The following transcript is intended to aid in your study. However, while we try to go through the transcript, our transcripts are primarily computer-generated and often contain errors. Please forgive the transcripts’ imperfections.

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Segment 1

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In a 1997 regional conference, President Hinckley said this, "It isn't as bad as you sometimes think it is. It all works out. Don't worry. I say that to myself every morning. It will all work out. If you do your best, it will all work out. Put your trust in God and move forward with faith and confidence in the future.

The Lord will not forsake us. He will not forsake us. If we put our trust in Him, if we will pray to Him, if we will live worthily of His blessings, He will hear our prayers." Now, that is the message for this week's discussion of Ezra and Nehemiah because you guys, as bad as things were for the Israelites, things did work out.

And here's the reality. With God's help, things really will work out for us, too. And like the Israelites, it did require some work, which in this episode we get to find out how much work it takes, and then you can decide, like the Israelites did, if it really is worth it. Welcome to the Sunday on Monday Study Group, a Deseret Bookshelf Plus original, brought to you by LDS Living, where we take the Come, Follow Me lesson for the week and we really dig into the scriptures together.

I'm your host, Tammy Uzelac Hall. Now, if you're new to our study group, follow the link in our description and it's going to explain how you can best use this podcast to enhance your Come, Follow Me study, just like my longtime listening friend, Cassie Polson from West Jordan, Utah. Cassie, thank you for meeting me, and thanks for listening.

Now, another awesome thing about our study group is each week we're joined by two of my friends, so it's always a little bit different, and today is different. We don't have any repeats. These are two new guests, and I'm so excited to introduce you to them. They are Lani Hilton and Anne Marie Hilton. Hi, ladies.

Hello. Hello. Glad to be on. Yay. Okay, how do you two know each other? Funny story. Mommy is my mom And Anne Marie is my oldest daughter. She's my second child and I remember with such joy the day she was born because for our first ch- child we found out he was gonna be a boy. We were expecting a boy and it was all exciting and he was wonderful.

And then I thought for the next baby I wanna be surprised. And when Anne Marie was born, nobody said, like no one exclaimed, "It's a..." Like, no one was saying anything. And I said, "Well, what is, you know, w- what is she? A boy or a girl?" And the doctor fi- the doctor looked at me, 'cause I guess he didn't know, 'cause I mean, people don't have surprises anymore very often.

But Anne Marie, anyways, she, she, the, the doctor put a beautiful dainty baby, a girl, on my stomach, and I looked at her and I just fell in love, and she had strawberry blonde hair as a baby. And my- Wow ... my husband and I had dark hair, so I was so surprised. I was so happy to have a little girl. So I love Anne Marie.

She's my favorite oldest daughter.

What a tribute. So thanks for having us on, Tammy. Well, this is fun, Anne Marie, because I said to your mom, "Just choose anyone who... I think it'd be fun to have a child, but you can choose a guest to join us." And without hesitation, Anne Marie. So what a compliment to you. I'm so excited. Anne Marie, tell our listeners a little bit about yourself so they know you Well, I mean, the, I'm the oldest daughter of John and Lani Hilton.

I'm currently studying at Brigham Young University, and I'm studying psychology What do you wanna do with that degree? I think it'd be really interesting to either become a therapist, um, and I'm looking into some Christian therapy programs, like, based in Christian universities, or to go into education and find ways to help people be able to teach better using psychology principles That's a great idea.

Love it. Oh, my goodness. Okay, this is gonna be a fun discussion today. I'm so excited. Thank you for saying yes, Anne Marie, 'cause I didn't know you. But I know Lani because we got to work together on the BYU Women's Conference Committee, and it was a joy. That's the reason why I was on the committee. I had to meet all of those incredible women, specifically you, so it's like thank you.

Thank you for saying yes Yes, Tammy, thanks for asking us to do this block. Nehemiah's one of my favorites, so I was so excited when you said, "Could you do Nehemiah?" I just was so, so happy. It's just, you know, you're like, "Thank you, Heavenly Father. This is the greatest." Oh, my gosh. My listeners are laughing because one of the things they know that's been consistent throughout this whole podcast, and we've been doing this for seven years, I never know what guests I'm gonna put with which episodes.

I just reach out to all my guests, who agree, and then I start assigning them 'cause I pray over, okay, who would be good for this episode? And so when I got to Nehemiah and Ezra, I was like, "Ugh, who would be good for this episode?" Like, these books are tough. Not even Isaiah tough. They're historically tough.

Yeah. And without even a blink, it was immediately you, and I... And then, and it was blank. Nobody else. That's why I was like, "Okay, Lani, will you do this, please?" And when you wrote it's your favorite, I was like, Heavenly Father is so good. Who would've guessed N- Nehemiah and Ezra? Those aren't anyone's favorites except Lani.

They're her favorites, mm-hmm. Does not surprise us, does it, Anne Marie? Um, and Anne Marie's really busy, so kudos to her. She's a full-time student, so we're grateful she's taking time to share with us her insights. But I- Yeah ... anyways, I love the scriptures. I love all the scriptures, and I love, love it when you find good principles, and they are all over these, this segment, so...

Oh, okay, well, this is gonna be such a fun discussion. Already we've set it up so perfectly. So if you guys are, wanna know more about my guests and you wanna see their pictures and read their bios, you can find those in our show notes, which are at ldsliving.com/sundayonmonday. So go check it out. So grab your scriptures and something to mark them with, and let's dig into Lani's favorites, Ezra and Nehemiah.

Okay, first things first, my question to you both is, what did the Holy Ghost teach you as you were preparing for this discussion? Well, one of the favorite scriptures that I found was in Nehemiah chapter 2, um, which is, like, in context, this is Nehemiah's realized that the city of Jerusalem is destroyed, and so he's going to talk.

Well, he just looks depressed about it, and the king is like, "What is it that you want?" So Nehemiah 2:4-5, the king says, "What is it that you want?" And in the NIV, it says, "And then I prayed to the God of heaven and answered the king." And to me, that just really stood out because I think sometimes in my life, I'm afraid to ask people for what I want.

Like, it's really easy to try to people please and to be like, "What's most convenient for this person I'm talking to? Like, I can be flexible." And Nehemiah's not like, "I'm sure the king would rather have me as a cupbearer. I don't wanna inconvenience the king." Nehemiah's like, "You know, I actually, I want the city to be rebuilt," and that's gotta be a scary thing to tell the king, to be like, "So, I want a job change."

Mm-hmm. Um, and so I like how he turns to God for comfort, and he gets that support from God, and then he gives an answer to the king, and he's willing to ask for what he wants. And I just think, to me, that's really empowering of sometimes, like, it's gonna be scary to go for something and to say, "Yeah, I actually really want this," even though it's probably gonna inconvenience a lot of people.

But we can, like, turn to God for strength, and we can be willing to stand up for the things that we want. What a great verse to me- On the Amberly ... to go to. That is so good. And the idea, never underestimate the power of just a really quick prayer. How many times have we offered those prayers where all of a sudden we're like, "Heavenly Father, help me out.

