The following transcript is intended to aid in your study. However, while we try to go through the transcript, our transcripts are primarily computer-generated and often contain errors. Please forgive the transcripts’ imperfections.

===

[00:00:00] Tammy Uzelac Hall: My daughter right now is in the medical assistant program and she got her very first stethoscope. I was so excited for her because the first thing I want to do is I want to listen to everything. So we all took turns listening to each other's hearts and it was the first time that my girls had heard the sound of their own heart and then the sound of mine.

And I wish I could have recorded the moment that happened because the surprise on their faces was awesome. I guess of all the things to hear. It's the heart that connects you to life, because I realized that a moment it is life. And for today's discussion of Mormon chapters one through six, the heart dictated life for the Nephite people.

And we're going to see how great of an impact their hearts had not only on themselves, but on us as well. Welcome to the Sunday on Monday study group, a desert 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, please follow the link in our description that will explain how you can best use this podcast to enhance your Come Follow Me study, just like my friend Lauren Maripody and her mom, Melissa Gardner from Texas. Hey ladies, I loved meeting you.

Now, another awesome thing about our study group is each week we're joined by two of my friends, so it's always a little bit different. And today we have a new friend and I'm so excited to introduce you to her. We have Belinda Olson. Hello, sis. Hello. Okay. And we also have Tamu. Hey lady. Hey girl. Hey guys and ladies and gentlemen and babies.

Yes, this is so fun. Okay. So I have to tell you, here's how Belinda and I met and it was the sweetest moment. I got invited to go to a fundraiser, which I never have really done before. And the fundraiser is over. I had to kind of leave a little bit earlier and I walk upstairs and Belinda walks up to me and she goes, Are you Tammy from Sunday on Monday?

And we talked, we hugged and we talked. I was like, Belinda, I want to have you on the podcast. And I think you turned a shade of white. You were like, wait, what? Like you were so nice to say hello to me. You didn't know that saying hello to me meant that you're going to be on the podcast. Thank you, Belinda, for giving me your real phone number.

And now here we are. And I said, what if we have you on with Tamu? Tamu, you wouldn't believe her reaction. She came alive. She was so excited. She's like, I love Tamu. Yeah. It's

[00:02:25] Belinda Olsen: true. It's so true. It's nice to have a friendly face and friendly voice.

[00:02:30] Tammy Uzelac Hall: Well, And you're going to love so much what Belinda does.

You just have to hear her job. Belinda, tell us what you do and who you work for. Okay. This is why I was at the fundraiser. I work

[00:02:40] Belinda Olsen: for Supriya. We are a nonprofit based out of Lehigh and we help women who are survivors of childhood sexual abuse and we educate parents and caregivers on tips for avoiding sexual abuse.

I love that. We're focused on education. So everything that we do is research based.

[00:03:04] Tammy Uzelac Hall: I mean, she's doing good in the world. Isn't that awesome? That is neat. So this is, Belinda, where are you from originally?

[00:03:11] Belinda Olsen: I'm from Northern Utah and I attended Utah State and a couple of fun things about me. I love to cook, bake, garden, and I think I have the world's cutest dog.

Oh,

[00:03:24] Tammy Uzelac Hall: okay. Will you make sure then when it's time for us to get your bio and a picture of you that you send us a picture of your dog too? I would love to. You're welcome. Because everyone listening wants to see that cute, cute dog. Oh, that's going to be awesome. Okay. No,

[00:03:37] Tamu Smith: I met Stanley recently. I have a relationship with the dog that is not mine.

[00:03:44] Tammy Uzelac Hall: Our friend has a dog named Stanley and it's Stanley. Yeah.

[00:03:49] Tamu Smith: Stanley is my boo. You guys are kindred spirits. Yes. My kids don't look at my husband. Don't look at me like Stanley looks at me.

[00:03:58] Belinda Olsen: Um, when I come home from work, no one greets me better than my dog. I'm like, you have to get a dog. These kids, they don't listen.

[00:04:08] Tammy Uzelac Hall: You might need a dog.

[00:04:10] Tamu Smith: The dog.

[00:04:10] Tammy Uzelac Hall: Yeah. Okay. Well, for those of you that wanna see pictures of my guests and read their bios, you can go to our show notes, which are at LDS living.com/sunday on Monday. So grab your scriptures and we're so happy you're studying with us this week because we are going to dig into Mormon chapters one through six.

Okay. You two right outta the gates. Here's our question. What did the Holy Ghost teach you as you read these chapters?

[00:04:33] Belinda Olsen: So I think at first glance, when you read through these scriptures, they're heavy. And you can see so much. Darkness and discouragement. But when I went back and I read them again, through the perspective of seeing the Lord, you see him throughout.

And a couple of my favorite things that stood out to me was in Mormon 1 verse 15. It says, I was visited of the Lord and tasted and knew of the goodness of Jesus. And another example that really stood out to me is in Mormon 5, 23, and it's where he's asking a question and he says, know ye not that ye are in the hands of God.

And I just loved that visual of being in the Lord's hands.

[00:05:20] Tammy Uzelac Hall: Oh, wow.

[00:05:21] Belinda Olsen: Tell me, mostly, why did that stand out to you personally in your life? Why did that hit

[00:05:25] Tammy Uzelac Hall: you?

[00:05:26] Belinda Olsen: This has been the hardest year I think I have ever had in my life. And one of the things that I'm so grateful for is knowing that the Lord is personally mindful of me.

And it's not just lip service and it's not just something that I say, but it's something that I truly feel and I feel in the smallest moments and every day. And I think that when we look for the Lord in our lives, we will find him.

[00:05:55] Tammy Uzelac Hall: I don't even think I would ask this, but is there a moment when you were reminded he was mindful?

Is there one that comes to mind where you're like, Oh yeah,

[00:06:03] Belinda Olsen: I have a silly example, but I love flowers. Like to me, flowers are neutral and they're all over in my house and my life. And I went to the store and I saw a set of paintings that I really wanted and one was damaged. So I just put out a text in my group of friends and I just said, will you guys help me if I can find this piece of art?

And I didn't really even think twice of it. And one of my friends, a few days later called me and she said, I found this art and it's such a small and simple thing, but it's something that was important to me as I'm moving to a new location. Re rebuilding my home. Just that the Lord is really mindful of us, whether it's something big or something so small, and even something temporal like that.

[00:06:52] Tammy Uzelac Hall: Mm oh, I don't think that's silly at all. I think those little moments are the constant reminders that he is mindful of us. So thank you. I'm so glad it was something simple and not a big gigantic story because I think we lose sight of the fact that he is in the every day in the detail of the details of the details.

So thanks, Belinda.

[00:07:11] Tamu Smith: What about you, Tamu? I mean, I was thinking about what she said, but I could tell you what my notes say. I'm not going to go off on what my notes say, because I read the notes. When you sent them, um, but when I reflect on where I'm currently at today, the Holy Ghost, um, this week, I have just felt that a call to be still I've just sat with, with families that have gone through difficulties.

And, and just to be still and be quiet. And when words come, I speak them and when they don't, and that's hard for me. If you know me, that is very difficult. Um, but just, just listening and to be still.

[00:08:04] Tammy Uzelac Hall: Tamu, thank you for sharing that because I do know that some of what you're going through right now is heavy and you're there for a lot of people. And so I'm sure they can appreciate just the idea of being still. I think we could do that a lot more often is just to be still. So I think that's pretty powerful.

Thank you. That's good. Okay. Well, we're going to do is we are going to dive into some of these things and, and Belinda, I like how you set it up with the things in the book of Mormon are heavy. They are very heavy. And I think it's kind of cool to me how you connected it to your own life right now. That's heavy.

