49: “Come unto Christ, and Be Perfected in Him” (Moroni 10)

Segment 1:

1 Now I, Moroni, write somewhat as seemeth me good; and I write unto my brethren, the ^aLamanites; and I would that they should know that more than ^bfour hundred and twenty years have passed away since the sign was given of the coming of Christ (Moroni 10:1).
2 And I ^aseal up ^bthese records, after I have spoken a few words by way of exhortation unto you (Moroni 10:2).

• Exhortation = "To encourage, to embolden, to cheer, to advise. The primary sense seems to be to excite or to give strength, spirit or courage" 2. To advise; to warn; to caution. (Webster's 1828 Dictionary). 

Segment 2:

Moroni's Promise:
3 Behold, I would exhort you that when ye shall read these things, if it be wisdom in God that ye should read them, that ye would remember how ^amerciful the Lord hath been unto the children of men, from the creation of Adam even down until the time that ye shall receive these things, and ^bponder it in your ^chearts.

4 And when ye shall receive these things, I would exhort you that ye would ^aask God, the Eternal Father, in the name of Christ, if these things are not ^btrue; and if ye shall ask with a ^csincere heart, with ^dreal intent, having ^efaith in Christ, he will ^fmanifest the ^gtruth of it unto you, by the power of the Holy Ghost.

5 And by the power of the Holy Ghost ye may ^aknow the ^btruth of all things (Moroni 10:3–5).

• It = the mercy of Jesus Christ

What is Moroni asking us to do?
1. Read these things (Book of Mormon).
2. Ponder them in your heart.
3. Ask with a sincere heart, with real intent, having faith in Christ.

Quote: "I hope that in the coming year each of you can feel in greater measure God’s love for you individually. At those times when you wonder if there is any reason to hope, when you wonder if anyone cares—or if anyone should care—I invite you to ask God what He thinks of you—what He really thinks of you^.1(President Kevin J Worthen, as quoted by President Dallin H. Oaks, "Racism and Other Challenges," BYU Speeches, October 27, 2020).

Quote: “The last five words of the verse offer an important admonition—‘ponder it in your hearts.’ What is the antecedent of ‘it’—the thing that we are to ponder? It is ‘how merciful the Lord hath been unto the children of men, from the creation of Adam even down until the time that ye shall receive these things.’ We are to remember how loving, how provident, how good, how forgiving our Heavenly Father has been toward us” (Elder Gene R. Cook, “Moroni’s Promise,” Ensign, April 1994, 12).

6 And whatsoever thing is good is just and true; wherefore, nothing that is good denieth the Christ, but acknowledgeth that he is (Moroni 10:6).

Segment 3:

Quote: “One of the great tragedies of life, is when a person classifies himself as someone who has no talents or gifts" (Elder Marvin J. Ashton, "There Are Many Gifts," October 1987 general conference).

Quote: “When, in disgust or discouragement, we allow ourselves to reach depressive levels of despair because of our demeaning self-appraisal, it is a sad day for us and a sad day in the eyes of God. For us to conclude that we have no gifts when we judge ourselves by stature, intelligence, grade-point average, wealth, power, position, or external appearance is not only unfair but unreasonable" (Elder Marvin J. Ashton, "There Are Many Gifts," October 1987 general conference).

8 And again, I exhort you, my brethren, that ye deny not the ^agifts of God, for they are many; and they come from the same God. And there are ^bdifferent ways that these gifts are administered; but it is the same God who worketh all in all; and they are given by the manifestations of the ^cSpirit of God unto men, to profit them (Moroni 10:8).

• Everyone is given at least one gift:
• 11 For all have not every ^agiftgiven unto them; for there are many gifts, and to every man is given a gift by the Spirit of God.
  12 To some is given one, and to some is given another, that all may be profited thereby (D&C 46:11–12). 

Quote: "Life springs surprises on even the most faithful saints. An unexpected death in the family, a distressing inability to marry, the tears of war, the careless mistakes of others, and so forth. We cannot control the future, and person truth promises no such mastery. This does not mean we should live passively or ignore the future when conducting our affairs, it simply means that our faith and trust should rest with God and not our preparations" (Jeffrey L. Thayne, Edwin D. Gantt, Who is Truth? Reframing ourQuestions for Deeper Faith).

Where to find more about spiritual gifts:

D&C 46:11-26, 1 Corinthians 12:4-12

Spiritual Gifts in Moroni 10:

1. Teach the word of wisdom: Includes sound judgment and the proper application of gospel doctrines and principles, particularly in decision making. Wisdom is one of the divine attributes of deity. “Wisdom presupposes a proper use of knowledge. Wisdom is both the knowledge and the use of knowledge of saving truths” (Oscar W. McConkie, God and Man, p. 190).

2. Teach the word of knowledge: “Knowledge is a carefully-stored-up supply of facts, generally slowly acquired. The ability to instruct is the gift to impart of this supply to others” (Janne M. Sjodahl, Hyrum M. Smith, Doctrine and Covenants Commentary, p. 274).

Quote: “One of the great processes you go through in life is to discover yourself, to find those gifts and capacities God has given you. He has given you great talents, the smallest part of which you have just begun to utilize. Trust the Lord to assist you in unlocking the door to those gifts. Some of us have created imaginary limits in our minds. There is literally a genius locked up inside each of us. Don’t ever let anyone convince you otherwise” (Elder Gene R. Cook, "Trust in the Lord," BYU Speeches, May 29, 1984).

3. Exceedingly great faith: Experienced by degrees and increased through righteous living. Not everyone has the same degree of faith. This gift is a prerequisite for both healing and working miracles (see Matthew 17:14–20; see also 1 Nephi 7:12) (New Testament Student Manual, "Chapter 39: 1 Corinthians 12–14," ChurchofJesusChrist.org).

Segment 4:

Spiritual Gifts in Moroni 10 Continued:4. Gift of healing: "Manifest through priesthood ordinances. To pray with faith sufficient for healing is also a spiritual gift (see James 5:13–14; D&C 42:48). To be healed or to heal requires great faith. Often this gift is thought of in terms of physical healing.The scriptures, however, speak of the healing of a sick soul and the removing of spiritual darkness" (New Testament Student Manual, "Chapter 39: 1 Corinthians 12–14," ChurchofJesusChrist.org).

5. Work mighty miracles: “Miracles, as spoken of as one of the gifts of the Spirit, are those occurrences that are performed by the power of God which are beyond the power of man to perform. They take place when God manifests his power. Such power is manifest upon his own volition or upon the petition of a faithful person” (Oscar W. McConkie, God and Man, p. 190).

6. Prophecy: "This is indeed one of the greatest of all the many gifts of God. To be able to speak inspired utterances of things of the past, present, or future is the gift of prophecy. Compare 1 Corinthians 14:1–31" (“To Every Man Is Given a Gift," Lesson 20: Sections 46, 49–50, ChurchofJesusChrist.org ).

7. Beholding of angels or ministry spirits: "The difference between angels and ministering spirits is not made known in the Book of Mormon. A revelation in the Doctrine and Covenants teaches that an angel is a resurrected being (or translated being) with a body of flesh and bones, while spirits who appear to individuals are the spirits of just men made perfect (D&C 129:1–3; 7)" Dennis L. Largey, Book of Mormon Reference Companion, Deseret Book, 2003).

8. Gift of tongues and interpretation of tongues:

Talk: Elder Oaks's BYU Speech "Spiritual Gifts"

Quote: “Let us review some of these less-conspicuous gifts: the gift of asking; the gift of listening; the gift of hearing and using a still, small voice; the gift of being able to weep; the gift of avoiding contention; the gift of being agreeable; the gift of avoiding vain repetition; the gift of seeking that which is righteous; the gift of not passing judgment; the gift of looking to God for guidance; the gift of being a disciple; the gift of caring for others; the gift of being able to ponder; the gift of offering prayer; the gift of bearing a mighty testimony; and the gift of receiving the Holy Ghost" (Elder Marvin J. Ashton, "There Are Many Gifts," October 1987 general conference).

Segment 5:

31 And ^aawake, and arise from the dust, O Jerusalem; yea, and put on thy beautiful garments, O daughter of ^bZion; and ^cstrengthen thy ^dstakes and enlarge thy borders forever, that thou mayest ^eno more be confounded, that the covenants of the Eternal Father which he hath made unto thee, O house of Israel, may be fulfilled (Moroni 10:31).

Background to Moroni 10:31:

In the Old Testament, the social structure was grounded in tribal affiliation/tribal groups: kinship.

1. Kinship-in-flesh: You already belong to a kinship threw birth. While seeking a wife among the daughters of Laban, Jacob proved his kinship-in-flesh, which resulted in Laban’s words: “Surely thou art my bone and my flesh" (Genesis 29:14).

2. Kinship-in-law: They become part of the tribe/family mainly through marriage or adoption.

Benefits of Kinship:

Ancient covenants between people was the legal means by which the duties and privileges of kinship could be extended to others.

Obligations of the Kinsman/Sheikh:

· Lead in Battle

· Redeem kinsman from slavery

· Shares land of his heritage

· Protection from the enemy: blesses those who bless his kindred and curses those who curse his kindred

· Pay your debts

· Food

· Avenges the blood of a kinsman

· Redeeming property sold by a poor kinsman

· Marrying the widow of a brother or near kinsman to secure his line—Ruth

· Love his family (hesed) this is a love based on the covenant or oath. A committed love.

(see Hershel Shanks, "God As Divine Kinsman: What Covenant Meant in Ancient Israel," Biblical Archaeology Review 25:4, July/August 1999, baslibrary.org).

Hebrew: Brit (covenant) = treaty, pact, alliance, with the kinsman (see 1 Nephi 4:32).

