I am still blessed by being "compelled to be humble" while knowing that I'll be even more blessed if I was just more humble to begin with.

Book of Mormon Mondays - Charity

Sorry this is a bit late... I really did think of this ahead of time, I just didn't get around to writing it today.

Yesterday, Derek and I read Alma 27.  It's the chapter when the people of Anti-Nephi-Lehi moved to some of the land given them by the Nephites.

When I've read this chapter in the past, I didn't think about it much.  The Anti-Nephi-Lehies needed a place to stay.  They were in trouble and weren't safe in their homelands.  The Nephites were able to give them land and protection.

I never thought about how charitable that act was.  Obviously it was charitable.  It's never easy to make sacrifices.  Theirs was a huge one.  They gave up land and were willing to protect these people who were being targeted by the Lamanites.

Verses 22-23 say...

22 And it came to pass that the voice of the people came, saying: Behold, we will give up the land of Jershon, which is on the east by the sea, which joins the land Bountiful, which is on the south of the land Bountiful; and this land Jershon is the land which we will give unto our brethren for an inheritance.

23 And behold, we will set our armies between the land Jershon and the land Nephi, that we may protect our brethren in the land Jershon; and this we do for our brethren, on account of their fear to take up arms against their brethren lest they should commit sin; and this their great fear came because of their sore repentance which they had, on account of their many murders and their awful wickedness. 

They said that they would protect the Anti-Nephi-Lehies because they didn't want them to break their covenant.  Which was a covenant not to fight because if they fought they might kill someone, and if they killed someone, they might not be able to repent.

How thoughtful and loving were these Nephites!  They were willing to go WAY out of their way to protect a group of people who were holding to a belief that many of the Nephites probably empathized with, but may not have held themselves.

AND, I'm not sure how much time had passed from the time the Anti-Nephi-Lehies had been converted.  It had to have been less than a generation.  The Army of Helaman hadn't happened yet.  Before they were converted, they were Lamanites--enemies of the Nephites.  

Looking at the world today, groups of people who were at one point enemies take years, sometimes generations before there isn't resentment, distrust or animosity towards each other.

How the Nephites were able to put aside these types of feelings--which were very likely to me--and show such love is amazing to me!  They are true examples charity.

Book of Mormon Mondays - Giving God Credit

Yesterday was the choir's Christmas program.  And from where I was sitting, it was a smashing success.  There were a few rough spots, but knowing how little practice time we had and how rough we sounded before, we did pretty darn good.  Their singing was amazing!

And even I played decently.  I think I hit all my chords right (which is good because I really had to pound on those and if I was off, then boy, would I be off!) and the parts that I muffed I think I disguised well.  Derek was my knight in shining armor!  I couldn't have done it without him turning my pages, and he turned them all on time!  Perfect!

But the real credit goes to God.  I worked hard practicing.  I met a couple extra times with our director and also with the flutist who would also be accompanying the choir.  And every time I played the music I made mistakes.  Big ones.  And they were different each time.  It wasn't like I could practice them enough and work through the mistakes.  There was no way to prepare for it.

So I prayed... hard, and had faith that I and the choir would have some major help. 

And after it was all over, I felt a little like Ammon in Alma 26.  He is talking to his brothers, rejoicing for their success in the conversion of the Lamanites.  He says...

9 For if we had not come up out of the land of Zarahemla, these our dearly beloved brethren, who have so dearly beloved us, would still have been racked with hatred against us, yea, and they would also have been strangers to God.

His brother Aaron immediately comes back, chastising him for pride and boasting.  And Ammon responds with this...

11 But Ammon said unto him: I do not boast in my own strength, nor in my own wisdom; but behold, my joy is full, yea, my heart is brim with joy, and I will rejoice in my God.

12 Yea, I know that I am nothing; as to my strength I am weak; therefore I will not boast of myself, but I will boast of my God, for in his strength I can do all things; yea, behold, many mighty miracles we have wrought in this land, for which we will praise his name forever.

To me he's saying that even though it was him (or them) that did it, of course it wasn't all him.  Nothing is possible without God.

I felt the way Ammon did.  I knew I had practiced the songs over and over, and I knew I had put a lot of work into it.   I was proud of my performance, but I knew I couldn't take all the credit for it.  My Heavenly Father helped.  I could feel it as I was playing, and so I really couldn't deny or even ignore it.  So when people complimented me on how well I did, I tried to give Him proper credit.