If anyone's feeling heavy, take heart. Because the message in the book of Mormon, that's the book we're going to be studying this week, has so many great answers. And Belinda, you set us up perfectly with that, that through all the heavy and the hard, you can find Jesus. And so in the next segment, we are going to do that.

And we're going to discuss a specific body part that played a pivotal role in Mormon's writings and the story of his people.

So I want you to think about this. What are some common phrases about? the heart or common phrases that include a heart. Like, for example, when I was a kid, I used to always say, cross my heart, cross my heart, hope to die, stick a needle in my eye, you know, that kind of stuff. Like, is there anything you say that has the word heart attached to it?

I think of people who always say, bless your heart. For sure. And sometimes it's a nice bless your heart. And sometimes it's like, oh, bless your heart. I

[00:09:41] Tamu Smith: love it. I love a bless your heart. Um,

[00:09:45] Tammy Uzelac Hall: I don't know. I do say bless your heart a lot. I think bless your heart is yours. Yeah. Absolutely. I think that's the most common one because I was thinking of some other ones like eat your heart out.

I mean, I don't know. We haven't said that since the sixties or seventies. Um, follow your heart. Does anyone do that anymore? No, I'm just kidding. I think we all do. I want you to be thinking about this idea of a heart. Now I'm emailing, I mailed you guys a letter. Open up your letters right now. Because there's something inside and I want you to tell everybody what's inside of this envelope.

[00:10:18] Belinda Olsen: Oh, I love it. There's a bunch of hearts in so many happy colors and patterns.

[00:10:24] Tammy Uzelac Hall: Okay, awesome. I mailed you guys a bunch of hearts. Yes. And they're all numbered. They are. So we are going to follow through these hearts with the numbers as we discuss the power of the heart, because I can't believe how many times I highlighted the word heart in Mormon one through six.

I mean, the word heart is everywhere and sometimes the heart is good and sometimes the heart isn't so good. In fact, the phrase heart in the right place. Now that's one that came to my mind when I was reading this, because if you look throughout the book of Mormon. It's all about where the people's hearts and are they in the right place.

So find heart number one. That's what we're gonna start with. Now, if I was teaching this in seminary, I would have hearts all over the room and then I have hearts stuck under maybe the tables or chairs and like, Hey, reach under your chair. Who has heart number one? I don't even know. I would just do so many things with hearts.

So, get your heart number one and open it up. This is our first scripture reference that is going to introduce us to this heart idea. Okay, let's start out. First of all, what we want to know is in the Book of Mormon, Mormon is recounting his life. So he's retelling the story about how when in verse two, he says, when I was 10 years old, he was told to take care of some records and that when he was 24, he would get these records.

So Mormon's just kind of recounting his life. Belinda, you shared this verse with us in Mormon chapter one, verse 15, read that again for us. He tells us about something that happened when he was 15.

[00:11:55] Belinda Olsen: I being 15 years of age and being somewhat of sober mind, therefore I was visited of the Lord and tasted and knew of the goodness of Jesus.

[00:12:04] Tammy Uzelac Hall: I think that's amazing at 15. It's like Joseph Smith. I put his name next to that. At 15 years old, he is going to be visited by the Lord. So Mormon's pretty awesome. And during Mormon's lifetime, it is nothing but war. So much war. And it's a result of the type of hearts that easy people are having. So let's go to the first script for reference.

It's on your heart. Number one. Call it out. Tamu. What's the reference on there? Mormon 117. Let's go there. Mormon chapter one verse 17. And will you read that for us?

[00:12:37] Tamu Smith: Yes.

[00:12:39] Tammy Uzelac Hall: Mormon is talking about his people in this

[00:12:41] Tamu Smith: verse, but I did remain among them, but I was forbidden to preach unto them because of the hardness of their heart and because of the hardness of their heart.

[00:12:52] Tammy Uzelac Hall: Every time you see heart in today's story, I want you just to put a little heart next to the verse or over the word heart. We have a situation here where Mormons like, I can't even preach to the people because of the hardness of their hearts. But let's read in verses 13 through 16 what happened because of their hard hearts.

There's so much more. So we're going to read verses 13 through 16. We'll each take a verse and Belinda will start with you.

[00:13:20] Belinda Olsen: But wickedness did prevail upon the face of the whole land, insomuch that the Lord did take away his beloved disciples, and the work of miracles and healing did cease because of the iniquity of the people.

[00:13:32] Tamu Smith: And there were no gifts from the Lord, and the Holy Ghost did not come upon any, because of their wickedness and unbelief.

[00:13:40] Tammy Uzelac Hall: And I, being fifteen years of age, and being somewhat of a sober mind, therefore I was visited of the Lord and tasted and knew of the goodness of Jesus.

[00:13:48] Belinda Olsen: And I did endeavor to preach unto this people, but my mouth was shut, and I was forbidden that I should preach unto them.

For behold, they had willfully rebelled against their God, and the beloved disciples were taken away out of the land because of their iniquity.

[00:14:04] Tammy Uzelac Hall: Thank you. Look at these verses right here. Because of their hard hearts. Look at all the things that were removed or that they were no longer to have among them.

And I asked you to kind of think about this idea of all the things that are listed. Like, what do you think, which one would be the most difficult for you to lose or not have in your life?

[00:14:23] Tamu Smith: For me, one of the things, I mean, it says that there were no gifts, like none at all. And included in that is the Holy Ghost.

And for me, that has been before I knew who I was. Who I was as a person, I knew the Holy Ghost. And so to have that taken from me and to have that spirit taken from me, I don't know, it would just feel like I, uh, that to me as a living person would feel like the depths of hell, because once you know the sweetness of the Holy Ghost.

To be without it just feels unbearable and lonely, like the lone and dreary world for real.

[00:15:17] Tammy Uzelac Hall: Oh my gosh. I love so much how you express that and how you talked about the sweetness of it. And I think it's cool how you said you knew about the Holy Ghost before you knew about yourself. I

[00:15:28] Tamu Smith: did. I did. And just to know, like, and I've never felt alone and I've been in some very lonely places and because, because I have known the Holy Ghost.

I've never felt alone.

[00:15:46] Tammy Uzelac Hall: Can I get, I'm going to write that down. Because I've, I've known the Holy Ghost, I've never felt alone. That's awesome.

[00:15:54] Tamu Smith: I also went to that, um, to attend an interfaith concert. You did. It was, um, the elevation worship. It was with, uh, the elevation worship team and pastor Steven. It was amazing. You guys, it was just amazing.

Shout out to jury got invited, but I'll listen to that style of worship music when my kids are with me. It's a little young. But there were churches there. There were like the Delta center was packed. Oh, it's so

[00:16:27] Tammy Uzelac Hall: cool.

[00:16:28] Tamu Smith: Act. And I've been to a couple of different concerts, uh, Christian, like different out of, out of the LDS faith concerts.

I went to go see when Joel Osteen came. I have never seen it that packed and with whole families, whole churches, old people, young people. It was like, It was like LDS conference on steroids. Oh, that's so cool. Wow. And just worshiping together. Just worshiping together. And Pastor Steve was there. I don't know if you, if you two, he has a show on USA Young with the mustache and beard.

If you, if you see him, you will know exactly who I'm talking about. So he was there with his family, his wife, and, and they, um,

[00:17:16] Tammy Uzelac Hall: preached a word. I mean, just what you described would not be possible in Mormon chapter one, based on the hard hearts. People wouldn't have even been gathered to worship together.