Tent of a Kinsman:

"As the tent-dweller's family grows larger, or as he becomes richer and wishes to enlarge his tent, he does so by simply adding another section to his old tent, very much like the we would build another room on to his house; but there is this difference: instead of building a new tent they just continue patching. Isaiah had this process in mind when he compared the prophetic prosperity of Israel to a Bedouin tent. 'Enlarge the place of thy tent, and let them stretch forth the curtains of thine habitations: spare not, lengthen thy cords, and strengthen thy stakes' (Isa. 54:2). Procedure for adding to the tent: The usual procedure is to accumulate the goat clippings of a year or so, and with these make a new strip with which to repair the old tent. The women do this work. The section of the tent roof that is most worn is ripped out, and a new piece of the cloth replaces it. The old piece is then used for a side curtain. Each year new strips of cloth replace old ones and the 'house of hair' is handed down from father to son without its being completely new or completely old at any one time" (Fred H. Wight, "Excerpts from Manners and Customs of Bible Lands," ancient-hebrew.org ).

15 And my father dwelt in a ^atent (1 Nephi 2:15).

Segment 6:

32 Yea, ^acome unto Christ, and be ^bperfected in him, and ^cdeny yourselves of all ungodliness; and if ye shall deny yourselves of all ungodliness, and ^dlove God with all your might, mind and strength, then is his grace sufficient for you, that by his grace ye may be ^eperfect in Christ; and if by the grace of God ye are perfect in Christ, ye can in nowise deny the power of God.

33 And again, if ye by the grace of God are perfect in Christ, and deny not his power, then are ye ^asanctified in Christ by the grace of God, through the shedding of the ^bblood of Christ, which is in the covenant of the Father unto the remission of your ^csins, that ye become ^dholy, without spot (Moroni 10:32–33).

Hebrew: Hesed—More than, "I love you," a committed love (see Exodus 34:6).

0:00:00.0 Tammy Uzelac Hall: Oh my gosh. My heart is racing. We did it. You guys, this is the end of the Book of Mormon, and I am so excited. Okay. And a little bit sad and anxious and overwhelmed, and I'm also at peace. I mean, can you even be all of those things all at once? 'Cause that's how I'm feeling right now. Moroni chapter 10. This is the absolute best chapter for this time of year, and I mean... Because who doesn't like gifts, am I right? Today we get to talk about gifts, as well as have such an incredible discussion about who gives them to us and so much more, so much more. I can't wait to dig into this chapter.

0:00:37.1 TH: 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, here's how it works. It's an hour long and you can sit and listen to it all at once and enjoy me for an entire hour and my guests, or something that I think is cool, this is my favorite part, is it's broken up into six segments. And each segment is about 10-12 minutes long, so you can just study your scriptures for 10-12 minutes a day. That's totally my pace. Just like the Geddes family in Rexburg, Idaho. How fun is this? They listen as a family for 10-12 minutes a day. So hi, Geddes family. We love you guys. Okay, now the best part about this study group for me is that each week I get to invite two of my friends to come and talk about the scriptures, which is so much fun. And so today, we have two of my very dearest friends. One you know, she's a familiar on the podcast, Becky Farley. Hi, Beck.

0:01:35.6 Becky Farley: Hey, Tam.

0:01:37.3 TH: And our new friend, who's an old friend, but it's the first time she's been on here, and it's Kimberly Brown Sorensen. Hi.

0:01:42.5 Kimberly Brown Sorenson: Hi, Tammy.

0:01:45.3 TH: Okay, so for those of you listening, I'm not gonna call Becky or Kimberley by their first names, and I never have. So Becky Farley will be Farley throughout this podcast. And Kimberly Brown Sorenson is gonna be Brown. In fact, I didn't even know Kimberly's real name for years. [chuckle] Neither did Farley, right?

0:02:00.1 BF: No, no.

0:02:00.3 TH: 'Cause we've always just called her Brown.

0:02:01.5 BF: I've always called her Brown.

0:02:01.7 KS: Well, it's funny 'cause I only know Becky Farley as Becky Farley. Ha. [laughter]

0:02:05.8 TH: Oh, yeah. BFF, Becky Farley forever.

0:02:08.9 KS: Yeah.

0:02:09.8 TH: Yeah.

0:02:10.3 KS: Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

0:02:11.3 TH: I have to tell you, this is how I met Brown, though, it's one of my favorite stories. Because a couple of weeks ago, we talked about finding people, remembering people and nourishing them. In the scriptures, it tells us to do that with members of the ward. And this is probably like the one time when I remembered to nourish someone, and it was you, Brown. So it was your very first Sunday in our singles ward. It was, like we talk about it, the first day at kindergarten where you come and you're scared [laughter] and you gotta find who your friends are, right?

0:02:37.5 KS: Right.

0:02:38.5 TH: And you were sitting by yourself and sacrament got over, and I was there with Amy Hutchins. She's been a previous guest on the podcast. And I turned around and you were just standing there by your lonesome. And I looked at you and I go, "Are you new in our ward?" And you're like, "Yes." And I said, "Gonna be our friend?" [laughter] Just like that. I don't know where those words came from.

0:02:56.1 KS: I don't even... I just remember you had a scarf around your neck.

0:03:00.4 TH: Of course I did. Uh-huh.

0:03:01.4 KS: And you both came up and I said, "You know... " You asked me my name and I said, "Yeah, it's Kimberly Brown." They're like, "Well, that's too long. You'll just be Brown." [laughter] And that's how it started. Way too long.

0:03:14.7 TH: Way too many syllables. That's true. I totally remember, and Amy's like, "We're just gonna call you Brown."

0:03:20.1 KS: Yeah. [laughter] Awesome.

0:03:23.0 TH: Well, and here's kind of a cool fun fact about Brown, is that when we met you, you had just returned from finishing your job as the nanny for Arnold Schwarzenegger, hello.

0:03:35.9 KS: Yeah, I had. I had done a little stint where I... It was quite a while, four years.

0:03:41.3 TH: Yeah, many years.

0:03:42.7 KS: Super fun, but yeah, I had just gotten done doing that and moving to Utah, so...

0:03:45.4 TH: Boy, and you've got some fun stories, that's for another time.

0:03:48.0 KS: But I can never tell them, 'cause I signed a thing.

0:03:50.3 TH: Oh, you signed the NDA.

0:04:21.5 TH: Alright. Well, if you wanna learn more about my friends, you can read their bios and find their pictures at our show notes, which is found at ldsliving.com/SundayonMonday. So these are two of my very dearest friends, and so I'm excited to have a discussion about Moroni chapter 10, and I'm looking at it, I'm like, it's one chapter, 34 verses, three women, 19 years of friendship, and so much to talk about, so I can't wait to see what happens. So friends, grab your scriptures and let's dig in. This has kind of been cool because the three of us have been corresponding throughout the week via text and phone calls, which normally I never do, but this has been a unique experience because I sent you the scripture blog, and then we've just been texting and talking and going back and forth, and it has been such an enlightening two weeks for me. I just can't think of anything better than friends talking about scripture and doctrine and sharing their thoughts and feelings about that. And so we're gonna get to what everybody had to say, but I wanted to first start out with Brown, 'cause right out of the gates, Brown, you had some pretty powerful insight into the very first verse of Moroni chapter 10. So let's go there, and Brown, will you share with us what your thoughts were about this? I'd never considered this verse before.

0:05:32.4 KS: I'm gonna read it, and it says, "Now I, Moroni, write somewhat as seemeth me good." For me, reading that good part changed the way I read the whole chapter, which I had never really paid attention to before, but I looked at it instead of this like, oh, it's the end, he's sad, he's tired, but this is good. What I'm telling you, this is good and positive and happy, and you're gonna wanna pay attention, and so it really kind of changed how I looked at the whole chapter.

0:06:05.7 TH: Awesome. So Brown, read for us verse 2 then.

0:06:09.9 KS: "And I seal up these records after I have spoken a few words by way of exhortation unto you."

0:06:17.3 TH: Alright, let's highlight that word at the end of that verse, exhortation, because throughout this chapter, he is going to use that word many times. Nine to be exact, nine times he's gonna use the word exhort or exhortation, some form of that word. So it's important for us to know what it means in context of Moroni chapter 10. And so I highlighted it, and you can either put it to the side or at the top of your scriptures, but the word exhort or exhortation means to advise, to warn. I liked this one, to stimulate to action, and then to cheer. I thought that was interesting. To warn, to advise to stimulate to action and then to cheer. And so he's going to exhort us, and that cheer kinda makes me go back to your word, good, Brown. There is goodness in this, he's cheering us on to do something, and when we get to the very almost last segment, we're gonna see what that is, which is so incredible in this chapter. I'm curious to know that with the word exhort, have either of you ever had to exhort someone or maybe a child?

0:07:19.5 BF: I love to be a cheerleader, and I definitely feel like as a mom, you cheer your kids on in helping them to understand who they are, what their gifts are, what they can achieve, so I loved that thought of exhortation that you're just helping them to understand who they are, and what their gifts and what their purpose is.

0:07:48.8 TH: Excellent. Absolutely.

0:07:53.7 KS: I think about cheer 'cause I'm the same way. When I feel like in life, I want my kids to know that I am their number one fan no matter what. And so if that means that I'm always at the football games, or I'm always the one encouraging them to be at church, or I'm encouraging them to read their script... Whatever that looks like. And so I feel like if I can teach them that they can rely on me, they can learn to rely on their Heavenly Father, they can learn to rely on the gifts of the Holy Ghost, the gifts they've been given, all of those things. So it starts for me, and hopefully it gets bigger by other people that can cheer them on.

0:08:33.1 TH: What I loved about how you said that, Brown, is I just had it in my mind like it seems like Moroni is our biggest fan in Moroni chapter 10. When you read it with that lens, it changes the way you read these verses, like he is gonna be our biggest fan. And then I think about for those of us who don't even have children, how can we exhort others? I mean, have we had that experience? Has someone exhorted you that wasn't a mother or a father? What does that look like in everyday life? How do we exhort each other?

0:09:01.9 BF: I'm gonna say, with my work, I teach people all about self-compassion, so I feel like I'm exhorting them to help them to be more compassionate towards themselves and to feel love, so I think it really extends out, and can I just add, exhorting yourself?

0:09:24.3 KS: Yeah.

0:09:24.7 BF: I mean, at the end of the day, we're the ones that gets ourselves off the couch and says, "Okay, come on. We can do better. We can feel God's love. We can move forward."

