Best Mission Farewell Ever

Yesterday we had the best testimony meeting ever. We have two Tongan boys in our ward who moved in with their oldest brother about a year ago. They come from a very poor family, and their mom died in 2004. The older of the two boys is leaving on his mission to Detroit in a couple of weeks.

In the meeting we had a temple presidency member and his wife speak, and even though they're great and have had a lot of experience, the highlight was definitely Elder Latu.

Multiple times he quoted scriptures from memory - the best two being D.C. 4 and 3 Nephi 5:13 (  13 Behold, I am a disciple of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. I have been ^acalled of him to declare his word among his people, that they might have everlasting life.)


Impressive to see someone with slightly broken English (and it's his second language), repeat memorized scriptures so well prior to his mission. Also, the 3 Nephi scripture was so powerful to hear him say. He mentioned how blessed he was to be born into the covenant and receive his calling. 


Making the whole event even better was that he could have been in the Olympics representing his country. He talked about that, how despite being so poor he was blessed to travel and was 2nd in South Pacific Games in boxing and 10th in the commonwealth games. He could have gone to the Olympics but when he moved to the U.S., after fasting and praying, he realized God wanted him to go on a mission, not to the Olympics. So he put all his energy into preparing for a mission, and it has been a great blessing for him. Very powerful to hear about this. He talked about his mom being so happy he's going on a mission (she's on the other side of the veil). 


The people in Detroit are lucky to have this Elder. Incredibly humble. Very well prepared. An inspiration to us all. 

Hints about Satan's lies - Korihor

In Alma 30 we get to see the story of Korihor, a man who taught that if you couldn't see something, you shouldn't believe it. Therefore, there was no reason to think there would be life after death or a judgment and as a result, you should do whatever you wanted in life. This led to an increase in people committing sexual sin in particular. Very sad. There was also an emphasis on the leaders of the church trying to hold down or oppress their followers.

Alma fought these points pretty specifically:
a) church leaders didn't get paid, so why would they lie
b) people found hope in the idea of Christ and what he would do for them; this is a hopeful, not oppressive belief
c) the order of the world was evidence of God existing (science talks about entropy; having organization is the opposite of this and infers an Organizor)

Also, we later find out that the following:
a) he wanted a sign - this is an easy thing to say but is quite damning when an individual requires this (we learn from Alma/Amulek in Ammonihah that a sign doesn't convince people for the long-term, only condemns them)
b) Satan came to him as an angel and Korihor believed because what was taught was pleasing to the carnal mind; if something sounds too good to be true (no punishment for behaving so selfishly) or involves a "me first" focus, it's probably not good
c) Korihor trusted a "super natural" person, Satan, but wouldn't believe in God. That seems surprising.

Speaking with antagonistic/unbelieving groups - Significant amounts of data

It is difficult to speak with those that are extremely antagonistic/unbelieving groups. The Book of Mormon gives a case of this in Alma 9 to Alma 14.

Amazingly - Alma and Amulek convince some people, others die, and others are chased out to another town.

This is a very extreme story in which many are murdered. I must assume it's not in there randomly. Here's some thoughts.
- Alma and Amulek teach some very tough doctrine and some very detailed doctrine: - if you die as a sinner, you will be in a terrible place - your words, thoughts, actions will condemn you before God;
- people were foreordained as high priests in the premortal life based on their acceptance of the teachings of the Savior and faith and repentance; it's the same on earth - critical to repent and exercise faith

Then Alma and Amulek and placed into prison, women and children that believe are thrown into a fire and men who believe are kicked out of town. Alma and Amulek prophesy that the town will be destroyed, which the people say they don't believe. Town leaders tell Alma to free himself and then they'll believe; when Alma and Amulek are freed, their prison tumbles to the ground, killing everyone but themselves. Townspeople see this but still don't repent. Some lessons learned:
- even if everything a prophet says will happen happens, non-believers still don't repent
- terrible things can happen to believers; it's still wise to believe, but don't think it won't be difficult
- when teaching people who are antagonistic, it helps to have 2 teachers
- it's okay to teach very specific doctrine, which I believe shows there's merit to what's being taught (foreordination in this instance) and that the plan is fully formed
- those who are overly skeptical are left with the lesser portion of the word (that which is on the page only) and not the greater portion (that which is revealed)