Monday, December 16, 2013

December 16th

Family! 

Ahhhh! Sister G is getting transferred this week! President Maxwell said that a new Chinese sister is coming earlier than expected, so she will move out and Sister H and I will stay in the City. Sister G seems a little nervous, but she is a really great missionary and I know that she will do great as a trainer. I'm really excited to be staying with Sister H as well. She is one of the sweetest people I have ever met and she is already a great teacher in lessons. She is really good at likening the Gospel to peoples' live and I know I have so much that I can learn from her. 

 One highlights of this week was Foong Yee (a 16 year old girl from Malaysia who we have been meeting with) brought her whole family to family home evening and her father and little brother both attending church with her this last Sunday! Her little brother is 11 and can only speak a hybrid of Malaysian, English, Cantonese, and Mandarin....so basically no one understands what he is saying except his family. But he is so incredible cute, it doesn't even matter. 

We are having a Book of Mormon reading lesson with one of our investigators. We planned to read 1 Nephi 1 with him, so this morning I took some time to read through the chapter again and look at the some of the footnotes. It was so cool! It really helped me better put Lehi and his family in a biblical context. One of the observations I made was while looking at 1 Nephi 1:5. The scripture reads: 

 Wherefore it came to pass that my father, Lehi, as he went forth prayed unto the Lord, yea, even with all his aheart, in behalf of his people.

So I looked up the footnote, which lead me to Jeremiah 29:13. It states: 

13  And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart.

Jeremiah was a prominent prophet in Jerusalem around 600BC. He has a lengthy book in the Bible and, according to 1 Nephi 5:10-13, he was also one of the writers of the brass plates that Nephi and his brother acquired from Laban. Lehi definitely knew of him and might have even met him personally and heard his prophecies firsthand. I love the thought that his decision to go and pray "with all his heart" to the Lord might very well have been him following the counsel of the prophet of his dispensation. Modern prophets are and always have been so important to each Gospel dispensation. They can provide much needed counsel in a context that we can relate to and find revelation through! 

Love footnotes. Love the Book of Mormon. Love how the Bible and the Book of Mormon work together so perfectly. 

I know that everyone is probably pretty stressed out right now (midterms/finals, ornament exchanges, Christmas presents to buy, etc), but remember to take a breathe and remember what is important! In the words of Rachel/Emma, "Familia, Ohona (Bin Ladin)!" :) You are in my thoughts and prayers! 

LOVE, 
Sister Sarah Bennion

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