Captain Moroni

(Anziano Wilkinson)

This week we had the chance to go visit Milan again! As always, it's a terribly long train ride, but we survived it once again. The reason why we went up there was because there was a meeting for trainers and trainees in order to help the trainees understand how things work as well as give us trainers a refresher course. Basically, they told us what to do if we got hurt or sick, or if a bike breaks, or if an emergency happens. Nothing's super special, but all important stuff geared at helping us be more informed and more efficient. It was nice though to see many of my good friends there as well, since many of them are training or for some reason or another showed up to the church building we were in.

We also found some cool places to explore in Ancona as well! There is apparently an abandoned fort in the top of the highest peak overlooking the ocean. It's open for people to walk through the grounds (but not the buildings, sadly haha) and it's pretty sweet, kinda like Chernobyl in a way! Here's a picture of the view from atop the peak; in the foreground is a super old Jewish cemetery (or at least it looks super old):

And here's also a random art price that we found that was pretty awesome. It's called "La Porta di Nu" if I remember correctly:

Lately I've been reading in the book of Alma in the Book of Mormon about the conflicts between the Nephites (the good guys) and the Lamanites (the bad guys). The Nephites had relatively recently switched from a monarchal government to a more democratic form of government and two decades later there apparently still existed a faction of opposers of the change. They referred to themselves as kingmen and advocated for there to be a king once again set up in the place of their "chief judge". They didn't have much success and when the matter was put to a vote, the voice of the people expressed that they would much rather have the freedom to choose their rulers. Eventually a portion of these kingmen dissented from the Nephites and joined the Lamanites and proceeded to rally them up to go to war with the Nephites. This began a long and difficult war between the two groups where one group was fighting unjustly for greater power and the other fighting (or rather defending) for their liberties and lives.

A prominent figure in the recount of this conflict was a man named Moroni, who was the captain of the Nephite armies. He was a man of great integrity and faith and when the liberty of his people was threatened, he was the man everyone turned to for the defense of the people. Alma 48:16 sheds some light on the type of person Captain Moroni was. It explains that Captain Moroni's "heart did glory in [the defense of his people]; not in the shedding of blood but in doing good, in preserving his people, yea, in keeping the commandments of God, yea, and resisting iniquity." Clearly from this verse we can gather that he was a great guy, whose glory was in doing good, but verse  17 sheds even more light onto the quality of his character when it says, "Yea, verily, verily I say unto you, if all men had been, and were, and ever would be, like unto Moroni, behold, the very powers of hell would have been shaken forever; yea, the devil would never have power over the hearts of the children of men."

What a statement! Basically, if everyone was like Moroni, there would be no evil in the world, because we would all be beyond the influence of it! He was a man whose heart was set entirely on doing what was right and he was driven by the cause of freedom and defense of the many things he was grateful for, like his family, his country, and his right to worship (Alma 46:12). Imagine if we were all a little more like Moroni! Imagine if we were all a little more committed to "doing good,... keeping the commandments of God,... and resisting iniquity"! The world would be a much better place, without a doubt. Take some time today and think about this; think of ways you can be more fully dedicated to good causes and good things and remember the promised blessings, including that, if we would all do it, then "the very powers of hell would be shaken forever". We may not be able to convince everyone to be more like Moroni, but if we can do our part, then I am certain that we can make a difference, even in our own small ways. As Mother Teresa once said, "What we do is nothing but a drop in the ocean, but if we didn’t do it, the ocean would be one drop less."

I hope you have a great week and that you find even more ways to be even more valiant in "doing good"!

-Anziano Jake Wilkinson