This last week was yet another busy yet wonderful week of missionary work! I can't wait to share some of the things I have learned through experience and pondering this last week! First, it is insane just how fast time goes by! It seems like Elder Antenorcruz just went home yesterday, and now my other companion, Elder Saez, will be going home this Wednesday. I have to admit that it is not easy to see companions go. It is remarkable how much I have been able to learn from each one of them.
This last week, we had the privilege of visiting many missionaries all around the mission and teaching quite a bit of wonderful investigators. However, as I write this today, I feel prompted to share something that I learned during one of my study sessions this last week.
When Elder Schmutz came and visited our mission, one thing he taught was the importance of reading the scriptures "deeply, not superficially" by the use of footnotes. As such, I have restarted the Book of Mormon and been reading almost all of the footnotes along with it to acquire a deeper understanding of the things that are written. I have to admit, it is very slow, but I have learned a lot in result. This last week I have been reading from chapter 10 and 11 of 1 Nephi and I learned some things that I would like to share with you.
As many of you may already know, in chapter 8 of 1 Nephi, Nephi recounts the extraordinarily symbolic dream of his father, Lehi, in which he learned much in regards to the love of God, Jesus Christ, and much more. And, "after [he], Nephi having heard all of the things which [Lehi] saw in [the] vision...Nephi was desirous also that [he] might see, and hear, and know of [those] things by the power of the Holy Ghost" (1 Nephi 10:17).
After, he "desired to know the things that [his] father had seen, and believing that the Lord was able to make the known unto [him]...[he] was caught away.." into a vision in which he conversed with the Spirit of the Lord (1 Nephi 11:1). In that conversation, the first thing the Spirit of the Lord desired to know was if he believed that the vision the prophet Lehi had recounted was indeed from God in which Nephi responded: "Yea, thou knowest that I believe all the words of my father" (1 Nephi 11:5).
It was after that confirmation of faith mentioned previously that an angel of the Lord showed the same vision that his father Lehi had shown, and much more. In fact, it was in the vision that Nephi had that he found out the meaning of all of the symbolisms in Lehi's dream, and even saw the things that Christ would do in His ministry nearly 600 years in the future (1 Nephi 11-13). Indeed, it was through the faith of Nephi that he gained even more knowledge and understanding. For he "that will not harden his heart, to him is given the greater portion of the word, until it is given unto him to know the mysteries of God until he know them in full" (Alma 12:26).
For many of us, if not all, there are times in our lives in which instruction is given to us that we don't quite understand. Just like in the times of Nephi of old, there are times in which we are tested as to whether we will believe the direction and revelations our leaders have received on our behalf. I have learned first hand as a missionary that many times the direction our leaders may receive on our behalf may seem unclear, and hard to understand, perhaps like the ambiguity of Lehi's dream. However, as we apply faith as Nephi did in trying to understand the vision of Lehi, our mind will be expanded until we know the mystery "in full." I am apt to believe that if Nephi couldn't have testified of the divinity of Lehi's revelation, even before he understood it, that he wouldn't have been able to experience the remarkable enlightening experience that we see in chapters 11-14. However, because he did trust, all of us as readers of the Book of Mormon have been blessed in result; how grateful I am!
I know that as we trust in our inspired leaders, parents, etc. and ultimately in our God, that we will all be eternally grateful and blessed in result. And, I know too that understanding will always come to those who believe first.
All is going well here and I see many miracles every day!
Love,
Elder Pulley
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