PS:  Thanks friends for all your support!!

Book of Mormon Mondays - Geography in the Book of Mormon

Okay, I'm going to stand on my soapbox here and tell America that your geographic knowledge is severly lacking.  Seriously, the statistics are pretty embarassing!

Done with that, now on to the rest of the post.  Yesterday, for our family scripture study, we read Alma 22.  It's the chapter where Aaron teaches Lamoni's father, who is the king over all the Lamanites about the Gospel.  Again, the King fell as if he were dead.  The queen at first didn't believe, but once she saw him revived and the King taught her what he learned, she was also converted and they converted many more people in the area around them.

Then for eight verses, Alma talks about the Geography of the area, where all the people who were converted lived... in detail.  Eight verses take up a lot of column space in the book!  By the time we finished the chapter, my husband said, "Wow, that was some digression!"  And even Alma writes in the last verse of the chapter, "And now I, after having said this, return again to the account of Ammon and Aaron, Omner and Himni, and their brethren." (Alma 22:35)  I take that as Book of Mormon speak for "excuse my digression."

So as I thought about why Alma would choose to record so much Geography and why Mormon would choose to keep so much of it.  After a while, I realized that I didn't know why they did it.  But I did know that because they did that it must be important.  Which made me happy. 

I am a Geographer at heart.  I majored in it at college.  I love it.  And sadly, it's often overlooked, or seen as unimportant.  In reality it's exactly the opposite.  Geography is at the heart of every issue.  I can't think of one branch of knowledge that doesn't use place at some point.  The idea of place is Geography.

Having verses of the Book of Mormon devoted to Geography reinforces to me the importance of Geography.  And this little "Ah-ha!" moment has reminded me that every verse in the Book of Mormon is important. 

I'll be paying a bit more attention as I read to find more Geography gems!

Book of Mormon Mondays - Taking a Risk

Derek and I read Alma 19 last night.  It's the chapter where King Lamoni and his household are converted.  This time around, the part that impressed me the most wasn't the miraculous act of raising the King from a coma-like state.  Or the King's amazing turn around.  It was Abish.

There are few women in the scriptures.  I'm not completely clear on why, and I'm not completely comfortable with it.  But I've accepted the fact that when you have limited amounts of writing materials and time, and the extreme difficulty in actually writing, somethings need to be left out.  So to me, that means that the women are in the scriptures must be really important and we should sit up a little straighter and pay attention to them.

I always knew Abish was special.  She had secretly been a believer since she was a child.  On the surface, that might seem cowardly... the secret part.  But really she had to be!  She was a Lamanite, a people who REALLY weren't believers in Christ and his gospel and if she had been more public with her beliefs, she could have been persecuted or even killed!

Abish was the one who spread the news.  This is what it says...

17 Thus, having been converted to the Lord, and never having made it ^aknown, therefore, when she saw that all the servants of Lamoni had ^bfallen to the earth, and also her mistress, the queen, and the king, and Ammon lay ^cprostrate upon the earth, she knew that it was the power of God; and supposing that this opportunity, by making known unto the people what had happened among them, that by beholding this scene it would ^dcause them to believe in the power of God, therefore she ran forth from house to house, making it known unto the people.

She took a big risk to share the gospel, if you will.  She felt the Holy Ghost telling her that what happened was by the power of God.  And she wasted no time.  It says "she ran forth from house to house."  She didn't just run outside and then call out to anyone who could or would hear.  She went door to door running.

Abish knew the truth of the situation so clearly, that she didn't even think for one moment that others would misunderstand and think there was an "evil spirit" (verse 18), or that their enemy had killed their King and Queen.

But as happens to all good things, opposition came and the people who heard Abish's story didn't believe that it was the "Great Spirit's" or God's doing.

  18 And they began to assemble themselves together unto the house of the king. And there came a multitude, and to their astonishment, they beheld the king, and the queen, and their servants prostrate upon the earth, and they all lay there as though they were dead; and they also saw Ammon, and behold, he was a Nephite.

  19 And now the people began to murmur among themselves; some saying that it was a great evil that had come upon them, or upon the king and his house, because he had suffered that the Nephite should ^aremain in the land.