What's my answer?" And then boom, there it is. Like, I, I thought that was so perfect 'cause I think we live in... Our world is about quick prayers. We're busy people, and I think it's important to take time to pray. But then also, I think throughout my day, I say so many quick prayers. So. And I love how Elder Holland, too, like, when he recovered from his illness, like, a while back, that was one of the things that, like, he really emphasized after his near-death experience was we gotta pray more.

Yeah. And however much you're praying, pray more. However hard you're pray- praying, pray harder. Oh, that's awesome. Like, I love that, where it is to never underestimate that power of prayer. How... Can I ask this follow-up question? What role has prayer played in your life in schooling right now? You're about to graduate, you're making decisions Yep.

Um, it, it's been a process actually. Tell me about it. God has given me some answers that I didn't like and I didn't wanna hear. Um, and so it's, it's a lot of praying, of seeking confirmation on answers, and a lot of praying on, like, which path to take and, and what's a good next step to, to trust that. And then also when I'm not getting answers, to kinda trust myself to take a next step.

And so I feel like prayer is just a really constant for me, where it's like there's formal prayers in the morning and the evening when I'm asking God to help me maybe let go of some of the things I've been caught up over the day or to know what to prioritize, to know... Right now it's like I'm trying to figure out my teachers, right- Mm-hmm

for my last two classes, and so figuring out if there's a class schedule that will be better for a social life or be better for learning the material that I wanna take and, and to know what are the most important things. And so it's, it's a lot of constant conversations with God and- Mm ... me coming to God saying, "Hey, I think this is what I want.

Is that what you want?" And, and so that's kinda like the back and forth. That's so cool. Constant conversations. Oh. Thank you, Anne Marie, for teaching us that. That's a great phrase when it comes to praying. Well, I wanna share what I, when you said, "What has the Spirit been teaching you?" And for me, the Spirit, um, just kind of is gradual and kind of works on me a little bit.

And I ... And actually can work through other people. And I had a friend text me what she was learning in her personal study yesterday, and I thought, "Oh, this totally has to do with Nehemiah." So this just came yesterday, and, but I'll share it with the Ezra scripture. So I'm gonna be reading some from the King James Version, but some from the NIV, the New International Version.

Perfect. So the scripture I'm gonna read is Ezra 7:27. In the NIV it says, "Praise be to the Lord, the God of our ancestors, who put it in the king's heart to bring honor to the house of the Lord in Jerusalem this way, who has extended his good favor to me before the king and his advisors and all the king's powerful officials."

I love verse 27 that says, "Praise be to the Lord God." And throughout this account of both Ezra and Nehemiah, you see the people are praising the Lord when they see that good things are happening. And my friend, Chandi Allen, texted me that she had been reading Elder Renlund's talk, Consider the Goodness of God from April 2020.

And he says this. He says, "Reflecting on God's goodness and mercy helps us become more spiritually receptive." Okay, so I am connecting praising God with reflecting on His goodness. So, and I realize they are not identical- Mm-hmm ... but I think they're very related, praising God- Mm-hmm ... for His goodness. So just listen to what Elder Renlund says.

"Reflecting on God's goodness and mercy helps us become more spiritually receptive." Like, that is a really awesome consequence of reflecting on God's goodness. We can become more spiritually receptive. And then he says, "In turn, increased spiritual sensitivity allows us to come to know the truth of all things by the power of the Holy Ghost."

And then he goes on with other blessing. This includes getting a testimony of the Book of Mormon, of the Savior. And then he starts the next paragraph, "When we remember the greatness of Heavenly Father and Jesus and what they've done for us, our trust in them increases. Our prayers change because we know God is our Father and we are his children."

Mm. And I don't know, the Spirit has been working on me To just remember the greatness of God. And the, I feel like there are tangible blessings that come when we reflect on His goodness. And there are blessings, like there are good reasons the people in these chapters are praising God. He is giving them good blessings after they've been exiled and horrible things have happened.

He's now sending good things, and there's a reason for them to praise Him. But in all of our lives, if we are, if we're in a situation where we're in exile, you know, metaphorically speaking, and we're having the hard times, we can still find good things to thank God for, and just namely His Son, Jesus Christ, that He sent Jesus Christ.

Like, we can always thank Him for that no matter how horrible our life is. But probably many of us are in situations where we are very, we can look around and just see temporal blessings. But Elder Renlund isn't saying that. He's not saying like, "Look for the blessings." He's saying, which I get these are connected, he's saying, "Reflect on God's goodness, and reflect on where these have come from and how good God is."

Anyways, I just feel like there, there are so many real actual blessings that come when we reflect on and ponder the goodness of God So- Yes. Oh, Lani, I love that so much 'cause it goes back to how we started. Like, and I wrote a sentence connecting what you taught us, that things work out because of the greatness of God, and when we reflect on him, we can see his vision for us 'cause we're his children.

Like, I love how you just taught us all of that. Well, it was really Elder- Powerful ... it was Elder Renlund, right? He said, "When we reflect on God g- God's goodness," and I've tried to do that more- Mm-hmm ... just the last couple days. I try to do that all the time, but I was trying to do it better the last couple days.

Sure. And, um, and I just thought my optimism, my trust in the Lord, like, increases because, like, I see he is good. Like, he is someone I can trust- Mm-hmm ... because he is good. Like, we... And I think that we... Anyways, we're gonna see that as we talk about these events in Ezra and Nehemiah, that he is so good. He is so good.

Yes. And when I see that in my life, like he is so good in my life, and it's easy for me to forget that if currently I'm like, "Oh, life is not that great. What is happening?" It's easy to forget all the times he was so good. So it's always just such a good reminder to say, "And hooray for Elder Renlund for help with this great talk, consider the goodness of God," um, that there are real tangible blessings.

And he, and he uses these words, "Ponder on this and reflect on this." And I mean, it's nothing... Like, it's from the Book of Mormon title page. The- that's one of the purposes is to show unto the remnant of the house of Israel what great things the Lord hath done for their fathers. And then Elder Renlund continues, "The Book of Mormon's conclusion includes Mormon's appeal: I would exhort you that when you should read these things you should remember how merciful the Lord has been unto the children of men, and ponder it in your hearts."

So it's this whole, that kind of sets up his whole talk of the Lord wants us to know how good he's been to our fathers and to us, and to ponder it. Perfect. Thank you, Lani. And one of the things I wrote at the very beginning of the Book of Ezra is what you said multiple times as you were sharing what the Holy Ghost taught you.

You said, "He is so good." That's such a great way to start out our discussion of Ezra and Nehemiah, is things work out, and he is so good. We are gonna see how good he was to the children of Israel and to the Israelites, and what he allowed them to do. And so that is why Lani loves these books so much, is because he is so good.

So in the next segment, we are then gonna dive into some really cool things, especially a name that plays an important role in this story. We'll do that next.

Segment 2

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I have a question for the two of you. I'm curious to know, does the last name Hilton mean anything? Is there a significance about that? Or maybe Lani, your maiden name, is there a significance to your maiden name? Well, maybe I'll dodge the question, and my first name Lani is Hawaiian, and it... I was born in Hawaii, so I got a Hawaiian name.