At all. Wow. At all. Yeah. Oh my gosh. So right there, things that you would not be able to live without are moments like that and the Holy Ghost. Amen. Awesome, Tamu. Thank you. What about

[00:17:41] Belinda Olsen: you, Belinda? One thing that stuck out to me was miracles. And in President Nelson's talk, The Power of Spiritual Momentum, he asked us to seek and expect miracles.

And I think that in general, the world thinks of miracles as really big and mighty things like parting the Red Sea. But one of the things that I love that President Nelson said, Was few things will accelerate your spiritual momentum more than realizing the Lord is helping you move a mountain in your life.

And some of those things can be really big or they can be really small. But I think that using coincidence is a tool of the devil. I was talking to my bishop about that, but that other people will justify the Lord being mindful of us as just a coincidence. And it's just luck that it happened. But that The Lord really does know us.

[00:18:37] Tammy Uzelac Hall: Oh, I will amen that all day long. Powerful words. Amen. So good. Melinda

[00:18:44] Tamu Smith: must have been at that, at that concert. Because that was like, he kept saying, nothing is coincidental. It's not luck, it's the Lord. It's not luck, it's the Lord. And I was like, look at you, preach a word. It's

[00:18:56] Tammy Uzelac Hall: not luck, it's the Lord. Oh, that's

[00:18:59] Belinda Olsen: good.

Well, and I think that when we have that mentality, we look at the Lord in a different way. We look at him as an advocate alongside us, trying to help us succeed and trying to help support and sustain us.

[00:19:13] Tammy Uzelac Hall: Absolutely. My gosh, I'm writing so many things down. This is awesome. Thank you. Thank you to both of you for thinking through that question and coming so well prepared to answer it.

I will tell you mine. In verse 17, when he says, but I did remain among them, but I was forbidden to preach unto them. It reminds me of, this is a fun story. When I was in ninth grade, my first year of seminary ever, I had a seventh period last period of the day. We were a bit rambunctious. I'll tell you that a little bit crazy.

We didn't know what we were doing in seminary. Nobody had set the standard for us. I felt like it was this new thing. And my class was crazy. And the teacher who was teaching us, it was this very first year teaching seminary and there was zero classroom control. So after a couple of weeks of this, finally, he came in with the principal at the beginning of one of the class periods.

The principal announced today we're splitting the class into the kids who wanna learn and the kids who don't wanna learn. And when I read your name off, you're gonna go into the other classroom. So he reads these names off and all these kids get up and go into the other classroom and I am stuck. I'm sitting in my desk, my name did not get read, read off, and he said, okay, this is the class from the rest for the rest of the year.

And the kids whose names got read off are the kids who wanna learn. And the kids who stayed in the class are the kids who didn't want to learn and were just goofy and wanted to party all the time. I was devastated that my name was not called. I was left in the class of kids who didn't want to learn.

Which is why I never knew Christ came to America. Because that was Book of Mormon year. We never got to 3rd Nephi 11. I don't think we got out of 1st Nephi chapter 1 that whole entire year. But I can remember the next, like it, I was so sad to be left out that a couple of days later I went into the principal's office crying and I said, I'm not in the right class.

I want to be with the kids who want to learn. You put me in the wrong class. Can I please go into the class of the other class? And the principal said, I'm sorry, Tammy, the decision has been made. You will stay in the other class. I, my heart was so broken. And then I go back to this verse because I was like, he was among them, but was forbidden to preach to them.

I would have, I would like to think I would have been one of the Nephites. It's like, well, please teach me, please, please. And he's like, I'm forbidden. I'm sorry. The decision has been made. I cannot teach you like that just pains my heart. Is there anyone in this group that wanted to hear from Mormon? And I don't know if there are, because they're hard.

Their hearts are so hard in verse 17 because of the hardness of their hearts and the hardness of their hearts. The land was cursed for their sake. So you can just see, and I'll be honest, that class period of mine, we have pretty hard hearts. We did not want to be taught. We were naughty. And I just,

[00:21:55] Tamu Smith: I'm in shock right now.

Like I, my feelings are hurt. Teacher, what if he would have broke your testimony? I know. And here I stand, look at me. Church is true. Strengthen it. I'm going to kick some kids

[00:22:06] Belinda Olsen: out of Sunday school. There you go. And now, you know, Why you were an inclusive seminary teacher.

[00:22:13] Tammy Uzelac Hall: I love it. I love it. I love it. Oh, this has been a fun, fun, fun discussion.

Okay. So as awful as that is, and it is awful because of their hard hearts, in the next segment, we're going to show you a shocking result of their hard hearts, and you're not going to believe this wording.

We are going to look at a verse of scripture that Elder Holland said is quote, perhaps the most chilling line Mormon ever wrote. How's that for a setup? The most chilling line Mormon ever wrote. Open your heart number two. Okay, find number two heart. And there's two in that one. There should be two hearts.

A little one inside the bigger one. Awesome. Good job. Okay, so here's what you want to know about Mormon chapter 2. Let's just look at verse 1. Again, we're still in war. There began to be a war between the Nephites and the Lamanites. And then Mormon says, Notwithstanding I being young, but I was large in stature, he was made the leader.

Over the people. And he's only 16 years old in verse two. That's what it tells us. So he's going to war with these people. And the problem is, is that you get to verse seven and it says, we did gather our people as fast as it were possible that we might get them together in one body. Like we're just going to get together and we're going to try to fight and we're going to try to be together.

But unfortunately the people, they just, their hearts are so hard. And so we have these verses now. Let's start with the cute little heart inside that's pink, because that's a happy heart. And Belinda, will you read that reference for us?

[00:23:56] Belinda Olsen: In Mormon 2 verse 12, And it came to pass that when I, Mormon, saw their lamentation and their mourning and their sorrow before the Lord, my heart did begin to rejoice within me, knowing the mercies and the longsuffering of the Lord, therefore supposing that he would be merciful unto them that they would again become a righteous people.

Okay. So

[00:24:19] Tammy Uzelac Hall: his heart begins to rejoice because he thinks, Oh my goodness, the sadness my people are experiencing is going to help them turn to the Lord. Tamu, will you read the verse of the scripture on the other heart that you have?

[00:24:32] Tamu Smith: Mormon 2, 13, But behold, this my joy was vain, for their sorrowing was not unto repentance because of the goodness of God, but it was rather the sorrowing of the dam because of The Lord would not always suffer them to take happiness and sin.

And they did not come unto Jesus with broken hearts and contrite spirit, but they did curse God and wish to die. Nevertheless, they would struggle with the sword.

[00:25:07] Tammy Uzelac Hall: We have right there, they would not come unto Jesus with broken hearts and contrite spirits. And so here we have verse 15. And as we read, I'm going to read verse 15 and I want you to underline what you think might be the most chilling line Mormon ever wrote. This is the verse Elder Holland speaking of verse 15.

And it came to pass that my sorrow did return unto me again. And I saw that the day of grace was passed with them, both temporally and spiritually. For I saw thousands of them hewn down in open rebellion against their God, and heaped up as dung upon the face of the land, and thus three hundred and forty and four years had passed away.

Any guesses what might be the most chilling line Mormon wrote in that verse?

[00:25:52] Belinda Olsen: I underlined, the day of grace was passed with them.

[00:25:56] Tammy Uzelac Hall: That is it. That is it. Talk to me about that. Tammy, tell me what you're feeling right now as you read these verses.

[00:26:04] Tamu Smith: Um, when I was visiting with my friend whose daughter passed away.