0:09:37.5 KS: So one of my favorite things is to go walking in the mornings, and I have a friend that I pass, and it's one of the highlights of my day because I know I'm gonna pass her and she's gonna say, "Isn't God great?" Or, "Oh, we're so blessed to see the beautiful moon." Or, "Aren't our bodies wonderful?" And so when I am able to see her, that cheers me on that, that exhorts me to be like, "You're right, I'm so grateful that I have this body that can move." So I feel like taking those early moments in the mornings or a note that's left or whatever it is, I think that we get to pull each other up, and cheer each other on.

0:10:17.3 BF: Yeah.

0:10:17.5 TH: Absolutely. Ooh, I love that. I'm gonna have to come walking with you one morning so I can meet this lady.

0:10:23.1 KS: I mean, Tammy, I do HiFit now, so you can come do that with me, but I do walk two times a week, yeah.

0:10:27.7 TH: Oh.

0:10:28.3 BF: I could never keep up with Brown.

0:10:29.6 TH: No, no, no, I couldn't when I lived with her.

0:10:32.1 BF: She goes way too fast.

0:10:33.9 TH: And then I've been realizing, actually, she probably wakes up at 5:30 in the morning to do it, don't you?

0:10:37.9 BF: Yeah.

0:10:38.7 TH: Yeah.

0:10:39.3 KS: I go to a class at 5:15 now.

0:10:41.7 TH: Oh, geez, I'm out. Never mind.

0:10:43.8 BF: I'm out too.

0:10:44.8 TH: Shout out to the nice lady.

0:10:45.4 KS: It's my thing.

0:10:47.2 TH: It is your thing. It's always been that way, so... Thank you, thank you, thank you. Okay, you guys... That was just the first two verses. Can you even believe that? We've talked so much, we're only in for the first two verses, we still have five segments left. This is gonna be so fun. So in the next segment, we're gonna discuss a challenge with a promise, and it's probably different than what you think or what you've been used to.

Segment 2:

0:11:10.0 TH: Okay, so the three of us, we served missions. Farley, where did you serve?

0:11:18.0 BF: I went to Tampa, Florida, which at that time back in the day included Orlando and Disney World.

0:11:26.0 TH: You had a fun mission. Brown, where'd you go?

0:11:28.5 KS: Oh, Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

0:11:31.0 TH: Right on.

0:11:33.5 KS: Go pack, go pack.

0:11:34.9 TH: I was in Fresno, California, so we're all state side sister missionaries. Now, here's what I wanna know. We're gonna talk about Moroni chapter 10, verses 3 through 5. What did those verses mean for you back then as a missionary for your investigators? Because all missionaries use 3 through 5.

0:11:54.4 KS: First of all, Tammy, back in the day, I only memorized principle one, three and five. My companion memorized two, four and six. So thank goodness I'm part of this because this was the fit, you know, whatever.

0:12:09.5 TH: Yeah, yeah, 'cause back in the day, there were six principles, six discussions that you had to memorize and teach, which is so different now. So Brown, you knew... You knew this one then, this was your principle, Moroni 10:3-5.

0:12:22.1 KS: Yes, and it was always so great to be able to say to the investigators and kind of have that confirmation myself, like, I know if you read this, you will get an answer. I know that if you have real intent, if you ponder, if you this, you'll get an answer. And it was great to be able to be able to say that knowing that I had received an answer, too.

0:12:47.2 TH: So you had done that, you have done 3 through 5 on your own?

0:12:51.4 KS: Sure, yes, of course. Many times before.

0:12:53.0 TH: You've done it more than once?

0:12:56.0 KS: Of course, I wanna constantly know that the Book of Mormon is true, I constantly wanna know that what I'm reading is true. However, this time I read it differently, I didn't read it as a Book of Mormon promise. I put my name in there several times and said, "Kimberly, you know, this is about you or whatever." So it was interesting to read it this time with a different perspective.

0:13:13.8 TH: Perfect, that's perfect. So let's go in and read it then, 'cause I think our experience right now is we're gonna read it like we never have before, and this is so much fun. So Farley, I'm gonna start with you, and will you please read verse 3?

0:13:26.8 BF: "Behold, I would exhort you that when ye shall read these things, if it be wisdom in God, that ye should read them, that ye would remember how merciful the Lord hath been unto the children of men, from the creation of Adam, even down until the time that ye shall receive these things and ponder it in your hearts."

0:13:47.3 TH: So one of the things we've known throughout the year is when we read the word, these things, when Moroni is talking about these things, it means the Book of Mormon, the plates. So at the beginning, he says, "I would exhort you that if ye shall read these things," meaning the plates or the words that we're reading right now, "if it would be wisdom in God that ye should read them." Now, there's a comma there because there's something else we're being asked to do. Then it says, "That ye would remember how merciful the Lord hath been unto the children of men from the creation of Adam, even down until the time that ye shall receive these things," the Book of Mormon. But then circle the word 'and'. "Receive these things and ponder it." Circle the 'it' and draw a line up to, "that you would remember how merciful the Lord hath been unto the children of men." We're being asked to do two things here, we're being asked to read these things, read the scriptures, and ponder the mercy of Jesus Christ in our hearts. Now, look at verse 4, we're gonna do verse 4, and then verse 5, and then Farley, I'm gonna ask you to take it away. So keep reading Far and read verse 4.

0:14:55.6 BF: "And when ye shall receive these things, I would exhort you that ye would ask God, the Eternal Father in the name of Christ, if these things are not true, and if ye shall ask with a sincere heart with real intent, having faith in Christ, he will manifest the truth of it unto you by the power of the Holy Ghost."

0:15:18.2 TH: So look at 4 now, because it says, he would exhort us after we receive these things, the scriptures, the Book of Mormon, that ye would ask God the Eternal Father in the name of Christ, if these things are not true. Semi-colon. I love that semi-colon, 'cause we're gonna have sort of a different thought, but it's kind of related. It says, "And if ye shall ask with a sincere heart, with real intent, having faith in Christ, he will manifest the truth of it." It again is the mercy of our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. Manifest the truth of mercy unto us by the power of the Holy Ghost. And then verse 5, "And by the power of the Holy Ghost, ye may know the truth of all things," meaning the scriptures and how good and merciful the Lord has been. So Farley, share with me some of your thoughts you had this week about that.

0:16:06.1 BF: Okay, so my son Caleb and I were talking a lot about it, and I've just always thought these verses as the missionary promise, but that's selling it short, it's just selling it so short, because these things, these things are so much bigger than just the Book of Mormon. And then the real question... I mean, I've thought a lot about what the real question is that people have right now. What is the real question? Is it what religion to join? Is it that the Book of Mormon is true? I would say, the real question is, "Is God real? And does he love me? And is he there for me, caring for me?" And so when you take it down to that, it's not just recognizing the mercy of God, it's recognizing the realness of God, and that if you're gonna ponder on that...

0:17:03.3 TH: Well, tell us about ponder, you love that word.

0:17:05.5 BF: Oh gosh, I love that word because it's meditate. And I know that that's a scary word for a lot of people, but meditate is where you actually can hear God, and I think prayer is where we kinda talk to God, but when we put those two together, prayer with the meditation, with the pondering, that's when we can hear what he's saying. So it's a really strong thing that he's saying, that when you pray with real intent, having faith in Christ, he is gonna manifest the truth of it, that it again, it's the fact that God is real, God loves me, God cares for me. And then that verse five, there's the money, "and by the power of the Holy Ghost, you may know the truth of all things," all things. What is the main question? Is God real? Does he care for me? Can I trust him? Even in all of my mess, whatever that is, even in all of my gunk, can I trust that God cares for me and wants the best for me? Yeah, you can ask that any time. So back on my mission, I'm like, "Okay, well, everybody, one and done," right? Well then something garbage-y, then something garbage-y happens. No, God's not there, God's not real, because I'm in the midst of garbage. Guess what? We're gonna take the promise right on back. Is God... Does God care for me? I'm gonna ask that at any time. I just feel like this is the prayer of our life every single day. Are these things true? Are they true? Yeah, God loves me, God cares for me and he's there.

0:18:55.8 TH: Could there be a better cheerleader scripture? I'm just imagining Moroni saying it just the way you did, Farley. It's so exciting. He's like, "You can know if God loves you. You just ask. Think about it, ponder on it, ask." It's just a powerful verse.

0:19:10.1 BF: And I was gonna say that I just listened to Elder Oak's BYU speech, which was fabulous.

0:19:17.6 TH: Oh, so good. He gave that back in October, for those of you who haven't listened. Go and listen to that talk. The end of October BYU speech. So good.

0:19:25.2 BF: Yes. Anyway, he said in there, and I think he was quoting from another conference talk from President Worthen, I think the President of BYU.

0:19:33.9 TH: Yes.

0:19:34.6 BF: And he was saying, "Ask God to know how he feels about you." And I know that when my husband, Doug, worked in the jail, and then I worked a little bit in the prison, one of those main questions that I asked was, "Ask God to know how he feels about you." And I feel like that goes along right with this scripture, "How does God feel about you? Is God real? Does he care and love for you?"

0:20:03.1 TH: Yeah. In fact, let's read this quote. Brown, will you read this for us? It's by Gene R. Cook, and he had to say this about these three verses of scripture.

0:20:11.6 KS: "The last five words of the verse offer an important admonition: Ponder it in your hearts. What is the antecedent of it, the thing that we are to ponder? It is how merciful the Lord hath been unto the children of men. From the creation of Adam, even down until the time that you shall receive these things, we are to remember how loving, how provident, how good, how forgiving our Heavenly Father has been toward us." I think that while Becky was talking and I was thinking about it, I think that just because these particular scriptures have the Book of Mormon promise attached to it, it doesn't have to be that way, that we can look at these scriptures at any part of our life, at any trial that we're going through, anything that we need and apply it. It doesn't just have to be about the Book of Mormon. And I think about people who don't know about the Book of Mormon or have lost faith about the Church or whatever it is. This promise still applies. They can ask about anything and they can still receive those answers. And I think that that's a really huge thing that we have to remember, we get to remember, is that it's not just the Book of Mormon, but so many things.

