Tammy 0:01
Now listen. I did not want to serve a mission and I fought it hard, like really hard. I had come up with so many reasons why I shouldn't serve. And honestly, the main two were: I wasn't spiritual enough, or smart enough. Well, apparently ladies and gentlemen, I am proof that God can, will, and does use the least spiritual and least educated of us. AND, He turns us into something more than we could have ever imagined for ourselves. Today we get to study First Corinthians, chapters 1-7, Paul's letter to the Corinthians, and it will have those of us feeling not enough like we are exactly the ENOUGH that God can work with.
Tammy 0:41
Welcome to the Sunday on Monday Study Group, a Deseret Bookshelf Plus original brought to you by LDS Living, where we take the Come, Follow Me lesson for the week, and we really Dig Into the scriptures together. I'm your host, Tammy Uzelac Hall. Now if you're new to our study group, we just want to make sure you know how to use this podcast, so follow the link in our description. It's going to explain how you can best use this podcast to enhance your Come, Follow Me study just like my new friend, Wilson Boyd. Hi, Wilson. And his mom Aleah and their family. Thank you so much for listening, you guys. I hope I get to meet you someday, Wilson. Now another awesome thing about our study group is that each week we're joined by two of my friends, and it's a little different each week. Today we have - oh, I'm so excited. Okay, today we have Aliah Hall and Anna Barrera. Hello!
Aliah 1:26
Hey
Anna 1:28
Hi.
Tammy 1:30
All right, you two. How do you know each other?
Aliah 1:32
So Anna and I served our missions together in Panama. And we were companions for almost a year.
Anna 1:41
A really long time.
Tammy 1:42
I love that sigh, Anna.
Aliah 1:42
You LOVED it.
Anna 1:44
That wasn't in a bad way. We'll get into it because it was an adventure of a lifetime, a dream come true for me personally, just where I served my mission. But of course Aliah was my favorite companion, my sister. And we're still BFFs. I still call her Compa. It's obnoxious, it really is. It's obnoxious. Then I have to explain like, what do I mean by that?
Tammy 2:11
What do you still call her?
Anna 2:12
Compa.
Tammy 2:13
What does that mean?
Anna 2:14
Companera. It means companion in Spanish and so on your mission in Spanish instead of saying Comp, you'd say Compa. And it's just a term of endearment. But I feel like for those of us that really connected on the mission, it's just kind of, it's weird not to call them that because it, you know, she's my Compa forever.
Tammy 2:35
Ohhh.
Aliah 2:37
This is true. I don't think I, like I'm a pretty uptight person, and I would not have made it through the mission without Anna. We were like, like almost nothing in common. But we were like a perfect match.
Anna 2:54
Pretty much.
Tammy 2:55
That makes me so happy. Just so you all know, before we started recording, when the two of them came on, there is so much love right now. Like, I love Anna. I've never met her, I hope I do someday. But Aliah loves Anna so much. We just, it's a love fest right now. I think it's gonna be such a fun discussion, because we're talking a lot about missionary work. So anyone who's thinking of going on a mission, or has been on a mission, you're going to laugh, you're going to relate, and you're going to look forward to serving the Lord. And Anna, I'm intrigued when you said it was a dream come true. Why was it a dream come true for you?
Anna 3:29
Well, I come from, my brothers and sisters went on missions way before I did. So I'm the youngest of seven. But my brothers and sisters, so we went, what? '98 through '99, 2000. But my brothers and sisters served in their early 80s. So when they came back - two of them served in Panama, and specifically on the islands where me and Aliah served. And so they would tell me, they would have all these stories about these islands. And I grew up hearing these stories, and they were both horrifying, but yet, like the adventure. And I remember thinking, um, because like you said, right, not all of us - maybe especially as women = want to go on mission, it's very much an option. And so I was very specific in my prayers with Heavenly Father about what would be acceptable to me. Like "I will put in my papers, but it has to be international." And I really didn't think I could ever serve in the same mission as my brothers. It just, it seemed insane - almost more than 20 years apart.
Tammy 4:41
Yeah.
Anna 4:42
But when it happened, it was it. Yeah, yeah. And then going on the islands specifically. I was just like I have to make it onto these islands because not all women get to go to the islands. And when I got there, they had just like closed the islands to sisters. So I was just, they have to, I was very anxious about not being able to go. So it was. I mean, Aliah has to tell you, just like how we met. We just like, yeah, we were kind of insane from the get-go.
Tammy 5:15
Oh. Today's gonna be so much fun, then. I love that God heard little Anna's prayer.
Anna 5:21
Oh, I mean I was very, very specific.
Tammy 5:23
I mean, talk about God is good!
Aliah 5:27
I had no idea where Panama was.
Tammy 5:31
Okay, I didn't know where Fresno was. So
Aliah 5:34
Well, I do speak some Spanish. So there's like all these, I'm like, I could go to like Guatamala, I could go here, I could go like to Columbia. Like I thought of like every country except for Panama. And then when my papers came and it was like Panama. I was like What?
Tammy 5:47
Did you get out the Encyclopedia Britannica? We didn't have Google yet, people. I love it. I love it. Okay, you guys can tell we're gonna have so much fun today. So if you want to know more about my guests and read their bios and see their pictures, you can find them in our show notes at LDS living.com/sunday On Monday, so be sure to go and check it out. So everyone grab your scriptures, something to mark your Scriptures with, and a scripture journal, and we are going to Dig In and have some fun. Okay, you two. So I'm asking every guest who comes on while we study the letters or the Epistles of Paul, to share with me what stood out to them in this letter, because he wrote it to the saints. So and I always joke, I read a meme that if Paul saw the Christians today, he'd be we'd be getting a letter. So I feel like these letters are being really written to us. So tell me what aspect of First Corinthians 1-7 stood out to you.
Aliah 6:38
So I when I was reading it earlier, when I hit chapter 3, and then in verse 18 it says, "Let no man deceive himself. If any (man) among you seemeth to be wise in this world, let him become a fool, that he may be wise." And I really love this because, so Anna and I served on these islands with an indigenous tribe, the Kunas. And like they're like, hunter, gatherer. We lived in a hut, slept in hammocks, no running water, no electricity. But these were some of like, the wisest people like, on the planet. And so like, we're coming in there like, we're Americans, we know stuff. And like, they live in a hut. And they're like, hunters, gatherers. And we're like, we know stuff. And we didn't know anything. And they're like, Oh, those two? Those are the two crazies, like, they would call us like, "Oh, those are the two crazy girls.
Tammy 7:35
Locas?
Aliah 7:35
We lived like on the far side of the island, and they're like, Oh, you guys are useless. Like how are you 21 and like you don't know how to make a fire. And you don't know how to cook anything and you don't know how to make any clothes and you don't, like we didn't know how to do anything. And so they were like, You guys are like, 1)useless and 2) idiots.
Anna 7:57
They would laugh at us all the time.
Aliah 7:59
Yes. All the time. Like they just thought we were the most hilarious. Like they were like, 1) Why aren't you married, like you're old? Get married. 2) Like, no wonder you're not married, You don't know how to do anything, hunt, go fish, or like build a house or anything. And like, What are you doing here? You're like useless humans.
Tammy 8:18
Whoa. And so did you find throughout your mission, like that verse says, did you have to become dumb so that you could become then wise?
Aliah 8:27
No, we were already dumb.
Tammy 8:30
No, yeah-yeah-yeah. No, I like how you said
Anna 8:33
We were wise. We realized we were dumb and then we began
Tammy 8:39
Oh, that's a great application of that verse, Aliah. I wrote your name next to it. I hope I always remember that story with that verse. Perfect. Thank you. What about you, Anna?
Anna 8:49
Um, the verse that stood out to me was in chapter 2, 1 Corinthians 2:10. "But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all thing, yea, the deep things of God." And that just reminds me...so we had a lot of time on this island because no one worked. Like it's more of a socialistic, I don't know how to describe it. Everyone gets a piece of land, everyone gets their food. And once you get your food in the morning, they're kind of chillin all day. And there's a point of hot like, the sun would be so hot and then but the sand was really white. And so there was a couple of hours in the afternoon where people were sleeping. And let me tell you, they would get mad when you would wake them up from their nap. And so we had a lot of just time, and we decided to just read everything that we found in the mission house. And so we had all these books that we really, I think they told us not to read, but I mean, we were bored. So we just started to read a lot of books. I read the Bible in a month because, why not?
