Week 19 - Looking Back

Things I thought about during my study this week:

Amulek’s and Zeezrom’s conversion stories – not quite as dramatic as Alma’s that had taken place earlier, but then most conversion stories aren’t. This quote sums it up nicely for them: President David O. McKay, who was Prophet and President of the Church in the 1950s and 1960s said that “the purpose of the gospel is […] to make bad men good and good men better, and to change human nature” (Conference Report, October 1965, 136).

Alma 17 starts with an ending. Alma & Amulek’s work in Ammonihah (which has now been destroyed just like the prophecy had warned) was finished. The sons of Mosiah’s work among the Lamanites for fourteen years had ended. And they met each other while traveling. I can relate to this in v. 2: Now these sons of Mosiah were with Alma at the time the angel first appeared unto him; therefore Alma did rejoice exceedingly to see his brethren; and what added more to his joy, they were still his brethren in the Lord; yea, and they had waxed strong in the knowledge of the truth; . . . I have been a member of the church for almost 32 years. I have served in a lot of positions in the ward and stake level. The Chattanooga Stake was formed not long after my baptism and within just a few years, I was serving as a counselor in the stake young women presidency. Because of that, I made friends with people from several different places. To this day, whenever I see any of them at the temple, etc., my heart does a little cartwheel because of their example of continued faithfulness. Conversely, whenever I hear of someone who was faithful then but subsequently lost their way, my heart is pained. And that is how it will be for this seminary class, whether you realize it now or not. You will always be interested in what happens with each other. You will rejoice, as Alma did, when 14 years from now you learn that each one of you has remained faithful. For each one of you who remains faithful, you will serve as a shot of strength and rejoicing into the souls of all those who knew you “way back when.” If you lose your way, there will be heartfelt prayers for your safe return. Even though you come from different backgrounds, have different talents and abilities, and will choose many different ways to map out your futures, you will always be bound by these years of when you shared your experience in the gospel with each other. As your teacher who loves you, my prayer is that you will choose to live lives that will be a strength and a joy to all who ever knew you and who ever will.

Soon after that joyous reunion, everyone went their separate ways: The scriptural account then turns to Ammon’s work in Ishmael among King Lamoni’s people. It is good to remember that what brought us to this point is that first, Ammon – like his brothers, had experienced a mighty change, a conversion of living lives of wickedness to those of good and faithful deeds. Because of their experience with feeling the redemptive power of the Atonement of Jesus Christ, they declined the opportunity they had to live lives as the sons of a king – or even to one day become the king. In order for that to happen, they first had to really know and understand how vital the Atonement was to each of them. It wasn’t something they read about in a book. It was something they had truly experienced for themselves. That, in and of itself, caused them to feel so much humility and so much gratitude that a natural outgrowth of those experiences was that they wanted to be instruments in the hands of the Lord to make that possible for others – namely, the Lamanites.

So, now, Ammon finds himself on the precipice of a great work among the people of Ishmael. His conversion had been real, his confidence was sure, and his faith was fixed on the Lord, Jesus Christ. Those things made it possible for him to put one foot of faith in front of another and walk into the city of a people who had been taught to hate him. He understood very keenly, though, that he was on the Lord’s errand and he knew his motives were pure. He simply wanted to bring the message of Jesus Christ to a people who sorely needed it. His only desire was to serve them – by taking care of the kings’ flocks at first, and then by really serving them by bringing the message of the great plan of redemption.

Here are two favorite quotes in that regard:

***Elder M.Russell Ballard said, “First, get to know your neighbors. Learn about their families, their work, their views. Get together with them, if they are willing, and do so without being pushy and without any ulterior motives. Friendship should never be offered as a means to an end; it can and should be an end unto itself. . . . Let us cultivate meaningful relationships of mutual trust and understanding with people from different backgrounds and beliefs.

“Second, I believe it would be good if we eliminated a couple of phrases from our vocabulary: nonmember and non-Mormon. Such phrases can be demeaning and even belittling. Personally, I don’t consider myself to be a ‘non-Catholic’ or a ‘non-Jew.’ I am a Christian. I am a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of latter-day Saints. That is how I prefer to be identified – for who and what I am, as opposed to being identified for what I am not. Let us extend that same courtesy to those who live among us. If a collective description is needed, then ‘neighbors’ seems to work well in most cases (Ensign, Nov. 2001, 37-38).

***“Live in such a way that people who know you but don’t know Christ will want to know Christ because they know you” (H. David Burton, Ensign, May 1994, 68).