Week 14

Moroni 10: 32 "Yea, come unto Christ, and be perfected in him, and deny yourselves of all ungodliness; and if ye shall deny yourselves of all ungodliness, and love God with all your might, mind and strength, then is his grace sufficient for you, that by his grace ye may be perfect in Christ; and if by the grace of God ye are perfect in Christ, ye can in nowise deny the power of God." What does it mean to deny yourself of all ungodliness? I think that we each have things in our lives that we know aren't the best things but that we justify. It's these things that are the hardest for us to deny ourselves from participating in. But it's these things that are stopping our progression. It's the things that we continue to justify, that drive the Spirit away (but that aren't bad enough to make us feel guilty bright to stop doing them) that are keeping us from coming closer to Christ. I know that in my own life, this is something that I can work on. I can deny myself if the urge to judge others when I see differences in them that I don't agree with. I can deny myself the impulse to say something rude to or about someone when I'm in a bad mood. I can deny myself the inclination of pride. Of feeling like I am better than others. Or feeling like I can do something a better way than they can. I can deny myself of the music and TV shows that I know don't have a good message. I know that these are some of the things that are keeping me from having the Spirit constantly in my life. I know that as I consistently work on these things than God will bless me with the power to overcome them. His grave is sufficient and I will be perfected in Him.

Week 13

Ether 12:37 "And because thou hast seen thy weakness thou shalt be made strong, even unto the sitting down in the place which I have prepared in the mansions of my Father." This verse had honestly never stuck out to me before until one of my friends said that it was his favorite verse. I went back and re-read it looking for a lesson that I could learn and the reason that he liked it so much. After thinking about it for a minute, I realized that this verse can really apply to me. The Lord is saying that in order to improve upon our weaknesses we have to admit them to our self. In my own life, I tend to hide my weaknesses from others and even struggle admitting them to myself. I try to pretend that they're not there because I don't want to seem weak. I don't want other people to know that I struggle with things. This verse helped me to realize that it is a good thing to recognize my weaknesses. I have to admit them to myself and to the Lord so I can get help from Him to improve and be better. If I continually cover them up or deny that I have them I will never be able to overcome them. Becoming better starts with admitting that we have something to work on. Once I do that, I can focus on changing. I know the things that I struggle with. I know that as I admit my weaknesses to myself and come to the Lord in humility, willing to work on improving, He will facilitate opportunities for me to practice the very things I seek to improve upon.

Week 12

I love the story of the brother of Jared. The part that I find the most interesting is Ether 2:23. After the brother of Jared asked God what they should do to have light in their boats, the Lord replies, "What will ye that I should do that ye may have light in your vessels?" God didn't just give the brother of Jared all the answers. He left it up to him to figure it out for himself and then come to the Lord for help once he had an idea. This is how we are supposed to approach getting answers from the Lord. We don't just come to God with all our problems and say, solve them. The Lord requires us to study it out in our mind before hand, and then ask Him if what we have decided is a good decision. We have to work at it ourselves. Sometimes I get frustrated in my own life that my prayers aren't getting answered. I've come to realize that if I want clear answers I have to prove to the Lord that I want them. I can't just ask and not do anything about it. I have to pray and study and fast and act on what I know. I have to take a step of faith and move forward to receive revelation. When I went on my mission, it wasn't until my first day in the MTC that I received a clear answer from the Lord that I was doing the right thing. I knew that it was a good thing to do and that it wasn't the wrong decision, but up until my first day in the MTC I didn't feel like I had a sure answer. I need to remember this experience and act in faith even when I feel like I don't know for certain.

Week 11

Mormon 3:12 is a super interesting verse to me. Mormon is leading the wicked Nephites to battle and even after seeing them curse God and watching how they delight in bloodshed and wickedness he still loves them. Not only did he just love them a little bit but he loved them with all his heart. This is an important lesson that I can learn a lot from. Sometimes it's really hard for me to love people. Before I went on my mission that was something that I was really worried about. Every returned missionary talks about how much they grew to love the people that they were with so so much. The advice they give you is just to love the people. Love everyone. When I got that advice I was really nervous that I wouldn't be able to love the people as much as I should or wanted to. I've never been one to just love people instantly. It takes me time to develop that love for them. I think the phrase that says he loved them according to the love of God which was in him is a really key line in this verse. Sometimes people do things to me, to themselves or to others that make me feel like I can't love them. But the important thing I know it true is that God loves them and that He can give me some of the love that He has for them. If I'm not able to come up with the love for them myself, I can pray to feel love for them and Heavenly Father can give me that love when I don't have any. The second thing that sticks out to me in this verse is when it says that Mormon prayed without faith for the Nephites. What? Why was he praying without faith? Isn't that what all the prophets tell us? To pray with faith or else our prayer is in vain. The lesson that I got from this however is that there are two things our faith cannot do: take away the agency of others and force God to comply with our desires. Mormon understood this and knew that his prayer couldn't change the future. To me the verse implies that he lost faith in the wicked people not in God.