Aliah 9:57
We illustrated all of our scriptures. Like we got
Anna 10:00
Oh, we so did all of our scriptures.
Aliah 10:02
Like we cut pictures out of the Ensign cuz they had like all these old Ensigns and we cut out like a picture for like every single scripture. So like our scripture wouldn't close because we illustrated the whole pad.
Tammy 10:18
Do you still have them?
Anna 10:19
I don't. Oh I have them because I'm looking at them right now.
Aliah 10:23
Yeah, I still have 'em. Like, you can't hardly close them cuz there's like 100 extra pages from all the pictures we included.
Tammy 10:34
Wow.
Anna 10:35
I have the tiny quad, it's the little one.
Tammy 10:38
Oh, yeah.
Anna 10:38
So like the illust.... I mean, we can't like close it anymore. Yeah, we had a lot of time. So just like the the searching, there was just a lot of, we would have a lot of talks about the nature of God. It really was mind-blowing. The awakening? That happened on that island, just because we had so much time to really think about just God in general and the universe, and how, you know. We were so connected to nature and just a different way of life. Like I don't think I've ever been been happier. No electricity. There's no time. There's no...On the mission you set times: "Oh, we'll come and talk to you tomorrow at 5pm." They don't, there's no watches. It's just we come. If you're there, you're awake, we'll talk. If not, you know we'll come back when you're awake. It was wild, it really was.
Tammy 11:35
Oh, my gosh. Okay, I have so many questions. We're not going to ask 'em right now, we're going to ask him throughout this whole episode. Thank you, Anna, for sharing that and for specifically bearing witness of that verse when you said how it was just one of the most enlightening - I love that you used that word - enlightening times of your life, where you learned the nature of God. Who gets that? That is so cool you had that experience. And you already came in knowing He existed because He answered your sweet prayer. And so what a neat experience that you both had.
Tammy 12:03
Okay, so here's what I want everyone to do. We're going to just jump into so many great scriptures in 1st Corinthians. So do this for me: everyone go to the page that says "Corinthians, the First Epistle of Paul the Apostle to the Corinthians." And go ahead and write 'Acts Chapter 18.' In Acts chapter 18 is where Paul taught the Corinthians and they were baptized. In fact, 18:8 says many of the Corinthians hearing him, Paul believed and were baptized. Now listen, this is not the first letter that Paul wrote to the Corinthians. Here's a fun fact: Turn to 1st Corinthians 5:9. And if you go there it says, "I wrote unto you in an epistle not to company with fornicators:". And footnote a) says "lost scriptures,." And then to the outside of that verse write '1st Corinthians 7:1.' That verse tells us that the Corinthians may have written back. And so the book of 1st Corinthians is Paul's reply; he is writing to the saints, so it's his second letter.
Tammy 13:03
So you can imagine how heartbreaking it must have been for Paul to hear, just a few years later, that many of the Corinthian saints...let's look at this in 1 Corinthians 1:11. He says, "For it hath been declared unto me of you, my brethren, by them which are of the house of Chloe, that there are contentions among you." He hears that there's contentions, and then look at verse 13. "Is Christ divided?" He's finding out there's divisions among the saints, contentions and divisions. So he's like, I gotta write a letter. So he sits down and that's the purpose of 1 Corinthians is to write to the saints, the people who are believers. And so his response to him then is what we're gonna talk about for the rest of this episode, and what he wants them to know and then what he wants us to know. And so in the next segment, we're going to Dig In to some really cool things about this letter. Do that next.
Segment 2 13:55
.....
Tammy 14:03
All right, you guys. I have a picture that I want to start this segment with. Surprise! Aliah sent me this picture, I had to put it in. Okay, you guys are gonna want to go to the show notes to see. this is a picture of Anna and Aliah on their mission, dressed....I'm just gonna let you guys explain it. Tell me about this picture.
Aliah 14:21
I'll let Anna tell about it.
Anna 14:24
Well, first, we're on our porch, that's our hut. So that's where we lived. Oh, I missed that hut, and that's our beautiful porch. Um, oh, yeah. So the kuna, um, the women there they sew these beautiful shirts. Is that what we should call it ,like with panels?
Aliah 14:51
Yeah, like the panel is called a bola. But then they would make a whole shirt.
Anna 14:56
Yes. And this is kind of their traditional garb and they made big ones for us because we were GIANTS. Like no, no.
Aliah 15:05
Neither one of us is over 5'4.
Tammy 15:08
Yeah, you're both tiny.
Anna 15:09
We were GIANTS.
Aliah 15:11
They were like, you guys are.......I remember one time our neighbor Mahalia was like, Why did your mom let you get so big? And I was like, I don't know.
Anna 15:25
Yeah, so just we had trouble getting through doorways. When I say we were giant? We were huge. So they made... these are not the, I mean when I see these I'm like, Oh, we have such nicer ones, the ones they would wear. But they kind of made these for us so we could fit into them. O, anida laome a compa?
Tammy 15:49
Remind me where you were. What's the island?
Aliah 15:52
The island that we were on is called Nargana and it was connected to a smaller island called Corazon de Jesus.
Tammy 15:59
Whoa, the heart of Jesus? That's pretty cool. What would you call this whole area when you say wSan Ble were serving on what islands.
Aliah 16:07
San Blas
Anna 16:08
San Blas islands. It's on the Atlantic coast of Panama. So it runs from Colombia on the south end, all the way up through Costa Rica on the north end. So those are the two borders. And there's, how many islands? I wanna say there's like 360, like, over 300 little islands. But not all are inhabited, around 60 are inhabited. And these are indigenous peoples that when the Spanish came, they were on the mainland but they escaped them and moved to these remote islands. And so yeah,
Aliah 16:48
Just to not be enslaved, or murdered.
Tammy 16:51
Whoa. And you were together for an entire year on this island.
Aliah 16:57
Yep
Anna 16:57
They forgot about us. No, literally, here it is.
Aliah 17:02
Like, I was like, I'm supposed to go home, President. And he was like, What?
Anna 17:08
I mean, it's hard to explain how remote these islands were and this almost kind of reminds me of the scriptures that we're reading. You know, they had to letter write, the distances were remote. And we were kind of in that same type of situation.
Tammy 17:22
Okay, so we have to go to 1 Corinthians 1:10, because when I saw this picture and I read this verse, I thought of you. You know, here's Paul, and he's teaching, he's talking to the saints. He's gearing up for this discussion with them because he knows that there's disputing. He knows there are contentions, that they're, that Christ is divided and they're starting to do this. And so he really hits them. Like he comes in by saying, I bless you with grace and everything; you are enriched by God. I mean, I love verse 5 because I'm feeling like you would agree with that with these people. Like, verse f5: "That in everything ye are enriched by him, in all utterance, and in all knowledge." Like you're just so blessed by him, and he's reminding us of that. And then he says to us in verse 9: "God is faithful." I love that phrase. A way to translate that is God's going to do what He says He's going to do. That's what that means. God is faithful. He just really is. And then we have verse 10. Aliah, will you read this for us.
Aliah 18:15
"Now I beseech you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye speak all the same thing, and that there there be no divisions among you; but that ye are perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment."
Tammy 18:31
Thank you. Now, Aliah, you said that you and Anna were nothing alike, at all. So talk to me, then. Nothing alike. How were you like this though, verse 10? How did you become joined together? And to become this, I like this "speak the same thing?" And then when YOU did it together, were you able to be that way with the people on the island?
Aliah 18:50
So, I mean, I think this - and Anna can add to this - like I think this was like a true blessing of the Lord. Like Anna and I literally have nothing in common. Like nothing in common. But we were so united. Like we were united in all things at all times for the entire time. I don't, I can't.....I think once she got mad at me because I was making her run like a 5k. (laughter)
Anna 18:56
I can't run
Aliah 19:11
And, or when she couldn't sleep and I was asleep she would like dump me out of my hammock onto the floor. But other than that, we were united in all things. And it was, I think when you're doing the Lord's work and I know that this isn't true for all missionaries, because I work with young missionaries now that really had a hard, that have had hard times with their companions. But Anna and I were like incredibly blessed I think, because from like from the get go, we were just like Boom. We're here to do the Lord's work and there was, we were inseparable.
