The Liahona

This coming week you will be reading Chapter 16 where the Liahona is introduced to Nephi and his family.

Here's a short paragraph that describes in more detail the Liahona and it's purpose...

The Liahona was made of fine brass, and inside the ball were two spindles. One of the spindles pointed the direction Lehi and his family were to travel. (See 1 Nephi 16:10.) They followed the directions in the ball and were led through "the more fertile parts of the wilderness" (1 Nephi 16:16). They found that the pointers worked according to their faith, work, and obedience (see 1 Nephi 16:28).

The ball also contained writings that helped them understand the ways of the Lord. This writing changed from time to time as they believed and obeyed the Lord's instructions. (See 1 Nephi 16:29.)

Kylee Dribnak says...

In taking the Book of Mormon Challenge and reading this weeks Chapters one verse stood out to me and pretty much became the theme. I know we are all familiar with 1 Nephi 3:7 "..I will go and do the things which the Lord has commanded.." this scripture sounds so easy, just go and do what the lord commands. I feel Like for Lehi and Nephi it was pretty much black and white, good and evil. In our dispensation there is so much gray going on we really need to know where we stand, are we in these gray areas going to church and just floating through our crazy lives or are we doing everything we can to "Do what the Lord commands" and read our scriptures, pray, serve and teach others about our gospel daily? This really makes me want to step up my game and keep reaching for that! Our current prophet reminds us every conference to "BE" a little better in all we do. Be a little kinder, patient, loving, understanding and obedient. I know that through reading the book of Mormon we will find ourselves doing these things as the prophet has asked. The spirit of the book will help us accomplish this.

Our Goal

Bishop Schnieber kicked off 2008 with a new challenge to each member of Waveny Park Ward. This goes right along with the goal of the Stake which is to get familiar with "Preach My Gospel". We can do this! Actually, we are going to do it before the year is half over. The Bishop would like each of us will deepen our understanding of and commitment to the Savior by way of a thoughtful and thorough reading of The Book of Mormon.

The goal is an increased closeness to the Savior (and also an increased testimony of the prophet).

The strategy is reading this wonderful and inspired work daily. It simply oozes with inspired writings about Christ's mission among his peoples.

The tactics will be played out as each of us determines when, where, and how we study The Book of Mormon. Early morning; writing a journal of our learnings and growth; underlining topics in various colors; reading every Book of Mormorn scripture reference as we work our way through Preach My Gospel; rereading the book in the language of our mission (if we've gone to a foreign language mission), etc. These are all up to each of us to figure out.

Daily reading is required. Quiet time in a place where one can be undisturbed is also key to success.

The decision to commit to follow through. This is the first step. Making the commitment inviolate is hard, but very powerful.

Let's not be deterred!Let's share our insights and inspiration with each other.

Here's how it will work. We will start reading NOW, tomarrow which is Monday January 21st and our desired end date will be August 30. Reading One Chapter each day from now until then. You are certainly welcome to read more quickly, but this challenge is so that we can really get to know the stories and gain a testimony of the Book of Mormon and it's teachings. Blogs from ward members will be posted each week and you are welcome to add comments. Comments can be posted as anonymous or you can put your name if you like. Just click on the comments link below and it will show you what to do.