BYU (Brigham Young University) is operated by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, often mistakenly called the “Mormon Church.” As part of their undergraduate coursework, BYU students take multiple semesters of spiritually uplifting, stimulating religion classes.
In this series (see below), students enrolled in scripture study classes have shared their thoughts, insights, and reflections on the Book of Mormon in the form of letters to someone they know. We invite you to take a look at their epiphanies and discoveries as they delve into the scriptures.
In publishing these, we fulfill their desire to speak to all of us of the relevance, power and beauty of the Book of Mormon, a second witness of Jesus Christ and complement to the Bible. The Book of Mormon includes the religious history of a group of Israelites who settled in ancient America. (The names they use are those of prophets who taught the Book of Mormon peoples to look forward to the coming of Christ—Nephi, Lehi, Alma, Helaman, and other unfamiliar names. We hope those names will become more familiar to you as you read their inspiring words and feel the relevance and divinity of their messages through these letters.)
Let us know if you’d like to receive your own digital copy of the Book of Mormon, and/or if these messages encourage and assist you spiritually as well.
Mormon Thoughts: Enduring through the Trial
Letter to a friend
Before I took a class on the Book of Mormon I always assumed that Christ came down to visit the Nephites only three days after His crucifixion and resurrection. Now I know better—the Nephites actually had to wait nearly a year before they had the chance to see Christ. However, during this time they didn’t wait passively; they were working hard to change both their outward circumstances and inwardly they worked to change their hearts. In fact, on the day that Christ descended, the people were conversing about him. In other words, even though time had passed, they were still using the terrible trials that had befallen them to make themselves better, more worthy people.
Like the Nephites, we must prepare for our meeting with Christ by enduring our trials with patience.
I believe this can apply to people today. Sometimes a trial will happen in our lives and though we survive it, we are neither made better people nor blessed because of it. We will be better prepared for these circumstances if we look to the example of the Nephites during this time period. Just like the Nephites, we can’t be passive while waiting for our trials and afflictions to pass; we need to work in order for them to change us. We can also see that trials will take some patience. Christ didn’t visit the Nephites immediately after His death and the destruction that followed it; He made them wait. Likewise, we might wonder why a trial is lasting so long, or why our lives haven’t been especially blessed for making it through the trials, but just like the Nephites, we need to learn to be patient and work hard in the meantime.
Life can be extremely hard. It was for the Nephites and it still is for people everywhere today. The trick to getting through is trying a little harder to be a little better and having the knowledge that eventually we will all meet Christ personally, whether in this life or the next.
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