Week 16: Enduring Love

Moroni Hides the Plates in the Hill Cumorah 

This week was super slow, I can't lie. It's been raining like crazy so everytime we try to go out we get rained in. Other than the beautiful sights we saw, we just stayed in and studied alot. This place as I have heard is "dead" but my mom has shared a scripture from Jacob 5 in the Book of Mormon that I liked. Here's my mom's message to me- 

“Jacob 5

Allegory of the tame and wild olive trees. Read the whole chapter. But on verses 21-23 be especially attentive.  

They may call ‘Eua the “dead zone” but “the Lord of the vineyard said, ‘Counsel me not; I knew that it was a poor spot of ground; wherefore, I said unto thee, I have nourished it this long time, and thou beholdest that it hath brought forth much fruit.

And it came to pass that the Lord of the vineyard said unto his servant: ‘Look hither; behold, I have planted another branch of the tree also; and thou knowest that this spot of ground was poorer than the first. But, behold the tree. I have nourished it this long time, and it has brought forth much fruit; therefore, gather it, and lay it up against the season, that I may preserve it unto my own self.”

After reading this verse I no longer believe in "dead" areas. There has to be someone or something here that needs to be done, or else God wouldn't have sent me here. God doesn't ask us to do things to waste time, there's a reason for everything that comes our way. 

Another one of the things I had learned from this week was from reading the Bible. It's crazy because the Bible, being as old as it is, has references of the prophet Joseph Smith in it. The Bible prophesies of Joseph Smith and the coming of the Book of Mormon which, to me, I thought was crazy.

 - Psalms 85:11 - "Truth shall spring out of the earth; and righteousness shall look down from heaven."

         - the Bible consists of revelations and righteousness given to the old prophets from God which is from Heaven they wrote down the things they heard and saw and it was passed down all the way to what we have today - The Book or Mormon is the translation of the gold plates from the Nephites who lived in America. When Moroni was down with the plates, he buried them, which were found later in the hill Cumorah by Joseph Smith.

- Revelation 14:6 - "And I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people,"

        - this one took alot more digging and studying and praying about but the "other angel" mentioned by St. John the Divine was Joseph Smith. Joseph Smith restored the fullness of the gospel to the earth which is what we are blessed with today. If you know Doctrine and Covenants section 4 verse 1 it says that a, "marvelous work" is going to come forth which is the gathering of Israel and the restoration of the gospel. The gospel will be spread to, "every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people".

There's other references as well but if I go on you will all get bored of it, but the Bible and Book of Mormon DO go hand in hand. Yes the Book of Mormon is true, but the Bible, as far as it is correctly translated, is also the word of God. 

Just lots and lots of reading this past week, but for the last thing I’d like to share was actually a little video on the gospel library that I watched. It was called "Enduring Love". You should all watch it.  It’s really good but it's about an older couple. The husband has I think Parkinson’s disease, which is like where your limbs kind of just tremor and the wife is just fully disabled maybe from having a stroke. But the husband, despite his difficulties, still serves and loves his wife. He cooks for her, feeds her, fixes her hair and even bakes cookies and gives it to her with a little card. I can't lie I was honestly just watching these videos because I was getting tired of reading but when I came to this video it kind of humbled me and warmed my heart. What I personally took out of the video was how much he served his wife despite all the other tribulations. While being here in Tonga I have heard and met many families who have been broken up, people who had a problem in their marriage. This doesn't just affect the husband and wife this affects the children too—kids who grow up without a mother or without a father or both. Luckily Tonga 🇹🇴 is so pure hearted there is always a place for them to stay. But what if these couples endured? Even when it seems like the love is not there anymore I wonder, like what if they endured just one more day?  I say these things but I mean it is true, I don't know what they are going thru. I haven't even been married so how can I add my 2 cents on a experience I don't have?  But I have served others. I have also been served by others who love me. I remember when I was struggling in school and everyday I woke up I was just not happy. I remember leaving my room to go do something and coming back and my sisters made my bed and left a little note saying, "we saw you were sad today. So we made your bed." I just sat on my bed and cried like a baby. One of the things I try to do is I’ll do my companion’s laundry. Or I'll iron his clothes. I can fully testify that if you just serve another person and strive to have a pure heart like Christ everything will be fine. In marriage, I'm sure to all the people who might be struggling with marriage or just mad at your spouse, a small act of service for them will suffice. 

I’ve rambled on enough. 😂 This is what happens when you get stuck inside with your thoughts and scriptures and companion. 

I'll be back next week 😉 

Ofa atu.