She was very calm and just reading this put, put some things into perspective, but, um, she just said she's happy. She, I knew that she, um, had developed this addiction and I told her it's going to kill you. And she said, mom, but I'm happy and I'll be happy. And as a parent, you know, I'm, I'm thinking about Mormon and he's here.

He is. Trying to, to get them to see, like, this is not what you want. And just the feeling is forgive them for where they know not what they do. Forgive us, forgive us in our ignorance, forgive us and our vanity and insanity. Like just, we just, we think we know, and we don't know, you know, we don't know. And we think it's never going to happen.

Thank you. It just hit different, it hit different this morning than it did, like, even I read it last night, a refresher before I went to bed and it just hit very different just in this moment.

[00:27:35] Tammy Uzelac Hall: Well, that story you shared, then I went back and looked at that verse 13 and I understand why you became emotional.

The Lord would not always suffer them to take happiness in sin. I mean, I think how many times. We all rationalize what we do, that it's making us happy. Every single, that's the human, that's the natural man in all of us. There's not a single person on this earth who hasn't lived that verse. or said the same thing that your friend's daughter said.

[00:28:04] Tamu Smith: Right. Well, and my kids say it all the time. YOLO. Like, don't say that.

[00:28:08] Tammy Uzelac Hall: I don't like that. I agree. Oh, wow. Tammu, thank you. Thanks for being real with that verse with us. Tell us a little bit, because you went into this day of grace was passed and Belinda, I'd love to know some of your thoughts about this. It is pretty chilling and I've been thinking about it nonstop because I'm like, but we believe in repentance.

We believe. Like really is a day of grace passed. That's heavy. It is the most chilling line Mormon could have ever written. Um, I'd love to know any of your thoughts, Belinda.

[00:28:41] Belinda Olsen: When I read these scriptures and then I liken them to what the world is like today, we still have prophets that are calling us to repentance.

We're still learning and exercising our grace. And so to think that for them, the world was even darker and full of even more challenges and heartache than what we're experiencing today, it's, it's really difficult to fathom. One of the things that also struck me is that we understand how important our agency is and that the Lord allows us to make those choices.

And just like a parent may want to coach their child into making a better decision. We fought for agency. We fought for that choice and Heavenly Father is going to let us choose.

[00:29:34] Tammy Uzelac Hall: Mm hmm. Belinda, I love that your answer was filled with hope. That was so great because you're like, this isn't us yet. We do have miracles and the Holy Ghost and prophets.

Here's a quote from Elder Holland, and he's going to give us a little bit more information on what this means to have the day of grace passed. Belinda, will you read this for us?

[00:29:52] Belinda Olsen: Yeah. In perhaps the most chilling line he ever wrote, Mormon asserted simply, I saw that the end. Day of Grace was passed with them, both temporally and spiritually.

His people had learned, that most faithful of all lessons, that the Spirit of God will not always strive with man, that it is possible, collectively as well as individually, to have time run out. The Day of Repentance can pass, and it had passed for the Nephites. Their numbers were being hewn down in open rebellion against their god, and in a metaphor almost too vivid in its moral commentary, they were being heaped up as dung upon the face of the land.

[00:30:33] Tammy Uzelac Hall: Thank you. I think this is powerful because I don't know anyone in this space. I just don't like the world we live in as wicked as it is. Thankfully, I don't think we've hit the day of grace passing from any of us. And I like that you just testified of that Belinda in your answer. And same with you, Tamu.

Like, I just think there is, there's always hope. Which I love and, um, I don't know anyone in this spot. I hope I don't ever meet anybody where the day of grace has passed. Oh, that's, that is chilling. Even,

[00:31:04] Tamu Smith: I mean, today thinking the day of grace has passed and you think about the work that is done in these temples and, um, even when you, we humans, um, we think it's over.

As Kurt Franklin would say, it ain't over.

[00:31:25] Tammy Uzelac Hall: It ain't over. It ain't over. I agree. Wow. Thank you both of you for your thoughts, um, and for your connections to these verses and for the tender, especially Tammy for your tender, um, story that you shared and the spirit that was felt that you shared it. So thank you.

Thank you. Okay. So in the next segment, then we're going to look into Mormon's heart and we're going to see what the verses have to teach us about that.

Here we go. Open heart number three, and I want you to tell me who the character is in heart number three.

[00:32:07] Tamu Smith: Who is it? I actually, it's so sad. I do not know. Oh, you're old then. I am.

[00:32:14] Belinda Olsen: Wait, but you do know who it is because this is Sadness the Feeling.

[00:32:22] Tammy Uzelac Hall: It is. It is Sadness the Feeling. It's from the movie, the, the Disney movie. Inside out. Oh, look at her. That little face. She's so sad. Sadness or sorrow, right? Oh my gosh. Okay. I wanted you to see this because first of all, for people who don't know what she looks like, will you just describe her to those who are hearing this?

What does the character sadness look like? Give me the color, the description, all this stuff, Belinda.

[00:32:50] Belinda Olsen: Okay, so of course her color is blue and she has the biggest puppy dog eyes and like even her body language is just so sullen and withdrawn. She has a downturned mouth. Her hands are clasped together and just, she has the most giant glasses that just emphasize the expression her eyes are making.

[00:33:15] Tamu Smith: Oh wow. Great job describing that. And I knew it was sadness. I have not seen Inside Out, but my granddaughter has these little squishy like toys, but they're supposed to help her describe her emotions. But now she can talk. So she would ask me. I had her this summer. She would say, yeah, can I, can I have some candy?

And I'd say, no, you've had enough. And she'd go get sadness and throw it at me.

[00:33:49] Belinda Olsen: If she's throwing it at you, it sounds like she's throwing a rage. I'm sad. I'm sad.

[00:33:55] Tammy Uzelac Hall: Oh my gosh. How cute is that? Yeah. It sounds like she should have been throwing the red guy at you. The right. Right. Okay. That is so cute. That is so cute.

Let's connect this picture of sadness to Mormon chapter two. Okay. We're going to still in Mormon chapter two and we're going to read a couple of verses and go through this. We want to do Mormon chapter two verses 19 and 20 because now that we've read that the verses that the day of grace was passed, we're going to get some insight into Mormon's heart.

So here we go. Mormon chapter two verses 19 and 20. And Belinda, will you read those for us?

[00:34:27] Belinda Olsen: Yeah. And woe is me because of their wickedness, for my heart has been filled with sorrow because of their wickedness all my days. Nevertheless, I know that I shall be lifted up at the last day. And it came to pass that in this year, Nephi were again hunted and driven.

And it came to pass that we were driven forth until we had come northward, To the land, which was called Shem.

[00:34:50] Tammy Uzelac Hall: Thank you. And now let's go to verses 26 and 27. I'll read these. And it came to pass that when they had fled, we did pursue them with our armies and did meet them again and did beat them.

Nevertheless, the strength of the Lord was not with us. Yay. We were left to ourselves, that the spirit of the Lord did not abide in us. Therefore, we had become weak like unto our brethren. And my heart did sorrow because of this great calamity of my people because of their wickedness and their abominations.

But behold, we did go forth against the Lamanites and the robbers of Gadianton until we had all again taken possession of the lands of our inheritance. And then Tamu, will you read chapter three, verses two and three? Absolutely. Verse

[00:35:33] Tamu Smith: two. And it came to pass that the Lord did say unto me, Cry unto this people, repent ye.

And come unto me and be ye baptized and built up again my church and ye shall be spared. And I did cry unto this people, but it was in vain. And they did not realize that it was the Lord that had spared them and granted unto them a chance for repentance. And behold, they did harden their hearts. against the Lord, their God.

Thank you.