Anna 20:05
I think we trauma bonded a little, too. Let me tell you about the trauma bonding. So the first time was from starvation. I don't do well when I'm not fed. And so they pull up the elders from this area and they decide to put sisters in and we, you know, we're the chosen ones. So we, they send us out there, but we, there's nothing to buy, there's no money there. You can buy bread and Coke, of course, because Coke, you can get anywhere, even on a tiny island in the middle of nowhere. But other than that
Aliah 20:44
Only when the Colombians come with the boats.
Anna 20:48
But we had to buy all of our food in the city, and then ship it to the islands. So we would go back to the city once a month to get supplies. And then we would bring all of our stuff to the islands. What the elders failed to tell us is that our stuff was too much in these tiny little planes. Our food didn't come with us to the island. So we got to the island to a hut with no food, no money, because we spent it all on supplies. And then when we're like, where's our stuff? They're just like, Oh, (and of course Island time.) So it's just like, whenever it gets here it gets here. And man it's like they're just so not worried about it. And I just, oh, that was hard. Finding water, we didn't, there's no water, either. Like you have to go find water in the river. We had no money, no water, no food. Not really knowing what to. I mean, it was, it was insane. And wonderful. Now I think back and it was just the best time of my life. But it was.....you know. Then it was the dead, what was it? The rotting turtle under our hut?
Aliah 22:00
Oh, a toad.
Anna 22:01
Oh, the rotting toad.
Aliah 22:03
They'd come wake us up in the morning cuz its', the toad smelled so bad.
Tammy 22:07
Oh, gross. Yeah. No thank you, No, thank you.
Aliah 22:09
And then got lost at sea.
Anna 22:12
Twice. I mean, the one time I didn't want to paddle anymore, and then the one time where we ran out of gas. Um, and then the one thing that really stands out to me is, I think one of my first lessons in real empathy. I don't know if you remember this, Compa,
Aliah 22:29
The daughter had a toothache.
Anna 22:31
The toothache, our neighbor, oh my gosh. That's what I'm thinking of, just of that real empathy and just like feeling. I think it's one of the times where I really
Aliah 22:44
We prayed all night
Anna 22:45
missed the priesthood in my life. Like, I would have done anything to conjure up my dad who had a real knack for, like the power of healing. And that was really rough. Like I remember that.
Aliah 22:58
We prayed, up all night for her.
Tammy 23:00
You did, yeah.
Aliah 23:03
It was the only time and like when it says in the scriptures that they prayed all day and all night. I had never experienced that. But we prayed all night for this young lady who was having some sort of like abscess or whatever in her tooth. And there was no doctor. It was just like, Go with God.
Tammy 23:22
And what happened?
Anna 23:23
She got better.
Tammy 23:25
Wow. She got better.
Anna 23:26
And she was like wailing. I mean, it was.....When she was in pain, we could hear. I mean, cause we had no walls, just sticks in the hut. But they were neighbors so we could hear her. And it was
Aliah 23:39
Her mom was just like, just speaking so softly to her. And I think, I mean, I love my mom. But I was like, Oh, this is what it means to be a mom, because she was just like all night just speaking like softly to her and trying to soothe her. And we were in the next hut over just praying all night long.
Tammy 23:58
Now I love that story. Because it goes back to this verse, "That ye speak the same thing, that there be no divisions among you, that ye be perfectly joined together in the same mind." I love that. How did that connect you then to these people?
Aliah 24:19
Love them.
Anna 24:20
Oh, we love them so much.
Aliah 24:23
Like those are our people.
Anna 24:26
Yeah, we, oh my goodness. Leaving was, I died there. And so, because the President forgot about me. And so when I was like, okay, she got transferred before me. And I was like, you know I go home before her, like how the heck did she get transferred out? You know I'm still here and he's just like, Oh, you're not? I'm like no, I'm leaving like soon. I'm just like, Oh, you're just gonna die there. I'm like, Okay. Which, it was hard for that to be also my last area. You really connect with them, you're really living with them. It's so tiny. Their struggles are your struggles. I can't express how much I love them.
Aliah 25:09
Yes.
Tammy 25:11
Well, I love that story about that sweet girl and praying for her and how you're just like, Oh, she just got better. Well, of course she did. Isn't that so awesome? I mean, Paul's setting that up by saying right there that in everything ye are enriched by him because God is faithful. And there is so much beauty in being united, and being perfectly joined together. That's what God does for us when we like you said, Aliah. When you are serving the Lord, that there is something powerful that happens to all of us. And He uses all of us, those of us who, like I said, feel like they're not spiritual enough or smart enough. And so in the next segment, we're going to talk about that word 'enough' when it comes to being a missionary.
Segment 3 25:52
.....
Tammy 26:04
All right, so I want to know, did either one of you feel the same way I did - not spiritual enough? not smart enough? Because I always joke. Listen, here's fun fact about me, Anna. I didn't even know Christ came to America until I was in the MTC. And I was reading 3 Nephi 11. And I looked at my companions. I'm like, Are you kidding me? This happened? Like are you a convert? No, I've been raised a member my whole life. I just never really read anything. And so I was seriously lacking. And so when I got to 1 Corinthians 1:27, 28 - and I love that you shared this Aliah - I'm going, Yep, that's me. 100%. So let's just read these verses. And I wonder what your thoughts were when you were thinking about going on a mission? 1 Corinthians 1:27, 28. Anna, can you read that for us.
Anna 26:44
Sure. "But God had chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty; And base and base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are:"
Tammy 27:05
Thank you. What was it like for you guys? Were you both so educated, and, you know, knowledgeable in all things, ready to go on a mission.
Anna 27:13
So I mean, I thought I was. I mean, I wasn't, but I, really my pressure, I didn't, it wasn't so much that I thought I couldn't do it. I was just very determined. To me, it was more of a family pressure of like living up to my family name, to my family's legacy. And so to me, I was just very, like, Oh, I'm, I'm doing it well. And so that was more my hang up was just some, just to live up to my family. But I've always been kind of nerdy about Scripture. And so I don't know. I don't think I kind of realized how little I knew, while I was on my mission, but not preparing to go. I thought I knew everything. I was ready, I was so ready to go.
Tammy 28:03
So tell me about that when you said "but then I started to figure out how little I knew when I was out there."
Anna 28:09
Well, especially when some of my first companions....You know when you grow up in the church, you don't get a perspective, specially from Protestants or some of these other religions where the Bible is kind of central to their beliefs, and they really study the Bible. I was always more of a Book of Mormon girl. And so I felt really confident with my Book of Mormon. But in a lot of these areas, we were talking with Protestants and people that they didn't, we couldn't start with the Book of Mormon, you had to be able to know your Bible. And I remember one of my companions, Hermana Rosales. And she was a recent convert. It was just one of those stories where she came on her mission, she had only been a member a year. And when she decided to get baptized her and her mom got kicked out of her family, they were practically homeless. But it was just this, I remember just being like, wow. Like, that's some crazy faith right there.
Anna 29:12
And she was just, her Bible was on point. She could go toe to toe. She's like, Oh, and then here and then this and she could, you know, do our lessons only using the Bible. And I just remember feeling like, Oh, I need to get on top of this. Like, I'm not prepared for that kind of discussion. And so I just remember feeling very unprepared. But nothing some you know, scripture, reading and just learning, just sitting down and listening to her and just picking up everything that she was putting down. And she was amazing. She was one of my biggest inspirations of really trying to understand the Bible and get a handle around it, especially when I was trying to relate to people where that's where their spiritual home is. It's i the Bible and if you didn't know the Bible, you're not,, you're just not getting any headway with them.
Tammy 30:10
Thank you, Anna, thank you for that. What about you AliaH?
Aliah 30:14
Um, I'm like a super nerd. So like, I had already read the, all through the quad multiple times with highlighted questions and all the things. So, like doctrine wise, I felt pretty, like, good about myself. But I think I had never like, again, like having grown up in the church. Like I didn't really know how to live the gospel in a way that was not church-centered, but human-centered, people-centered. \
Tammy 30:53
Ooh, I like that.
