Book of Mormon Lesson #35 Helaman 13-16--Sara

Repent and Return unto the Lord

A few years ago, John and I went out to dinner with one of my favorite district leaders from my mission. As we were talking about different things about our time together, we talked about how hard it was to obey sometimes. I'm going to be honest, some of the counsel we received didn't always seem to be--productive. This district leader talked about how bad he felt sometimes asking us to do some of the things, knowing how hard it would be for us to do. He reminded me of an experience from my mission that I had forgotten and it reminded me of Samuel the Lamanite. 

My companion and I were on a bus. We were headed to an appointment and were about 3 or 4 bus stops away from our destination when my district leader called my companion. She got a really scared look on her face and hung up the phone. I asked her what he wanted and she said that our new investigators number was too low and for the rest of the day, we needed to talk to every single person that we saw. We were on a bus with a lot of people and it felt as though what was being asked was impossible and impractical. I knew I had two choices: to do the impossible or to be overwhelmed by it. I was blessed in that moment to see the decision as easy and clear as it was. I looked at my companion. She looked defeated. I knew at that moment, that for me to obey wasn't necessarily going to bless all the people on that bus, but it was going to bless my companion. I stood up and turned around (we were on the second row from the front) and I said, "Hello, we are missionaries with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. Are any of you interested in learning more about Christ and how to be happier? No...? Okay. Well, have a great day! This is our stop." And we got off the bus.

At this dinner, my district leader talked about how our obedience that day increased his faith and how he still tells missionaries that story to illustrate how to be fearless. I was really surprised that he found that experience worth sharing. I didn't feel fearless and I wasn't really doing it for the people I was commanded to talk to. I did it because there were two choices, to obey when I was able, or to make excuses.

 I think it might have been the same for Samuel the Lamanite. Here he is in these chapters just a few bus stops away from Christ's coming. He knows he has to tell these people to repent and come unto Christ. His full motive is probably not on the people on the bus, but on obeying the Lord. I think that his love of God won over everything else. Because he knew that the Lord asked him to do it, he knew he was pleasing God no matter what the consequence would be and I think that is what helped him make the choice to go back to a people who had already cast him out and stand on a wall and preach to the Nephites.

These chapters are also exciting because Samuel the Lamanite is one of the only prophets who gives us an actual time frame on anything. Usually we hear things like, "the time speedily cometh" or "the time is not far distant" etc. Samuel tells us that Christ will come in five years time and all of the signs to look for. Why do you think that is?

Samuel preaches repentance to the people in very harsh language. A modern prophet explains repentance in this way:

“Repentance means more than simply a reformation of behavior. Many men and women in the world demonstrate great will-power and self-discipline in overcoming bad habits and the weaknesses of the flesh. Yet at the same time they give no thought to the Master, sometimes even openly rejecting Him. Such changes of behavior, even if in a positive direction, do not constitute true repentance. …
“… True repentance is based on and flows from faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. There is no other way. True repentance involves a change of heart and not just a change of behavior (see Alma 5:13)” (The Teachings of Ezra Taft Benson [1988], 71).

In the teacher's manual it says:

The Nephites persecuted and killed the prophets of their day, but they said, “If our days had been in the days of our fathers of old, we would not have slain the prophets” (Helaman 13:24–25; compare with Matthew 23:29–39). Why do people sometimes praise past prophets and reject living prophets? (SeeHelaman 13:26.)

I thought that a really good question. Why do we praise the past prophets and reject the living ones? 

Another question I really felt strongly about encouraging you to ponder is: 

Why is it impossible to find true happiness in sin? (See Helaman 13:38; see also Alma 41:10–11.) 

Samuel's teachings are very powerful and important. I love how the people were so mad at him that they started shooting at him to make him stop and they weren't able to stop him. There are so many things happening in the world that look as if they are shooting at the church, trying to knock it down off of the wall like Samuel. But, this is God's work. Nothing will stop the work of God from progressing and I love that we get to read Samuel's influential role in that this week.