  20 But others rebuked them, saying: The king hath brought this evil upon his house, because he slew his servants who had had their flocks scattered at the ^awaters of Sebus.

  21 And they were also rebuked by those men who had stood at the waters of Sebus and ^ascattered the flocks which belonged to the king, for they were angry with Ammon because of the number which he had slain of their brethren at the waters of Sebus, while defending the flocks of the king.

  22 Now, one of them, whose brother had been ^aslain with the sword of Ammon, being exceedingly angry with Ammon, drew his sword and went forth that he might let it fall upon Ammon, to slay him...

But good always comes from sharing the gospel.  Ammon was protected by God. The offended man who raised his sword to kill Ammon was struck dead.  And by this and other miraculous happenings (read chapter 19), many were converted and some weren't.  That's just the way it goes sometimes.  Everyone has their free agency.

So I guess what I got out of this story this time was go ahead and take a risk sharing the gospel.  It might seem bad at first and the people you share with might not immediately become believers, but it's always a good idea to share.

Book of Mormon Mondays - Courage

Alma 17:19-25

19 And Ammon went to the land of ^aIshmael, the land being called after the sons of ^bIshmael, who also became Lamanites.

  20 And as Ammon entered the land of Ishmael, the Lamanites took him and ^abound him, as was their custom to bind all the Nephites who fell into their hands, and carry them before the king; and thus it was left to the pleasure of the king to slay them, or to retain them in captivity, or to cast them into prison, or to cast them out of his land, according to his will and pleasure.

  21 And thus Ammon was carried before the king who was over the land of Ishmael; and his name was Lamoni; and he was a descendant of Ishmael.

  22 And the king inquired of Ammon if it were his desire to dwell in the land among the Lamanites, or among his people.

  23 And Ammon said unto him: Yea, I desire to ^adwell among this people for a time; yea, and perhaps until the day I die.

  24 And it came to pass that king Lamoni was much pleased with Ammon, and caused that his bands should be loosed; and he would that Ammon should take one of his daughters to wife.

  25 But Ammon said unto him: Nay, but I will be thy servant. Therefore Ammon became a ^aservant to king Lamoni. And it came to pass that he was set among other servants to watch the flocks of Lamoni, according to the custom of the Lamanites.

Living in a foreign country myself, I was particularly struck by verse 23.  Lamoni asked what his intentions were and Ammon answered, "I desire to dwell among this people for a time; yea, and perhaps until the day I die."

What courage!!  The Nephites and Lamanites were brothers, but I think their cultures had diverged enough that there would have been a significant culture shock for Ammon.  And he was willing to stay there for the rest of his life?  Now that's commitment to the gospel.

Photo courtsey of lds.org

Book of Mormon Mondays - Pride

Hmm, I think the Lord is trying to tell me something about pride and judgement.  Pride isn't something that I thought I had a huge problem with.  I mean, everybody has pride, but I guess I thought I had worse problems than that?  As for judgement I, like every woman out there, compare myself constantly to others.  I know that's bad, but I thought... well... never mind what I thought.  I guess the Lord is showing me who really knows! 

This is the second insight (or more accurately, personal revelation) about pride.  The second insight out of three that I think I've ever gotten out of reading the scriptures my entire life!  Honestly, I've never been a very insightful scripture reader.

Alma 9:12-17
 12 Behold, now I say unto you that he commandeth you to repent; and except ye repent, ye can in nowise inherit the kingdom of God. But behold, this is not all—he has commanded you to repent, or he will utterly ^adestroy you from off the face of the earth; yea, he will visit you in his ^banger, and in his ^cfierce anger he will not turn away.

  13 Behold, do ye not remember the words which he spake unto Lehi, saying that: ^aInasmuch as ye shall keep my commandments, ye shall prosper in the land? And again it is said that: Inasmuch as ye will not keep my commandments ye shall be cut off from the presence of the Lord.

  14 Now I would that ye should remember, that inasmuch as the Lamanites have not kept the commandments of God, they have been ^acut off from the presence of the Lord. Now we see that the word of the Lord has been verified in this thing, and the Lamanites have been cut off from his presence, from the beginning of their transgressions in the land.