0:21:28.2 BF: It's the truth of all things, the truth of all things.

0:21:32.1 TH: Yes, everything. And I like how the truth of all things begins with knowing that God loves you, knowing that you're his favorite, knowing that he is merciful toward you. And it's been so fun this year to study the word mercy in Hebrew, that it's a maternal word, it's a womb. And just that relationship, that feeling, that's what it's trying to help you understand, is that parental feeling that you have is where it starts, his mercy, his love for you. So knowing these two things then, taking Moroni's challenge, it's a whole new challenge for us this year, is to really do Moroni's challenge, Moroni's promise and start with pondering it, and then knowing the truth of all these things. And when you do that, the next verse in verse six says, "And whatsoever thing is good, just and true, wherefore nothing that is good denieth the Christ, but acknowledgeth that he is." Praying for those things, they are good things, and they will not deny the Christ. And in the next segment, we're gonna discuss some more good things that prove God's goodness and existence and love for us.

Segment 3:

0:22:45.1 TH: Okay, how important are gifts to you guys? How much do you love a gift or a present or a prize?

0:22:50.1 BF: Oh, I love a gift, love a prize, love a present.

0:22:54.7 KS: I love them, I love them.

0:22:56.5 TH: It's Brownie's love language for sure. It is your love language. And she calls them prizes, she loves to give a prize to people.

0:23:03.7 KS: I do. I feel like my love language is the giving and the receiving. That's how I show, and that's how I receive it. It's pretty... Yeah.

0:23:11.8 TH: Oh, absolutely, 100%.

0:23:13.2 KS: 'Cause who doesn't wanna prize? Who doesn't? Everybody wants one.

0:23:18.7 TH: Right. Who doesn't want a gift? Okay, so all of this talk is going to just, of course, take us right into Moroni 10:9. We are gonna talk about spiritual gifts, and there's some pretty great quotes about spiritual gifts. Because some of you are listening right now going, "Well, I don't have any." Or, "Boy, sure wish I had one. I wish I knew what mine was." And so we're gonna take the next two segments to go over in detail the spiritual gifts that are listed in Moroni chapter 10. I have one quote for you, this is by Marvin J. Ashton, and it's a classic spiritual gifts talk. I'm gonna use it a couple of times today. Okay, Brown, I'm gonna have you read the first part of his quote, and then I'm gonna read the second part.

0:23:55.0 KS: Marvin J. Ashton said that, "One of the greatest tragedies of life is when a person classifies himself as someone who has no talents or gifts."

0:24:04.9 TH: Thank you. And then he went on to say this, "When in disgust or discouragement we allow ourselves to reach depressive levels of despair because of our demeaning self-appraisal, it is a sad day for us and a sad day in the eyes of God. For us to conclude that we have no gifts when we judge ourselves by stature, intelligence, grade point average, wealth, power, position or external appearance is not only unfair but unreasonable." Alright, Farley, hit it. I know you got stuff to say.

0:24:36.4 BF: Oh boy, do I ever have stuff to say. Okay, the first thing, if we can look at verse eight for just a second, where it says, "And again I exhort you, my brethren, that you deny not the gifts of God." So there's that cheerleading scripture, that exhortation right there. And then, I couldn't understand the tie-in between the promise and then tying back into gifts of the Spirit, but this morning as I was reading this again, it came to me what the tie-in is. What happens with gifts of the Spirit is that we get stuck when we don't understand what our gifts are, we're stuck in kind of a cycle of shame at that point. And we all know that there's a big difference between guilt and shame. Guilt is when you feel bad about something that you've done, but shame is when actually feel bad about yourself.

0:25:27.8 TH: You think you're bad because of what you've done.

0:25:29.2 BF: Right. You are a bad person. Yes. You're a bad person. And I think that that's what happens when we forget these things, that it... Verses three and five, when we forget that God loves us, God cares for us, God is real, we get stuck in this cycle of shame that you feel like you are such a bad person and you don't deserve to have any love from God, that that's when you forget your gifts. And the minute that you start to see God's love, you immediately start to see the gifts that he's given you.

0:26:05.6 TH: Well, I was just thinking, Farley, as you were saying that, I'm like, "Conversely then, when you remember your gifts, it's a reminder that God loves you." If you can have somewhere written what your gifts are, if you can acknowledge that and remember that, because in verse eight it does say, "Deny not the gifts of God for they are many, and they come from the same God." Like they come from the same God that you just prayed about, "Does he have mercy on me? Does he love me?" And so if you can remember what your gifts are, you will, I think, immediately be drawn to, "Oh, that's right. He does love me, he gave me this gift. So why did he give this to me and what am I supposed to do with it?" And I promise, I know without a doubt 'cause I've had this experience, I have said, "What can I do with my gift?" And immediately it came to mind. I knew what I was supposed to do with my gift.

0:26:53.1 BF: Yes. There's the tie-in, right? So you get the promise saying, "Pray about these things," and then the gifts are gonna manifest themselves. There's the tie-in.

0:27:06.5 KS: I think our gifts, we have them and it's okay to recognize them, and it's okay for us to use them to the fullest potential. It doesn't mean we're bragging, it doesn't mean that we're better than, it just means that this is our gift and it's different. And even just this past week, I've watched my family rally around my parents because my dad's in the hospital with COVID and he's not doing well, and my mom's at home, she's also got COVID. And so I've watched how my sister, she's great at organizing and getting meals sent, and I'm not good at that. I was just kinda... I don't have the time, I don't know how to figure out DoorDash, but she's good at it. And I personally have found myself, "Oh, well, I've got nothing to contribute." And so rather than comparing to what someone else has, cheer on what she can do and go, "Wow, that's so awesome. I'm so grateful you can do that." Instead of, "Oh... " You know?

0:28:00.2 TH: Absolutely. Yeah.

0:28:00.2 BF: That's a gift.

0:28:01.8 TH: That is a... That's actually a gift, the ability to do that. Awesome. Awesome.

0:28:07.2 BF: So in this book, it's excellent, it's called Who is Truth, and it's by these two BYU professors: Jeffrey Thayne and Edwin Gantt. They say this, and I just think it goes right along with this, "Life springs surprises on even the most faithful saints: An unexpected death in the family, a distressing inability to marry, the tears of war, the careless mistakes of others and so forth. We cannot control the future, and person truth... " And what he means by that is the truth that Jesus is the truth, that's what person truth means. "Promises no such mastery. This does not mean we should not live passively or ignore the future when conducting our affairs. It simply means that our faith and trust should rest with God and not our preparations." And I've thought a lot about preparations because we've heard so much about that. Like, "What are our preparations?" I believe that our preparation is this promise, knowing that God lives, that he cares and loves for us, and that he's gonna take care of us. And when we sit and ponder and meditate on that, we're preparing, we are definitely preparing. 'Cause we're never gonna get enough toilet paper in 2020, we're never gonna get enough wipes, we're never gonna get enough hand sanitizer, that's not gonna work. But guess what we can get enough of? We can get enough of God's love and his care. And...

0:29:33.8 TH: We can fill our buckets. Excellent.

0:29:36.0 BF: Yes. And I feel like that's when we know what our spiritual gifts are. That's the preparations. It's the fact that Brown is cheering on her sister, it's the fact that we're not comparing anymore. We're recognizing God's compassion for us and our own compassion, and recognizing that the gifts are coming from all sorts of different places, and mine are different than yours, different than Brown's, different than everybody else's, but they're still there.

0:30:04.9 TH: Okay, thank you, Farley. Thank you for getting us to that point, because let's find out what these gifts are then. Let's go into reading all the gifts that are listed in Moroni chapter 10. Now, there are so many more gifts, which we will also be able to get to, but I kind of feel like this is The Oprah episode, it's perfect for Christmas, 'cause I'm like, "You get a gift, and you get a gift."

[laughter]

0:30:24.0 TH: Or more like, "You have a gift, and you have a gift, and you do too. Everyone listening has a gift." So as we study these and you hear your gift, if something resonates within you, write it down. This is gonna be so much fun. So the first thing we're gonna do is I wanna give you two other cross-references to where you can read about spiritual gifts that are in addition to the ones we're reading right here. We will not have time to go over those today, but in Doctrine and Covenants section 46:11-26, put that cross-reference, that's where you'll read about more spiritual gifts, and then the other reference is 1 Corinthians 12:4-12 is where spiritual gifts are listed. 1 Corinthians 12:4-12.

0:31:06.8 TH: Okay, now it is awesome because in verse eight, it talks about how gifts are given to profit Christ, to profit his work, and we're all given at least one gift. The other reference that proves that is in Doctrine and Covenants Section 46:11-12 says, "Every man is given a gift to profit thereby." So everyone has at least one of these gifts. So here's the first one, right out of the gates is in verse 9. It tells us that some might have the ability to teach the Word of Wisdom. Now, that does not mean that you can teach Section 89 and tell everyone that alcohol is bad for you. That's part of it, but that's not what the Word of Wisdom means. This gift includes, I love this, it means sound judgement and the proper application of Gospel doctrines and principles. That's what it means to teach the Word of Wisdom. You just have the ability to teach with sound judgment and proper application of the doctrines and principles.

0:31:57.3 TH: Okay, the next gift is in verse 10, "To another, that he might teach the Word of Knowledge," so highlight these gifts. This is a good one. This is knowledge is carefully stored-up supply of facts, generally slowly acquired. It's the ability to instruct and the gift to impart the supply to others. And you know people who just are smart, who have that gift of knowledge and who have it at the ready. We always... HB, our friend Holly Butterfield, that's her gift. She pulls stuff out of nowhere, it's amazing to me.

0:32:28.9 BF: Tam, can I say something about verse 9?

0:32:31.7 TH: Yes.

0:32:33.6 BF: So I just wanted to say, wisdom to me is different than smart, and I love that they're kind of separating them. But wisdom to me is also knowing that things end.

0:32:46.8 TH: Oh, interesting.