[00:36:06] Tammy Uzelac Hall: So we kind of are getting this feeling that Mormon is sad based on his words that his heart did sorrow. And we're also understanding that these people are not getting better. And so as a result, we have Mormon chapter three, verse 11. And when I'm done reading this verse, I want you to sum it up for us in our own language.

Okay. And it came to pass that I Mormon did utterly refuse from this time forth to be a commander and a leader of this people because of their wickedness and abomination. All right. So exactly. Tell me how he's feeling or what would you say if you were Mormon?

[00:36:39] Belinda Olsen: I feel like he's so defeated that then he's fed up with the people.

He

[00:36:47] Tamu Smith: said, I quit y'all. I quit you. I threw his hands

[00:36:51] Belinda Olsen: up.

[00:36:51] Tamu Smith: Yeah. I quit. Yes. I'm perfect on this relationship.

[00:36:55] Tammy Uzelac Hall: That's so perfect.

[00:36:56] Tamu Smith: It's above me now. People can relate. It's above me now.

[00:36:59] Tammy Uzelac Hall: There you go. Put all that next to it. I quit you. It's above me now. He's he's fed up. I like that. Belinda fed up. He's done. I wrote next to it.

Mormon. I said, I'm done because that's exactly how I would say it. I'm done. I'm out. Like you people are driving me crazy.

[00:37:13] Tamu Smith: I'm done with you.

[00:37:14] Tammy Uzelac Hall: Yes, exactly. But then we get another heart in verse 12.

[00:37:18] Belinda Olsen: Belinda,

[00:37:18] Tammy Uzelac Hall: read that

[00:37:19] Belinda Olsen: for us. Verse 12, Behold, I had led them, notwithstanding their wickedness, I had led them many times to battle, and had loved them, according to the love of God which was in me.

With all my heart and my soul had poured out in prayer unto my God, and all the day long for them. Nevertheless, it was without faith, because of the hardness of their hearts.

[00:37:40] Tammy Uzelac Hall: Okay, tell me, what does this verse teach us about Mormon?

[00:37:44] Belinda Olsen: One of the things that I love is that he said that he looks at those people the way that God looks at those people.

And so because of that, he's able to still see their value, their worth, not give up on them. I also love that it says, My soul had been poured out in prayer unto my God all the day long for them. So while he's feeling discouraged and despair, he still is praying for these people that he's serving.

[00:38:16] Tammy Uzelac Hall: Those are great.

I like how you connected it, that the love of God, which was in me, that he loved them the way God does. That was a beautiful connection. I was thinking of these verses when I was reading them. And I thought, I wonder what, what this could possibly teach us about our leaders. Do you think they feel the same way?

Do you think they ever have moments where they're done, but then they just love us?

[00:38:40] Tamu Smith: Yep. Yes. And yes, I mean, I think I, I, what was it last month I was, um, I was traveling and so it was sometimes I'll scroll, um, the church's website and I'll download talks. And, um, and then I came across church news where it was like, basically a statement about the reality TV shows that are coming out.

Oh, yes. I was like, Oh my goodness, they, they stressing, they stressing my prophet out. He's about to be a hundred. It was right before his birthday. I was like, he's about to be a hundred. They're stressing him out. He's going to be done. This is going to be done with us. Like, this is not us. It's

[00:39:21] Tammy Uzelac Hall: not

[00:39:22] Tamu Smith: a tenant of our faith.

This is not who we are. Y'all cut it out.

[00:39:29] Tammy Uzelac Hall: Oh, I think that's perfect. That is so perfect. I think you're right. Yes, they're done.

[00:39:35] Belinda Olsen: I love though, I think our church leaders, like part of being able to have that mantle is that they're able to help continue to support and sustain us and just give us that pep talk that says, don't give up, keep enduring, persevere.

[00:39:49] Tammy Uzelac Hall: Oh, absolutely. I think, thank goodness. That's why we have general conference. Isn't this great that, can you imagine in six months from now after we just had general conference, but can you imagine when we come to the April one, if the prophet or apostles were like, we're not allowed to speak. Sorry, we're taking a break.

Like, I'll be scared when that happens, when we have a Mormon experience where the Lord says, you're not allowed to talk to these people. Girl. Yeah.

[00:40:14] Tamu Smith: I miss that. But I could tell you that I almost felt a little bit like that during COVID because being with other believers kind of feeds my soul. And I don't, like, I have sadness, I don't know that I have depression and during COVID, it was just that, wait, wait, what?

We don't have, we're not even going online. Like, we could do a Zoom. I kept saying to my bishop, are we going to do a Zoom link? Because we didn't have one for a while. And I was like, can we, can we FaceTime our kids? Can we, like, What are we doing? And he was like, we're just, I gotta wait. I'm just waiting to hear.

And I was like, I'm sure I wrote some letters. And I was like, what are we doing y'all? Like, The leaders, y'all could be on Zoom in your pajamas, we could have a conference every week. They didn't listen. But I love that idea.

[00:41:13] Belinda Olsen: I like Tammy that you brought up COVID. I think that was a really heavy and hard time.

One of the things for me coming out of COVID was that I actually did a deep dive. Study on hardening and softening of the heart, because I had recognized in myself that to like somewhat as a protective mechanism, like I had hardened my heart and I had the sweetest opportunity. A woman who ministered to me, it was her father's funeral.

And a couple of weeks before that, I had been asked to help clean the church and to play the organ at her father's funeral. And those are two things that I don't really love playing the organ. And cleaning toilets. Um, but as I was thinking about who I was doing that service for, like, heart was immediately softened.

And I thought of my friend and how I wanted to do something to serve her. And, um, I thought of the scripture in it. Alma chapter 34 verse 31. And this is just a good comparison because it says, Yea, I would that you would come forth and harden not your hearts any longer. For behold, now is the time and the day of your salvation.

And therefore, if you will repent and harden not your hearts, here's my favorite part, immediately shall the great plan of redemption be brought about unto you. And I love that. The Lord is just waiting for us to soften our hearts and to turn to Him.

[00:42:41] Tammy Uzelac Hall: Oh my goodness. Belinda, that is so cool as you did that study and look what you came to the knowledge of.

What else did you learn? I didn't even know that about you.

[00:42:53] Belinda Olsen: I know. Look at you being inspired. Oh, there's so many things that have stuck out to me, but that really softening our heart is one of the few things that we can give the Lord in our will and in our agency. And some people say softening their heart.

Some people may use the phrase repentance, but that they're really the same and that there for us to realize we're human, we're humble. And that we need others and especially that we need the Lord.

[00:43:25] Tammy Uzelac Hall: Oh my gosh, Belinda, that is so cool. Well, and as you read through Mormon chapters one through six, it just seems like that is the theme is just humble your heart, harden not your heart.

And I think what you just said, I'm so thankful you shared that scripture with us in Alma 34 verse 31 because it really is true. It is that immediate. And I think that's the message here is that Mormon's like. Just turn just all you have to do. I mean, especially in Mormon chapter three, verse two, it says the first thing, repent ye come unto me, be baptized and build up again my church and you shall be spared.

I mean, the first thing is what you said you taught us, Belinda, just repent. So let's keep talking about this. Then I love this theme of hearts. So in the next segment, we are going to see how the hearts, they are so bad that Mormon doesn't even want us to see what caused it. We'll do that next.

Okay. So at the very beginning, I told you that my daughter was in the medical assistant program and she came home from school the other day and her Inside of her arm was bruised and I asked her what the bruise was and she goes, we did blood draws today. First time where they practiced on each other and I got so squeamish that I was like, Oh, Oh, I can't.

