I also spent some time this week reflecting on what the Book of Mormon has meant to me over the course of my life. First, I think that my parents’ decision to have us read the Book of Mormon together as a family is what glued our family together, and made the great relationships I have with my brothers and sisters as close as they are.
I was a little surprised over the summer when I asked my mom, if her family ever studied the scriptures when she was growing up? “No” she replied.
“Well, did you have family home evening?”
“No.”
“What about family prayer?”
“No.”
I asked my dad the same questions—and he said his family only had family prayer.
“Well, then why did you decide to have to family scripture study, family prayer and family home evening?” I asked.
My dad answered matter-of-factly, “It’s what the prophet asked us to do.” The way he answered the question makes me think that he and my mom didn’t view what the prophet asked them to do as optional.
I’m sure they had difficult times gathering us all together for those things—as it always seemed like someone, particularly my oldest sister, Tiffany, who was a brat growing up—didn’t want to come.
I also realized that that decision to read the scriptures together really helped me in school. I remember when I was first learning to read in the first grade, that Tiffany, my bratty older sister, would groan whenever it was my turn to read because she said, “I took too long”—and, well, Tiffany really didn’t want to be there. Anyhow, those embarrassing moments kindled something inside of me and I worked at being able to read well enough that I could read quickly enough to silence my sister. It was a great day when Tiffany complained I read too fast. I think studying the Book of Mormon prepared my mind to learn, and I honestly believe it helped me do better in school.
I’ve noticed that even now. In a gospel doctrine teachers meeting earlier this year, Chris Nelson, our Sunday School president, promised us that if we put studying the gospel first in our lives, the rest would fall into place. That’s when I decided I would take President Hinckley’s challenge.
And though it was difficult to complete the reading of the Book of Mormon with all the demands on me during last semester, I found that the rest of my life fell into place, and I ended up having the best semester I’ve had in college—despite having all the obstacles I had to having a successful semester. I know the Lord blessed me and increased my ability as I put the gospel first in my life.
One of the things I found is that it really blessed me in my calling as a teacher. Almost every time I prepared a lesson, I read something in the Book of Mormon that just applied perfectly to that lesson, and I was able to share that in my class. Nothing teaches the gospel like the Book of Mormon!
I remember the first time I was ever excited to read the Book of Mormon—the first morning in the MTC. It was such a great experience. I was ingesting the truth so anxiously—cross referencing, and just really enjoying the experience of reading the scriptures. I was to naïve to know it then, but what I was feeling was the Spirit.
A few days later, I became really acquainted with the Spirit when it burned within my heart the testimony that the Book of Mormon is true. That testimony has never left my heart, and the Spirit has etched it deeper into my heart over the years.
A few months into the mission, I began to really learn the Book of Mormon, for one purpose: to stump my companion, Elder Harding. This started one morning when he walked by when I was reading my scriptures, and I said, “Guess where I am?” And I started reading some verses—and he guessed it. “That’s amazing!” I said. So I closed the book and randomly reopened it and began reading. Again, he guessed it. Well, this started a game we played frequently the next few months. And I really began to try and find some verses that weren’t well-known just to stump him. I learned so much doing that. And occasionally I was able to stump Elder Harding. I have found to my disappointment, though, that I am easily stumped—so I still have a lot of learning to do!
I also remember the time at a Scout campout our leaders had us go through an “Iron Rod” experience. And, well, the rod ended, and there was a fire up ahead. But this took place at the time when I needed glasses but hadn’t had the courage yet to admit I needed glasses. So I squinted ahead, and looked at the people sitting around the fire, and, well, they didn’t look like anyone I knew. And the last thing you want to do when you’re of middle school age is to just wander into an embarrassing social situation. And I wasn’t about to walk into someone else’s camp and hope it was my own. So I turned around—and tried another way. That didn’t work. So I came back to the rod and waited for the next person who would come by. Unfortunately, it was my tormentor, my older brother, Joey, and I said, “Where are we supposed to go?”
He pointed at the fire, and said, “Right there, dufus.”
And then he had a good time once we arrived at the fire of pointing out that I had gotten lost “in the mists of darkness.” So I wasn’t spared the embarrassing social situation I had hoped to avoid. I think the times I learned the most have been in the hardest times of my life when I have immersed myself in the Book of Mormon to shine the Light of Christ. This has helped me find a way out of my most desperate situations, and it has helped me feel the love of Christ in my loneliest moments.
Like I said, the Book of Mormon has brought our family together. That bratty sister, Tiffany, is now one of the coolest people I know. I love it when she visits because I can spend hours and hours just talking to her. And my tormentor, Joey, has become one of my best friends. There’s no one I enjoy being around more than my brother. We have a great time, and he is really nice to me these days, doing anything he can to help me out. I credited the Book of Mormon for that because I think the Spirit we felt when reading it, kept our care for each other alive, even during the difficult days of sibling rivalry.
So I can look back at my short life and see just how much the Book of Mormon has meant to me. I love studying it. I love reading it. I love thinking about the people in it and considering their situations. And I love trying to think how it applies to my situation. So many great truths in that book, so little time.
