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1 Nephi 1-2

Lesson Quotes:
President Spencer W. Kimball

"Your story should be written now while it is fresh and while the true details are available… Get a notebook, … a journal that will last through all time…. Begin today and write in it your goings and comings, your deepest thoughts, your achievements and your failures, your associations and your triumphs, your impressions and your testimonies" (Spencer W. Kimball, Teachings, 351)

True to the Faith
“Like the prophets of old, prophets today testify of Jesus Christ and teach His gospel. They make known God’s will and true character. They speak boldly and clearly, denouncing sin and warning of its consequences. At times, they may be inspired to prophesy of future events for our benefit.” (pg 129)

President Spencer W. Kimball
“Those prophets I have known are the most loving of men. It is because of their love and integrity that they cannot modify the Lord’s message merely to make people feel comfortable. They are too kind to be so cruel” (Spencer W. Kimball, “Listen to the Prophets,” Ensign, May 1978, 77).

Elder Jeffrey R. Holland
“In addition to teaching, encouraging, and cheering people on (that is the pleasant part of discipleship), from time to time … messengers [of the Lord] are called upon to worry, to warn, and sometimes just to weep (that is the painful part of discipleship). They know full well that the road leading to the promised land ‘flowing with milk and honey’ [Exodus 3:8] of necessity runs by way of Mount Sinai, flowing with ‘thou shalts’ and ‘thou shalt nots’ [see Exodus 20:3–17].

“Unfortunately, messengers of divinely mandated commandments are often no more popular today than they were anciently” (Jeffrey R. Holland, “The Cost—and Blessings—of Discipleship,” Ensign, May 2014, 7).

Elder H. Ross Workman
“…murmuring consists of three steps, each leading to the next in a descending path to disobedience. First, the people begin to question… They questioned “first in their own minds” and then planted questions “in the minds of others.” Second, those who murmur begin to “rationalize and excuse themselves from doing what they [have] been instructed to do. … Thus, they [make] excuse for disobedience.”  Their excuses lead the to third step: “Slothfulness in following the commandment of the Master. …

“I invite you to focus on the commandment from living prophets that bothers you the most. Do you question whether the commandment is applicable to you? Do you find ready excuses why you cannot now comply with the commandment? Do you feel frustrated or irritated with those who remind you of the commandment? Are you slothful in keeping it? Beware of the deception of the adversary. Beware of murmuring.” (Ensign, Nov. 2001)

Elder Bruce R. McConkie
“Obedience is the first law of heaven. All progression, all perfection, all salvation, all godliness, all that is right and just and true, all good things come to those who live the laws of Him who is Eternal. There is nothing in all eternity more important than to keep the commandments of God” (Bruce R. McConkie, The Promised Messiah: The First Coming of Christ [1978], 126).

Stories from Lesson:

Tasmania Bridge Collapse from Elder Spencer J. Condie
In January of 1975, on a dark, rainy night in Tasmania, a 7,300-ton barge smashed into two piers of the Tasman Bridge, which connects Hobart, Tasmania, with its eastern suburbs across the bay. Three spans of the bridge collapsed. An Australian family by the name of Ling were driving across the bridge when suddenly the bridge lights went out. Just then a speeding car passed them and disappeared before their very eyes. Murray Ling “slammed on his brakes and skidded to a stop, one yard from the edge of a black void” (Stephen Johnson, “Over the Edge!” Reader’s Digest, Nov. 1977, p. 128).

Murray got his family out of the car and then began warning oncoming traffic of the disaster ahead. As he frantically waved his arms, to his horror, a car “swerved around him and plummeted into the abyss” (ibid.). A second car barely stopped in time, but a third car showed no sign of slowing down and crashed into the Lings’ car at the edge of the bridge.

Suddenly a loaded bus headed toward Murray, ignoring his waving arms. In desperation, risking his very life, he “ran alongside the driver’s window. ‘There’s a span missing,’ he yelled” (ibid., p. 129). The bus swerved just in time and came to a halt against the railing. Dozens of lives had been saved.

I am grateful for these Brethren whom we sustain as prophets, seers, and revelators who forewarn us of bridges not to be crossed. These great men whom we sustain as prophets, seers, and revelators preach “not with enticing words of man’s wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power” (1 Cor. 2:4). Their motives are pure as they strive to build the kingdom of God and to uplift and edify the Saints of God. In the words of the Apostle Paul, they have become “prisoners of Christ” (see Eph. 3:1; Eph. 4:1; Philem. 1:1, 9; 2 Tim. 1:8), whose only desire is to do the Lord’s will. Nothing more. Nothing less. And nothing else. These are men of God! May we heed their warning voices, I humbly pray in the name of Jesus Christ, amen (Ensign, Nov. 1993, 15).

Mugger Story from President James E. Faust 
Sister Celia Cruz Ayala of the Puerto Rico San Juan Mission decided to give the Book of Mormon to a friend. She wrapped it in attractive paper and set out to deliver her present.

On the way, she was attacked by a bandit who stole her purse and with it the wrapped copy of the Book of Mormon. A few days later she received this letter:

Mrs. Cruz:
Forgive me, forgive me. You will never know how sorry I am for attacking you. But because of it, my life has changed and will continue to change. That book [the Book of Mormon] has helped me in my life. The dream of that man of God has shaken me .... I am returning your five pesos for I can’t spend them. I want you to know that you seemed to have a radiance about you. That light seemed to stop me [from harming you, so] I ran away instead.
I want you to know that you will see me again, but when you do, you won’t recognize me, for I will be your brother .... Here, where I live, I have to find the Lord and go to the church you belong to.
The message you wrote in that book brought tears to my eyes. Since Wednesday night I have not been able to stop reading it. I have prayed and asked God to forgive me, [and] I ask you to forgive me .... I thought your wrapped gift was something I could sell. [Instead,] it has made me want to make my life over. Forgive me, forgive me, I beg you.
Your absent friend.

Such is the conversion power of the Book of Mormon. (Faust, CR April 1996)



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