"Because of their armor" (Alma 43:21) - May 30, 2022

Spiritual Thought 

Many who read The Book of Mormon are struck by the wisdom and leadership of the Nephite general Moroni.  This righteous man was entrusted with the safety and protection of his entire nation and people at only twenty five years of age.  Over the course of the Book of Alma we read of many wars the Nephite people had with their brethren, the Lamanites.  Moroni was given the charge to ward off the attacks of the unbelieving Lamanites.  

In the first battle we read of Moroni participating in, we are told that the Nephites were largely unharmed "because of their armor" (Alma 43:21).  The Lamanites unwisely chose to rush into battle wearing nothing but a loincloth.  This obviously made them extremely vulnerable to the Nephite armies.  The righteous Nephites, however, were protected by helmets and armor which, we are told, saved the life of nearly all the soldiers of Moroni.

This account, however, is not a lesson about military strategy or equipment any more than the parables of Christ are meant to teach about sheep or oil.  As in all things, the meaning is Christ and the call to action is faith on his name.  Inasmuch as The Book of Mormon was written for our day there will always be lessons we must learn for our individual lives.  The trials and tribulations of the Book of Mormon are reminiscent of our own day to any observant reader.  My brothers and sisters, my family and friends, we must never become passive disciples who content ourselves to smile pleasantly as we lazily meander through this life while telling ourselves all is well in Zion.  We are at war, in the most terrifying and eternally significant meaning of that statement.  Our commander is the ruler of heaven and earth and our cry is "redemption through Christ crucified."  Our enemy is the father of lies and the author of misery.  The victory at stake is nothing less than the salvation of the world and the eternal exaltation of every man, woman, and child within it.  There is no escaping this offensive.  No cowering in the safety of our foxhole hoping for calm to be restored.  This struggle began before the foundation of the world and required our full, unashamed, unreserved commitment.  You and I proved faithful then.  We fought with our Savior and conquered "the dragon".  Too many of us, however, have, in this mortal arena, chosen to turn before the enemy and flee from our duty with our fellow deserters.

The armor mentioned by Moroni can be seen as symbolic and profoundly crucial if we are to survive this modern-day battle between good and evil.  Paul teaches of the Armor of God and gives explanations for what each piece represents.  The same explanation could reasonably be applied to the armor the Nephites wore.  I would like to suggest a second meaning behind this armor, however.  I believe the armor we must wear could also be defined as our covenants.  The sacred promises we make with our Father I Heaven and the protective blessings he gives in return.  Little wonder that "in the ordinances…the power of godliness is manifest" when we are surrounded at all times by "the fiery darts of the adversary".

My invitation is that we will seek, yearn for, then faithfully honor each of the covenants we make with our Heavenly Father.  Nothing can bring greater protection and blessing to our lives than these profound promises.  There will likely come a day when we are asked by those who proved less faithful how we were able to navigate the dangers of these latter-days.  When such a day comes, if we have learned to depend wholly upon our covenants, we too will be able to say "because of [my] armor".  That we may yearn to yoke ourselves more fully to the Savior through our covenants is my prayer.

In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

Weekly Update

Last week I said that week might have been my best so far.  Well, this one gave it some serious competition.  Being able to attend a baptism will always be the highlight of any week.  Clotilde was baptized on Saturday.  Enrique was supposed to be baptized as well but decided not to be at the last minute. We tried our hardest to change his mind with the 36 hours of warning we had once he backed out but it wasn't his time yet.  He keeps saying he thinks baptism is amazing and a great opportunity.  He also says he wants to be baptized "very soon".  We're not quite sure why "very soon" couldn't have been two days ago but we'll keep working with him.  We're confident he will be baptized within a week or two.

Clotilde's baptism was probably the most spiritually rich baptism I've attended.  She was so excited and anxious to be baptized.  After she came out of the water she stood in the font with her eyes closed for several seconds then said "Siento nuevo" which means "I feel new".  After changing Clotilde wanted to bear her testimony.  She said she didn't realize how heavy 72 years of sins was until she felt them taken away.  It was a powerful moment.

The baptism happened on Saturday.  Friday afternoon Elder Underwood and I were getting ready to leave when I looked at him and said "We haven't made a program yet."  Luckily we have keys to the clerk's office and Elder Underwood has a baptism template we were able to adjust a little bit.  After we made the program we printed one to see what it looked like.  The clerk's office printer only prints in black and white so we went down the hall to the library.  Elder Underwood wasn't using his brain and set the keys on the countertop.  After realizing that printer wouldn't work either, we walked out of the library.  Just as the door shut I said "I hope you grabbed the keys".  His response was "Oh no! I didn't."  Sure enough, the keys were locked in the library.  Long story short, we found a very confused and slightly annoyed English member who was willing to stop cleaning his garage long enough to help us out.