Week 10

Mormon 1:2 "And about the time that Ammaron hid up the records unto the Lord, he came unto me, (I being about ten years of age, and I began to be learned somewhat after the manner of the learning of my people) and Ammaron said unto me: I perceive that thou art a sober child, and art quick to observe." I find the description of Mormon quite interesting. Ammoron and Mormon both use sober child to describe Mormon. When I was about 14 my family went to Nauvoo to be in the pageant. Before we went, we were set apart as some type of missionary for the two weeks that we would be there. I remember in my blessing that I got from the bishop he counseled me to be sober. I had never really thought about what is means to be sober before so I was taken aback a little bit when it was said in my blessing. I still am not completely sure what it means to be a sober child but here are a few of my ideas. One thing I think it encompasses is to not be dramatic about things. Not be rash in decision making. Not to overreact to insignificant things. I think it has something to do with maintaining an eternal perspective. Having a firm anchor in the gospel will help us to be more stable in all aspects of our lives. Another lesson that could apply is to be wary of light mindedness and loud laughter. Being sober doesn't mean that we should not express emotions or never have any positive or negative reactions to things that happen in our lives, but it means that we should bridle our passions and not let our emotions control our decision making. Another characteristic that Ammoron says Mormon has is being quick to observe. I think that means that he was quick to observe the commandments of God. He was quick to listen to his leaders. He was quick to act on what needed to be done. He was a good decision maker. He could observe, analyze, make a decision and act on it. These two qualities are ones that I want to develop in my own life. I want to be grounded in the gospel and not let whims of doctrines, trends, or bad things that happen in my life shake my faith or cause me to dramatically change everything I do because of a bad day. I want to be quick to observe the counsel of my leaders and apply the things I know I should in my life immediately so I can continue to grow and change for the better. I know that if I strive to develop these two characteristics I will be happier in my life and increase my relationship with Heavenly Father.

Week 9


When the Savior comes the second day, he asks Nephi to bring the records and show them to Him. He asks Nephi if the prophecies of Samuel the Lamanite have been written down and if the fulfillment of them was written down also. When Nephi tells him no, Christ rebukes him for not keeping the record more detailed. I think this lesson can apply to journaling as well. Many prophets and apostles have commanded us to keep a journal. They have counsels us to write down the miracles we see in our lives and the tender mercies of the Lord. The blessings they promise us from doing this are plenty. They promise that we will have more gratitude for the Lord as we take note of His blessings. I can be better at writing down and remembering the blessings from the Lord. Even if I just spent 10 min a week writing down the blessings that I saw in my life that week, I would be more aware of the love that God has for me. Another lesson from this reading is the commandment to pay tithes and offerings. For me tithing has always been easy. It's just been what I've done my whole life. My parents had me start paying tithing as soon as I started getting any money. Paying tithing was always something fun and exciting for me and my siblings. I don't know how my parents got us to look at it that way but at the end of the year when we went to tithing settlement we were always super excited to be full tithe payers. I guess it make us feel like big kids or something. The hearts of the children are turned to their fathers is another lesson Jesus teaches his third day with the Nephites. This is a sign He gives of the second coming. This prophecy is getting fulfilled in our day as we are seeing family history and temple work taking a huge stride of progress. The amount of temples we have now is amazing. We are ushering in the Millenium with the work of the dead. One last comment on this weeks reading, babies were saying marvelous things that can't be written because of how sacred they were! I can't even imagine how cool this must have been! You're a mom and your baby just starts talking and making prophecies! That would be incredible.

Week 8

I love the first few verses in 3rd Nephi 16 when Christ talks about the other sheep that he must go visit. He tells the Nephites that he has other sheep that aren't them and that aren't the people in Jerusalem but other tribes as he called them. I like to think that he went and visited the lost 10 tribes. Maybe not all of them, depending on how spread out they were or how righteous they were, but those are who he visited. I can't wait to read the record that they made when Jesus came and visited them. Because Jesus' visit to the Nephites is the focal point of the Book of Mormon I want to read the other record of His visit to the other tribes. Another part from this reading that I've always loved is when Jesus explains how the Law of Moses is fulfilled in Him. Christ tells the Nephites that He is the one who gave the law and He came to fulfill the law. He's not coming to destroy it or go back on what He or other prophets had testified in the past but that He was the great and last sacrifice and that now He was establishing a higher law. It was no longer an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth, but it was love your enemies, do good to those that hurt you. The sacrifice was changed from a burnt offering to a broken heart and a contrite spirit. This higher law, although it was less explicit and controlling, was harder to live. In order to love it you had to elevate yourself to a new level of dedication to Christ. To live it, we have to be more like Him and love like He loves. Having charity for all. We have to humble ourselves and be repenting every day.