I thought like my stomach is weak. I don't do well with blood. I don't know what my problem is. You think that I would be able to handle that? And I'm like, you did P, you drew blood from someone. She's like, yeah. And they did it to me. And I got bruised. Now I want to know, how are you guys? Do you guys have strong stomachs and you get squeamish with stuff like that?

[00:45:03] Belinda Olsen: I used to work as a medical assistant and I loved assisting in surgery. And as gross as this is, like the bloodier the surgery, the better, because then there is more work for me. But I have that same sentiment with your daughter, having been a phlebotomist for a season of my life.

[00:45:21] Tammy Uzelac Hall: Wow. Okay. That's hilarious.

That is so cool. What about you, Tamu?

[00:45:27] Tamu Smith: I'm more of a mourn with those that mourn. If you scream, if you're bleeding, I'm bleeding. So it doesn't go well with me. Bye. I am. You'll pass

[00:45:38] Tammy Uzelac Hall: out?

[00:45:38] Tamu Smith: Yeah.

[00:45:39] Tammy Uzelac Hall: Yeah.

[00:45:39] Tamu Smith: I get sick.

[00:45:40] Tammy Uzelac Hall: Okay. This is good to know because here's what I want to know. As you were reading through Mormon chapters four, five, and six, did any part of it make you squeamish?

Did you kind of, cause I think what's fascinating is that. We have sort of a look away moment Mormon is saying, look at things are so bad that I don't even want to write to you a part of what I'm seeing. And so I asked you guys open up part number four, here we go, heart number four and call out the scripture reference on that and we'll read it.

What is it? This one is Mormon 5, 8 through 9. Okay, here we go. Mormon 5, and we're going to look at 8 and 9. And here's what Mormon has to say. Belinda, will you read those two verses for us?

[00:46:22] Belinda Olsen: Verse 8, And now, behold, I, Mormon, do not desire to harrow up the souls of men, In casting before them such an awful scene of blood and carnage as was laid before mine eyes, but I, knowing that these things must surely be made known, and that all things which are hid must be revealed upon the housetops, and also that a knowledge Of these things must come unto the remnant of these people, and also unto the Gentiles, who the Lord hath said should scatter this people, and this people should be counted as not among them.

Therefore I write a small abridgment, daring not to give a full account of the things which I have seen, because of the commandment which I have received, and also that ye might not have too great sorrow because of the wickedness of this people.

[00:47:09] Tammy Uzelac Hall: Okay. There it is. So I want to know as you read these, what did you find that made it just, you kind of gave you a feeling of, yeah, I'm glad he didn't give all of it to us.

Did anything stand out to you that describes the world or the condition of his people?

[00:47:24] Belinda Olsen: I had a hard time thinking about, uh, Mormon chapter four verses 14 and 15, where they talk about how they sacrifice the women and children.

[00:47:36] Tammy Uzelac Hall: Read that for us.

[00:47:38] Belinda Olsen: And it says in verse 14, And they did also march forward against the city of Teancum and did drive the inhabitants forth out of her, and did take many prisoners, both women and children, and did offer them up as sacrifices unto their idol gods.

And it came to pass that in the three hundred and sixty seventh year, the Nephites being angry because the Lamanites had sacrificed their women and their children, that they did against the Lamanites with exceedingly great anger. In so much that they did beat again the Lamanites and did drive them out of their lands.

[00:48:12] Tamu Smith: That's yucky. I know that that, for one, I, when I was reading this, um, and it was saying that the, um, 411, and it is impossible for the tongue to describe or for a man to write a perfect description of the horrible scene of the blood and carnage, which was among the people. Both the Nephites and the Lamanites and every heart was hardened so that they delighted in the shedding of blood continually.

[00:48:42] Tammy Uzelac Hall: Yeah,

[00:48:44] Tamu Smith: it just it, um, I'm a visual person. So if you describe something to me, if you're describing blood and carnage, it will eventually all start to get a little nauseous. But, um, it just. I think about the state of the world today and turning on the news and seeing scenes with the bodies of children and innocent people covered because they were, you know, in a bombing or they, they died and some sort of a situation that did not involve them.

And there are just casualties of war, casualties of a situation.

[00:49:22] Tammy Uzelac Hall: Yeah.

[00:49:23] Belinda Olsen: Um, along that same line, like where it says that they delighted in the shedding of blood, then you emphasize the word continually. I think that there are people who can be like that today, whether that's in the comment section online or whether that's in the flags that they fly, but that there, there's that intentional malice.

And that the intent is to hurt others. And you can see where in this scripture, or even in people who do that today, that they lose themselves. It wasn't that long ago, just a few pages that the savior was here with their ancestors, but then they've forgotten that and that they have lost themselves and who they are.

And where their ancestors came from and their interactions.

[00:50:12] Tammy Uzelac Hall: Well, Linda, thanks for pointing that out and reminding us, yeah, their ancestors. It wasn't that long ago that the savior was with them. So I have this follow up question for both of you. So do this for me. Just sit back. Cause I didn't prep you with this question.

So just sit back and relax as I ask this to you so you can just notice that how the spirit works with you. Because for those of you listening, every time we do an episode before we start recording, we say a prayer and Tamu said the prayer and she said a line that struck me so hard that I wrote it down when the prayer was over.

And as she was praying, I kept thinking, do not forget what she said. Do not forget what she said. And this is the line she said. We have this in front where she was speaking of the scriptures. The Book of Mormon specifically, and she said, we have this information in a world that is so turbulent and toxic.

Now if you go to Mormon chapter five, Mormon five speaks about how the Book of Mormon will come forth. To convince all of Israel that Jesus is the Christ, we have this information, the Book of Mormon in a world that is so turbulent and toxic. And I thought we have to talk about this in Mormon chapter five, because I want to know from the two of you, how does the Book of Mormon benefit a world that is turbulent and toxic?

How has it benefited you?

[00:51:31] Belinda Olsen: I feel like I'm in a season of my life where I am honestly doing those Sunday school answers of reading my scriptures, going to church, taking the sacrament, and I'm doing those things really regularly. And it gets to the point that I love them and I look forward to them and I crave them.

And. It isn't always hours worth of studying. Sometimes it's listening to one conference talk while I'm driving. Sometimes it's listening just to one scripture that I study, but I love them. I love them. I love that in this chapter, Mormon is talking to us knowing and seeing our current day. And I loved so much reading, uh, verses 14 and 15.

And I just, I feel like when we really liken the scriptures unto ourselves and apply them, and that we slow down and think about what those things mean and matter, that we can really be acted upon by the Spirit.

[00:52:37] Tammy Uzelac Hall: Belinda, you are goodness. I love your answer. Oh, I love that answer. So good. What about you,

[00:52:44] Tamu Smith: Tamu?

For me, as I read specifically these scriptures in Mormon, clearly I have abandonment issues. So it made me feel less alone. And for me, if you can show me a pathway, if you can say somebody has done this before. You are not the first person to experience this. You will get through this. Just keep moving.

This is for me, the breadcrumbs. I look for breadcrumbs in the scriptures. Uh, okay. This has happened before. I'm like, cause I, I go through that panic, like that initial stage. And, um, and then when I can really focus and get quiet and focus on the scriptures or focus on a word, I know that I'm not alone.

And as long as I know that I'm not the first one to experience this, and I'm not alone in this. I know I can make it through and this for me is the world that we live in today. It, it is turbulent, it's toxic. And I look at this and I'm like, oh, it was the same world. It's just a different time. Like they went through similar things and, um, we'll, we'll make it through.