Aliah 30:55
And I think I learned that from the Kunas of like what it really is to be a community. What it really is to love one another. What it really is to mourn with those who mourn and to, like, I learned how to be a Christian.
Tammy 31:15
Okay, those were such beautiful answers from both of you. Because I like it while you did have the knowledge, this foundation, there were parts where you were weak. And I like that you've both talked about that, because I think a lot of us are nervous about our, and Satan's so good at making us feel like we're not worthy, we're incompetent, we're not going to do a good job. And I really appreciate Paul's message after he says these words. And again, we have to be reminded - chapter breaks came later, so this is just one consistent letter that Paul's writing. And so he immediately goes into the weak things of the world, but God's gonna use you. And then boom, he hits us with......let's just, I mean, I know I say chapters were given later, but I do like the chapter heading for Chapter 2. Alia,h will you read that for us.
Aliah 31:58
"The gospel is preached by the power of the Spirit - The Spirit reveals all things to the saints - The unregenerated 'natural' man cannot receive the things of the Spirit of God."
Tammy 32:12
Thank you. I mean, it is about the spirit. That is what, that is what converts, that is what teaches, and I'm grateful for that because it certainly was never going to be me on my mission. And so I'm just curious, did either of you mark any verses in 1 Corinthians, Chapter 2 that stood out to you about the spirit? Anna you shared with us verse 10, which was spot on, "But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit for the Spirit searcheth of all things." I love the footnote for the word searcheth. In Greek it means "explores or investigates." That to me really changes it, that the spirit explores or investigates all things. "Yea, the deep things of God." That's what does that that teaches .? What are some other verses? Anything that stood out to you in there?
Aliah 32:54
Yeah, I've marked verse 9. And it says, "But as it is written, the eye hath not seen nor that you're heard, neither hath entered into the heart of man the things which God hath prepared for them that love him."
Tammy 33:08
Ooh, why?
Aliah 33:09
And I think this, like, I don't know why I'm getting like, I get choked up about this. And I get choked up about Anna and I get choked up about our mission. But I think like, there were things that I saw and heard, and witnessed and experienced, that I can, they testified of God. Like there is, there's things we experienced that like, no eye has seen, no ear has heard,no heart has ever contemplated as far as I am aware of. Some of the things that we saw and heard and did amongst those people, and, and the outpouring of love that we experienced from them and that we saw God pour out to us as His children.
Anna 34:03
No, I completely agree. I mean, I've always had a lot of faith in prayer since I was a kid. But the the ways that prayer worked on our mission and the things that we saw, were life-changing. They, I mean, I still remember, you got to tell her the story about the boat.
Aliah 34:30
That was as I was thinking about the boat. So to get water when it wasn't the rain, when it was the rainy season, we just captured rain. But when it wasn't the rainy season, we had to take these like dugout, like tree canoes. So they'd cut, chop a tree down and like dig it out into the shape of a canoe, They called it a caynuko. And so they would have to take this and it was like tons like, like it's a whole tree that's just dug out and one of the, we had no more water. And all of the men were on like a work day. But we had no water. And so these, our three little Nephites, three little teenage boys that like made sure that we didn't die were the escort. There're like the Hermanas will take you to get some water, like no big deal, we'll go ask this lady if we can use her boat. And we will like paddle across the ocean and up a river to get you to where the sweet water is and get your water and bring you back. And we were like, Cool, let's go.
Aliah 35:37
So we went and we came back. And everything went, I mean, it went crazy. But that wasn't the main part. So we got back and we're trying to pull the boat back on to land so that it doesn't like float out into the ocean. So you have to like dock it, you have to like pull it back on land. And so it's like Anna and me and three teenage boys that are like under 5' tall. Like, that I could probably like shotput. So Anna and me and these three teenage boys are trying to pull this huge boat onto the land. And it is not budging, not even a little bit. It did not even think of the idea of maybe budging.
Anna 36:23
And the lady who was very adamant.
Aliah 36:26
Yes. She was like,
Anna 36:26
She was getting angry. She was just like, You have to put it back. .
Aliah 36:30
So we were like, Oh my gosh, we have to put this boat back. And so we get like every child on the island. So like, every little child. So it's like Anna and me, three teenage boys, and like 25 like under five- year olds, or maybe under seven. Like tiny kids. And we are like pushing and pulling and pushing and pulling and pushing and pulling - nothing. And then I don't know if it was Anna or me, but we were like, We've got to pray. And our boys were like, Hermanas. Heavenly Father does not care about this boat, you know, like, we are not praying about this. And so we're like, so you get to pray. We assigned him the prayer. And while he was praying, we were praying like, Oh, God, please answer his prayer because they have these tender testimonies. Like, we need him. We need them to know that You love them and that they, like all the things. And so we finished praying and we go like, 1-2-3 and pull the boat all the way up onto land.
Tammy 37:38
What?
Aliah 37:39
Yes. And, and the kids start screaming and jumping. And they're so excited because they're like, God pushed the boat onto the land! I think Anna and I were like
Anna 37:55
Yeah, We couldn't believe it. I was, I couldn't beleave that actually
Aliah 38:03
We had been working on it for probably an hour, hour and a half before that and it had not budged not one little bit. And then it just slid onto land as if like angels pushed it. It was insane.
Tammy 38:19
Oh my gosh.
Aliah 38:20
Actually insane.
Tammy 38:22
Okay, there it is, verse 9." But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard," Now I'm going to cry. "neither have entered into the heart of man,the things which God hath prepared for them that love him." Even something as simple as like a boat getting back into the dock. You loved Him. Both of you loved Him so much that you were not prepared for that miracle. And it is awesome! And the Spirit, right now it's speaking to our hearts that are listening that that is true. I think that's incredible you two.
Aliah 38:59
The Spirit was so, like I think about all the times where Christ says like, "Suffer the little ones to come unto me." Like we, it was just babies.
Tammy 39:13
Yeah,
Aliah 39:14
They were just babies. It was two half-grown women
Tammy 39:20
and babies
Aliah 39:21
and babies that pulled this, like, tree onto the land.
Anna 39:27
I mean, really. We were babies too. I mean really thinking about it, and we were 21, we were babies. And I think only babies can make these kind of leaps of faith and just to make miracles happen. And then later on those same boys use the power of prayer in their own lives in very personal ways that they later shared with us. And it
Tammy 39:58
Okay, I want you to tell those stories in the next segment, then. That's going to be so awesome. Okay, let's do this then. Let's end this segment with verses 14-16. Aliah, will you please read, when you just talked about babies. You, and I like how you said, Anna, you were babies. And then you have these babies experiencing this moment together. Aliah, read verses 14-16 in 1 Corinthians Chapter 2.
Aliah 40:19
"The natural man receiveth this not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. But he that is spiritual judgeth all things, yet he himself is judged of no man. For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ."
Tammy 40:48
You definitely did that day, the mind of Christ. You were spiritually discerned and you knew you could pray for that, and you knew the benefits that would come of that. What an incredible story. In fact, this is so awesome, because in the next segment, we're going to find a term that Paul uses for what you did when you taught them the power of prayer. And we'll do that next.
Segment 4 41:09
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Tammy 41:20
Okay, so let's just go back to that story then. So these sweet kids prayed, and did it have an effect on the kids after that?
Anna 41:28
Yeah!
Tammy 41:29
Tell me about that, what happened?
Anna 41:31
So I mean, correct me if I get the details wrong, Miss Aliah. But like Aliah said, there are hunters and gatherers. So they literally go to the jungle and hunt. And they gather fruits and vegetables, and they farm out in the jungle. And one of our teenage boys was out hunting with his father, wasn't he? Or was he by himself?
Aliah 41:54
It was the two of them.
Anna 41:55
They were out in the jungle at night, and then they realized what was around them, Aliah.
Aliah 42:04
That something was stalking them. Like, I don't remember what it
Anna 42:08
It was like a jaguar?
Aliah 42:09
Yeah, it was a large cat stalking. Like, as they were trying to hunt, there was an animal on to them. And they were like, we have to pray.
