My studies on Moroni

There are several of my former Athens Stake YCLs who are now serving as full-time missionaries.  I think about them often, I pray for them, and sometimes I write them letters.  But for some reason, I rarely send those letters.  I need to be better about that.  I recently rediscovered this letter that I wrote to one of them a few months ago but have not yet sent.  But I will soon!  In light of the #LightTheWorld initiative focusing on studying the scriptures today, I thought that my reporting on my scripture studies about Moroni in this letter was worth sharing.  So here it is.  Enjoy!

02 October 2016

Dear Sisters,

Oh, hey sister missionary!  I am smiling so big right just thinking of you serving the Lord as a full-time missionary!  You are so amazing!  I hope that you don’t mind my writing you.  I asked your mom for your address, and she was kind enough to oblige—and we exchanged a few facebook messages about how awesome you are!

Now, I’m a little out of letter-writing practice, so I apologize if this comes off as disorganized or preachy.  I used to write a lot of letters to missionaries when my sisters and cousins were serving several years back, and I followed a bit of a pattern:  I would greet them, provide a small update on happenings in my life, respond to any questions (if there was back-and-forth correspondence), and then I would share a story from the scriptures and apply it to life or missionary work.  I want to try bringing that pattern to play in this and any future letters I may send to you.

So the first paragraph was my greeting, so now for an update on me.  I am still living in Arizona, still in love with the Gospel and the scriptures, and I currently work full-time as a therapist as well as teach an online class on The Family Proclamation for BYU-Idaho.  I probably need to more actively work on being sociable, but life is good overall and I feel very blessed by my Heavenly Father.

Okay, let’s jump into the scriptures.  Oh how I love the scriptures, especially the Book of Mormon!  I want to share some insights from a recent study.  Last Sunday I gave a fireside to Single Adults on the topic The Family: A Proclamation to the World and the Non-traditional Family.  Since my audience was composed of people who were single, divorced or widowed/widowered, I wanted to focus on the significance of the Proclamation to those whose lives don’t reflect the ideal family situation.  And I wanted to invite them to still hold up the Proclamation like the Title of Liberty and be an advocate for it and the doctrines, principles and standards it contains.  I spent a few weeks studying various family types in the scriptures and ended up deciding to use Moroni, son of Mormon as an example of a powerful Single Adult who understood the divine importance of the family and who was instrumental in advocating for eternal families in some pretty special ways.

So…some interesting information from the scriptures about Moroni.  (P.S. Sorry if this isn’t the most relevant topic for your stage of life, but perhaps it can be of value to many of those who you teach as a missionary.) 

Now, I suppose I can’t say it definitively, but it is my interpretation that Moroni spent much of his life as a single man.  He told us in Mormon 8 that “I even remain alone…for I am alone.  My father hath been slain in battle, and all my kinsfolk, and I have not friends nor whither to go…”  We don’t know if being left alone makes him a widower, or if he was a bachelor, but he was single and he knows loneliness.

Sometimes, when I get lonely, I like to study Moroni.  It is reasonable to assume that he was left alone, wandering with the plates for several decades.  In Moroni 1 he noted that the Lamanites “put to death every Nephite that will not deny the Christ.  And I, Moroni, will not deny the Christ; wherefore, I wander whithersoever I can for the safety of mine own life.”  He wandered alone for a long time, and largely felt directioness: “whither I go it mattereth not”. 

I think that a lot of people, especially singles in the church, can relate to this experience of feeling alone, lonely, and unsure of where to go or what to do.  Moroni had hope and a sense of eternal purpose, but the day to day was probably much more difficult.

So, what did Moroni do when he felt alone?  When his dad had been killed in battle?  When he had no friends or relatives to turn to?  We don’t know entirely.  But, we can discern a few things than he may have done, and that it would seem that he didn’t do.

We first know that Moroni didn’t give up.  In Moroni 9:6 we read advice Moroni received from his dad in a letter: “And now, my son, notwithstanding their hardnesss, let us labor diligently; for if we should cease to labor, we should be brought under condemnation; for we have a labor to perform whilst in this tabernacle of clay, that we may conquer the enemy of all righteousness, and rest our souls in the kingdom of God.”

From that verse we can also surmise that he labored diligently, and that he held on to hope that someday he would be able to rest his soul in the kingdom of God with his family.  That verse, which is part of a letter Mormon wrote to Moroni, also makes me think that Moroni probably often turned to both the scriptures and the letters from his dad that he held on to over all those years.   It probably brought him a lot of comfort to see the 17 times he was referred to as “son” and to remember that he was part of an eternal family.  I think that reading a sermon from his dad (contained now in Moroni 7) helped influence the development of his character and faith.

