This week we passed the halfway point of our stay at the
MTC. That is hard for me to grasp. As much progress as I have had with the
language so far, I still don't think I'll be comfortable going out and speaking
only Hmong to people in just another month.
It is going to come fast.
We sent off two more missionaries since I last wrote. One was the other Korean roommate we have had
and the other was one of the native Hmong elders. We miss them both. Class has definitely been more difficult
without Elder Vang. Of the eight Hmong
Elders left, four will be joining him next month. It really has been amazing at how well we
have all meshed together. Each Elder is
different, but it works real well. There
haven't been any issues between any of the Elders. We all get along great.
The topic of sacrament meeting yesterday was the Book of
Mormon. To prepare for it I spent a lot
of time in the Book of Mormon, specifically 1 Nephi 16. This is the chapter where Lehi finds the
Liahona to guide them to the promised land and when Nephi breaks his bow and
the family goes hungry for a while. It
occurred to me as I was reading it that this chapter is an extended metaphor
for the need of continuing revelation. I
ended up taking a few pages of notes explaining all the symbolism and
implications.
The Liahona, a "ball of curious workmanship" (1
Nephi 16:10) that directs Lehi and his family to the promised land is symbolic
of continuing revelation. The pointers
which gave direction "did work according to the faith and diligence and
heed" that they gave to it (1 Nephi 16:28). The writing that told them the word of the
Lord was "plain to read" and "changed from time to time
according to the faith and diligence which we gave unto it" (1 Nephi 16:29). It is the same way with living prophets. They speak for the Lord in our day
today. What they teach changes from time
to time according to the needs and issues that face the world today. Prophets teach plain and simple truths, inviting
all to repent, believe in Christ, and come unto him through making sacred
covenants. We may not understand how
they work, but we know that they are of God, and help us to go where we need to
go, "keeping [us] in the more fertile parts of the wilderness" that
we call mortality (1 Nephi 16:14).
Twice in this chapter Lehi and his family stop traveling for
a time (1 Nephi 16:17, 33). In both
instances, what follows is starvation and an inability to access food, symbolic
of the spiritual food we need that comes in a large part through prophets who
speak in the same way that Moses, Abraham, Adam, and the prophets of old
did. When the family stopped
traveling--stopped being guided by the continuing revelation of the
Liahona--they were not literally physically nourished and symbolically they
were not spiritually nourished either.
This separation from spiritual food through God's appointed way is
referred to as apostasy.
We believe that following the death of Jesus Christ and his
original twelve apostles the priesthood authority so often referenced in the
New Testament as the power by which Christ and his apostles acted was lost from
the earth for a time. This period of
time is called the Great Apostasy. As
Paul testified in 2 Thessalonians 2:3, speaking of Christ's Second Coming,
"that day shall no come, except there come a falling away
first." The Great Apostasy is what
he was speaking of. This prophecy was
known even in Old Testament times as we read in the Book of Amos that
"Behold, the days come, saith the Lord God, that I will send a famine in
the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the
words of the Lord: And they shall wander from sea to sea, and from the north
even to the east, they shall run to and fro to seek the word of the Lord, and
shall not find it." So, for over
one thousand years following Christ's death the truth was on the earth, but not
accompanied by the authority to teach it and perform saving ordinances. Many people, such as Martin Luther and
William Tyndale, with good intents tried to reform the truths, but to bring
back the authority a restoration was needed.
That restoration did come in the year 1820 through a young
man named Joseph Smith because he asked in earnest prayer to know where he
should go to obtain spiritual food, to know which Church was true. He was told that the many churches then on
the earth had many of the words of God, but that through Joseph the true
church, with the same power and authority that Christ and his apostles
exercised on this earth, would be restored.
Nephi, when his family, when all those around him were starving, asked
his father, just as Joseph as his Father, "whither shall I go to obtain
food?" (1 Nephi 16:23). Nephi did
obtain food for his family, and when he returned to those who suffered in
famine, "how great was their joy!" (1 Nephi 16:32). I know that this message, the message of the
restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ will bring joy. It will end the thirst for the hearing the
words of the Lord. It will change
lives. It will heal the brokenhearted
and raise up the downtrodden. It does
change lives. I have seen it work
miracles. It is a message of
happiness. It is a message that
proclaims that because God loves us he again speaks through prophets, he again
gives guidance as in days of old. The
Lord has "bless[ed] us again with food" that we perish not (1 Nephi
16:39). I am excited to share this
gospel, this good news. I know it is
true. I have seen its fruits, and know
that they are good (Matthew 7:20).
With love,
Elder Jared Cummings
For more information on the Great Apostasy and the
Restoration through Joseph Smith, visit
http://www.mormon.org/beliefs/restoration
The Elders Vang
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