The September pick for LDS Living Book Club is What Seek Ye? by S. Michael Wilcox. Follow the LDS Living Book Club Instagram for more insights with the author.

How did Betty Zermariam of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, meet her husband in Japan, join the Church, and become a spiritual, cultural, and temporal ambassador for her country? Perhaps Betty offers the best explanation: “God’s hand is in it.”

Jane Elizabeth Manning was born in Connecticut in about 1820. Her mother had been enslaved, but she was emancipated by the time Jane was born. Jane’s father died when she was a young child and, perhaps in part for that reason, Jane began working as a domestic servant for a wealthy white family in the next town over. As a young woman, she was baptized and joined the local Congregational Church, but not long afterward she heard a missionary from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints preach and she was convinced by his message. She was baptized a short time later, and she appears to have persuaded her family to join the Church as well. In 1843, the Mannings joined an interracial group of converts for the journey to Nauvoo. Although they left the Northeast together, the group was separated at some point during the journey. The white members continued to Nauvoo on public transportation; the black members walked. When Jane and her family reached Nauvoo, they were welcomed by Emma and Joseph Smith and stayed in the mansion house for a short time while they found jobs and housing. Jane remained in the mansion house, working for the Smiths as a domestic servant.

One Friday in 2015, nearing the end of my shift in the ER, an EMS radio call came: cardiac arrest. We were told it was a male, approximately 30-years-old. He appeared to have overdosed and didn’t have a pulse. The day before, arguing again with my 29-year-old, heroin-using son, I had threatened to throw him out of the house. He responded that he would kill himself with an overdose. After the EMS report, I rushed to call my son—he didn’t answer. I called my wife. She hadn’t seen him.

“The Latter-day Saint community [in Las Vegas is] vibrant across every facet—politically, public service, charitable. … No other group of people [comes] close.”

“When I started nosing through old photo albums, I discovered my mom was the first Black woman to receive a mission call.”

We may be discouraged when reading of those who are ‘lost’ in Lehi’s vision. But if we examine the context, the vision can actually be a hopeful message.

“He would want everyone to know that the gospel of Jesus Christ is true.”

The word angel is very meaningful. It comes to us from the Greek language. The Greek word, ΑΓΓΕΛΟΣ, means “messenger.”1 This same noun is centered in the Greek word for gospel, which is ΕΥΑΓΓΕΛΙΟΝ. Its literal meaning is “good message” or “good news,” with an implication of a heavenly or angelic source. ΕΥΑΓΓΕΛΙΟΝ is the very first word in the Greek New Testament (“Gospel According to St. Matthew”).

It’s exciting to see my friends come back to church, and I don’t judge them for their path.