Anna 42:20
Yes. And they told us how they remembered that God listens to them. And it, and again, right, that lesson of you are important. What's important to you is important to God. And, and they told us of how, you know, they used the power of prayer and to feel peace and to be able to get away and not be hurt, and stay safe. But the fact that they connected that and used it in their lives and it was just so powerful. I don't think I'm explaining it right, because I swear it was the most amazing thing ever. Aliah.
Aliah 42:58
Yep.That was
Tammy 42:59
pretty amazing.
Aliah 43:01
I mean, it wasn't just that. I remember when we were in the boat, and we made some boats to paddle to like the island, because we ran out of.... So we had taken a boat to another island that was just off the horizon. And we were coming back and we ran out of gas. And like
Anna 43:22
the sun was coming down. It was the ocean.
Aliah 43:25
We're on like open ocean.
Tammy 43:27
Yeah.
Aliah 43:27
And we were like, well, you're just going to have to paddle and they were like, Oh, we left the paddles at home. We didn't bring the paddles. And we're like, Oh my goodness, like, we are gonna get like swept out to see. No one's ever gonna see or hear from us again. Like, we're gonna have to
Anna 43:41
This is how we die.
Tammy 43:43
This is how it ends. Sure
Aliah 43:45
We're like this, like it's over, my mom's gonna be so mad. Like, my mom is going to kill me. And so we told Sambo, who was the 1st counselor in our little branch, we're like, You have to jump into the ocean and like swim to the island and then go get another boat and then come back and get us before we get swept out on the current because once we get swept on the current, it's, we're done, it's over.
Tammy 44:15
Yeah.
Aliah 44:15
And he's like, No, Hermanas because the big fish come out at night. He's like sharks. And he's like, No, we cannot. And we're like, Bless you, my son. Like you will be he'll be blessed. The Lord will take care of you; jump into, like. And he was like, I can't do it, Hermanas. And I'm like we can't do it!
Anna 44:22
WE can't do it!.
Aliah 44:23
You have to get in the water and swim and get the boat and then come back to get us. And he's like, Well give me a blessing. We like prayed over him and he jumped into the water and swam back to the island and got another boat and came back to get us before we got swept out to the ocean. Well, he came back to get us but then like one o, it was Manuel and the two boys, like did get swept out to the ocean, but we prayed about it and they found them. So yes.
Tammy 45:10
WOW. Okay. So here's such a cool concept about what you've done through your example. It is in 1 Corinthians 3:2, we just have to read this. So Paul says this. And Anna, can you read verse 2 for us.
Anna 45:24
Yes. "I have fed you with milk, and not with meat: for hitherto you were not able to bear it, neither yet now are you able."
Tammy 45:34
Okay. People read that and they're like milk, meat. What? Your stories were just the most perfect example of this. You taught these sweet children in our last segment about the principle and power of prayer in the most beautiful milk way possible. And that is how we teach the gospel Jesus Christ: we teach milk first, easy things like when a new baby comes. You, except for my youngest daughter, who we laughed could have had a Big Mac at birth because she was like almost 10 pounds. Most babies don't eat meat, right? They start with milk. And so Paul's teaching this like, Saints, you need to start with the simple, easy things of the Gospel before you can dive into the heavy stuff, right? And so as you are on this island, I mean, look at you. Story after story you're just doling out the milk, just handing it to everybody who's willing to drink it. What an awesome story about prayer. And it's probably, for me when, I like how Anna, you said you have the gift of prayer. You've always had a strong testimony in prayer. That's your milk, that you just are like, Alright, everybody, here we go. And you've been a great example of that as you were teaching these people on the island. Do you have any other stories where you started with milk? Because you couldn't just all of a sudden dive into meat, right?
Aliah 46:47
I think, Tammy, I think like I see it a little bit different, as you know, I always do.
Tammy 46:52
I love it. Bring it on.
Aliah 46:54
I feel like we gave them milk and they gave us meat.
Tammy 46:58
Oh, tell me about that.
Aliah 47:01
Like we taught them like these little parts of the gospel, like these little things that we, like about prayer, and about heavenly Father loves you. Like these are just basics of the gospel. And then they were like, Well look what that can do. And then they were like, that can save you in the ocean; that can save you from a panther; that can save you from starvation. Like we gave them little piece, little bits and they gave like, we gave them milk, they gave us meat.
Anna 47:31
They gave us survival. I mean, they taught us so much.
Aliah 47:36
Spiritual survival as well as physical survival. Like mine, like I had an understanding of the gospel. I knew that prayer worked, that I have a testimony, I knew these things in my mind. But I never had an opportunity really to put them to the test. Like I think like way back three years ago I told you like I, like until I was 12 I would pray like, Heavelny Father, don't let me be so like vain. I was just, Don't let me be homely. Like I didn't have anything in Southern California to like pray about that was like life or death, you know. Pretty much I was praying like, Help me find my shoes, don't let me be homely, like sorry for punching my brother. Like little things, milk things. And they were like save you from a panther; save you from drowning; get you out of the ocean; like save you from starvation. Like we gave them milk and they gave us meat.
Tammy 48:38
Absolutely. Wouldn't you say that's how the gospel of Jesus Christ works? It's reciprocal whenever you both are like, I completely agree. I think back to my mission too, like yes, I was out there for sure giving anybody I could, milk, the milk of the gospel. I look back at that and wow, yeah, I was fed meat for sure. My life is completely different because of that, and your story has exemplified that. Anna, anything you want to add?
Anna 49:05
Well and when I think of milk and meat I always think of, I think we were also super focused on the islands in rebuilding the church infrastructure because we were welfare sisters. And 20 years ago, well, what that meant is we got taught on how the church was organized. And in a place like some lost. The church was a little disorganized, almost kind of in line with these chapters. And I learned a lot from being able to go in there and I just, I remember just learning like we had to learn how all the
Aliah 49:45
We like taught elders were for a while.
Anna 49:48
Yeah, like we were the ones that were like, No, you have to redo that for baptisms and like we were teaching the priesthood about the priesthood and Relief Society about Relief Society. Setting up a Primary. Just setting up basic church infrastructure, and that was just so eye-opening, and how you need to build a strong foundation. And I was really happy to be a part of that, of trying to build a strong foundation for the church to be able to build upon that. And again, like with the, you have to start with the basics. And, man, I learned so much. It was, it was just such an adventure. I just can't even
Tammy 50:34
it's fun to see you come alive, as you're talking about it. Like I wish sometimes this was a video thing, because it's so fun. You're, both of your faces, again, so much goodness. Like,
Anna 50:43
Well, I think we think about it and it's just like, I'm put right back there. And I can't believe it's been so long, turn of the century. I mean, it's, we're so old, it's scat, so old.
Aliah 50:56
Babies then and now we're old ladies.
Anna 50:59
Yes.
Tammy 51:00
Wow. Well, thank you for sharing those stories. And Anna, I'm gonna go back to what you said, because you said we were building a foundation. I mean, that is as milk as you can get, right? Like just the simple basics of it. And I really appreciate that you said that because in the next segment, we are going to read what Paul had to say about building and foundations and I can't wait to Dig Into these verses. So we'll do that next.
Segment 5 51:21
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Tammy 51:33
Okay, so now I just have to know, did you ever have to plant a garden when you were out there? Or did you help people plant gardens?
Aliah 51:39
No, because we didn't know what we were doing. A five-year old would get food for us. So like a five-year old would climb up a coconut tree, hack the coconut down, and then cut it open with a machete and be like, Here Hermanas, this is how you get a coconut. Because we were useless.
Anna 51:57
Yes,surprised we didn't cut something off because. I tried. It was
Aliah 51:59
I'm surprised we weren't
Anna 52:00
It was, it's a miracle we survived, really.
Aliah 52:04
Even like our neighbor was, we were like, we had this little stove but they ran out of gas. So we had to cook our food over an open fire but neither one of us really knew how to cook food over an open fire. So we asked out neighbor and she was like, What do you mean, you don't know how to cook over a fire? She's like
Anna 52:26
Mac and cheese, that's all I remember since we kept blowing the ash into our pan. And they would just laugh at us.
Aliah 52:38
They were like,
Anna 52:39
Really? The silly Hermanas.
Tammy 52:43
They garden on the island? Did they have gardens?