We'll be okay. Oh my goodness.

[00:54:02] Belinda Olsen: You can tell that I'm in a season of life where I'm. Trying so hard to find my glass half full. And I love when we listen to general conference and our leaders. Just share stories of humanity. They're not perfect people, but that they share stories and examples that are so approachable to us.

I too am such a visual person. And one of the things that I was struck by was in Mormon 5, And just the visual nature of this, because it says in verse 17, they were once a delightsome people and they had Christ for their shepherd, and they were led even by God, the father. And when our Savior is referred to as the Shepherd, it's one of my favorite things to grasp and understand, and I loved reading, I believe it's in David Butler's book, Redeemer, where he talks about Uh, what a shepherd is and how a shepherd knows each of his sheep and that those sheep know the sound of his voice.

And I just, I love that, especially as this past year for president Nelson's birthday, you know, we had the 99 and one challenge. It just, it's such a visual comparison of, there is a shepherd and he wants to be there for us. But that these people, they were once that delights them, but they aren't anymore.

[00:55:26] Tammy Uzelac Hall: Oh, both of you give such powerful answers. And Belinda, I appreciate that you ended with verses 16 and 17. Because when you read verse 16, and it says, Behold, the Spirit of the Lord hath already ceased to strive with their fathers. And they are without Christ and God in the world to have that described of a people to be without Christ and God in the world is, I think, devastating for the condition of the world.

And you can see how having the Book of Mormon, another witness of Jesus Christ, another witness of the shepherd, as you brought up, Belinda. Is the most powerful thing, or this infirm. I love how you, you just gave thanks for it. Tamu in your prayer that we have the words of Christ right here. We have the breadcrumbs.

I think that's so cool. You connected it to that. We have these breadcrumbs that will lead us home that will lead us back to the savior. And so let's do this then in the next segment. We're going to discover Mormon's final words to these hard and unbroken hearts that we're living without Christ and God in the world.

And we'll do that next.

Okay, here we go. Last part. Now I want to know when you hear the phrase, what does this phrase mean to you to pour out your heart?

[00:56:46] Belinda Olsen: You don't hold anything back.

[00:56:49] Tammy Uzelac Hall: Good one. Yes, absolutely. So this is what Mormon does. He's going to pour out his heart to us. Go to Mormon chapter six, bracket off versus 17 through 22.

Okay, to the outside, you're going to want to write, Mormon pours out his heart. Now open up your last heart and tell us what the scripture references are. I think I just kind of gave it up.

[00:57:11] Belinda Olsen: That's okay. This is the cutest heart and it says Mormon 6, 17 through 22. And I like that you did this one on happy colors, happy paper.

[00:57:22] Tammy Uzelac Hall: Yeah. That was intentional. Do you notice all the other papers? Look very closely. They're all Halloween papers. Yes. I noticed. They're all black. They are. There's black. There's spiders on one. There's bats on another one. Cause those are the hard heart pictures, the hard heart scriptures. Okay. So yes, you're absolutely right.

I purposely chose to have happy colored heart for Mormon pouring out his heart. Now I'm going to give you a quick little Hebrewism. You're going to love this. If you look throughout Mormon chapter six, starting in verse 12 through 15. You're going to see Mormon listing everybody who died with their 10, 000.

Did you notice that word 10, 000 repeated so many times? He with his 10, 000. He with his 10, 000. Okay, here's what you want to know, because I, every time I read this in the past, I was like, how did they know it was exactly really 10, 000? That's incredible. Did they count every person and they came? What are the odds?

And then I realized, Oh, in Hebrew, the number 10, 000 actually means a great multitude. So, anytime you couldn't number it big enough, and it's just a great multitude, they're going to just give out the number 10, 000. So, it probably really wasn't exactly 10, 000, it may have been more, it may have been less, but it was just a great multitude of people that died,

[00:58:32] Belinda Olsen: so know that.

I always love your Hebraisms. I do too, because then

[00:58:37] Tammy Uzelac Hall: it makes sense to me, then I'm like, ah, how did they count 10, 000? They didn't. So, I mean, they could have, but the odds are pretty slim, so it just means a really great multitude. So, so many people have died. That's what more in setting us up with. And he is now going to pour out his heart to us in verses 17 through 22.

Now this is so fun and I love what I have learned about these verses. So let's just start. We're each going to take a turn and can we just read versus 17 through 19 that's as far as we'll go. And we'll go Belinda, Tamu, and then me.

[00:59:10] Belinda Olsen: In verse 17, O ye fair ones, how could ye have departed from the ways of the Lord?

O ye fair ones, how could ye have rejected that Jesus who stood with open arms to receive you?

[00:59:22] Tamu Smith: Behold, if ye had not done this, You would not have fallen, but behold, ye are fallen, and I mourn your

[00:59:30] Tammy Uzelac Hall: loss. O ye fair sons and daughters, ye fathers and mothers, ye husbands and wives, ye fair ones, how is it that ye could have fallen?

Oh, we probably should read all the verses because they're so good. Let's just keep going. Keep going, Belinda.

[00:59:45] Belinda Olsen: But behold, ye are gone, and my sorrows cannot bring your return. And the

[00:59:49] Tamu Smith: day soon cometh that your mortal must put on immortality, and these bodies which are now moldering. And corruption must soon become incorruptible bodies.

And then you must stand before the judgment seat of Christ to be judged according to your work. And if it be so that you are righteous, Then ye are blessed with your fathers who have gone before you.

[01:00:15] Tammy Uzelac Hall: O that ye had repented before this great destruction had come upon you. But behold, ye are gone, and the Father, yea, the Eternal Father of Heaven, knoweth your state, and he doeth you according to his justice and mercy.

Okay, now, mark the word fair. How it says it so many times, O ye fair ones. And one of the things I love, and we included a link in our show notes, is an article that has been written by a scholar that tells us what the word fair could possibly mean. And the word fair comes from an Egyptian word. And the word is spelled N F I.

And if that sounds like Nephi, it's supposed to. It's a play on words right here. And this word Nephi or fair actually means also, it does mean fair, but it also means good or goodly or beautiful. And I like that definition there because the article states that this word fair has nothing to do with skin tone.

It's a word play. And it's saying that, Oh, you fair ones is another of saying, remember who you are. You are the Nephites and the Nephite people were good and they were, they were fine and they were beautiful. And remember who, where you came from, because he talks a lot about fathers in here and the relationship with his fathers.

The thing that's so powerful about this description or this new understanding of the word fair is that Jesus, for me, this is what I came to, is Jesus is the source of our goodness, our beauty, and all that is fair. I think that's what it's trying to teach us here. And so I asked you guys to think about this question.

When has Christ been a source of something good, beautiful, or fair in your life. Do you have something that comes to mind?

[01:01:54] Belinda Olsen: One of the things that I wrote by verse 17 is this is exactly why the scriptures use the word remember so often, because I think it's really easy for us to forget the times that we see the hand of the Lord in our lives.

I think it's easy to forget those examples that other people share with us. And so the Lord wants us to remember. And I think it's really powerful when we remember the examples that we have. Um, there's something that happened to me and every year on the day that that happened, I have a, an alert that pops up to remind me to go back and to look at those notes.

And it's a silly example. My dog ran away during some fireworks that in that one story, like my dog, we found him, but that there were. Hundreds, literally hundreds of miracles that had to happen for me to be reunited with my family, with my phone that I left behind, with my dog that was scared of the fireworks and everything worked out.

And I love that because I, when I wrote in that journal entry, the very first thing that I wrote was God is mindful of me. And I just love to remind myself of that. And that's one big story, um, that I often remember.