Moroni 7 is the powerful sermon on faith, hope and charity.  I believe that Moroni epitomized all three of those attributes in ways that few others on earth have because of the circumstances he was in and how he chose to respond in those circumstances.

Consider this as it relates to charity.  When Moroni first writes in the Book of Mormon, it is in Mormon 8.  In reading that chapter, there are some subtle indications that Moroni viewed the Lamanites in a “them” versus “us” way (see verses 3 and 7).  Which makes sense seeing as how he was a leader in the military fighting them, and how they were responsible for the death of his family, friends and people.  However, by the time he writes in Ether 12, something has changed in his heart.  In verse 38 he refers to them as “my brethren whom I love”.  This comes only a few verses after he wrote about faith, hope and charity himself.  And in verse 34 he acknowledges before the Lord, “except men shall have charity they cannot inherit that place which though hast prepared in the mansions of thy Father”.  He then references the consequences for not having charity.

We again see evidence of Moroni’s charity in Moroni 1 when he again refers to the posterity of the Lamanites as “my brethren”, and states that his purpose for having created additional plates and writing on them is solely for their benefit.  He hasn’t forgotten what the Lamanites did.  Two verse before stating his purpose and view of them as brethren, he stated that “because of their hatred they put to death every Nephite…”  But he loves them anyway.

Moroni remains humble enough to love.  This has to be hard.  Understanding what I do about human nature and defense mechanisms, it must have been so tempting for him to try to numb out, to harden his heart, to hate or to blame.  And perhaps he did for a while, I don’t know.  But ultimately, he was able to love those who persecuted him, and do good to those who would have killed him if they could.

Moroni is such a stud!  Wow…this is turning out really long.  I’m going to skip most of the other things I could write about Moroni the powerhouse single adult and just mention one or two more things that I think are super significant.  And these relate to making the blessings of eternal families available to everyone.

In D&C section 2, we are able to read the worlds of Moroni to Joseph Smith.  Consider that Moroni was selected to be instrumental in ushering in the restoration!  One of the things he taught Joseph, and that is the first section recorded after “The Lord’s Preface” in section 1, is about promises related to the family, the Priesthood and the sealing power: “Behold, I will reveal unto you the Priesthood, by the hand of Elijah the prophet, before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord.  And he shall plant in the hearts of the children the promises made to the fathers, and the hearts of the children shall turn to their fathers.  If it were not so, the whole earth would be utterly wasted at his coming.”  

Elijah held the keys to the sealing power.  In understanding the purpose of the earth in Heavenly Father’s plan, we know that it is a place prepared for us to be born into families, and make and keep covenants that bring us back to the presence of God in families.  That chapter/section is about the importance of eternal families made possible through Priesthood ordinances in holy temples.

And Moroni’s image tops almost all of the Lord’s temples built in this dispensation.  I think that it is really cool that Moroni was able to be an advocate for the family even though he spent most of mortality without his own.  I think that it is significant that the Lord trusted him with responsibilities and power.  And I consider him to be a great example of being faithful in lonely and perilous circumstances.  I am so grateful for his example, for his writings, and for the role he played in the compiling of the scriptures and the ushering in of the restoration.  

If you read this entire letter, bravo.  I promise to make the next one at least a little bit shorter.  I guess I have a hard time containing my excitement when thinking and writing about the scriptures.  Like Nephi, "my soul delighteth in the scriptures" (2 Nephi 4:15).  They are amazing and they are true!

I am so proud of who you are and the decisions that you are making!  I anticipate that as you serve you will experience a roller coast of emotions as you love and have your heart broken by those you serve and teach.  I hope that you will turn to the Savior in both your joy and sorrow so that he can consecrate those experiences for your sake.

Know that you are missed, thought of, prayed for, admired and loved.  You are a very special person with so much love and light to give to others.  I am grateful for your example to me and for the love and optimism and faith that you have shared.

Oh, and if you do have any interest in corresponding, I’d love to keep in touch.  I’d love to hear about the tender mercies you experience, the trials you face that have the potential to refine you, stories about the people you serve and serve with, insights from your studies, and/or the fun and funny experiences that you have if you ever feel like sharing.  But I know your time is limited, so don’t feel as though you need to.  Just know that I am interested and I care.  Also, know that you are loved.

Onward, ever onward,

Sister Allison Ellsworth