Season 3: Episode 11 "The one with the move!"
Good morning all!
This week, as the title of this episode states, we moved apartments! It's really exciting for us because the old one wasn't the best... But it's all good because now we're in a really nice one, a little farther away, but we're not complaining!
I don't really have much to share other than that about our week, but I would like to share something that I learned in my studies!
I was reading in the book of Ether (in the Book of Mormon) and I was reading about this people named the Jaredites, who were commanded by God to travel across the sea to a "promised land". As I read about their preparations, I read how they relied solely on the Lord and his wisdom in crafting the barges, making them exactly to his instructions. I read how they prepared "all manner of food, that thereby they might subsist upon the water," and this included livestock that they brought with them. Later in the verse we read that they got on board their barges with all of their cargo and "commended themselves unto the Lord their God". I imagine this people and the amount of faith it would've taken to "commend themselves". I imagine them sitting there, waiting, some doubting, but waiting patiently until in the next verse it reads: "And it came to pass that the Lord God cause that there should be a furious wind blow upon the face of the waters, towards the promised land;". I was a little taken back by the implied aggression in the word "furious" as I looked it up, the word "furious" is only used 9 times in the standard works of the church, and the other 8 are in the Old Testament.
One of the definitions for "fury" is 'violence or energy displayed' as I defined violent (lots of definitions, I know, I promise I'm getting somewhere) it's origin is 'having a marked, or powerful effect'. This made me think of why we have trials, and from this I have learned that they are not a punishment, rather an opportunity to have a 'marked or powerful effect' wrought on you which will lead us to change. In the case of the Jaredites, it caused them to "cry unto the Lord" when they were buried deep in the ocean, to "sing praises unto the Lord" all day and all night. The record shows that they did so for 344 days. And when they landed on shore, they still did not forget, "and when they had set their feet upon the shores of the promised land they bowed themselves down upon the face of the land, and did humble themselves before the Lord,"
I hope and pray that the trials that we all go through, will have a lasting and powerful effect on us that will change us for the better. I hope y'all have a great week!
-Elder Tanuvasa
Good morning all!
This week, as the title of this episode states, we moved apartments! It's really exciting for us because the old one wasn't the best... But it's all good because now we're in a really nice one, a little farther away, but we're not complaining!
I don't really have much to share other than that about our week, but I would like to share something that I learned in my studies!
I was reading in the book of Ether (in the Book of Mormon) and I was reading about this people named the Jaredites, who were commanded by God to travel across the sea to a "promised land". As I read about their preparations, I read how they relied solely on the Lord and his wisdom in crafting the barges, making them exactly to his instructions. I read how they prepared "all manner of food, that thereby they might subsist upon the water," and this included livestock that they brought with them. Later in the verse we read that they got on board their barges with all of their cargo and "commended themselves unto the Lord their God". I imagine this people and the amount of faith it would've taken to "commend themselves". I imagine them sitting there, waiting, some doubting, but waiting patiently until in the next verse it reads: "And it came to pass that the Lord God cause that there should be a furious wind blow upon the face of the waters, towards the promised land;". I was a little taken back by the implied aggression in the word "furious" as I looked it up, the word "furious" is only used 9 times in the standard works of the church, and the other 8 are in the Old Testament.
One of the definitions for "fury" is 'violence or energy displayed' as I defined violent (lots of definitions, I know, I promise I'm getting somewhere) it's origin is 'having a marked, or powerful effect'. This made me think of why we have trials, and from this I have learned that they are not a punishment, rather an opportunity to have a 'marked or powerful effect' wrought on you which will lead us to change. In the case of the Jaredites, it caused them to "cry unto the Lord" when they were buried deep in the ocean, to "sing praises unto the Lord" all day and all night. The record shows that they did so for 344 days. And when they landed on shore, they still did not forget, "and when they had set their feet upon the shores of the promised land they bowed themselves down upon the face of the land, and did humble themselves before the Lord,"
I hope and pray that the trials that we all go through, will have a lasting and powerful effect on us that will change us for the better. I hope y'all have a great week!
-Elder Tanuvasa