[01:03:18] Tammy Uzelac Hall: Oh my gosh. What a powerful example of Christ being beautiful and good and fair in your life and remembering you.

I love how you connected verse 17 to the word remember. That is awesome. What about you Tamu?

[01:03:33] Tamu Smith: I think, I mean, there's a lot of, a lot of different things in times of struggle, small acts of kindness, um, personal growth. But, uh, just really, it really depends on the day and the season. And I mean, I wrote down a lot of, uh, a lot of things.

And one of the things right now that I am, I'm feeling, well, two of the things, one is, uh, community and belonging. Being a part of a faith community where, where I can openly speak about Christ and not feel like it's taboo or not feel like it's going to create some contention. I think that that is important for my soul and my connection.

And I've always, I look back on my life and I've always been a part of a community, even when in high school, I had a lot of friends that were, um, Different faith. And I remember spending the night at one of my friend's house and her family is Buddhist. That was during my, you know, wake up seminary, early morning seminary days and spending the night at her house.

I was like, Hey, do you think y'all could take me to seminary and just drop me off in the morning because I knew that I had to say the prayer and she was like, what is like, what is that? Yeah, that won't be a problem. I wanted to spend the night at her house, but I also knew that I had made a commitment to my seminary teacher and then being able when I, you know, kind of share my faith with her.

Journey with her, it was just like, and I felt, I felt a little anxious about that, but it was just like, Oh, that's really cool. Like, that's really cool. And her being able to make a parallel because they get up early in the morning and they say their prayers, you know, um, they, uh, mantras. And so that's one just being belonging to a faith community.

Of believers and, um, whether it is just believing in something higher than yourself and being able to share my personal journey and not feeling other, even when I am other, it connects me back to humanity and back to, and, and in this human experience, it connects me back to a Christ who saves. And that to me is grace.

[01:05:55] Tammy Uzelac Hall: Wow. Tammy, I love how you just connected that, especially to the community of faith, all believers. I think we need to be reminded of that. That was powerful. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. I'm writing down notes.

[01:06:09] Belinda Olsen: Tammy, if I can share one more, Mormon chapter six, verse 22 at the end, it says the eternal father of heaven knoweth your state and he doeth with you according to his justice and mercy.

And I think that it's really cool that. Mormon talks about the justice and mercy of the Lord and really that he knows the Lord's character to recognize that mercy is an important thing that we, that we want, that we crave and that the Lord wants to give us.

[01:06:47] Tammy Uzelac Hall: I think you're right. And I'm going back to how you've now used that word, remembering connection with these verses, because we started out by saying Mormon is speaking to us.

I mean, he is speaking to his wicked people, but if we put this into the context of our day, then he's saying to every one of us listening, Oh, ye fair ones. And he's just saying, remember you all, you're good. You're fair. You're beautiful. Remember that? Remember that? I got to want you to forget that. And then it puts it on us like, Oh yeah, we are good and fine and fair and beautiful.

We are Christ's people. And so he's just saying, I love how you've said that Belinda. Remember, Oh, you fair ones, instead of how could you have rejected, I just think of that Jesus who stood with open arms to receive you. And now I'm just going to go through and be like, remember when he was here. I love how you said it was just a few chapters earlier where Christ came to the people like, remember that, remember that.

So thank you. Thank you to both of you. We're done. That's the end of our discussion. Wow. So good. Okay. So gather your thoughts and just share. What are your takeaways for today?

[01:07:52] Tamu Smith: For me, I wrote something down that Belinda said, and I'm putting it on one of these hearts and I'm going to put it on my mirror and tell this on my heart.

We are humble. We are human and we need the Lord. And I need that on my heart because, um, I think that, that. Again, I go back to where we are at in the world today. Not only do I need to remind myself of who I am, but I need to know, I need to remember who other people are and their journey as they try to figure things out in this online world.

Because, um, while I don't like the visual thoughts of blood and carnage, I do be in the comments. And I do . I do be stabbing people up and there's blood and carnage. So I need to remember humble human. And we need the

[01:08:50] Tammy Uzelac Hall: Lord. I know. Wasn't that so good when she connected the carnage to the words of carn?

Like

[01:08:56] Tamu Smith: our words can be that way, you know, was good.

[01:08:58] Tammy Uzelac Hall: But

[01:08:58] Tamu Smith: I was a little bit mad at her 'cause I was like, I

[01:09:01] Belinda Olsen: calling Alpha Linda, you cannot be mad at me. I'm, but I was like, oh, she's not wrong.

[01:09:11] Tammy Uzelac Hall: That was so good. The truth hurts. Oh, indeed. Yeah. That was good. It was. It was,

[01:09:18] Tamu Smith: it was awesome.

[01:09:19] Belinda Olsen: One of the things that Tamu said that struck me was talking about a faith community, and that doesn't have to mean other members of the community.

Of the church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints, but that it can be others that have that same knowledge of God, that testimony of God, or even like Tamu said, um, you know, like those, those higher mantras and I really love that. And that resonated a lot with me. You asked us a question of like, when. Has Christ been a source of something good in your life?

And there was a season of time while I was going through my divorce that I lived with my parents And my parents work in the Red Cliffs Temple every Friday night And while I was living with them every Friday night, I was in the temple and I loved that sense of community and being with a bunch of people who Just saw me as a daughter of God And that were so excited to see me and that were like minded and supportive.

It was a time that was really sustaining for me.

[01:10:19] Tammy Uzelac Hall: Wow. I can see how it would be. And I love that you turned your heart to the Lord and that you, like you said earlier, you did the, the seminary, the church answers, Sunday school answers, and there you are in the temple going through a really difficult time.

Divorce is not easy. And I'm sorry you went through that, but there you are in the temple. That is awesome. Thank you, Belinda. Um, Oh, my takeaway is when Tammu said, because I've known the Holy Ghost, I've never felt alone. That was so good. Love, love, love that. I wrote it down. And then Belinda, when you did a study of the hardening and softening of the heart and you took us to Alma 34 verse 31, that was so awesome because I just love that you did a study of that and you connected it for us.

That verse is powerful. That verse could just be like, I'm going to put it on every page of Mormon chapter one through six to remind myself that that verse was taught. And um, and it, and it goes back to that idea of Tamu's prayer, that we have this information. We have Alma 3431 in a world that is turbulent and toxic.

So both

[01:11:21] Belinda Olsen: of

[01:11:22] Tammy Uzelac Hall: you for coming so well prepared. Oh, that was a great discussion. Love you both. That's it. We're done. Love you. Bye. Wow. Okay. What was your takeaway? Cause there were so many from this episode. So go join our Facebook group or on Instagram and share what you have learned or ask questions that you need answered.

Mostly just share what you've learned. I'd love to know. And then the end of the week on a Saturday, we post a question that comes from this specific episode. So comment on the post that relates to it and share your thoughts. You can get to both our Facebook and Instagram by going to the show notes for this episode at LDS living. com slash Sunday on Monday and go there anyway. It's where we're going to have links to all the references as well as a transcript of this whole discussion. So go check it out. The Sunday on Monday study group is a desert bookshelf plus original brought to you by LDS living. It's written and hosted by me, Tammy Uzelac Hall and today our incredible study group participants were Tamu Smith and Belinda Olson. And you can find more information about my friends at LDS living. com slash Sunday on Monday. Our podcast is produced by Cole Wissinger and me. It is edited and mixed by Cole Wissinger and our executive producer is Erin Hallstrom.

Thanks for being here. We'll see you next week. And please remember, oh ye fair ones, that you are God's favorite.