Anna 52:45
No, it's all sand.
Tammy 52:47
Oh it's all sand, you can't even garden then. Okay. Okay.
Aliah 52:50
But they have like, like on the mainland in the jungle they had like gardens and things like that, but we never saw them because that's men's work.
Tammy 52:59
Oh, it is.
Anna 53:00
Yes. And they would have communal gardening. So like, let's say someone was disabled or too old to provide for their family. So that's why when we told you the story about there were no men, it's because they would schedule times where all the men would work in these communal gardens together to make sure that everyone was provided food. And I remember one day
Aliah 53:21
They would divvy it out.
Anna 53:22
Remember the pineapple?
Aliah 53:23
Yeah. I remember. Remember the corn and how we gave away? We didn't know how to cook the corn because it wasn't like real corn, it was like masa corn and we didn't know what to do with it. And like, our neighbor was like,
Anna 53:35
We don't know what to do with it.
Aliah 53:37
We're just like, we just gave it away because we were like, we don't even know how to make maso out of corn meal. We don't even know what we're doing.
Tammy 53:44
Wow.
Aliah 53:45
So like, we ate it until like our tongues, like all the tastebuds on our tongues had separated away from each other because we ate so much. Like fresh, juicy pineapple. because they brought like us 100 pounds of pineapple I think was our share was like 100 pounds of pineapple. And we didn't want it to go bad so we ate it like all in like, a couple of days.
Anna 54:07
Because we felt bad about the corn.
Aliah 54:09
Yeah.
Tammy 54:11
Okay, so I like this idea, though about a communal garden. Now that is fascinating to me. Okay, let's read these verses then in light of what you've just taught us and we're going to talk about these verses. Let's go to 1 Corinthians chapter 3. We're going to read verses 6-11. We'll each take a verse. And it's really interesting that you said it was communal, because I want to read you what I wrote to the outside of these verses not even knowing that you guys are going to tell me about this in the place you served. It's amazing. Okay, so we'll start with verse 6 and we'll just go Aliah, Anna, and me. We'll each take a turn reading a verse till we get to 11.
Aliah 54:40
"I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase.
Anna 54:46
"So then neither is he that planteth anything, neither he that watereth; but God that giveth the increase.
Tammy 54:54
"Now he that planteth and he that watereth are one: and every man shall receive his own reward according to his own labour.
Aliah 55:03
"For we are labourers together with God: ye are God's husbandry, ye are God's building.
Anna 55:09
"According to the grace of God which is given unto me, as a wise masterbuilder, I have laid the foundation, and another buildeth thereon. But let every man take heed how he buildeth thereupon.
Tammy 55:24
"For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ."
Tammy 55:30
Okay, talk to me about these verses and the people that you served with.
Aliah 55:36
I mean, I think kind of like Anna said, like I, living with the Kunas changed my whole life, how I think about other people, how I think about community, how I think about myself, how I think about empathy, and charity and love. And like, I think there was a time in church history when we tried to live the United Order and we failed miserably. And the tKunas nailed it on the head. Like they nailed it. And they have continued to live that way and are fiercely protective of it and fiercely protective of each other and their community. And it, like it has changed my whole life.
Anna 56:24
Oh, I completely agree. I even the way I see my time. I can't wait to not have to work. And seeing how they live their lives, it just uhhhhh.
Aliah 56:37
Remember when the boys were on the bridge, and they were fishing? Remember that?
Anna 56:43
Yeah, I remember the tournaments. Also soccor, that was greatest.
Tammy 56:47
Tell us the fishing story.
Aliah 56:49
Yeah. So on the other island. so on Corazon de Jesus, there's probably like 500 people on our island and like another maybe 200 to 250 on Corazon de Jesus. They used to do, so it was a little bit of a smaller island. And it was connected by a little footbridge. And one time we were coming back from Corazon de Jesus and our boys were like trying to fish these like guppies with like a string and like a safety pin on it. So they're like sticking it in the water and trying to pull it out, sticking it in and pulling it out. And we're like, that's, you know, very American, very consumeristic of us. We're like, that's not efficacy. It's like, why don't you just scoop all the fish up, like, with your hands? Like you could just scoop them up. And they're like, Well, we don't need that many.
Tammy 57:41
Oh
Aliah 57:41
And I was like, good point. And I'm like BUT, you could still scoop them up and just take the one you want and then put the rest of them back so you don't waist it and stick it on the hook and then put it down so you can get a bigger fish and that would be faster. And they're like, And then what would we do for the rest of the afternoon?
Tammy 57:58
Oh
Aliah 57:59
And I was like, also good point. Like spending time together and being together was more important than being efficient ,than being productive, than being any of these things that we really prize in Western culture. Did not trump being together and providing for each other and loving each other and being with each other. And like that, that was the point - was to be together.
Tammy 58:28
Wow. You know Aliah, as you were saying that, being together, loving each other taking care of each other. Those are some really powerful images in my mind, because you know we've read these verses about the planting of the people. And to the outside I wrote "salvation is not individual, it's communal." Like we have to save each other as a community. It's the only way we're going to be saved, it cannot be on our own. And I love in verse 9, "We are labourers together with God; ye are Gods husbandry." And I I've recently learned that word husbandry, which means 'the land that, if the God is the husbandman, and he takes care of the land that we grow in and make sure it's fertile and make sure it's, the weeds are pulled, and make sure it's the best possible ground to grow. And we're the ground. We are God's husbandry; He is making sure that everything is going to be the best case scenario for us to grow. And then it says ye are God's building.
Tammy 59:27
I love verse 9 in light of what you've talked about with these people, and I think how powerful if we can just take away from this, this idea: it's more important to be together and to love each other. Like "what are we going to do the rest of the afternoon?" I'm never going to forget that, because I'm so efficient. In fact, it's probably one of my best best qualities and not best qualities. If I don't see something run efficiently, I can figure out how to do it quicker and faster and better. And I would not do well on that island because I'm like you, Aliah. Like no, scoop it up, you know. I get it.
Aliah 59:57
Get it done, get it done.
Tammy 59:59
Get it done. And right here, I mean to, to get a land ready to till when it says ye are God's husbandry? That takes time.
Aliah 1:00:06
But I also love, Tammy in 8 where it says, "Now he that planteth and he that watereth are one; and every man shall receive his own reward according to his labour." This idea like, I think also, I learned from the Kunas, like a different mentality about time. And then like, I think we are like, result-driven, and like that doesn't work there, you know. Like, it's, there's no like Chop- chop. They're like, when can, you know when we'd ask them, like, When can we come visit you? And they're like, When the sun is in the east part of the sky. When is that exactly? They just think completelly different view of time. And I think like that's what the Lord is trying to teach, or that Paul's trying to teach the Corinthians, is it's like, it's not this linear process where you like you plant, you water, you reap the benefits. Like it doesn't work that way. Like you're going to plant, and somebody else is gonna water, and somebody else is going to harvest, and somebody else is gonna grind the grain, and somebody else....Like it's that all of us together do the work, that we cannot do it, that the timing is infinite and eternal, and that our lives are so small. And that like if we just do our part, we don't have to worry about the big picture. We just do our part that we're assigned.
Tammy 1:01:34
Umm, I like that. Anna, why did you bring in 'foundation' in the last segment? Because it's right here in these verses. What struck you about this idea of a foundation, building the foundation of a church?
Anna 1:01:45
Because it was so disorganized. I mean basically, I think when we first got there it was a little shocking, I don't think I had ever seen like Sunday service was I think an hour when we first started and if it didn't rain, there wasn't any service. Like it would, I mean it's an island in Central America. Of course, it's going to rain. Like it was, and I remember the first time it rained on a Sunday and we went to church, which was right next to our hut, and no one was there. And we're like, did something happen? And we go around to the members like why haven't we started church, you know, to the Branch President and all of that. They were looking at US crazy. They're like, Well, it's raining. And I was just like, I don't understand, what do you mean? It's Panama, of course it's raining. It's always raining - half the year it rains. But because it was, how do we adjust the church so it works as well and not imposing, not going in there and be like, No, you're gonna have to do three hour church that we don't even do now. Right?
Tammy 1:02:53
Yeah.