  15 Nevertheless I say unto you, that it shall be more ^atolerable for them in the day of judgment than for you, if ye remain in your sins, yea, and even more tolerable for them in this life than for you, except ye repent.

  16 For there are many promises which are ^aextended to the Lamanites; for it is because of the ^btraditions of their fathers that caused them to remain in their state of ^cignorance; therefore the Lord will be merciful unto them and ^dprolong their existence in the land.

  17 And at some period of time they will be ^abrought to believe in his word, and to know of the incorrectness of the traditions of their fathers; and many of them will be saved, for the Lord will be merciful unto all who ^bcall on his name.

To me, this scripture is telling me that I should not judge unwisely.  I should repent of my own sins and not even think about anybody elses, and NOT COMPARE MYSELF TO ANYONE ELSE!  Easier said than done right?

Everyone has their own reasons for doing (or not doing) what they do.  I don't know those reasons.  Only the Lord does.

The Nephites and Lamanites had a common beginning.  At one point, they all had access to the same information, the same teachings.  After a long time, the decendents of Laman and Lemuel fell away "because of the traditions of their fathers."  Their decendents had no control over what their ancestors did, and the decendents of Nephi had no right to hold that against them.

That lesson can be applied to so many things in our lives; in our families, in our wards, in our stakes, and beyond.  We are all taught basically the same thing at church and in our homes, how we all take those teachings and use them in our lives is different. 

New Stuff for Mondays

The last few weeks I've felt a little stretched about what to write for Television and Movies Monday.  I mean, we watch TV and movies, I just haven't felt like I've had much to actually say about it.  I'm not that great at writing reviews.

So I'm changing Mondays.  Now Mondays will be Book of Mormon Mondays.  I usually have some sort of insight at least once a week from reading in the Book of Mormon.  AND isn't writing about the Book of Mormon a much better use of time than writing about television and movies?  I thought so.

So here we go!  Derek and I made a goal to read scriptures together each morning.  We were reading together just before bed and that was a disaster.  We have a bad habit of staying up until we're falling asleep and never planning enough time for reading.  It was a struggle just to stay awake long enough to read any number of verses.

Thinking it over, we decided that mornings would be better.  We'd still be half asleep, but we'd be waking up.  I think that's the lesser of the half-asleep evils.  And sometimes it's just one of us reading while the other gets dressed and ready, but hey, we're reading consistently!  And in our house, that's improvement!

And on to my insight this morning.  It was one of those I'm getting ready while Derek's reading mornings.  We're in chapter 9 of Alma.  It's one of the Alma and Amulek sermons.  This is part of what we read...

 1 And again, I, Alma, having been commanded of God that I should take Amulek and go forth and preach again unto this people, or the people who were in the city of ^aAmmonihah, it came to pass as I began to preach unto them, they began to contend with me, saying:

  2 Who art thou? Suppose ye that we shall believe the testimony of ^aone man, although he should preach unto us that the earth should pass away?

  3 Now they understood not the words which they spake; for they knew not that the earth should pass away.

  4 And they said also: We will not believe thy words if thou shouldst prophesy that this great city should be destroyed in ^aone day.

  5 Now they knew not that God could do such marvelous ^aworks, for they were a hard-hearted and a stiffnecked people.

  6 And they said: ^aWho is God, that sendeth ^bno more authority than one man among this people, to declare unto them the truth of such great and marvelous things?

  7 And they stood forth to lay their hands on me; but behold, they did not. And I stood with boldness to declare unto them, yea, I did boldly testify unto them, saying:

  8 Behold, O ye wicked and perverse ^ageneration, how have ye forgotten the ^btradition of your fathers; yea, how soon ye have forgotten the commandments of God.

 

During verses 2-3, I was thinking, what stupid people!  They shouldn't doubt that "the earth should pass away!"  Everybody knows that once you start thinking that, God will send some hardship, big or small!

And then I caught myself.  How many times do I start thinking that way.  I've been thinking that lately.  Even with the economy being in the state it's in now, I'm still thinking, no way things won't get that bad, really bad things won't happen to us!

How stupid am I?!!!  I can't believe it!  I should know better!  I've read the Book of Mormon; I know about the pride cycle.  And I'm afraid my friends that we are in the beginnings of the crashing phase.  We shouldn't worry too much or be afraid.  We just need to be doing our part to be prepared and be good!