0:32:48.1 BF: And like waiting it out, like having the gift of understanding that, "I'm not always gonna be sad."

0:32:53.8 TH: That is a great application of the wisdom. We have such a cool quote, another one by Gene R. Cook. Farley, will you read that for us?

0:33:02.3 BF: "One of the great processes you go through in life is to discover yourself, to find those gifts and capacities God has given you. He has given you great talents, the smallest part of which you have just begun to utilize. Trust the Lord to assist you in unlocking the door to those gifts. Some of us have created imaginary limits in our minds. There is literally a genius locked up inside of us. Don't ever let anyone convince you otherwise."

0:33:33.3 TH: Isn't that good?

0:33:36.5 BF: Love that.

0:33:37.6 KS: Wow, I love that.

0:33:38.9 BF: Oh gosh, I love that.

0:33:39.3 TH: So you are given these gifts. Don't let anyone tell you you're not smart enough or anything to really do something with these gifts, so accept them, accept them as we talk about them today.

0:33:50.4 KS: In heaven, we all stood in a line and we got a gift. We got other things too, but we did get a gift.

0:33:58.2 BF: We all got a prize, we got a prize, Brown.

0:34:01.1 KS: We got a prize.

0:34:01.2 TH: Yeah, everyone got a prize, at least one for sure.

0:34:05.6 KS: At least one that we like, that we could grow to like.

0:34:07.7 TH: Awesome.

0:34:09.2 BF: Can I just say one more thing?

0:34:11.0 TH: Yeah.

0:34:12.4 BF: I think as we recognize the gift, the more gifts come, right? Isn't that the parable of the talents?

0:34:18.4 TH: Yeah, for sure. Alright, well, let's find out some more gifts then. This is so fun. Okay, we have the gift in verse 10 to teach the Word of Knowledge. We already discussed that. Okay, verse 11, "To another, exceedingly great faith." This is a great one. This is experienced by degrees and increased through righteous living. Like not everyone has the same degree of faith, but this gift is a prerequisite for both healing and working miracles, which are the next two that come. Brown, that is your gift. You have the gift of faith, 'cause when you were reading this, you said verse 23 stood out to you because of your gift. Tell me why.

0:34:55.9 KS: Like many women, you know, you dream of getting married and having babies and you're together forever, and you dream of that, and that's just kind of... If you do what's right, you go on a mission, you get married in the Temple, that's just what happens. And for me, that wasn't the course, that wasn't the plan. And so four years ago, my life took a different course. I'm not married anymore, and I'm divorced, and I'm a single mom, and I have four kids, and it's hard. It's really hard. There isn't anything that's really easy about this, but every day I get up and I get to do it and I get to try and I get to plow through. And no matter how hard life gets or how lonely it gets, staying the course, getting up, getting your four kids ready to go to church or going to the Temple or whatever that looks like, is easier than not. Because I know at some point, at any moment, at any second, Heavenly Father will help me get them to church on time, or will help me sleep through the night, or whatever that looks like. So my gift of faith is I know that he will bless me. I know that at some point, whether it's in 10 seconds or in five years, the truest desire of my heart, he will bless me with that. I know that.

0:36:32.7 TH: Oh, Brown, thank you so much for sharing that, 'cause I thought of you and I thought of you especially in your light of your gift of faith, and I'm gonna come back to ask you more about that gift. So I don't know, this has just been so cool to talk about these gifts, and we just can't even stop here 'cause there's so many more to talk about. So in the next segment, we're gonna discuss the rest of the gifts.

Segment 4:

0:36:37.6 TH: So Brown, I'm gonna call on you again because it seems like these gifts associated with faith, I think they can make or break us, even if you believe in Christ and love him and know he loves you, when we come to the gift of healing and the gift of working mighty miracles, I think that can be so hard. So here's what I wanna know, Brown. How did your gift of faith help you during the time when your sweet brother was dying? How did your gift of faith get you through that?

0:37:31.6 KS: So my brother, Kenneth, was 10 years old when he was diagnosed with cancer with a brain tumor, and he went through chemo and radiation, and I was 16 at the time. We went five years, he went cancer-free, and then a few years later it came back, and the last time it came back, it was terminal, and they gave my brother three months to live. And so here, my family... I remember the day we found out it was terminal and that it had come back and wasn't going away. We sat as a family and we just couldn't believe it. And you just kinda think, my goodness, we've done everything right. And my brother got a patriarchal blessing a month before he passed away. And it was very interesting because it was very clear that his life, his mission was not meant for this life, and that's kind of hard to hear as parents and as siblings that you know what, really you are gonna die, and if your mission is not for this life.

0:38:28.0 KS: So he did pass away a month later, I remember I was in Ohio, I was in a hotel room by myself when I got the news that he had passed away, and I had this big perspective, eternal families, we'll see him again. But at that moment, you want them there, you wanna physically be able to see them and touch them and hug them, and I don't think that... It was until later on, I'll be honest, that I realized my family, we had this faith that no matter what we would be okay, and that his life and his mission was okay, and something's popping in my head, I hope you don't care if I share it, but my brother died in March, and that next July the family that I nannied for, the wife's cousin passed away in a tragic airplane accident.

0:39:22.7 TH: Oh. That's right.

0:39:26.0 KS: And she asked me, how does your family move forward from this? And it was at that moment that I was able to say, because we know God loves us, and we know he's mindful, and we know that we'll see my brother again. And I don't know if that helped her, but I know that at that moment, it helped me recognize that as painfully hard as it was to not have him physically there with us, I knew I would see him again and I had to do my part.

0:39:52.8 TH: Beautifully said, thank you for sharing your perspective on the gift of faith, with the gift of healing and working miracles, 'cause I think sometimes if we don't get them healing and get them miracles, it's so easy to jump ship. And I love though, that for some people, those are their spiritual gifts. The gift of healing, this is interesting, it's to pray with faith sufficient for healing and also for it to be healed or to heal. And then we have the gift of working mighty miracles. And McConkie said this, "As spoken as one of the gifts of the Spirit are those occurrences that are performed by the power of God, which are beyond the power of man to perform. They take place when God manifests his power, such powers manifest upon his own volition or upon the petition of a faithful person." And so that's pretty cool. I love those two gifts right there. Then we have 13. So in Verse 13, it says, "The gift to prophecy concerning all things." This gift, this is indeed one of the greatest of all the many of the gifts of God, and it's the ability to speak inspired utterances of things past, present or future.

0:40:56.4 TH: But it's not the gift of being the prophet. So we have a prophet, so if you have the gift of prophecy, you can prophesy for yourself, family members, maybe even friends, but not for the church at large. And if anyone wants to read more about that gift in general or gifts, I highly recommend a talk called Spiritual Gifts, it's by elder Dallin H. Oaks, and it was given at a BYU Women's Conference in 1986, because he even writes about this gift of prophecy, saying women have this gift, and he cites several examples of women with the gift of prophecy. So it's really cool. Okay, then we have in verse 14, "Then the gift of beholding angels and ministering spirits." So the gift of beholding angels and ministering spirits is just that. It's exactly what it says, but I think it's interesting because there are many examples of ministering spirits in the Book of Mormon. We have the Lord appearing to the brother of Jared, we have an angel appearing to Alma and Amulek, we have the angel who came to King Benjamin, so we know it exists in the Book of Mormon, but many people have their own personal experiences, and we've talked about those throughout this year where ancestors come and visit them, and that's an example of angels or ministering spirits.

0:42:04.4 TH: And so that there's a lot of room in this for us to have that gift, and some people definitely have that gift for sure. Okay, then we have the gift of tongues, which is in verse 15. So the gift of tongues is the ability to speak in a foreign language or a different like it says an unknown language, but it doesn't work unless you have verse 16, the interpretation of languages of diverse kinds and tongues. So if someone's speaking in the gift of tongues, you have to have someone there that can interpret what they're saying, so that's interesting. You can't just have someone speaking this weird gibberish language and no one knows what it means, then that's what we call Satan's tactics.

0:42:40.9 TH: Those are his tools, 'cause he can absolutely counterfeit all of these spiritual gifts and he has. He absolutely has. So that's something to be wary about, I guess. And everything we just talked about can be found in the talk by elder Dallin H. Oaks called Spiritual gifts, March 28th, 1986. Go read that talk, because he does say that even Satan can counterfeit all of these gifts, and so you have to be careful to know where your gift is coming from, and it goes back to, again, praying about and knowing your relationship with the Heavenly Father, and then the gifts come from him. But then we just have to do this last quote 'cause this is my all-time favorite spiritual gifts quote, so if you still haven't heard a gift that was yours and you're like, yeah, nothing is sounding familiar. We have to read this quote by Marvin J. Ashton, and listen to all of these gifts. So Becky, will you read this for us?

0:43:29.0 BF: Yeah, but can I say one thing.

0:43:30.1 TH: Yes, please.

0:43:30.2 BF: About the gift of tongues, just really...

0:43:33.9 TH: Oh. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

0:43:34.2 BF: Sorry, I just wanted to say that I feel like the gift of tongues is more than just interpretation or languages per se, sometimes just understanding where someone's coming from. Like let's say a teenager, okay? I feel like sometimes you have a gift to interpret...

0:43:56.6 TH: That language [chuckle]

0:43:56.6 BF: What's going on in their head when all you're getting is just grunts. Like...

[vocalization]

0:44:02.4 TH: Oh, I like that.

0:44:02.8 BF: Sometimes you get an interpretation of, oh, they're struggling with this, or I feel like that it's a lot deeper than just languages.

0:44:15.5 TH: A foreign language.

0:44:15.5 BF: Yeah.

0:44:15.7 TH: Farley.

0:44:16.8 KS: That's so helpful. Yeah.

0:44:19.0 TH: Yeah. I love that interpretation of that verse. A great idea, thank you. No, I like that.

0:44:26.3 BF: Okay, so you want me to read this?

0:44:26.8 TH: That is good that is good.

0:44:28.1 BF: This Marvin J. Ashton.

0:44:28.7 TH: Yeah Becky, will you please read this quote by Marvin J. Ashton, and as she reads these gifts, I want you to think if any of these resonate with you.