Anna 1:02:53
The stringent rules that we think we have to follow in order to be, you know, good. And just like finding compromise and still building a foundation that will work for them where they are in meeting people, where they are. To me, that was one of the biggest lessons I learned. Just, I do a lot of social service work now which that also changed my life. I was doing I think accounting in college before I went on my mission, and especially islands. I was just like, Yeah, I'm gonna save the world now. Like, it totally changed the road I was on because I couldn't imagine not doing something that I wasn't working with people and learning how to meet people where they are, to learn from them. And to know that no, I didn't have all the answers. But it was beneficial to go in and build structure that was going to last. Because the church is built to meet the needs of the people but needs to have structure. And so I think it was helpful that we went in and kind of brought a little structure to the islands.
Anna 1:02:56
Well and then to hear how it affected your own foundation is pretty powerful. I think that's neat. And how and what you've done with your life because of those experiences. So thank you for sharing that Anna. Oh my gosh, you guys, such a great discussion. I appreciate everything that you shared. Awesome, awesome, awesome. Okay, so in the next segment then I have kind of an out of the we, like an odd topic to talk about but it is in 1 Corinthians. So we're going to introduce that to you in the next segment.
Segment 6 1:04:23
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Tammy 1:04:33
Okay, so here's what I want to know about your island then. Were their social mores when it came to the law of chastity on your island? Where their rules or what did that look like for you guys?
Aliah 1:04:49
So when we - I have to put my hair up.
Tammy 1:04:51
First of all, they're laughing. I love that you started by laughing and you pulled your hair up. Alright, let's do this.
Aliah 1:04:57
So I remember like just the first time that we like were teaching, teaching. Like not with like the members already, but we were teaching, and correct me if I'm wrong Anna. But I remember teaching the law of chastity and the family looking at us and saying like, What kind of weirdo community do you come from that you need rules like this?
Tammy 1:05:20
Whoa.
Anna 1:05:22
Yeah,
Aliah 1:05:23
They were like, if we did that it would hurt the whole community. Everyone would know and it would hurt everybody. Why would we do that?
Tammy 1:05:33
Oh, my gosh. Wow.
Aliah 1:05:35
And they, they were flabbergasted that we would even have a like a rule or a teaching about the law of chastity because they're like, why? Who's doing these things?
Tammy 1:05:48
And I'm thinking like here in the Americas, that was like a big deal lesson. I knew every time we had to teach it, we, I would, my heart would race because I'm like I don't know how they're gonna accept it. It's gonna be a hard sell. Like, you just get so nervous. In fact, one of my first discussions - I had to teach a couple that were dating - the law of chastity, and they're living together. So they look at each other. And I'm like, Wow. I do not know what I'm gonna say, I'm 21.
Aliah 1:06:13
You also have to remember that for the Kunas if you slept in the same hammock then you were married.
Tammy 1:06:21
It was just that quick. You're just officially together. I had to plan a wedding on my mission, a wedding so that this couple could get married. I'm like, what am I doing?
Aliah 1:06:31
If you are sleeping in the same hammock and somebody else saw you, then you were married. That was the end of it.
Tammy 1:06:36
Oh my gosh, that's sweet. Okay.
Aliah 1:06:37
Do you remember, Anna or am I like remembering
Anna 1:06:40
No, no, no, no. And it's wild because there's just no privacy on these islands. I don't know if you saw that picture of the hut, like it's literally sticks put together by rope. I mean, these are your walls, they're sticks. You could see right through them. It's, there's no privacy. Like, that's not a thing. And because of lack of water, when it rains, people come out and shower in the rain. Like,
Aliah 1:07:09
Everyone, the whole town.
Anna 1:07:11
Yeah, they don't have these
Aliah 1:07:12
naked.
Anna 1:07:13
hang-ps about their bodies. And they don't sexualize everything. They would look at us crazy because we weren't taking advantage of, you know,
Tammy 1:07:23
Free water.
Aliah 1:07:24
And they always were like,
Anna 1:07:26
Yeah, we always had too much clothes on there. They're just like why? Just like, I know it's hot.
Tammy 1:07:32
Okay, so let's just read these verses of scripture then and talk to me about how they would reconcile these or think about these in their culture. Because these are very real, too. So we're gonna go to 1 Corinthians chapter 3. We have verses 16 and 17. It was kind of fun, because I read these with my 14-year old daughter and she had so many questions. So we might get to those. And I'd love for you to know what your answers would be to her. So here we go. And then we're going to give you some cross references. Were in 1 Corinthians 3:16 and 17. Aliah, will you read those for us.
Aliah 1:08:02
"Know ye not that you are a temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you? And if any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which (temple) ye are."
Tammy 1:08:16
Okay. Now, let's go to chapter 5:1, because he's setting this up, the people are committing fornication. He says, "It is reported commonly that there is fornication among you, and such fornication as is not so much as named among the Gentiles, that one should have his father's wife." So he's going to talk to 'em about this idea of fornications and making sure that you are clean and pure. Cross reference that to chapter 6. Anna, will you read 1 Corinthians 6:19 and 20. And if you want to, in verse 17 and 18, there's the word fornication again. And he's talking about this: sexual impurities or fornication, and then he teaches them, again, this doctrine in 19 and 20. Go ahead Anna.
Anna 1:08:58
"What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God and ye are not your own? For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's."
Tammy 1:09:14
Okay, thank you. So, here's some of the questions my daughter asked. And I wondered, maybe these would be questions that would be asked on the island; I'd love to know your answers. So my 14-year old said, Okay, first of all, I don't get this at the end where it says "ye are not your own." How do you explain that?
Aliah 1:09:32
So one of their
Tammy 1:09:33
Therapist Aliah.
Aliah 1:09:35
One of the really unique things about the Kunas is that, so it's not, their language is called Tule Kaya and it's not a written language. And so their history is passed down orally. And so twice a year, they do like General Conference, and they like sing the song of their people.
Tammy 1:09:57
Oh, wow.
Aliah 1:09:58
Like how they, you know where they came from and how they came to the islands and like who they are and like, Kunas as like the Children of the Sun. And then there were like all these albino people who are children at the moon. And that's a whole different story, but anyways. And I think this idea that your body is the temple in which God dwells, is so integrated into their culture that it, it's not like it wasn't, and this is I think where it's like we gave them milk, they gave us meat. Is that this was how they lived already. Like, if we were telling them, like we would tell them things, like gospel truths that were hard for us like the law of chastity and your body's a temple. And they'd be like, yeah duh, like you're not telling us anything new. Like, of course. Like we are the people of the sun, like the sun. And both as like the Son of God, as well as the sun. Like, this is who we are, we embody this, and we keep it safe because the world is corrupt and blah, blah, blah. Like this is how they existed.
Aliah 1:11:10
And so that, that like blew my mind and still does. It's like there are people who never lost that. Because I think it, because of our culture and like social media and mass media, and how our Western consumerism we have lost some of these plain and precious things of the gospel, we know we have. And I think these are the plain and precious things of the gospel, and that some people have didn't lose them. And the Kunas didn't lose them. They would say, Yeah, of course.
Tammy 1:11:51
How do we get there? How do we get like these people?
Aliah 1:11:55
You have to see it in action, it's so beautiful, it is so beautiful. Like the way they care for each other, the way they care for the earth, the way they care for their community and your families and their children is beautiful.
Anna 1:12:12
Totally agree.
Tammy 1:12:13
I'm immediately drawn to, it's Ezekiel Chapter 16 and you want to go to verse, verse 48. Verse 48 starts and it says, "As I live, saith the Lord GOD, Sodom thy sister hath not done, she nor her daughters, as thou hast done, thou and daughters." Verse 49: "Behold, this was the iniquity of thy sister Sodom," and here's what it was: "pride, fullness of bread, and abundance of idleness was in her and in her daughter's, neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor and the needy." Like, I mean, your people are the exact opposite of that verse, they 100% There's not fullness of bread, or an abundance of idleness in these people, like what will we do for the rest of the day, right? Like, they're busy, they're working, and they strengthen the hand of the poor and the needy. Didn't you say, Anna, that there were no poor people on this island because they all take care of each other.