At this point it was about three and we still didn't have programs.  Elder Underwood thought of someone who might have a color printer.  After we drove to their house they told us their printer was out of ink but we should go try one of their neighbors.  We did and the exact same thing happened.  This was repeated five different times.  After the fifth house I looked at Elder Underwood and said "We're in one of the nicest parts of Kaysville.  Let's just start tracting for a printer."  So we did!  After a few minutes we ended up at the Stake President's house.  Of all the houses in Kaysville we somehow ended up at that one!  His printer was also out of ink but his wife said one of her friends at work hadn't left yet and could help us.  We thanked her and sent the friend the link for the programs.  Just as we were about to leave I casually asked where she worked.  Her response was "I work in the office of the First Presidency as one of the executive secretaries."  My jaw dropped to the floor like some ridiculous cartoon.  After what felt like twenty minutes I said "So you're telling me my baptism programs are being printed on President Nelson's printer?"  She smiled and said "Yep.  The same one I just used to print a memo to the Quorum of the Twelve about key points to focus on during training opportunities."  I was completely in shock and somehow managed to stagger down the front steps to the car.

The other highlight was finding a woman named Alenny.  On Friday we were inviting everyone we could think of to come see the baptism.  Towards the end of the night I remembered a lady we talked to a while back who seemed nice enough.  We went to her house and she immediately invited us inside.  As soon as we sat down she said "Elders, I have bread in the oven so I only have twenty minutes but I would love to hear about the Gospel".  I looked at Elder Underwood with a "this is perfect" look then asked if we could start with a prayer.  She said she would like to say it then said "I don't know how to pray though, will you teach me?"  We did then she gave one of the best prayers I have ever heard anyone give.  Afterwards she had some questions about our belief in the Godhead and if we worship Joseph Smith.  We answered her questions then talked about the Book of Mormon.  As soon as we started explaining its purpose she said "this makes so much sense, can I please read it?"  Before the end of the lesson she said she was so excited to read at least five more times.  We invited her to come to the baptism the next night and she said "I would love to but I don't have a ride."  I laughed and said "That's an easy problem to fix.  We'll find you one." to which she responded "Then plan on me being there."  Sure enough, she came to the baptism and seemed very moved by everything that happened.  Afterwards she came up to us and told us since the night before she had read the Introduction and the first three chapters of 1 Nephi.  I have honestly never met anyone so "golden", as missionaries say.  I'm excited to see her progress!

We had our mission tour on Thursday.  Elder Pearson from the Seventy visited.  His way of speaking is entirely different from any other church leader I have ever heard.  I'm trying to think of how to describe it.  Imagine if Elder Holland attended a Catholic school his entire life where rules were so strictly enforced that you were beaten with a cane and locked in a cold cellar for even the slightest infraction.  Then imagine if after that Elder Holland decided to join the Army and became a drill sergeant.  Next, imagine if Elder Holland became a Baptist preacher with all the hellfire and damnation to go with it.  Finally, imagine if, after all that, Elder Holland joined the church and became a member of the Seventy.  That, in a nutshell, is a mission tour with President Pearson.  It was definitely a little on the unconventional side of the spectrum but was still a neat experience.

I hope you all have a great week!

Elder Payne

Clotilde's baptism.  From L-R: Me, Clotilde, Enrique, Hermano Aguilar, Elder Underwood.

Elder Anderson (who I was comps with for a week) eats an unholy amount of ketchup.  It should be illegal.  He refilled all of these three times just to eat one hamburger.  I wish I could unsee it.

I went on exchanges with Elder Burgoyne and apparently their chapel has a baptismal font in the nursery.  Seems really weird but I guess you can play with toys while the person is changing.

Very nice headstones at the Centerville Cemetery.  I just loved the way the grass is greening up so I wanted to document it.  That's all.

I fanned the programs for the baptism.  I was pretty proud of how good it looked!  Don't make fun of me, alright.  

I told you people call me "the duck".  Well, last p-day I saw this and had to buy it for the ZLs.  "El Pato" means "the duck".

Exchanges with Elder Burgoyne.  We're too cool for a normal exchange picture.

The fancy holder our programs were put in after being printed in the First Presidency's office.  Just imagine what else this ink has seen!

We visited an elderly man who lives by himself one night this week.  Apparently he had decided to steal a shopping cart from the dollar store behind his house.  His conscious was eating at him so we offered to take it back.  Only as a missionary would you walk through a retirement community in the rain at nine o'clock in the evening to return a shopping cart stolen by an 80 year old man.