Mosiah 28

28:1-9 – Now that Alma (we’re going to go back to Alma since he’s pretty much the only Alma referenced from here on out, as his father dies in the next chapter,) and the sons of Mosiah have been converted and have exerted much energy trying to right the wrongs of the people that they’ve caused, it’s time to move forward. Assumedly, Alma Jr. is being groomed to take over as the prophet for his father, but the sons of Mosiah refuse to be the next kings so they go and ask their father “the he would grant unto them that they might… go up to the land of Nephi that they might preach the things which they had heard, and that they might impart the word of God to their brethren, the Lamanites.” I hadn’t before realized how closely the Nephites and the Lamanites had been dealing with each other at this point. I mean, I always assumed that they were only around each other when there was war and there had been peace for quite some time. But in fact, Alma and Alma Jr. both had lived as slaves to the Lamanites, and between Alma’s people and Limhi’s people, more than half of the Nephite population had lived in Lamanite territory and been slaves to them. So the request of the sons of Mosiah to go teach the Lamanites isn’t some “hey I know, why don’t we go see if the Lamanites have changed their hearts toward us since we haven’t dealt with them in several years,” they knew from firsthand experience exactly what kind of people the Lamanites were, exactly what they were up against and so they weren’t going in blind or unrealistic, as I had always thought. The sons of Mosiah wanted to go to the Lamanites because they wanted to “cure them of their hatred towards the Nephites, that they might also be brought to rejoice in the Lord their God, that they might become friendly to one another, and that there should be no more contentions in all the land which the Lord their God had given them.” These are very altruistic motives, they aren’t doing it to make money or gain power, and they legitimately want the Lamanites to be happy like they are. It’s stated beautifully in verse 3 “now they were desirous that salvation should be declared to every creature, for they could not bear that any human soul should perish; yea, even the very thoughts that any soul should endure endless torment did cause them to quake and tremble.” The IM quotes President Howard W. Hunter as teaching “There is the example of the four sons of Mosiah – Ammon, Aaron, Omner, and Himni- who received a forgiveness of sins through the Atonement and then labored for years among the Lamanites to bring them to Christ. The record states that they could not bear the thought that any soul should perish… A great indicator of one’s personal conversion is the desire to share the gospel with others. For this reason the Lord gave an obligation to every member of the church to be missionaries.” They could not bear the thought that any soul should perish. This is interesting to me, I don’t feel like that, in the sense that people accept or reject the information they are given about Christ based on the experiences and knowledge that they have at the time it is presented to them. The only way a just God could truly judge anyone is to give each and every soul the opportunity to understand what exactly the gospel is to the same level of understanding as everyone else. So for instance, I feel like a lifelong, born in the covenant member of the church has a difference level of understanding when it comes accepting the gospel as truth versus, say, an impoverished child who’s enslaved and beaten and grows up watching horror and hedonism. God will ensure that both individuals will be able to understand the depth and importance of the gospel, even if it’s in the next life. This is just my own ramblings, but I feel like just because someone isn’t interested in the gospel message now doesn’t mean that they won’t later. Maybe that’s just my way of excusing myself, making it to where I don’t have to really go out of my way to make a missionary effort. And when I read the next part of the IM I realized that I was indeed making excuses. The IM quotes Elder M. Russell Ballard as teaching “the key to successful member missionary work is the exercise of faith. One way to show your faith in the Lord and His promises is to prayerfully set a date to have someone prepared to meet with the missionaries.” This is where I said “he’s talking to families with a mother and father, with more time. Surely this doesn’t apply to me as a working single mother.” But then I realized that I am exactly who he’s talking about, this is my call to action, he’s telling me that it’s time that I get on it and show my appreciation for everything I’ve been given. I wish I could find the general conference talk from October this year, where the speaker says something to the effect of “many members don’t pray for the opportunity to share the gospel because they are afraid if they do, then they will actually have to share the gospel.” And this is me; I don’t pray for the opportunity because I don’t want the opportunity to arise. I tell myself I’m too overwhelmed, I’m too busy, I have too much on my plate already, and that I just can’t handle one more thing. But this is the Lord telling me enough, it’s time to act and do what he’s asked. Elder Ballard continues “I have received hundreds of letter from members who have exercised their faith in this simple way. Even though families had no one in mind with whom they could share the gospel, they set a date, prayed, and then talked to many more people. The Lord is the Good Shepherd, and He knows His sheep who have been prepared to hear His voice. He will guide us as we seek His divine help in sharing His gospel.” I’ve been afraid of alienating people, for them to judge my kids, I’ve been afraid of being too involved in other people’s lives, because I’ll get sucked in and not be able to let go. I’ve been afraid of being the “preachy” friend that people start to avoid because they don’t want to hear me talk about my church anymore. That’s what I’ve been afraid of, being avoided. Interesting. In the April 2003 general conference talk called "A Child and A Disciple," President Eyring taught of those member missionaries “they are the grateful disciples of the resurrected Jesus Christ. They know for themselves that the Atonement is real and necessary for all. They have felt cleansed through baptism by those in authority and the receipt of the Holy Ghost for themselves. And because of the peace they have experienced, they are like the sons of Mosiah, ‘desirous that salvation should be declared to every creature, for they could not bear that any human soul should perish; yea, even the very thoughts that any soul should endure endless torment did cause them to quake and tremble.’ Those who speak easily and often of the restored gospel prize what it has meant to them. They think of that great blessing often. It is the memory of the gift that have received which makes them eager for others to receive it. They have felt the love of the Savior.” This hit me, because I am grateful to God, for all that I am and all that I have been blessed with. This hit home to me that hoarding or more accurately, cowering from sharing the gospel is the ultimate ingratitude. Me, of all people, I have been to the depths of sorrow, pain, hatred, and bitterness, and this was to be my eternal state except for the hand of mercy extended to me from the Savior, begging me to come back, babying me, guiding me, hand holding me still to this day as I learn the smallest and most obvious lessons, as I struggle with the most minor and insignificant trials. I truly do prize the gospel, and I’m learning that it’s to be prized above all else, and I need to learn that it would be prized by others. Like me, the turn of the sons of Mosiah from terrible wickedness to anxious missionaries was because “the Spirit of the Lord (did) work upon them, for they were the very vilest of sinners. And the Lord saw fit in his infinite mercy to spare them; nevertheless they suffered much anguish of soul because of their iniquities, suffering much and fearing that they should be cast off forever.” We don’t hear a lot about the repentance process for the sons of Mosiah, we only hear that basically Alma repented for like 3 days, and that was it. Me personally, my repentance process takes much much longer than that. Verse 4 gives us a little bit more insight to the “anguish of soul” experienced by the sons of Mosiah, and I would imagine that neither Alma nor the boys had easy peasy repentance, I would imagine, like the rest of us, their reconciliation with God was long and intensive. It took days of the boys begging their father for him to "inquire of the Lord is he should let his sons go up among the Lamanites to preach the word." His answer was that he should send his sons "for many shall believe on their words, and they shall have eternal life; and I will deliver thy sons out of the hands of the Lamanites." How powerful an answer is that? To me the most powerful part isn't that God will keep them safe(ish) but it's that they will have success. I would imagine that Mosiah knew that God protects the righteous, and that even if his sons did die while preaching they would go to God, but that "many" Lamanites will believe in their words, that is the big shocker for me. President Eyring taught in a 2009 April general conference talk entitled "Man Down!" "my prayer is that you will have joy in your priesthood service throughout your life and forever. I pray that you will develop the bravery and love for Heavenly Father's children that led the sons of Mosiah to plead for the chance to face death and danger to take the gospel to a hardened people. Their desire and their bravery came from feeling responsible for the eternal happiness of strangers in danger of eternal misery." This concept of facing death and suffering to take the gospel to a wild blood thirsty people and "plead for the chance" to do this service is interesting when contrasted with the "ok fine, I'll go on a mission, but I'm coming home if I don't like it," attitude that it so prevalent with many missionaries today. Now that maybe just an unfair assumption that I'm making but I imagine when it comes time for my son to go on his mission, the difference between trying to convince him to go and having him so eager to go that he has the "bravery and love" like that of the sons of Mosiah. President Eyring likens the enthusiasm of the sons of Mosiah to the desire to serve that "Jehovah had, in the world before this one, when He asked to come down from the realms of glory to serve us and give His life to us. He asked His Father 'Send me.'" I had not made that connection before, but it fits. It seems like this is my sign that it's time to strengthen my love for God and others and be brave and "plead for the chance" to share the gospel.