None of my siblings, none of the rest of my siblings did. Um, but h- it means from heaven or heavenly. Oh. And my, my parents definitely, like, helped me know they named me Lani for a reason, and that was a great meaning. I don't know the name of my... I don't know anything significant about my maiden name. It's just a Norwegian, like the son of Oli I think is Olsen.

But yeah, we can pass it off- Can I respond to you with that one? Yes. Once upon a time, my mom's grandpa, who was like my great-grandpa Olsen, he passed away while I was in kindergarten or first grade. But when I... This was when I was in kindergarten. I'd go to his house, and he'd give us Red Vines. And so I was going to hang out with him, and I said, "Why, like, where did the name Olsen come from?"

And I remember this 'cause he started this very long tangent that I do not remember, but it was like, "Well, this is my last name, and here's my dad, and here's his dad," and how it was all Olsen, and he was just tracking genealogy. But I think like, eventually I think it came back to somebody who was Ole's son, and-

and we've been Olsens ever since. But that's my memory with, it's, it's Olsen for a very long reason. Oh, that's perfect then. I love it. Ole's son. Okay, that is a great understanding of the last name Olsen. Hilton, does that have anything other than a hotel attachment? Um, apparently it comes from the... Like, it's, it's from England, is where our ancestors are, and it comes from, like, hill and tun, which, like, is hill and, like, farmland.

So kinda like people that live on hills. Mm-hmm. Perfect. So apparently that's- Okay ... where we came from Uh, my maiden last name is Uzelac, and my sister and brother-in-law went to Yugoslavia to go... Well, they went over to that region to do genealogy, and when they started doing genealogy, they found out that my last name is as common as Smith in America.

So Yugoslav- everybody has U- Uzelac as a last name. So they didn't get any genealogy done, and we- I don't even know what it means at all. It probably means you owe me money, if we're being honest 'cause someone in my family does. But here's some fun stuff about last names, and the reason I asked you that is because in the April 2026 general conference, Elder Motswaggo Tata, that is his name, Motswaggo Tata, gave this really cool talk about names.

And in this talk, he said his surname means getting out of a difficult situation or someone who can do hard things. Now, that's a cool last name. I love that. Someone who can do hard things. But then he talked about the significance of names and what they mean, and we're gonna read this quote. And Anne Marie, can you read it for us?

Yes. "He knows you and calls you by name, too. From crowded cities to quiet villages, in whatever language you speak, He hears, sees, and knows you. He knows your joys, and He rejoices with you. He knows your sorrows, and He can succor and lift you. Because of His Atonement, He knows your burdens, pain, and silent tears.

The prophet Alma taught that through His Atonement, Jesus Christ would take upon Him the sins of His people." I'm just curious, after reading that quote, do either one of you have a time when you remembered or realized that God knew your name?

Several. Oh, really? I didn't even prep you with that. Could you just share one of those, Anne Marie? Um Yeah. Um, I'm, I'm trying to think of a, a good one to share. Um- While she's thinking, I'll tell you, after I received my patriarchal blessing, I, I was young. I think I was about to turn 14, or I had just turned 14, and I just remember some specific things I had been praying for, I was concerned about with my future, were mentioned in the blessing, like so much that I just was like, "Oh, my heavenly Father knows me," and He really let me know through that blessing.

But like Anne Marie, so many times when you're just like, wow, the Lord is aware, and He's so... He just, He, He... It's kind of humbling to think, wow, the Lord is letting me know that He is aware of me. I mean, my patriarchal blessing was decades ago, and since then, you know, I've had so many times, I'm, I just feel like this quote is so true, that He knows you and He calls you by name, the God of the universe.

I mean, it's, it's mind-boggling to me, but it's so true. Mm-hmm. I mean, I could share a similar story of, like, there's been a lot going on in my life. I, as a college student about to graduate, and decisions I've been making. Um, and I was able to get a priesthood blessing a couple months ago, and it was just really cool to me because, you know, like, it's this guy in my ward.

I don't know him super well. You know, kind of, I'm like, "Hey, I'm just, I'm just looking for answers from God." And answers that I got both there, but also in the words that he used and in the things that he referenced, where it's like, that's a reference to something my mission president said, or that's a reference to my patriarchal blessing, or that's a reference to something nobody knew but me and God.

And so it's just, like, one of those times where both then and then, like, having things like that brought back to my remembrance really just reminds me that God really does know my name, and He- Yeah ... has a plan for me, and that I can trust in that. Wow, thank you to both of you for sharing that just right there from me asking.

One of the things that I've loved about the Book of Ezra is Ezra chapter 1, verse 1. And that's all I'm gonna do is verse one, and I wanna just do one specific name. Here's what's so fascinating. In the talk by Elder Motswagotata is when he got up to speak, he was really kind of nervous. And he actually mentioned a time he spoke at a stake conference, and his daughter was trying to calm his nerves and said, "Dad, don't worry about making a mistake.

No one here will remember our long surname anyway." Like, "No one's gonna remember it." And so that's when he went into saying, "Well, here's what my name means," and then we talked about what our names mean. But the interesting thing is she was like, "No one will remember our last name anyway," but God knows our name, and He remembers us, and you both have shared a perfect example of that.

And He also remembered this person in the most unique way possible. So let's go to Ezra chapter 1, verse 1. And Lani, will you read that for us? "In the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, in order to fulfill the word of the Lord spoken by Jeremiah The Lord moved the heart of Cyrus, king of Persia, to make a proclamation throughout his realm and also to put it in writing.

Now you're reading the NIV version, right? Yes. Perfect. Highlight the name Cyrus right there. It's telling us what Cyrus will do, and Cyrus will fulfill the prophecy of Jeremiah. Cyrus is gonna do some pretty awesome things. But next to the name Cyrus, I'm gonna give you a cross-reference, and the cross-reference that I want you to put is Isaiah 45:3.

And we're gonna go to Isaiah because Isaiah the prophet spoke well before what's about to happen in Ezra and Nehemiah. In fact, Isaiah will actually prophesy about what's going to happen in Ezra and Nehemiah. And so if you go to Isaiah, and you look up Isaiah 45:3. Now mind you, you're looking at this and you're like, "Well, Ezra and Nehemiah come first."

That's because we're in the history part of the Old Testament. And then later on when we get to Isaiah, that's where all the prophets are giving the prophecies about the history. So just know that. So here's Isaiah the prophet, and he is giving this incredible prophecy about what's going to happen down the road, and then we're gonna s- we're gonna read about it in Ezra and Nehemiah, but specifically Isaiah 45:1-5.

Let's read that. And Ann Marie, will you read verses one through five? Thus said the Lord to his anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I have holden, the Zebedee nations before him, and I will loose the loins of kings to open before him the two-leaved gate, and the gates shall not be shut. I will go before thee and make the crooked places straight.

I will break into pieces the gates of brass and cut asunder the bars of iron. I will give thee the treasures of darkness and hidden riches of secret places that thou mayest know that I, the Lord, which call thee by name, am the God of Israel. For Jacob, my servant's sake, and Israel, mine elect, I have even called thee by thy name.

