Week 6

One verse that I love states this. “But behold, your days of probation are past; ye have procrastinated the day of your salvation until it is everlastingly too late, and your destruction is made sure; yea, for ye have sought all the days of your lives for that which ye could not obtain; and ye have sought for happiness in doing iniquity, which thing is contrary to the nature of that righteousness which is in our great and Eternal Head” (Helaman 13:38). I had a super special experience with this verse on my mission with one of my investigators. We had assigned him this chapter to read and this verse really testified to him of true happiness coming from God and not from the world. He understood that cheap worldly pleasures were not true joy and that by living for those he could not have the real happiness that comes from following God and his commandments. It really spoke to him about the little pleasure he got from smoking not being worth it in the long run. He realized that he was seeking for happiness in doing iniquity and that it was not what he wanted. It was because of this verse that he had the strength and desire to quit smoking and prepare to be baptized. I know that we can apply this to all of our lives with great or small worldly pleasures that we each have. We can’t put off repentance and change. We have to choose now follow God more fully in our lives and we will find that by doing so we are much more happy. 

Week 5

The gadianton robbers are probably the scariest group in the Book of Mormon. Everything about them is terrifying. The fate of all three of Pahorans' sons is so sad. First of all they fight with each other for the judgment seat and then they all die in the span of like one year of each other. I think one lesson we can take from this tragic story is to not seek for power. It will be your downfall. Another message from this reading is the importance of fortifying the inside. While the Nephites were fighting among themselves, the Lamanites come to the center of the city, Zarahemla, and take the city. Someone in class said, it’s much easier to prepare and prevent than repair and repent. Again the theme of the Nephite dissenters being the ones to stir the Lamanites up to go to battle against the Nephites is a lesson in these chapters. The ones who have had greater light and knowledge are more hardened and bitter towards God when they turn away than those who haven't had the gospel. We have to be so careful to not let trials and pain harden us and turn us away from God. Another theme that is continually revisited is the fact that the Nephites only loose battles when they are wicked. When they are righteous they are strengthened in the Lord and are able to beat the Lamanites. I really like this principle because it is a powerful miracle. God decides who wins and looses. It doesn't matter who has more warriors fighting or who technically has the advantage, God is in charge. If we are keeping the commandments and living righteously God will bless us. He will reward us for giving Him our will and our time. I really need to remember this principle especially now in my life. I know that if I put God first He will bless me to do better in every aspect in my life but it's so hard to actually apply it when I get busy and overwhelmed and stressed! I have to remind myself of the blessings and miracles I've seen in the past from living this way and trust in God's promises.

Week 4
Moroni is such a boss. He is so bold it would be frightening to disagree with him. The raging letter he sends to Pahoran is scathing. Moroni loves freedom more than anything other than God. He will do anything to defend freedom even if it means death. Moroni is also super intelligent. The strategies he continues to come up with are so amazing and fun to read about. He continues to destroy the Lamanites with his cunning skills. Moroni fortifies the weakest cities the most and turns them into the greatest strongholds. When the Lamanites come to attack they are surprised at how strong the previously weakest cities are. This can be applies to Satan's tactics today. He tried to exploit our weaknesses. If we work on those and fortify them then Satan will have no power over us. Another part of this reading is Teancum killing of Ammoron. Teancum is also bold and a bit rash it seems. It is never wise to make decisions when you're emotional. We obviously don't know if Teancum made this decision solely on anger or that it was a bad decision or that he wouldn't have died if he had thought about it more deliberately but we can take this lesson from it. He and Moroni are the perfect duo to incite fear among the Lamanites. Another lesson I took from the reading is to choose to not be offended. Pahoran could've been offended by the false accusations of Moroni, but he didn't. A saying my mom always says is "he who takes offense when offense isn't intended is a fool. He who takes offense when offense is intended is usually a fool." We can choose whether or not we take offense. It is entirely up to us. I liked the quote in the institute manual that talked about all of us having times when we are embarrassed by something or we feel insulted or mistreated. That is part of life! Whether it happened on purpose or not is does happen. To everyone. We can't let it get to us. We have to be mature and get over it. We can't let it get in the way of our relationship with God. We have to be like Pahoran and say "it mattereth not." The last thing that I think is super cool is that President Joseph F. Smith tells the people from New Zealand that they are descendants of Hagoth! That is so cool! It blew my mind leaning about that for the first time!

Week 3

The three themes that stuck out to me the most in these five chapters in Alma were faith (Alma 32 duh), prayer, and the atonement. I love to read Alma 32 and ask myself those questions to gage where my faith is at. I love the lesson that humility is required in order to have sincere faith. I also like in verse 28 that it says the word is like unto a seed. I always compared faith to the seed because of the primary song but one time one of my mission companions pointed out to me that it compared the word to a seed and not faith. The word and the Spirit begin to swell and grow and that's how you know that the word or the scripture/principle is good and comes from God. Once you see this prayer/experiment work then your faith will increase as well. 
Prayer was also a big focus in Alma 33. It’s crazy that they thought they could only pray on their rameumptom and nowhere else. Also, let me just say how bazaar there memorized prayer was. How did they stray so far so fast?? I love that they are so excited when they learn that they can pray to God even though they are outcasts. They can pray to God anytime and anywhere. This is such an amazing blessing and miracle. Can you imagine if we could only pray at church? How sad! 
The other big theme was the atonement. This is perhaps the most complicated of all gospel miracles. The atonement was the great and last sacrifice which fulfilled the law of Moses. No more blood was to be spilt or animal sacrifices to be made. But the sacrifices we make are now a broken heart and a contrite spirit. We must submit our will to the Lords. We must keep His commandments and live in a way that pleases Him. I know as we do this God will bless us more than we can imagine and we will happier than we have ever been before.