I finished the Book of Mormon!

Yay!!! I just finished reading the Book of Mormon again this morning. Now that we are studying the Book of Mormon again this year in church, I want to hurry and catch up to what we are studying and read a long with our lessons this year. Anyway, I love reading the B.O.M. because every single time I do, I learn so many new things. It seems like my life always goes better when I am reading it. I had written an earlier post about a talk I had given in stake conference a few years ago and I finally found it, so I guess I will post it now. Here it is:

When President Andersen asked me to speak today he told me that I was only allowed 10 minutes to speak so I needed to make sure that I got right to the point of my talk as 10 minutes can go by very quickly. Well, if any of you know me or have talked to me you’ll understand when I say that all I could picture in my mind when he was telling me this was, me trying to tell my husband something and him saying to me, “...and the point is?” So with that said, I am going to try and get right to the point.

Most of us know that President Hinckley gave us a challenge in the August 2005 Ensign to read the Book of Mormon by the end of the year. He stated:
“I offer a challenge to members of the church throughout the world and to our friends everywhere to read and re-read the Book of Mormon. If you will read a bit more than one and one half chapters a day, you will be able to finish the book before the end of this year. Very near the end of its 239 chapters, you will find a challenge issued by the prophet Moroni as he completed his record nearly 16 centuries ago. Said he:” “And I exhort you to remember these things, for the time speedily cometh that ye shall know that I lie not, for ye shall see me at the bar of god; and the Lord God will say unto you; did I not declare my words unto you which were written by this man, like as one crying from the dead yea, even as one speaking out of the dust?” (Moroni 10:27,29)

Well if you were like me I missed the beginning of sacrament the Sunday they read the letter from the 1st presidency about this challenge. So after I heard people talking about it and realized we all should be doing it I counted up all the chapters and figured that if I read 2 chapters a day I could finish by the end of the year.

However, there were a few obstacles I had to get past and their names are TJ, Tyra, and Braxton. And as all of you that have children know, trying to find time that you can be alone to read is about as easy as saying no to your uncle when he asks you to speak in stake conference.

With all this said, I was now to the point where I was saying to myself, “Now if I can just read 8 pages a day I will still finish by the end of the year.” And pretty soon it was time for General Conference and so many of the speakers brought up President Hinckley’s challenge that it gave me a great determination that no matter how busy I got I had to complete the Book of Mormon as challenged. I felt that this was such a small thing that the prophet has asked us to do. I wanted to be one of those people that can follow the direction of the prophet no matter what he asks. I knew that he had asked us to do many things in the past but this was different, it was a specific thing and it had a specific date that it was to be completed. I really tried every night to read but no matter how hard I tried I could never make it past one chapter before I would fall asleep. I started to feel like I would not be able to do this. I then remembered the words of Nephi when his father told him that his brothers thought that it was too difficult a task to go and retrieve the records from Laban and he said, “ I will go and do the things which the Lord hath commanded, for I know that the Lord giveth no commandments unto the children of men, save he shall prepare a way for them that they may accomplish the thing which he commandeth them.”(1 Nephi 3:7)

I was talking with my father in law one day and he told me that he enjoyed listening to the Book of Mormon on tape. So I decided to get my moms old Book of Mormon tapes and try to listen to them and get things done while I listened. This worked really well for me. I am not saying that this is the way for everyone but it certainly was for me. As the prophet stated he wanted everyone to read the Book of Mormon by the end on the year and gave counsel on how this could be done but it was up to the individuals to find their own manner of completing the task. One such example that impressed me and showed of a willingness to follow the counsel to a T was by our new stake president. He told me of how he was already part way through the Book of Mormon when the challenge was given by the Prophet. He was very excited that he was already in the process of reading and would be that much farther ahead in completing the challenge. He then felt that he was not following the prophets challenge to a T by starting the Book of Mormon in August and completing it by the last day of December. He felt it necessary to restart his reading and he did just that. To me this is just a wonderful blessing that we have a leader that has such a strong spirit and such a willingness to follow the prophet’s counsel in exactness.

This is another way of following the Prophet’s counsel but for someone like me I just tried to do the best I possibly could under my own circumstances. And there are many people who just felt as though they were so busy that there was no way they could complete the challenge but as we are told in Alma 37:6 “Now ye may suppose that this is foolishness in me; but behold I say unto you, that by small and simple things are great things brought to pass; and small means in many instances doth confound the wise.”

Now many of you also know that along with the prophets challenge he also gave us a promise when he said: “Without reservation I promise you that if each of you will observe this simple program, regardless of how many times you previously may have read the Book of Mormon, there will come into your lives and into your homes an added measure of the spirit of the Lord, a strengthened resolution to walk in obedience to his commandments, and a stronger testimony of the living reality of the son of God.”

My husband and I have read the Book of Mormon several times in our marriage but I have honestly never felt about it the way I did this time. It was absolutely amazing! It just seemed to come alive. I understood so much more of it. Things I’ve never understood before. Especially 2nd Nephi where it reads much like Isaiah and usually that’s the hardest book for me to get through. But this time I couldn’t believe how much of it is about our day and of all the things that have happened before, are happening right now, and the things that are going to happen.

It was so neat also to hear so many people talking about their experiences with reading the Book of Mormon. They would talk about it at work, in family gatherings, with their friends, at activities and in their homes. They would talk about where they were and how much they had left to read and how they had understood something that they had never really understood before. I am not quite sure why Heavenly Father prompted the prophet to give us this challenge right now but I really think that he is trying to prepare us for things to come. There is no better way to prepare ourselves than by reading the Book of Mormon and following its teachings.

Elder W. Don Ladd taught: “When it starts raining, it is too late to begin building the ark... we... need to listen to the Lords spokesman. We need to calmly continue to move ahead and prepare for what will surely come. We need not panic or fear, for if we are prepared, spiritually and temporally, we and our families will survive any flood. Our arks will float on a sea of faith if our works have been steadily and surely preparing for the future.”

Right now it’s not too late to prepare, but we ALL need to prepare NOW. If you didn’t have a chance to read the Book of Mormon by the end of last year, make a new goal to finish it this year. The prophets promises are true. They all happened to me. I have never felt closer to the Lord than I do now. When I am reading the Book of Mormon I feel Him there, listening to me when I pray just as President Hinckley said, “Its appeal is as timeless as truth, as universal as mankind. It is the only book that contains within its covers a promise that by divine power the reader may know with certainty of its truth.” When I read the Book of Mormon this time, I gained an even stronger testimony than I had before. I know without any doubt in my mind that it is a true book given to us from God. I know Joseph Smith is a true prophet and that he translated the Book of Mormon. I know that our prophet Gordon B. Hinckley is our true and living prophet today. I know that if we follow his counsel and teachings we will be prepared for any challenges that may come our way. I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

I have now read the Book of Mormon twice since this talk. Each time I read it my testimony grows stronger. I love the Book of Mormon. It truly is my favorite book!!
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