I have surnamed thee, though thou hast not known me. I am the Lord, and there is none else. There is no God beside me. I girded thee, though thou hast not known me. Now, this is so cool. First of all, highlight, "I girded thee," because in Hebrew it's actually translated in a future tense which means I will help or support or assist you.

So not necessarily girded. He's saying, "There's no God beside me. I will help or assist you, though thou hast not known me." Now, wait a minute. You haven't known me. Yeah, he doesn't know Isaiah yet. Even though Isaiah is saying all of the good thing he's going to do, and he's saying that God knows your name, and he's saying that there's no other God beside me so I can make this happen.

And you go back to who he's talking to in verse one, highlight that name Cyrus. It's the same Cyrus we read in Ezra 1:1. And Cyrus will not be born for 130 years more from when this revelation of Isaiah was received. So Isaiah's getting this name Cyrus, and this, this person's not even born yet, and the Lord is saying, "I know your name, and I know the good you're gonna do.

And yeah, you're not born yet. You're not gonna be born for 130 years. Oh, and by the way, it'll be 180 years until you actually do the thing I need you to do, 'cause then you gotta grow up, and you gotta be 30 years old when it's gonna take place." And so I love so much what we've just learned from one person's name.

When the Lord says in this... Isn't that so cool how he says in these verses, "I know you by name. Like, I really know you, and I know the good you're gonna do, and you're not even born yet." So then you apply it back to our lives, like Anna Marie, He knew your name. Lani, He knew your name. 130 years before you were born, He had really great things.

And then you go back to this quote. He knew, He knew your joys. He's rejoicing with you. He knew your sorrows. He will succor you. He knows your burdens, your pain, your silent tears 130 years before you're born All of it He knows, 'cause He knows your name. And so this is one of the things I love about the books that we get to study in Ezra and Nehemiah, and we're gonna jump into these chapters now.

But just knowing that he was ... What does that make you think knowing he was called to do this so far in advance? But, and Tammy, let me s- let me, while we're in these verses- Please ... it's so interesting that the Lord says that He did it. Like He says, "I'll go and I'll break the grates of brass, and I'll give you treasures."

But when you read Ezra and Nehemiah, it's the people who are going back and rebuilding the temple. But here the Lord is saying that He's doing it, which is so, like, just in those verses that Anne Marie just read from Isaiah 45, He says, "I will go before you. I will break in pieces. I will give thee the sources.

I, the Lord, which calleth thee by name." Like, He says, "I'm the one doing it." And I think it's, like Anne Marie is 20-ish years younger than me, and as I look back, I can see God's hand guiding me. But even just a year ago, like if I look back a year ago, I could see God's hand guiding me. But a year ago, as I was going through the thing, the things, I'm not, it's not always clear that the Lord's hand is in it.

Do you know what I mean? Yes. But He can now, you know, He ... But I just feel like that's how our life is when we're focused on God, is He, and we want to be guided by Him. Then we can often look back with hindsight more easily and see God's hand guiding. And it is Him guiding. Oh, I'm, I'm so glad you pointed that out.

In fact, for those of you that are still in Isaiah, or go back to Isaiah 45, when Lani, you so perfectly read it that way, hi- underline or circle all the Is in those verses. It's so important. I love that you just taught us that, 'cause it's God. I will do this. I will do this. So if you're ever at a point in your life, like how will this ever happen?

How's this gonna get done? Just remember that God is like, "Me. It's me. I can do that." And I, I knew I was gonna have to do this for you 130 years before you were born. Clearly, you know, way more before that, but given the Cyrus experience, yeah, I will do it. Oh, that's so good, Lani. Thank you. But, but I mean, and it goes back to this principle, I mean, that you're sharing about Cyrus, like Cyrus is not an Israelite.

Like, he's not someone who- Right ... he's not someone who is following their god, but the Lord is working through him- Yes ... to fulfill his prophecy. So it's clearly the Lord who's doing it, but he uses us, and he uses people of other faiths. It's like this amazing thing that you can only attribute to a God who is so almighty and all-knowing and all-powerful and all in charge that he, he is, he is using Cyrus to do this.

Like, we think, oh yeah, he's working through his people. Oh, he sure is working through his people, but he is also- Mm-hmm ... working not through his people, through people who have no idea that they're doing what God wants them to do. Yes. It's pretty amazing. Oh, I think God is absolutely amazing, and this idea where he keeps saying again and again, "I know your name" Mm-hmm

you can really just ... The NIV version of that for me would be, "I know you." Mm-hmm. Yeah. I know you. Oh, that's cool. He's very cool. Such a good discussion. Okay, so let's do this then. Let's get into the Book of Ezra and Nehemiah, and I'm gonna ask Lani the question, why do you love these books? We'll do that next.

Segment 3

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All right, Lani, we've talked a lot about how much you love these books. In fact, I have to just read everybody This was the text message she sent me. I wrote it down. I said, "Will you please be on this podcast?" And this, leave it to Lani to leave these books. She said, quote, "This is one of my favorite passages, and I'm not joking," exclamation point.

"So thank you for asking me for this particular passage." My heart melted. I'm like, aw. Well, like, that's just one example where I look to God and I say, "Oh, thank you. The Lord knows me. He's aware." He knows your name. I love it. He- and Tammy's writing me in the middle of my son's wedding week or the week before, and so for me to say, "Oh yeah, I'll do this" knows that I love this book.

Well, I couldn't believe it when you said yes, and I saw all your Facebook posts of the wedding. I'm like, "She's got a wedding?" Yes, and- "She can't be on a podcast" ... my son was leaving on the mission that week. Anyway, lots going on. Oh. So I would have said no if there had been anything else. I'm just kidding.

No, it's great. I- No, I would have let you say no, for sure. Thanks, Tammy. I'm glad that God answers prayers and your prayers. So- Mm-hmm ... I, I think I really maybe might have first heard a cool scripture from Nehemiah when I was in my late 20s, and I was at a seminary teacher training kind of thing with my husband in the East Coast, and the teacher shared this awesome scripture I'd never heard in my life.

And I was like, "What's in Nehemiah? How have I missed this for all my life?" And then I- it just caused me to dig into this book. Like I, I thought, "I want to know about Nehemiah," so I just dug into Nehemiah on my own and then fell in love with it because it pertained to my life so much. We were, the next year we moved to Utah from the East Coast, and lots of things that I was doing I could just see myself in what Nehemiah was doing, and it became mine because I found, thank, thank, I'm so grateful for that teacher.

I wish I could tell you his name. But he helped me see that Nehemiah was someone that I could learn from and relate to, and the scripture he shared I won't tell you yet 'cause it's in chapter four. But we'll start with chapter... We'll start with Ezra because we, because they're connected. And apparently Ezra and Nehemiah used to be combined to one book, so it's a very similar themes going on.

Mm-hmm. But if you look at Ezra chapter, we read with Tammy 1:1, so look at verse two that says, "This is what Cyrus, King of Persia says: 'The Lord God of Heaven has given me all the kingdoms of the earth, and he has appointed me to build a temple for him in Jerusalem.'" So this is just about 50 years after the exile, meaning this is like think of when Babylon came and destroyed Jerusalem.

