Although this was a short chapter with a lot of mention of the wars going on I was able to learn a lot from it. My favorite part was verse 8 which says, "and the people began to repent of their iniquity; and inasmuch as they did the Lord did have mercy on them."
I feel like the Lord is always extending His mercy towards us and I am constantly being reminded of it. It feels as if the Lord wants me to know that whenever I mess up I always have another chance. Jesus Christ is not one for second chances but infinite chances. We can always repent it if we repent and turn to him. To me that is a joyous truth to know that I can never mess up more than the Savior can save me.

Ether 12 is another popular chapter in the Book of Mormon and this time I wanted to learn something from what we normally learn about it from sunday school.
Moroni describes Ether as someone who could not be "restrained because of the Spirit of the Lord which was in him." When I read this I wanted to learn how I can be a man of that faith. I think though that we read things like this that are so powerful but fail to realize how simple it is for us to be like that. All it takes are simple daily choices to do what we know is true. As Richard G. Scott said,

"We become what we want to be by consistently being what we want to become each day."  


In verse 27 Moroni quotes the Savior, "...my grace is sufficient for all men that humble themselves before me." I love this because it gives me hope to know that I am included (as is everybody) in being able to receive the Saviors grace if I humble myself before him. How do we properly humble ourselves before the Savior though? That is a good question - if you know an answer leave a comment!

Finally I love how in verse 34 Moroni talks about charity again. He focuses on this topic a lot - and for good reasons. He says that if we don't have charity we won't inherit the kingdom of God.

For me I have a good example of charity in my life and oddly enough it comes from my sister and brother-in-law who are Atheists. Even though they don't believe in God the are great examples of the pure love of Christ or as they would probably call it, pure and selfless love.

My sister has been to many different countries over the past few years (mainly teaching english as a second language). It seems that wherever she goes she is volunteering and helping people out. She went to Ecuador and volunteered in orphanages there. She also worked on a dude ranch in Jackson and volunteered teaching english to hispanic immigrants. She has always been apart of different causes to help support human rights and stood up these people. It seems that these are little things, but my sister has made them all apart of her life.

Her husband (my brother-in-law) is the same way. It seems to me that his goal in life is to know every culture the best he can and share the greatness of these cultures with everybody. I love talking with him about the people of different cultures he works with and he talks about the great things about them.
I am finding it hard to put into words all the things that they do - but it is all very little things. I think that they personify what Richard G. Scott said,

"We become what we want to be by consistently being what we want to become each day."


I need to focus on being what I want to be - everyday. It is hard but with the Lord's help I can make it - day by day.

It has been a while since that I have posted and hopefully I will be able to keep posting daily. My goal is that as I post daily my scripture study will also be daily. Not only that but having this as a scripture journal I will be able to have a more in-depth scripture study.
One verse stuck out to me - a lot. It was verse 9. It says, "and there shall be a new heaven and a new earth." It made me think that even the earth shall be born again and become perfected. The Lord's goal is that all of his creations will become perfect even as He is. If I try and submit myself to His will I will be able to become new even as the Earth will.

I read these two chapters today and it was pretty depressing. It is sad to see how two groups of people who hate each other so much will go to any ends (including dying them selves in the process) to try to kill the other.


At the very end though Ether said something that I really liked. He was unsure whether or not he would be translated or walk around the earth until he died. To that he said in verse 34, "it mattereth not, if it so be that I am save in the kingdom of God. Amen"


I think that these are great words to live by. What I do in my life and how I live it doesn't matter if I am saved in God's kingdom. I could be rich or poor. I could be the most famous person in the world or no one knows who I am. None of that matters. The only thing that matters is that I am doing what is right so that I can be saved in the kingdom of God.


Does that mean I will have no ambition in life or pursue a great career? No - but what it means is that I will focus on attaining salvation before I do any of those things.

I read these chapters Saturday night - the day before taking the sacrament. I found that very fitting and it helped me focus a lot more on why we as members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints partake of the sacrament every sunday.


We renew our baptismal covenants every time that we partake of the sacrament. Like every covenant there are two parts: what we promise to do and what the Lord will do.


What we promise to do is:

1. Take upon ourselves the name of Jesus Christ
2. Always remember Jesus Christ
3. Keep the commandments that Jesus Christ has given us

This chapter has a lot of instructions on how to properly run the Savior's church. What stuck out to me was in verse 5 where it said that the members of the church would meet and talk with each other about the welfare of their souls. I wonder why we do not do this in the church more.


I think that it would be great if when talking about a gospel principal for people to be able to stand up and say, "You know - I have a problem with this and I have tried fixing it before and nothing has worked for me. What do you guys think I could do better?" Then people would be able to give advice and help each other out. I think that we would not only be following the advice from Moroni but we would be more able to help each other out as a congregation. I also feel that there would be less judgement all around because everybody loses their "I'm not as perfect as Jesus but I am pretty close."


The next part I liked was in verse 8 when they discussed forgiving the members of the church. It is so beautiful to read that "as oft as they repented and sought forgiveness...they were forgiven." The Savior will truly forgive us 70 times 7.


A teacher of mine at BYU-Idaho helped me learn this concept. He said, "You cannot out-sin the Savior." When the Lord said that his atonement was infinite he meant it. You will never be able to sin more than what the Lord had suffered for you. You will never be lost. There is always hope where there is faith.


This makes me remember that Jesus Christ is merciful and loves each and everyone of us more than we can imagine.

1. I need to help all the members of the church be nourished by the Word of God

Moroni 7 starts with Moroni summarizing what his father Mormon wrote in the rest of the chapter. He stated simply that his father spoke about "faith, hope, and charity." This was a theme that I saw also in Moroni 8-9.


Mormon also speaks a lot about the sources of both good and evil. He gives a good analogy that "a bitter fountain cannot bring forth good water." Our outward actions of goodness can't mean anything if inwards we are not worthy. When we try to be perfected in him we need to focus on changing ourselves on the inside first because the result will be a change on the outside. 


If someone has a problem with pornography they need to focus on having pure thoughts. Just like the Doctrine and Covenants says, "Let virtue garnish thy thoughts."


If someone has a problem with Sabbath Day observance they need to focus on their love of God so that they outwardly express that love by keeping the Sabbath Day holy.


If someone breaks the Word of Wisdom they should focus on gaining a testimony that their body is a temple of God and needs to be respected.


Later on in the chapter (verse 37), Mormon talks about how miracles cease because of the lack of faith. I need many miracles in my life it seems and many times I feel like the Lord is not helping me out. Sometimes it might be because He is testing me but other times I feel like it is because I don't have enough faith in him. 


Also with faith comes hope. Hope comes to us "through the power of the atonement" so that we can "be raised unto life eternal." However all of this comes back to faith because hope comes through faith.


However if we have faith and hope but we don't have charity we are nothing. Charity is something that we need to pray for to get. It is actually something that we need to pray for with all the energy that we have.


These three things are the basics of the Gospel: Faith, Hope and Charity. Hope comes through faith and without charity we are nothing.


I feel like I need to ask myself everyday - What am I doing to develop these three?