Anna 1:13:11
Definitely, definitely. And they, I was just thinking when Alia was talking about, not only how they were so connected to their bodies and to their families and to their community. I really learned how to love nature as well. And they had such an appreciation for all the living things. And that, especially for a city girl like me, I'm always searching for that connection to nature. Like I love the city, but being out there in the middle of the ocean with these people, it was just like, I crave it now. Like I'm always searching, Okay, when can we go camping? When can we go and reconnect with the earth? And when you were telling me like, how do we get back there? It that. It's how do we reconnect to our own bodies? How do we connect to our communities and back to earth? And how do we stop distracting ourselves with all the stuff? And I was just even thinking about, like when we fast. And I know there's always talk about like, how do we take fast from like, social media and connecting that back of like how do we take care of our own mental health and connect back to ourselves? Because I feel like there's a huge mental health crisis, especially after COVID.
Tammy 1:14:31
Yeah
Anna 1:14:32
you know, and we really saw what community really means to us.
Tammy 1:14:38
Yeah, yeah. In fact, after everything you said, I tend to go back to 1 Corinthians 6:20, where it says "Ye are bought with a price, therefore glorify God in your body, and your spirit." Like you're those people - glorify God in their body, and what does that look like for us today? How are we doing that? What are some active things we can do here, glorifying God in our body. And I mean, I think you both have just hit the nail on the head. It's about community taking care of each other. Any thoughts, any final thoughts on that idea of glorifying God in your body?
Aliah 1:15:12
Well I think in the whole letter of all to the Corinthians, those first four chapters were all about divisions. Like, they're like, Oh, I was baptized by Paul and I was baptized by Apollo and I was baptized by Peter. And there was all this division. And I think that that part of, like that's where Paul started, because that is the root of all of these other things, is that somehow we are separate from, and we are not separate. We are not separate from each other, we are not separate from God, we are not separate from the Spirit. We are not separate from the planet, we are not separate from our community, our earth, our world, our nation. We are not separate. We are one entity in God and in Christ, and we either all sink or swim together.
Tammy 1:16:05
Did they ever fight on the island? Did people ever fight or have disagreements? Like what was that like? I have so many questions.
Anna 1:16:12
And you can hear it too.
Tammy 1:16:15
So they were normal in that way, but they just figured it out. Llike, right?
Aliah 1:16:20
There was a young couple that lived next door to us. And so they lived with their mom; their dad was off on another island. And then they had, like the wife had little sisters. And so it was her mom and her little sisters and her husband,. And she would chase him around their hut naked with a machete. (Laughter)
Anna 1:16:41
It was really amusing.
Tammy 1:16:45
How did they become one then? How did that work out?
Aliah 1:16:49
They'd like just start laughing? I don't know. Like,
Anna 1:16:53
We're like, Go back in your house. You're naked!
Tammy 1:16:56
Oh, that's awesome. Wow. Well, you guys, this was such a fun discussion today. I could listen to your stories for hours. What an incredible experience you had serving a mission. On a scale of 1 to 10, how much would you recommend a mission?
Aliah 1:17:15
This mission - 100%.
Tammy 1:17:17
10 out of 10
Aliah 1:17:18
10 out of 10 would recommend. Washington, maybe not so much.
Tammy 1:17:25
Go ahead Anna.
Anna 1:17:26
As for our mission?
Tammy 1:17:28
Yes.
Anna 1:17:28
10 out of 10. I mean, I know missions are hard. And I definitely know that not everyone is as blessed as me and Aliah where to find each other. And most of our companions as well, like we had, we worked with great sisters and elders. And it was a really nice group. And so we were really, really lucky.
Tammy 1:17:56
Well, and Aliah, I remember you telling me that, I mean, you came on your mission grieving. Like your father had passed away, you were heartbroken. And now you're on an island with someone for an entire year. What was that like? But I want to know, how did the two of you create a sense of community? What did that look like for you for that year?
Aliah 1:18:18
Now you really did make me cry, because I think Anna's probably the only person on this planet who has successfully mothered me. No shade on my own mother, but like Anna loved me through that grief, and all of that heartache and all of that pain. And she was just there with open arms. And she would listen to all of my stories and all of my worries and everything that was going on inside of me while we were trying to do, and all the crazy that was going on outside. I think I'm a pretty reserved person, but she wouldn't let me be reserved. She would just like love me, just love, love, love me, and just endlessly and unconditionally and with all of her heart and all of her might and all of her mind. Anna is one of the most Christ-like people I have ever met in my whole life and I look up to her immensely. I have always looked up to her.
Anna 1:19:31
I feel even more. She is, when I'm feeling like, when I go through my spiritual crisis she's the only one I trust, that I talked to. I just, I met her and I just, you know, she felt like home to me so it was easy to love her. And it was easy to be vulnerable because I knew I was safe. And it's just yeah. Yeah, we just like really found each other.
Aliah 1:19:34
Well I thing the Lord sent me Anna as He would, because He knew not only did I need her for the mission, but that I needed her my whole life.
Tammy 1:20:13
Yeah, definitely.
Aliah 1:20:13
There was no way a Southern California girl and a Chicago girl would ever meet each other - there was no way we were ever going to be friends, even if we did have the chance to meet, unless we were stuck on an island together for a year, no way.
Anna 1:20:33
I needed time to wear her down. (laughter)
Tammy 1:20:39
Well, for those of you listening, what you just heard from these two - that is what it means to glorify God in your body. And you beautifully did it for an entire year together, which is really kind of unprecedented on a mission, to be with someone for an entire year. Maybe back and forth over the course of a year, but 365, 24/7, and you came out on top. What a beautiful witness of these verses of scripture of being united and not divided, and to be one in Christ. And I just, I go back to how we started that God is faithful. Not only does He do what He says He's gonna do, He does so much more than we could have ever even imagined for ourselves. He puts us in the best case scenarios to return back to Him.
Tammy 1:21:25
And like you said, a woman from Chicago and a woman from California. Who would have ever guessed! But He does that for us. And then like that, back in chapter 1:5, "that in everything ye are enriched by him, in all utterance, and in all knowledge." And I think we've witnessed that today, how enriched both of you were and how we've been enriched from your stories and your faith and from the spirit that we felt, so. Thank you so much for being on the podcast. This was awesome. Okay, so I usually I always ask my guests to like gather their thoughts and is there a takeaway, or just something you'll remember from our discussion today? And it's just a short little two-liner if you have something, anything that you'll just remember from today?
Anna 1:22:07
All I can think of is God is love.
Aliah 1:22:09
I so used to say all the time, God is love.
Tammy 1:22:15
I agree, I don't know anything else to say other than that. We have felt it today from the minute we started. So much love here. Oh, thank you. I love you both. Anna, I hope I get to meet you someday. I can't wait. I want to meet you and just hug you, all 5'4 of you.
Anna 1:22:33
Love you Compa, see you later.
Tammy 1:22:38
Okay, wow. That was such a unique episode. I was telling the women at the beginning, I've never done that before, but I just felt so strongly as I was reading 1 Corinthians, like let these women tell their mission stories. I'm so glad we did. That was such a great discussion. Okay, if you haven't joined our discussion group on Facebook or Instagram, go join it and just post what you're learning or post your experience listening to these episodes. And then at the end of the week, we post a question from this specific episode. So comment on the post that relates to this lesson and share your answers and your insights. You can get to both our Facebook and our Instagram by going to the show notes for this episode at LDS living.com/sunday on Monday and it'sl not a bad idea to go there anyway. It's where we're gonna have links to the references, which we didn't really use,but we will have a transcript of this whole discussion there, as well as the glue-in for this episode, which might just be what we talked about: God is love. Check it out.
Tammy 1:23:29
Okay, the Sunday on Monday Study Group is a Deseret Bookshelf Plus original and it's brought to you by LDS Living. It's written and hosted by me, Tammy Uzelac Hall and today are awesome study group participants were Anna Barrera and Aliah Hall. And you can find more information about these friends at LDS living.com/sunday on Monday. Our podcast is produced by Cole Wissinger and me; it is edited by Hailey Higham, and recorded and mixed by Mix At Six Studios. And our executive producer is Erin Hallstrom. Thanks for being here. We'll see you next week.
Tammy 1:23:57
And please remember: God is love and You Are His Favorite
Transcribed by https://otter.ai