So think of, like, when you hear of all the prophets like, like Lehi and Jeremiah are preaching. Mm-hmm. Like we know these from the Book of Mormon. They're preaching that Jerusalem is gonna be destroyed. Well, it was destroyed, and they came and carried the inhabit- like, the people who were in Jerusalem away to these other countries.

Well now about 50 years later, there's the, the king is saying, "Well, the Lord's telling me I can- Send some of you back to build your temple. And so this, the exiles are returning. Okay, so that's what we're getting at, and I love that principle that the Lord can work through other people. We'll look in verse seven.

"Moreover, King Cyrus brought out of the articles belonging to the temple of the Lord, which Nebuchadnezzar had carried away." So when they destroyed Jerusalem, it was a horribly sad thing. Like, this is when, when you read about 70 AD, when they, like, are burning Jerusalem and ransacking the temple, the holy things, like this was so horrible and crazy.

But now, now they're saying, "Okay, bring all those treasures of the temple back." And they give an inventory in verse nine. Gold dishes, there's 30 of them. Silver dishes, 1,000. And they say how many, and a total of 5,400 articles of gold and silver that they're bringing back, which is kind of mind-boggling. Why would a country that got all those treasures say, "Oh yeah, you can bring them back"?

I mean, it just- Mm-hmm ... is insane. This is an amazing prophecy fulfilled. Um, but it also reminds me, I grew up in San Diego, Cal- San Diego, California, and the San Diego temple was being built or had, was, like the open house was my freshman year of high school. And I remember some of my, most of my friends were not of our faith, and they were all really wonderful people.

But some people would come to me kind of with negative things about the church and say, "Why does your church spend so much money on temples, and why don't they help the poor?" Now, had I been better... I mean, I, I did say we spend a ton of money on helping the poor. But you can see this as an ancient thing, that they spent a ton of money on the temple.

Like- Yeah ... this is not a new LDS idea, "Oh, let's spend lots of money on temples." No, this is back to This is back to there were so many treasures. But that's not the main point here. But they're going back, and w- we already had talked about this as a fulfillment of prophecy, but let's go to where this was prophesied by Jeremiah.

And so let's go to Jeremiah chapter 29. So I like to go to Hobby Lo- Lobby, and there's some... I... They often have at Hobby Lobby, maybe this isn't okay to say on your podcast You bet it is ... there's a store that sells a lot of really fun things that have scriptures on them, and I can just put the pretty scripture.

It's laid out well, and I'll buy it and put it on my wall. And one that I bought and put on my wall from this store was Jeremiah 29:11 that says, "For I know the plans I have for you, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." I'm just gonna interject here really fast.

Sister Holland quoted that scripture, I believe in the NIV, on a devotional she and Elder Holland gave to young adults in, I think, January 2023. And as far as I know, it's one of the, like, the last public a- addresses she gave before she passed away. Anyway, shout out to that. Wow. Excellent devotional. I thought Anne Marie was gonna say- Awesome

"Yeah, I remember that being on the wall of my home," and it has helped me prepare me to this day. She gave credit to Sister Holland. Yeah. Her, uh, from Sister Holland. She got it from Sister Holland. But I love that scripture just 'cause it's so positive and helps us see the Lord has good things in store. But I honestly did not recognize that the verse before goes, is this prophecy, this- Yeah

that he makes. So the verse before is Jeremiah 29:10, and it says, "This is what the Lord says." So Jeremiah's saying what the Lord says. "When 70 years are completed," so Jeremiah's there at Lehi's time prophesying, "If you guys don't repent, Jerusalem's gonna be destroyed." And then he says, "When 70 years are completed for Babylon, I will come to you and fulfill my good promise to bring you back to this place."

So he says, "You're gonna come back. You know, it won't be forever." And this is fulfilled. So I love that little cross-reference from Jeremiah 29:10 and that it's connecting it to this verse 11 that Sister Holland shared. That's just a true principle, and we can kind of use this evidence of history that look what he did for the people in Ezra and Nehemiah's time.

He brought them back. He fulfilled his promises. If he can do that and fulfill the ancient Jeremiah's prophecies, if he's fulfilling Jeremiah's prophecies, he's fulfilling... Well, we already see evidence that he fulfills Nephi's prophecies, and he fulfills Alma's prophecies, and he fulfills... You know, you see that all over the Book of Mormon.

We can definitely be sure he is gonna fulfill the prophets' prophecies. We can count on that. I don't know. To me, that gives me comfort. When we're, we are promised something from God, we know he is gonna, he's gonna keep his end of the bargain. And we're going with this theme of God is so good, and that is one reason he is so good.

He fulfills his promises. He keeps his end of the bargain. Can we just sit with that for a moment? I mean, when you think about all of the promises we're given across the board, the promises we're given in the temple, the promises we're given in our patriarchal blessings Like, that's what we're talking about.

We're not ta- We're, I mean, clearly we're talking about these big prophecies from prophets, but we're also talking about the little ones in our lives. He will do good on those promises. I can remember when I was 34 and still praying to get married every day, and I said to one of my f- really good friends, I'm like, "Well, my patriarchal blessing says I'm gonna get married," and she said to me, "You don't still believe in that, do you?"

And I was like, "Well, I thought I did." Like, "What are you talking about? I've been putting all my money in that patriarchal blessing." And, and it worked. Like, he really does fulfill the promises in every aspect of our life, in big things and in personal things. So I love that you kept saying that over and over again, Lani.

It just made me think of that. Like, I think there's so many people here who are doubtful, 'cause Satan wants to do that. He wants you to think, "Well, he's not... It's, it was all, like, speculative," or, "Maybe he was just saying that," or, "Maybe it wasn't real," or, "Maybe it's spiritual," or, "Maybe there's m- you know, dual meaning in what was said."

No. Satan, get out of here. No, he really does- Mm-hmm ... and I think the Old Testament is so good at that. The Book of Mormon is, too. Clearly, that was on the title page to show... Well, if we're just- Yeah ... talking about fulfilling prophecies and promises, like, I remember reading The Book of Mormon one time through just looking for evidences of God fulfilling His promises and- Wow

it is all over the place, and the Good Mormon, the editor, often will tell us explicitly, right? "And thus was the prophecy fulfilled." So- I do love that, like, God fulfills His promises, but He also doesn't, like, promise that the journey's gonna be, like- Yes ... sunshine and rainbows. Okay. Thank you. Good point, Lan.

It's a good point. Um, because I think sometimes I'm like, "Yo, God, you told me this was gonna be good." Yes. "And it does not feel good right now." Like- Oh, you're- ... "You told me this was gonna happen." But- You're absolutely right. What a great point, because it wasn't easy for them. Like, we've got this, like, Cyrus saying, "Okay, go ahead.