28:10-20 - Now that his sons were going on missions to the land of Nephi, Mosiah "had no one to confer the kingdom upon, for there was not any of his sons who would accept of the kingdom." So he took everything that he had been entrusted with the brass plates, the plates of Nephi, the "plates of gold which had been found by the people of Limhi," the Urim and Thummim or interpreters, "and conferred them upon Alma, who was the son of Alma." It talks about "the great anxiety of his people; for they were desirous beyond measure to know concerning those people who had been destroyed," meaning the records found by the people of Limhi when they discovered the land of bones and desolation. I guess that would be similar to us finding a lost civilization that had been completely destroyed and us being able to find their records, and having it be close to home, yeah I guess I can see that being very intriguing. The records that were found ended up giving "an account of the people who were destroyed, from the time that they were destroyed back to the building of the great tower, at the time the Lord confounded the language of the people and they were scattered abroad upon the face of all the earth, yea, and even from that time back until the creation of Adam." So we have both the brass plates brought by Nephi and this record of the Jaredites as having the history of the world basically, all the way back to Adam, but neither part of those records made it into the Book of Mormon, I guess because they assumed that we would have that record. I really wish we had all the records, that would be amazing to read the history of the world from the beginning, but I guess until we start treasuring the scriptures that we have, we will not be rewarded with more. As far as how Mosiah interpreted the records the IM quotes President Joseph F. Smith as teaching "the people of Limhi brought to Mosiah a record,... 'engraven on plates of ore,' which record Mosiah translated by the aid of 'two stones which were fastened into the two rims of a bow.' ... Joseph Smith received with the 'breastplate' and the plates of the Book of Mormon, the Urim and Thummim, which were hid up by Moroni to come forth in the last days as a means by which the ancient record might be translated, which Urim and Thummim were given to the brother of Jared." This use of the interpreters so modernly is amazing, especially when we consider their ancient origin. I love to see the continuity from the ancient church to the modern church, I think it makes it so much richer in the history and shows the continuous nature of God.

So I guess my lesson today is that I need to step up my efforts, I need to actively seek missionary opportunities and talk to people about the gospel more. I'm going to "plead for the chance" to speak about the Gospel, and I'm going to pray to know what to say when the time comes. I think for Family Home Daytime tomorrow, me and the kids will talk about this and like was advised, make it a family matter, set a date and pray for the opportunity. I think this is my sign.