0:44:35.2 BF: "Let us review some of these less conspicuous gifts, the gift of asking, the gift of listening. The gift of hearing and using a still small voice, the gift of being able to weep, the gift of avoiding contention, the gift of a being agreeable, the gift of avoiding vain repetition, the gift of seeking that which is righteous, the gift of not passing judgment. The gift of looking to God for guidance, the gift of being a disciple, the gift of caring for others, the gift of being able to ponder, the gift of offering prayer, the gift of bearing a mighty testimony, and the gift of receiving the Holy Ghost."

0:45:21.5 TH: Now, those are some good gifts.

0:45:23.4 BF: Yeah, I love those.

0:45:27.4 KS: Yeah, really good.

0:45:28.9 TH: Go to our show notes and find that quote and read through it and see which one you're good at.

0:45:34.0 KS: In your show notes, is there also like a wish list of gifts that I would like to have.

0:45:40.0 TH: Oh right right.

[laughter]

0:45:40.0 KS: 'Cause wouldn't that be helpful?

0:45:44.2 TH: Yeah, yeah, there is actually, just go and add whatever you want to that.

0:45:45.3 KS: Like a wish list. We are talking about gifts.

[laughter]

0:45:52.4 TH: I love it.

0:45:52.5 BF: Sure, sure. We'll make a Santa's list for you, here's what Brown wants this year, the gift of thats awesome.

0:45:57.3 KS: Don't you all read those and go, oh, I wish that I had that, I wish that I was... And again, I just... So it's not that I'm like envious or jealous, but gosh, that would be helpful when I'm dealing with a teenager who I don't understand or when I'm... Whatever situation you might be in and you do wish for that like, oh gosh, and then you have to navigate what is your gift through all of that.

0:46:23.4 TH: Yeah. Well, and you can pray for more gifts. That's what's so great about it.

0:46:26.7 BF: Well, wasn't that one of them? The gift of being able to receive gifts or something, wasn't that the...

0:46:31.2 TH: I just think it's cool that if there's...

0:46:33.5 BF: I mean wasn't... Yeah.

0:46:33.6 TH: You can pray to have any of these gifts, if it's a gift you want, ask God and he'll show you how to get it. What work it's gonna take. I just think it's awesome.

[overlapping conversation]

0:46:44.7 BF: And he will manifest the truth of it unto you.

0:46:44.8 TH: Thank you, Farley.

0:46:45.1 BF: The truth of all things.

0:46:47.1 TH: The truth of all things.

0:46:47.9 BF: All gifts and all things.

0:46:48.0 TH: Absolutely.

0:46:49.8 KS: Wouldn't it be fun to sit in that big council room in heaven and Heavenly Father has his master copy of the gifts he's given us, and wouldn't it be interesting for him, even for us to go, well, I gave you that, but you interpreted it that way, or... And being able to see how we interpret the gift he gave us, that was my first thought. And my second thought was, wouldn't it be fun to sit around as friends, as families, as groups, to be who we are close with, who we love, to be able to say, yeah, I think this is my gift, and I think I would say and go, oh my gosh, you're right. That is your gift, how awesome. And also recognize, yeah, that's for sure no1t1 mine, but it's yours and that's great. [chuckle]

0:47:35.4 TH: Well, I did that, I actually sat and I thought... Because there are gonna be people who are like, I still don't know what my gift is. And one of the best things you can do is read you patriarchal blessing, 'cause it'll have it in there, or ask family members and friends. And Brown, going back to the wish list of gifts, 'cause I think that's so fun, I'm gonna tell you the gifts that I think that you have, these are the gifts that I think when I thought of you meeting, I'm like, these are their spiritual gifts. And I already know it. Brown, you absolutely have the gift of being steadfast and immovable, that is your gift in all aspects of your life, when you know something's right, you're doing it, you don't care, no one's talking you out of it, end of story. And your faith is steadfast and immovable and then further...

0:48:15.6 KS: I call that, that state, the gift of stay the course that I wrote that down, stay the course.

0:48:19.6 TH: That's for sure your gift.

0:48:21.7 BF: I love that.

0:48:22.6 TH: Farley, I have written down, you can even see right here before you even said it, it's right here, you have the gift of exhortation and sharing, so you exhort everybody, I just love... Those are your gifts, and I could go on, but those are the two I...

0:48:38.3 BF: That's so nice.

0:48:38.4 TH: I immediately thought of so...

0:48:38.7 BF: I feel like I'm getting a prize.

0:48:40.4 TH: You are getting a prize. Alright, so that was our discussion on gifts, so everyone, there was so much there, you just have to pause and soak it all in, you can't even get past this, so everyone just go and take a break.

0:48:53.5 BF: Yeah. You might need to go get a drink or something.

0:48:54.3 TH: You will need to ponder on that, yeah, for sure. And in the next segment, I'm gonna share with you what I found and what I am so excited to talk about. And I can't wait to show you.

Segment 5:

0:49:04.3 TH: Okay, Brown, we're just gonna jump right in. Will you please read Moroni chapter 10 verse 31 for us?

0:49:10.8 KS: "And awake and arise from the dust oh Jerusalem yea and put on they beautiful garment, oh daughter of Zion, and strengthen thy stakes and enlarge thy borders forever that thou mayest no more be confounded that the covenants of the eternal Father, which he hath made unto thee, oh house of Israel, may be fulfilled."

0:49:31.6 TH: Thank you. So there's verse 31. And when I was reading Moroni 10, I read it so many times, and then I get to this verse blah, blah, blah, I read it I read it I read it I read it. End of Book of Mormon. Done. I finished the book of Mormon for the year, or however you wanna say it. And this time I was like, why would he put this verse right here? Like he just got done talking about spiritual gifts, then he says in Verse 27, at Judgment Day, he's gonna say, and stand with us, did I not declare my words unto you? And then he's gonna talk about how we shouldn't even touch any evil gifts or any unclean thing, like just lay hold upon good things. And that's in verse 29 and 30, and then boom, he takes two verses from Isaiah, blends them together and puts them right here. And I just kept thinking about it and thinking I'm like, why would he do that? It's just the most obscure verse of all time. He could have finished with anything. And then I'm studying in Hebrew, this really cool thing that made so much sense to me. So I just have to share this with you. So here we go, everyone just sit back and relax, 'cause I'm gonna give you a little cool history of the Old Testament. Don't even write notes about this, just listen to the story 'cause it's so cool. In the Old Testament, there was a social structure that was grounded in tribal affiliation, like tribal groups, and they were called kinships, that's how you lived during Old Testament time, in tents with your tribe.

0:50:50.4 TH: There were two types of kinships in the Old Testament, there's one thing called the kinship in flesh. Kinship in flesh meant anyone born in your family automatically related to you, they're part of your tribe, part of your group. And we know that. That makes such sense. In the Old Testament, we read this like when Jacob goes to find a wife among the daughters of his uncle Laban, he actually has to prove his kinship in flesh, and then Laban, his uncle, responds with, "Surely, thou art my bone and my flesh." So he proves His kinship in flesh. Now, there's a second type of kinship, and it's called kinship in law. Now, this kinship, you can become part of a tribe or a family through marriage, through adoption, or if you just wanna be a part of someone's tribe, you can actually go in and say, "Can I just be part of your tribe?" And this type of kinship affiliation required a covenant, or in Hebrew it's called a Brit, which means like a covenant, it's a treaty, a pact, an alliance that you're gonna make with these people. And the way you did this was by taking an oath, and it would be known as like the oath of all oaths.

0:51:57.4 TH: Now, we saw a great example of this in First Nephi. Do you remember when Nephi was fleeing out, he had just gotten the plates and he's with Zoram and they're leaving the land of Jerusalem, and Zoram catches on to what's going on and he's getting scared, and so Zoram and Nephi make a pact, they make what's called the oath of all oaths, and they say this exact word, this is in First Nephi chapter 4, Verse 32. He says, "As the Lord liveth and as I live." Those words right there, that is the oath, that is the covenant, the Brit, which is saying, you can be part of my family, come be part of our tribe or our kinship, and here are the benefits of kinship in the old testament. So when you belong to kinship in flesh or kinship in law, here are the benefits of kinship. The sheik or the head kinsman, his obligations to you were to lead in battle, to redeem any kinsman from slavery, he would share his land of his heritage with you, he would protect you from any enemy who sought to destroy you or hurt you on any level, he would curse those who cursed you. He truly protected you. He'd pay any of your debts, any outstanding debt you had, he'd pay it so you could be free of that, he'd give you food, he would avenge the blood of a kinsman.

0:53:11.7 TH: I think that's pretty incredible. He would redeem property that was sold by a poor kinsman, he'd go back and buy it for you, or he'd marry the widow of a brother, that's the story of Ruth, and then he would just love you. You'd be part of that family. And so this is where we get the name brother-in-law, sister-in-law, is this kinship in-law. Like when you bring them into your family, they become part of your tribe, you're going to protect them. But in Old Testament time, it was so binding that no matter how rude your in-laws were, you're still loving them, you're still gonna fight for them. And the head, the head kinsman, there's gonna be no like no bad feelings are gonna ruin that. So it's really intriguing to me because all of these tribes, all of these groups lived in tents, and that's how they traveled, and they would travel around in their tents. And it's kind of cool because when the family would get bigger, when the tribe would add more people into their group, they wouldn't just make another tent, that's important to know, they wouldn't just say, "Okay, here's your tent over here and we're over here," they would add a room to the existing tent, so the kinsman's tent or the head Sheik or lord of the tent, his tent just kept getting bigger and bigger and bigger.