Come and rebuild your temple," and you think it's a time of praising and happiness, but wah-wah. It's gonna be pretty hard to do. And even in, like, Jeremiah 29:10, God's like, "You got 70 years in captivity. Like, you're gonna be there for 70 years." Yeah. Right? "And then it's gonna be great. Like, I remember you." And you're like, "Oh, thanks."

Some of those people will die in captivity. You're like, "What do I have to look forward to? I'm 85." Yeah. Sorry. And that's... And Amber brings up a good point, because what the Ezra's... What they're doing is they wanna g- they're gonna go back and rebuild the temple, and they go do it, but they're gonna face opposition.

And so even when the Lord is guiding our life, that doesn't mean there's no opposition. And it reminds me, I got to hear, um, the architect of the Preston Temple talk to a group of students. They were on a study abroad in England, and he was telling them, the Preston Temple... He was telling them about his role as the architect, but he is also from England, so he got to, like, be a part of, like, figuring out where the temple would be, and he was sitting in a s- like, our equivalent of a city council-type meeting, and people were so opposed to having the temple come.

And they wanted it to be a place of jobs. They wanted it to, like- They were like, "You're still in our..." You know, they just had all their reasons for why the temple would not be good. And he, and Peter is a architect, and to be the architect of a temple seemed so grand, and he just was not expecting all the opposition.

But he remembers that there was just this feeling of dread, like there's no way the temple will pa- like, they'll, this, this will pass the city council meeting. I know it's not the city council meeting, but whatever that actually is called in England. But they... He said but then... And it was actually l- the neighbors that were gonna, the neighbors that were living around this area where the Preston Temple would be built, and they all came, and there was just a not a good feeling.

And then Peter had a thought come to him. He said the Holy Ghost told him, "Ask," and he asked this, asked this question. And the question he asked was, "Has anyone been to one of our temples?" And the whole group went quiet, and there was a little hand from the back, and there was a man who hadn't been saying anything.

And he said, "I have. It was the most incredible experience, most beautiful thing. The grounds are immaculate." And he went off on how all these good things about the temple, and then he said, "The temple will be the best neighbor you will ever have." Mm. And it changed the whole tone of the meeting. The Spirit entered the room of that, like, hateful, you know, contentious council meeting.

And it wasn't the end of the opposition. There was more opposition, and there's so many... Actually, s- like, this architect, Peter, can tell you how many obstacles they overcame with building this modern-day temple. So we can relate that they would have opposition with this ancient temple. And I think that we, at least I can get discouraged really easily, and I can think, "Wait.

God, you told us to do this. Why is there so much opposition?" But in a way, that actually means you probably are doing a good thing if there's a lot of opposition. And the Lord is still behind it, and He'll give us inspiration, just like He did to Peter, to ask this question, "Has anyone been- Mm-hmm ... to one of our temples?"

When, when it really seemed so bleak. It was the Spirit that came in and could change the whole room. Oh, thank you for sharing that story, Lani. I thought that was a beautiful story of the Preston Temple. Wow, I felt the Spirit. Thank you, thank you. Okay. So they are going to experience opposition, like you said.

And I love, Anne Marie, that you brought that back in. Like, by the way, 70 years, it won't be rainbows and unicorns. It's going to be hard. So the men, they have just been given a task. It's so overwhelming. So what did they do to get over that overwhelming part? And not only them, but I love this new application because that might be how it feels like us when we get assignments that are too much to bear.

So in the next segment, we're gonna find out specific things that we can do that they did to help them fulfill the prophecy. We'll do that next.

Segment 4

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So here they have the job, and now they've got to get the job done. So Lani, I love one of the things you pointed out to me. You found some very key principles for getting the work done and how these people were able to do it. Point what those ... Will you teach those to us so we can mark them in our scriptures?

How did they get the job done? Okay. So we're gonna be in now the Book of Nehemiah, leaving the Book of Ezra. And Nehemiah, so is the cupbearer to the king in Persia, and he gets a report back from someone who's visited Jerusalem couple hundred miles away and says, "How is Jerusalem?" He gets a report like, "Oh, it's not that great."

Now, remember, they had just built, you know, their ... They know it's not that great, 'cause, you know, it's been an exiled city. And anyways, but it just makes Nehemiah so sad So if you look in Nehemiah 1:4, he said, "When I heard these things, I sat down and wept." And he was just so sad that his, the holy city of Jerusalem was just not doing well, and he says a prayer.

So I, I mean, we've already talked about the power of prayer. And I don't know, for me sometimes, I get sad news, oh, something's not as I expected, and I sit with the sadness, and I don't pray. And I just am sitting with the sadness. But here Nehemiah says, "This is so sad. Okay. Well, I'll pray before the God of heaven."

And he, the next, like, 1-2-3-4-5, all the way to verse 11 are his prayer to the Lord. Like, "Lord, like, you are an awesome God. You are the God of our covenants, and w- I'm so sad about this. And remember that we're here." And he, then he tells us that he's the cupbearer of the king, and when he goes before the king, the king can tell he's sad.

I have a question real quick. Okay. 'Cause Anne Marie said this also. Anne Marie, what's a cupbearer? What does that mean, he's the king's cupbearer? Um, I mean, the way I understand it is he brings the king food and drink. Yeah. But I don't know if he's the poison tester or if he just, like, literally is the one that carries the cup.

I think you're right. I think he would be the poison tester, too. It's his job to make sure what he's about to feed the king is so safe. Yeah. And so we read in chapter 2, verse 2, "The king asked me, 'Why does your face look so sad? Why are you not ill?'" Now, here he could've been quiet. Nehemiah could've said, "Oh, I already prayed.

God's gonna handle it." But he doesn't. He doesn't just say, "Oh, I prayed. God, that's all I need to do." He speaks up, and he says, "Well-" Mm-hmm. And he tells him the situation, and when he tells the king the situation, he says, "Oh. Well, what do you want? Um, I'll give it to you. I'll give you the supplies you need" and all.

I mean, it is crazy. I don't know. Sometime- now, okay, I shouldn't say it is crazy. It's c- almost, like, too good to be true. Like, it's almost hard to believe that, wow, Nehemiah gets this bad news, prays, goes to the king. The king gi- answers his prayer. It's clearly that the Lord is answering his prayer. But I think sometimes in our life we do have that, right?

We, we pray, and it, we don't get an answer immediately while we're on our knees, but, like, then we go tell someone about it like he told the king, and then someone has an idea. "Well, how about this?" And then we say, "Well, how about this?" And it wasn't like the temple, like, the everything was fixed the next day.

You have to work to get it done. But, like, God is working through them to answer your prayer. Like, I think that happens more than we realize, even though this account seems hard to believe. It clearly hap- you know, it's not ... I don't mean it's hard to believe, like, "No, it can't be true," but like, wow, does it ever happen that good?

And it does happen that good. I love that. So he goes to Jerusalem in verse 11, and remember, this is, this is in Pers- like, he's in Persia. He's a couple countries away. It's a big, big ordeal to, like ... So even though it happens just a couple verses later, he's in Jerusalem, remember they, it's a lot to travel there And they're traveling with all these materials, which is so nice that the king provided, and he goes and kind of surveys the situation, and he sees that, wow, like in verse 17, "Oh, look at the trouble we're in.

