Sunday, Nov. 8th

On November 8th, Jack gave his first Sacrament Meeting talk! He was assigned the broad topic of "something you learned from Come, Follow Me." He came up with the idea and first draft himself, and Ben and I helped him fine-tune and practice. He didn't seem nervous to speak at all, and even looked up, away from his paper, a few times, just as he practiced. He seemed to be speaking clearly and at a good pace, though it was still kind of hard to understand him because he was wearing his mask.

Side notes: Ben also spoke during Sacrament Meeting, and I was asked to substitute teaching for Relief Society on Zoom, so our family kind of took over church that day. Also, Cat had a cough and decided to stay home and watch Sacrament Meeting online just to be safe, and there was something wrong with the feed so it didn't actually start until after Jack had finished his talk, unfortunately.

Jack's Talk: NEPHI OBEYED

I realized in our Come Follow Me lessons that there are a lot of stories in the Book of Mormon about men and women who obeyed even at hard times. I really like the story about Nephi and how he found the brass plates. He was forgiving even to his brothers after they tried to kill him. It would be very hard to do that.

He also brought his whole family across the ocean to the Promised Land. In First Nephi Chapter: 17 verse 8, Nephi was commanded to build a ship so he and the rest of his family could journey to the Promised Land.

8. And it came to pass that the Lord spake unto me, saying: Thou shalt construct a ship, after the manner which I shall show thee, that I may carry thy people across these waters. 

I appreciate how Nephi is such a good example of being obedient.  He had no idea how to build a ship, and yet he looked to Jesus for help and decided to do it anyway. 

VERSES 9&10 say: 9. And I said: Lord, whither shall I go that I may find ore to molten, that I may make tools to construct the ship after the manner which thou hast shown unto me?

10. And it came to pass that the Lord told me whither I should go to find ore, that I might make tools.

The Lord taught Nephi how to build a ship. Without the Lord, Nephi wouldn’t be able to build it, and Nephi did not build a ship like how other people would normally build it, but in a new way that the Lord showed him.  1 Nephi CHAPTER 18 verse 2:

2. Now I, Nephi, did not work the timbers after the manner which was learned by men, neither did I build the ship after the manner of men; but I did build it after the manner of which the Lord had shown unto me; wherefore, it was not after the manner of men.

One thing’s for sure, Nephi is amazing. I am trying my best every day to be like him and other Book of Mormon heroes.

Every Saturday, my family has to help clean the house. For me, it’s always a pain in the neck. Some days I take it very easily, but others… One example of when I cleaned the house when I didn’t want to was actually yesterday! I had to vacuum, pick up the playroom, and help with the bathroom. I got really upset about it like Laman and Lemuel, but maybe, not as violent. But I got it done after I calmed down a little because I knew that the quicker I got the things done, the more free-time I’d have. And the best part is, when I finished my chores and was doing my free-time thing, I had a happy feeling inside. If you’re obedient to your parents or to Heavenly Father then you’ll have that same happy feeling. 

I know that Nephi and the other Book of Mormon heroes lived. And that God and His Son Jesus Christ live. Their church is true, and if you obey then you will feel good inside, and you’ll also receive blessings. 

I say these things and the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

*****

That afternoon it snowed - big, beautiful, lacy snowflakes. Since it wasn't super cold outside the snow was a little more wet than it is in the middle of winter so we were able to have a little snowball fight with Luke, and Eliza and Luke rolled big snowballs and started a snowfort. I tried to get a good picture to show how pretty it was when it was snowing but the pictures didn't do it justice, so I made a short video.