0:54:28.1 TH: And even today, among Bedouin tribes, it still is the truth. They don't just get a new tent and say, "Your family lives over there." You all live together under this bigger tent that just continues to get bigger and bigger and bigger. And so what I love about these stories as I'm reading Moroni 10 and I get to verse 31, all of a sudden I'm like, oh whoa, whoa whoa well, wait a minute, this is the gathering, this is the Lord saying, "Come in and join my kin, be a kinship in law through covenants, and all the benefits of having me be your kinsman are, I'm going to protect you, I'm going to feed you, I'm going to defeat your enemy, I will pay the price of your slave free, whatever it is," then he becomes the divine kinsman. The kinsman of all kinsmen. And so as our divine kinsman, when we join his tribe, his tent gets bigger and bigger and bigger, and that is the gathering of Israel. This verse right here, Moroni is saying, "Get ready, it's coming. We need to add more people to our tent, more people to our tribe, and you're going to have to strengthen your stake enlarge your borders."

0:55:41.0 TH: Isn't that awesome? That you'll no more be confounded that the covenants of the eternal Father, which ye hath made unto thee, oh house of Israel, may be fulfilled. The covenants that we make with him may be fulfilled. Now, this is so cool because, you guys, we are all kinship in laws to our Heavenly Father. What tribe do you belong to? You've already joined your tribe, what tribe do you belong to?

0:56:06.7 BF: Ephraim.

0:56:06.8 KS: Ephraim.

0:56:09.9 TH: Ephraim. We were adopted into the House of Israel through our covenants. The moment you're baptized, you're adopted into that house of Israel, and you get assigned a tribe, and God's tent just keeps getting bigger and bigger and bigger. So when you read "enlarge thy borders," he's talking about the borders of your tent. You're not gonna just give you a tent and say, "Good luck, Brown, you and your family hang out there, and Farley you and Doug and all your kids are in your tent." God's like, "Nope, come on in," and we just gotta keep making this tent bigger and bigger. And I love how Moroni is like, "Get ready, 'cause it's coming. Here's the last thing I can tell you. We're gonna fulfill the covenant to the House of Israel, which is all of us, and God is gonna protect every single one of us."

0:56:48.4 BF: Well, the one thing that really stood out to me right there also was be not confounded. How does he say it?

0:56:56.7 TH: Yes, thou mayest no more be confounded.

0:57:00.5 BF: Be confounded. Okay. I'm just thinking about confounded and how everyone's confused about who they are. That's a big deal right now. Who am I? Be no more confounded, you are of my people. You are of my house, you are a child of God.

0:57:15.6 TH: There's no more confusion.

0:57:17.5 BF: Yeah. I love that, that that is right now, during this time of confusion.

0:57:24.2 TH: And he's our divine kinsman, I just love him as being the ultimate example of... And the benefits of being part of this kinship in law with him are innumerable. There's nothing he won't do for us.

0:57:39.4 KS: I love that the thing that stood out to me was strengthen thy stakes. And if you think about a stake in your tent, that's what holds it together. And as we talk about our spiritual gifts, and if we talk about expanding what our testimony is, and we talk about how deep rooted, how do we know, how are we able to withstand, who are we? That's our stake, that's what's holding this whole tent together, it's holding those roots, it's keeping us grounded. That's what's keeping it together.

0:58:12.6 TH: Well Brown, what you just said is perfectly true, it's these things, it goes back to how this chapter started. That if you can absolutely know that these things are true, that God has mercy for you, that he loves you, and that these things are true. Yeah, your stakes, there they are, they're strengthened and you have no problem enlarging the borders, you will gladly help the gathering of Israel. This is what the prophet said to us, letting the Lord prevail in our lives, Israel, letting him prevail so that everybody... There's room for everyone, there's no one that's gonna be left out, God isn't gonna say to one of us, well, I'm gonna give you a tent and you're just gonna do your own thing. He wants everyone in that tent.

0:58:53.2 KS: That's awesome.

0:58:54.0 BF: We used to have this when I was in Young Women's a long, long time ago, and I did camp, I was a camp director and also like the counselor, but we had a tent called the Taj Mahal. That's what we called it. And it had all these rooms, three different rooms that we could zip together and then there was this main place in the main where all the girls would gather and you were just all apart. It was just kind of like a cozy little house. Anyway, all the girls wanted to be in the Taj Mahal.

0:59:25.8 TH: Yeah, who wouldn't wanna be, it sounds fantastic. So fun.

0:59:29.8 KS: For sure.

0:59:29.9 TH: I think it will be so fun, this is Zion. This is what Zion is right here. And I just... Yeah, it's the Taj Mahal of tents, God's best tent.

0:59:37.8 BF: God's best tent.

0:59:38.9 TH: It was so cool too 'cause when I was studying this, I was like, oh my gosh, no wonder it told us that my father dwelt in a tent, Lehi became the kinsman, he became the head of his tribe.

0:59:51.4 KS: Oh my gosh, yes.

0:59:53.0 TH: Yes. And then they come to America and they're like, "Come and join us. Be a Nephi. We have no problem." When I realized that was my aha for this, I was like, oh.

1:00:03.3 KS: Wow, that's kind of our easy scripture that we go to like, "Oh, do a scripture before family scripture," and he lived in a tent...

1:00:09.4 BF: Lehi dwelt in a tent.

1:00:13.8 KS: Dwelt in a tent or whatever. And it takes, oh, I can't wait to explain that, my kids are gonna be like, "Umm, we picked that 'cause it was short. Mom, you are... "

[laughter]

1:00:22.9 BF: 100%, you're like...

1:00:24.5 KS: Well, it makes sense.

1:00:26.3 TH: It does, it's so fun. I loved learning that. And here's what's so great about this. Okay, so here's Moroni, he has given us, he's cheering us, he's cheering us on. Get ready, because this is it, I'm ending the Book of Mormon with the gathering, with the promise, build your, enlarge your borders, strengthen your stakes. And then in the next segment, we're gonna look at the final verses where he is going to give us an intimate look at who the divine kinsman is, we're gonna study that in the next segment.

Segment 6:

1:00:32.3 TH: Okay, so we just talked about the divine kinsman. Pretend you are in Old Testament time and you're about to join a tribe, okay, and there's a couple that you're gonna choose from. I wanna know what characteristics or attributes would you hope that the kinsman or the sheikh would have? What are you gonna look for in your head kinsman?

1:01:19.4 KS: Single men, no, I'm just kidding.

1:01:22.1 TH: Sure, sure. Are there any single men for Brown to get married to? Listen people, if anyone can set Brown up, a lifetime membership to Sunday on Monday. Just kidding, I don't know if I can say that, but I would, I would pay it, I would give you a year's membership, I will pay you a year's membership if anyone gets Brown married off of this podcast. Out of my pocket.

1:01:41.0 BF: I'm doubling the offer.

1:01:41.0 TH: Double down, two years of Sunday on Monday for free, from Becky and me, if anyone can get Brown married. Carry on.

1:01:48.4 KS: Okay, no, scratch that. You know, I'm just kidding with all of that.

1:01:51.8 TH: I'm not.

1:01:55.2 BF: I'm gonna want them to be a good listener. So that if something goes wrong, that he's gonna hear my side of the story. I mean, sometimes as a woman, it's hard because I don't always feel listened to, and I would want him to really hear what my side and what's going on.

1:02:16.7 TH: I like that. That's good, that's good. Any qualities for you, Brown, anything you want him to have?

1:02:24.0 KS: I guess probably I would want him to be fair. We all have different needs and understanding that we can't all be lumped into a group.

1:02:37.9 TH: Definitely. Okay, those are great characteristics or attributes that you'd want. So let's go into Moroni chapter 10, because after Moroni teaches us about this tent, he's gonna teach us about the divine kinsman. I'm gonna read verses 32 and 33, and as I do, I want us to mark what the characteristics are that he has in these verses, what is Moroni trying to ultimately teach us? We're coming back to God. Remember we started out with understanding and praying about his mercy, and now he's gonna teach us about him, so I'm gonna read these two verses, and I want you guys to mark what he is.

1:03:10.0 TH: "Ye come unto Christ and be perfected in him, and deny yourselves of all ungodliness, and if you shall deny yourselves of all ungodliness and love God with all your might, mind and strength, then is his grace sufficient for you, that by his grace, ye may be perfect in Christ. And if by the grace of God, ye are perfect in Christ, ye can in nowise deny the power of God. And again, if ye by the grace of God are perfect in Christ and deny not his power, then are ye sanctified in Christ, by the grace of God, through the shedding of the blood of Christ, which is in the covenant of the father unto the remission of your sins, that ye become holy without spot." What is he in those verses?

1:03:54.6 BF: I want to understand sanctification.

1:03:58.6 TH: That's a good word. To be sanctified means to be made holy, to have arrived. Everything.

1:04:05.4 BF: Okay, so I'm just thinking about this parable that I read of a father. So the son is a drug addict and he steals from the neighbors and ends up going to jail and then ends up in a homeless shelter eventually, and I think... By the traditional view of the atonement, at that point, you think, okay, well, then the father comes in, pays the debt, and the son's left free. But really it's different, it's that the father comes into the homeless shelter with his own sleeping bag and says, "Hey, I'm here, Becky, I'm here for you." And I feel my shame and guilt that he's there sleeping on the cot or the floor with me, but he stays with me and allows me the chance to change myself by his grace. I can change, I can repair my own relationships because he has taken out any obstacle by staying with me, we get the chance to feel his grace through our own redemption, of moving through our soiled life. That's the word that's coming to me.

1:05:30.9 TH: Farley, you just perfectly and beautifully described sanctification, that's what it is right there. That's what it means. Oh my gosh. That was perfect.

1:05:42.7 KS: That's awesome.

1:05:45.2 TH: That was good.

1:05:46.8 KS: I did not ever really understand the word 'grace' or even how we hear it so often by through the grace of him. And this was something that while reading and preparing for this just kind of looked up and just kind of wanted to have a better understanding, so I would love to... What I wrote in my scriptures was grace equals strength or help. I'm sure there's a million of other ways of being able to just to describe what that word means, but as I read this, and even as you read it, instead of using the word grace, I thought I used help, and so how many times does it say that by His grace, but I put the word help, you may be perfect in Christ, for all of those things.

1:06:35.6 TH: I love that.

1:06:36.3 KS: So with what Farley said, those words, we're able to look and go, "Of course, we have this grace, or we're sanctified, but we get to feel and experience all of that."