Jerusalem is in ruins, and it's been burned by fire." And he's going around surveying it, and I'm just applying this to my life. I get really discouraged easily, and I'm like, "Okay, this is too hard. Look what I, I w- I thought I was gonna go do this, but look at the situation. We're in dire ... This is gonna be really hard," and I might, like, give up then.

But he just says, "Let's start rebuilding." And there's some two people in verse 19, so we're in chapter two of Nehemiah, verse 19. Do you want to read it? No, I'm just gonna interject really fast. Um, just on sometimes when life feels overwhelming or, like, you make mistakes, and maybe this is just a younger generation population kind of thing.

I love it. But I feel like there's times in my life where I'm like, "Wow, I am not where I wanted to be in my life. I was hoping my life would be somewhere else, and I don't know what I did wrong, but here's where I'm at." And sometimes it feels easy to be like, "Well, that's it. I should just give up. I could become homeless.

I could live in my parents' basement, you know?" I'm sure there's, like, options, right? And I think sometimes it's just, like, that ... Like, I love how Nehemiah isn't discouraged, like my mom's saying, where it's like he could've been like, "You know, I actually had a really cushy job. I like the king. He likes me. He has great food, and I can go back to that."

Yeah. "I can have a cushy job." But he doesn't. He's like, "Well, Jerusalem doesn't look how I hoped it would look. I hoped it'd be slightly better, but, you know, we can sit down, and we can start working." And I think sometimes, like, that's the encouragement I need of, like, yeah, maybe my life sucks, or maybe my life isn't happy.

Maybe my life isn't where I hoped it would be. Mm-hmm. But guess what? Like, I can change it. I can go to work. I can- Yes ... start building the walls. I can say, you know, I actually want this to look different, and I can start working on that, and having that kind of action centered I think is really motivating, especially for, like, bouts of, like, depression and discouragement.

That can be something that can help me at least pull out of that. I really like that. That was awesome, Ann Marie, and I want to take us to verse 12 of chapter two because to me, this, this is what, when I get discouraged, I can go back to verse 12. "So he set out during the night with a few others. 'I had not told anyone what my God had put in my heart to do for Jerusalem.'"

And I love that phrase. I hadn't told anyone what God had put in my heart, that God can put in my heart something He can put ... And I just, I think that is such a beautiful phrase. Like, m- God had put it in my heart- Mm-hmm ... meaning the Spirit was working on him. No one had come to him and said, "Nehemiah, go build the wall."

No king had told him that. No ecclesiastical leader had told him that. It was just between him and God. God had put it in his heart. And that verse 12 says he's going about doing this. He hasn't told anyone, "Yeah, God has put this in my heart to do this." So he, no, he's not getting support from other people yet, but when he sees the scene in ver- in verse 17, oh, everything's in ruins.

This is gonna be a big task. He can say, "Yep, this is gonna be hard, but God has put it in my heart. We are going forward." Mm-hmm. And I, to, I just, I love that phrase, and I think that God can put things in our heart that are s- good desires and good things no one else ... Like, we don't, that we don't need to be asked to do them, right?

It's like, no, we, that, that, um I don't want to belabor the point, but I think we can receive inspiration in our callings for sure, and God can put things in our heart that relate to assignments we've been given, and other people can, yes, I think that is a totally true principle too. But I think it's also a true principle that God can put things in our heart not related to any of those things.

At least he has for me, and- Yeah ... I appreciate that. I'm, I can just speak from personal e- experience that when God puts something in my heart, it doesn't mean it's gonna be solved the next day. When he says, "Lani, I think you should do this and work towards this," I see these principles of, oh, then I get discouraged, 'cause wow, this looks like this is gonna be hard.

God, are you sure? Mm-hmm. And then in chapter three, it's kind of a fun chapter because it just highlights all these people who are gonna help build the wall. Yeah. And I kind of am, I looked at my, um, I wondered why is this chapter three in here? But I think it's such a true principle. Just 'cause God might put it in my heart doesn't mean I need to do all the work.

We can get helpers, right? Right? I love that principle of delegation. I love it right there. Yes, the principle of delegation. Mm-hmm. And he lists the whole entire chapter is all these people who are working on different parts of the wall. It totally makes sense that Nehemiah, God doesn't, God puts it in Nehemiah's heart, "Go build the wall," that Nehemiah should not go build it by himself.

But sometimes- Correct ... we might get confused and think, "Oh yeah, this is all me." No, there is no way you can do it all. So go to Nehemiah chapter three, look at all these people at different parts, and they all, because they're all, 'cause we're delegating, everyone's working hard, it's getting done. Shout out to the daughters in verse 12.

Okay. Girls were involved. Let's make sure we mark that verse. Even their daughters. Oh, definitely, Tammy, tell us. Well, I love that because then you go back, like, listen, God could do it all on his own. Let's be clear. He's got the power. This is a perfect example of how even God delegates. But God doesn't care.

He will take anybody who's willing to help. He loves to delegate, so let's use people. But yeah, even, even women. Yay, we love that. Okay, chapter four then. Here's an- I want to know about this one, 'cause this is a weird principle that you pointed out, and I l- I think I'm gonna love this. So go to verse 10, 'cause you said this is one of the principles for getting the work done.

What is verse 10? Okay. So well, to understand verse 10, he's gonna get opposition again. Just like in Ezra they got opposition when they came back to build the temple, they're getting opposition building the wall. So people are coming and they're just mostly talking and being angry. And so they They talk and they're angry in, in verse

Well, I'll try to ... You ask for verse 10. But the, they're, they're ... I just think it's a, an important principle, just we see it again. Like, we can just expect- Mm-hmm ... opposition when we're in g- e- even when we're on God's errand, when we're a missionary, when we're on doing our calling, when we're serving as a ministering sister, don't expect there will be no opposition for these things.

Mm-hmm. When you're serving as a mother, a father, like, in any role that God wants you to be in, expect opposition as a student. So in verse 10, even though there's all this opposition, it says, "Meanwhile, the people in Judah said, 'The strength of the laborers is giving out, and there is so much rubbish here.

We can't rebuild the wall.'" Well, rubbish is not a word we use, but Anne Marie served in England, and they call it the rubbish bin. The rubbish bin is the trash bin. And if you ask them for a trash can, they won't know what you're talking about. It's a rubbish bin. So rubbish just means, like, trash and a, and garbage.

So there's so much stuff there because it, this is a ruined city that they can't build unless they clear it out. I love that. And when I was studying Nehemiah to, like, get into it and see what can I learn for my life, it, the Spirit just taught me so clear, you have got to get rid of the trash in your life.

Now, I really don't think I had trash in my life, but the principle of, like, like, actually, like, garbage, like, yucky things in my life, but I definitely had things I needed to get rid of to focus on what God was telling me to do, and I just think that's a such a good principle. Get rid of the rubbish so that you can build the wall, because you just can't.

You just cannot build it if you have everything else. And in our lives or if God has told us to do something and we're, we're just feeling like we can't do it, it might be that we need to clear out other things that maybe aren't awful, terrible things, but they're things that are keeping you from focusing on what God's told you to do.