1:06:52.2 TH: Brown, gosh, I love both of you for what you're saying, because it all come... Then we come into verse 33 where it says, "And deny not his power," like he's the most powerful kinsman. And because of that, he can give us everything that you guys talked about, he will sanctify us, he will help us. He will do that as the head kinsman, these are the... Verse 32 and 33 are the benefits of belonging to his tribe. That's what we get out of it. And I love, Brown, how you started out with that he loves us, because that was such a fun word to study, he has charity for us, which Moroni has talked to us a ton about, but in Hebrew, this word of this kind of love that the kinsman has for his people or his tribe, is the word hesed, that's the word in Hebrew.

1:07:37.8 TH: And Farley, we've talked about this word before, and it's really a great word because it's more than just like the highest form of love in Greek, it's more than just agape, it's more than, "Ooh I really love you," it's even more than a love that I have for my own child. This word in Hebrew, hesed, it's first really found in Exodus 34:6, where the Lord talks about his abounding goodness for his people, but it is as a result of the covenants that they make with him. This covenantal commitment that we have to Christ is, it's a committed love, it's one founded on covenant, it's a tender mercy that he gives us. I just love the beauty of this love that the kinsman has for us, he has hesed for us because of our covenants. And that is the overarching theme of 32 and 33, is hesed, this love what he will do for us because of our covenants. Far, tell me, 'cause you've been thinking about this word, too.

1:08:37.4 BF: It's so hard to understand Christ's compassion for us as human beings. I mean, every once in a while I feel like I get a smidgen of a sliver of it. But it's so encompassing. His suffering was so encompassing. And so in this world right now, who are we to ignore God in our suffering when he has already been there, done it, gone to the very depths? Who were we to ignore that? And then that comes back to the wisdom of knowing it will end because of Christ, the suffering will end. But without him, it won't. So accepting, this hesed, accepting and receiving it is the end of suffering.

1:09:37.4 TH: That's so good Farley. Brown, what's going on? Tell me your thoughts.

1:09:43.1 KS: Nothing, I'm just sitting thinking, I've never... Have I even given Christ, his compassion, his love, have I given it its due diligence, have I even given it enough thought to even begin to comprehend how much? You know what I mean? I get... We get so busy with, "This is what I need, or this is what's going on," that have I even paid a smidgen of attention to have caught a glimpse of compassion that he would have for me? Me who's sitting just right here in this room, but he has enough to show me, but I haven't given it that chance to feel. I haven't given myself the chance to feel that.

1:10:28.0 TH: 'Cause you're a busy mom with four kids. And life is busy.

1:10:32.7 KS: Yeah, but what am I missing like listening to Farley, golly, if you haven't been able to experience that or feel that. Of course, we've had moments or whatever, but to truly feel that it's something that we should really want, just in listening to the way Farley talks about it, and looking at her face and knowing that she knows that she's experienced that, it's really great.

1:11:04.9 TH: Brown, as you're talking, and Farley as you shared, I just feel the spirit so strong, 'cause what you're saying is true, both of you. It is true, it is. You've spoken truth, and I just can't think of a better time of year than to just focus on this has said, to focus on our relationship with our Savior, Jesus Christ, and this covenantal love and him as our divine kinsman and what that means for us. It is the perfect time of year to think about this. What will that look like for us in 2021, and how will we carry that through our year, this love, this truth of all things, and the mercy that he has for us? So I thank you, thank you so much for being with me today. That's the end. That is Moroni chapter 10. Oh, that was a lot of stuff.

1:11:55.4 KS: Thanks, Tammy.

1:11:55.7 TH: I mean 34 verses, and I guess we have to finish. I'll just finish by reading verse 34, 'cause we just have to... We gotta finish the book of Mormon to say, "We did it." And now I bid unto all farewell, I soon go to rest in the paradise of God until my spirit and body shall again reunite and I am brought forth triumphant through the air to meet you before the pleasing bar of the great Jehovah and eternal judge of both quick and dead. Amen.

1:12:20.8 BF: Amen.

1:12:21.0 TH: And it will be pleasing for a lot more of us than we think. A lot will be surprised how many people will find it pleasing, so amen.

1:12:30.8 KS: I think even as Moroni probably wrote that, he wrote that you become holy without spot and then he... I got nothing left, I'm exhausted. Amen.

[laughter]

1:12:42.8 TH: Amen. I think you're totally right.

1:12:46.1 BF: I'm gonna go rest in the paradise of God.

1:12:49.6 TH: See you people later.

1:12:50.2 BF: And I go get me some Chick-fil-A and relax.

1:12:52.8 TH: I'm out of here. Yes.

1:12:55.4 KS: It's true.

1:12:55.6 TH: I've nothing else to write.

1:12:57.0 KS: It's almost that balloon and then it was I got nothing else to say. Amen.

1:13:02.3 TH: Amen. I will amen his words. Absolutely. Okay, ladies. So think about what we talked about so much. We talked about so much, so telling me what your takeaway was today, what was it that you learned or that you're gonna share or whatever?

1:13:15.8 BF: My takeaway was listening to Brown talk about getting up every day, that's her gift, the gift of faith, of knowing that if I get up, if I keep doing my HiFit at 5:30 in the morning, eventually it's gonna pay off, right? I just read something about any habit that has the potential of paying off in 10 years, you should focus your attention on that. And listening to Brown and knowing who Brown is, that's gonna pay off. Her tent's gonna be big, where she's gonna have a big room in the tent of the sheikh, we're gonna wanna have sleepovers in Brown's room.

1:14:01.1 TH: Yeah, I love that.

1:14:03.2 BF: Because, that kind of stuff is pay... Like faith in God is gonna pay off big dividends.

1:14:09.4 TH: Yes, I like that, I like that, Farley.

1:14:13.4 KS: The word... And it kind of encompasses Farley, but is cheer. I wrote it at the very beginning, and no matter how hard, no matter what, you can use it differently, we can cheer on others, we can learn to cheer on ourselves, but we can also be cheerful. God is cheering us on, so that's probably, I would say that I will use that so much more and be able to just use it in a lot of different ways in my life.

1:14:50.7 TH: Amen, absolutely. Mine's the same kind of yours is, same as yours, Brown, because I thought, is there ever a better chapter for Christmas cheer then Moroni chapter 10? And Farley, when you said he's our biggest fan, or was it Brown? One of you said, he's our biggest fan, and I thought, Moroni is our biggest fan, and then I thought Christ is our biggest fan and Heavenly Father, they are exhorting us. And we often think of that as a negative thing, like, "Oh, there's so many you have to do." But they're really cheering us on, "You can do this, it's gonna be a lot of work, but I'm gonna give you spiritual gifts, and you just need to know that we love you and you can do this." So that was mine. He's our biggest fan. And that's at the top of my page in my scriptures, this is Christmas cheer right here, Moroni chapter 10. I love it. And I love you guys. This is such great day.

1:15:37.2 BF: I love you guys as well.

1:15:41.2 KS: Thank you.

1:15:41.9 TH: Love, love, love you.

1:15:42.9 KS: Love you all.

1:15:48.0 TH: I'm just gonna interject right here, this is the point where I ask for your takeaways, but before I do that, this is a little bit unconventional and it's not part of our regular flow, but I have to insert here that it is with a very heavy and a sad heart that I tell you that Brown's father passed away from COVID-19. And I'm telling you this because I want to also assure you after this discussion and listening to it, that Brown continues to get up every morning and she continues to be a witness of her faith, and we as friends have witnessed, and she is a witness that God is cheering her on. And I want her to know that so are we. And we love you Brown, and we love the entire Brown family in Texas.

1:16:29.1 TH: We would love to hear what your big takeaway was from this episode. So those of you who are listening, if you have not already joined our discussion group on Facebook or on Instagram, go there. You just have to go there. 'Cause it's so worth it. It's so much fun. People answer other people's questions, they share thoughts and ideas throughout the week, and so go there, so you can read those, and then usually at the end of every week on a Sunday, we ask for what your big takeaway was from this episode. So comment on the post that relates to this lesson and let me know what you've learned, and we really do learn from each other, it's so cool, everybody reads everybody's takeaway. So go and read those and share what your takeaway was. You can get to both our Facebook and Instagram by going to the show notes for this episode at LDSliving.com/sundayonmonday. And it's not even a bad idea to go there because you're gonna find all of the links to the references that we used today, so go there and check it out, and there's a complete transcript of this discussion, so you won't miss a word if you couldn't hear everything, 'cause we talk a lot. And it was so much fun.

1:17:23.5 TH: 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 our incredible study group participants were Kimberly Brown Sorenson and Becky Farley or Brown and Farley. And you can find more information about these ladies at LDSliving.com/sundayonmonday. Our podcast is produced by Katie Lambert, and it's mixed by Mix at 6 Studios. And our executive producer is Erin Hallstrom. Thanks for being here, we'll see you next week. And please remember, you are the divine kinsman's favorite.

1:18:02.4 TH: I will really pay for someone's membership if they can get Brown married. Keep that in.

1:18:03.8 KS: No, absolutely not. Please don't. I would be embarrassed.

1:18:09.3 BF: Well, you don't know what could happen, there's like 10,000 people that listen to this. You don't know, you could get the sheikh. The sheikh could be yours, then we got the best tent to sleep overnight in.

1:18:25.7 TH: Listen, if we marry for anything, we marry for money at this point. We're not marrying for love anymore.

1:18:29.8 BF: Lamb skin sitting out there with her coke.

1:18:33.5 TH: She's gonna marry rich.

1:18:34.2 BF: Doritos.

1:18:35.0 TH: God can't steer a parked car.

1:18:37.3 KS: Peanut M&Ms, Farley.

1:18:41.7 TH: Peanut M&Ms, exactly.

1:18:41.8 BF: Yeah, it's gonna be great, we need the sheikh.

1:18:45.1 KS: Oh my gosh that so...

1:18:47.3 TH: Someone amazing, yes.

1:18:48.6 KS: It will be hilarious.

1:18:48.7 TH: It's happening sister. I love you, I love you.

1:18:52.8 KS: This has been so great.