Well, verse 10 of chapter four says, "Get rid of the rubbish." And like- That's so cool In the NIV, it uses, like, the word rubble, which to me is like, oh, this is, this is left over from the destruction. Like, this is- Mm-hmm ... to be expected. This, this rubble is here. And I think sometimes the things in my life that I'm, like, trying to clear out It's, there's stuff that's like, "Hey, this is, this is my, this is a result, a consequence of my own actions," right?

Maybe this is- Oh, man ... baggage I have from a relationship. Maybe I burned a bridge with my mom a while back, and I have to go apologize, and I have to get rid of that emotional load on a friend, or with a parent, or something. And so maybe some of that rubble isn't I have to stop taking this class, or have to focus in on this, or declutter my house.

I think sometimes that rubble is, hey, like, things went bad before, and now I just have to figure out how to work through some of that and clear some of that, resolve these issues and get it out of the way. What an excellent visual for our lives. 'Cause there's that great quote by C.S. Lewis, who's quoting someone else, actually, about how God wants to build us into a house, and so many of us are just completely fine being a cottage, but He's intending to build us into a mansion.

And, but before you can build, you've got to clear out the rubble. Love that word, Anne Marie, that you taught us. You've got to get rid of the rubbish so that God can do something great with you. And that's what's going on with these people. They think they're just building a temple, but really, they're building a really great neighbor, right, Lani?

They're building- It's true ... a place where they can go and commune with the Lord. And the thing that, at least, um, just talking recently, like in the last, maybe a year ago, when God put something in my heart that was kind of overwhelming, and you f- I faced opposition, and, um, I kind of got to this, like, I, I just remember thinking, "Okay, if I'm really gonna do this, I can't do this other thing I want to do."

Like, this is not, when we're talking about this principle- Mm-hmm ... it's a hard thing to do. Like- Yeah ... I have to sacrifice not doing other things that, like, sitting, I don't, I don't want to make things seem evil that aren't evil but, like, there were good things I wanted and could have done, but I just couldn't do them and do what God had put in my heart.

Does that make sense? Yeah. And I don't want to talk about this like it's easy. It's hard, and it involves sacrifice, and it involves, ugh, you know? Like, just, like, just, this, I'm not sure about this. Do I really want to do this? Like, I just remember coming into the end of the day like, "This is hard" and kind of like a-whining.

I don't feel like I'm a whiner, but just, like, it's not easy to do some of these things God asks us to do. Look at the prophets. Look at, it was not simple to ... anyways, we- Mm-hmm ... and this is not easy. And same with Nehemiah. So they are facing this opposition. First, they're just kind of mocking them and attacking them, but now, in verse 13, he stations some people By the wall, posting them by families with their swords and spears and bows.

That's verse 13. And after I looked things over, I stood up and said to the nobles and officials and all the people, "Don't be afraid. Remember the Lord who is great and awesome and fight for your families." And when the enemies came, when the enemies heard that we were aware of their plot, that they're gonna try and come and stop us from working on the wall, um, they all returned to the wall, each to their own work.

And I just love that principle, like even if there's people working against you or opposition, you have a mind to work. You stay focused. You stay w- I love that. They each had a mind to work. I think that's the King James that says that. I love that too, where what Nehemiah does is he, he puts them next to the things that they're working for.

He's like, "Look, it's next to your families, your sons, your daughters, your wives, your homes. Like, this is your purpose." And I think sometimes, especially when we're caught up maybe in the weeds or in this rubbish in our lives, we need to focus back in on, like, what is it that we're fighting for? Or like- Yes

when we're not motivated, going back to that, and it's like, yeah, I'm working on this wall because I have a family that I want to be safe behind this wall. Well, and I wrote up the, the, the principle that you've been trying to teach us here. I bracketed off verses 14 through 18, and I put, sometimes you have to fight to do what God asks.

Like, sometimes it really is a fight. Because the imagery in my mind in verse, verses 17 and 18, An Marie, will you read those two verses for us? 'Cause it's such a great image. Um, "Those who were building the wall, those who carried the materials, did their work with one hand and held a weapon in the other, and each of the builders wore his sword at his side while he worked.

But the man who sounded the trumpet stayed with me" I just think how amazing. They're working and they have to fight to be able to do what the Lord has asked. So you're right, it goes back to everything you guys- you've both been saying in this segment, like doing the Lord's work is hard. It's absolutely hard.

But I love everything you've just taught us, Lani, all the different things to remember. In fact, I- I've marked them down. We have to fast, we have to pray, we have to be willing to speak up, then we have to be willing to act, then we have to be willing to ask for help, to delegate. And then I have, the next one is sometimes you just gotta get rid of stuff.

And then I have expect opposition, and then sometimes you are going to have to fight for what God asks. Like, what great principles you taught us. And what you just shared, 17 and 18, and even starting with verse 16, that's what the teacher shared with me in that one class where I was like- Oh ... this is the coolest story that got me into Nehemiah because this principle of building with one hand and fighting with another, and so applicable to my life, where I feel like I'm building a family, I'm trying to build faith, I'm trying to do good things and build, but I have to have this spear in the other hand fighting off Satan and trying to clear Satan out of...

I mean, just practically speaking, like w- it's just a daily thing, right? Get Satan out, fight Satan off, all his temptations, but focus on what you're supposed to be doing. This is so applicable to single adults, to teenagers, to children, to all of us. Like, this is a daily thing we face, this Nehemiah 16 to 18.

And I'm, I'm kind of the fix-it person in our house, even though I'm not that good. But I do- So I just remember working on one of our toilets that had been clogged, and I was trying to, like, move the toilet to get it off, 'cause one of the little kids had put something in, get it off the ground. But I had little kids.

I had like four little kids running around me. So I kind of felt like Nehemiah, like I'm trying to fix the toilet, but I have to take care of these, the four little kids I have and, like- ... have clean hands to give them food. Like, it just is complicated and messy, right? Like- Yes ... this is not an easy task to have one hand have your hammer and one hand have a spear.

Like, this is complex. It's complex by nature, but sometimes it's what we're asked to do. In fact, every day, fight off the adversary and do what you're supposed to do. Just such a powerful principle from these people who are building the wall and trying to stay focused. They've cleared off the rubbish, they're pressing forward, they have a vision.

Nehemiah's put it in God's heart, and they still have this complex thing to deal with. One hand they held a weapon, the other hand they held the materials to build Um, each held a builder at his side who worked. And so, I mean, let's get it. If you have the King James, you can read that, Tammy, but I think it's just so beautiful.

"They who carried materials did their work with one hand and held a weapon in the other." Yeah. That's intense. Wow. Thank you so much. Those were awesome life lessons. No wonder you love the Book of Nehemiah. If that was what your teach- good job to the teacher that taught you that, 'cause those are good verses.

Okay, so now we have these principles of work, the principles of how they're gonna get the job done. In the next segment, Anne Marie's gonna tell us a story about how this is gonna happen. We'll do that next

Segment 5

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Let's turn to Nehemiah chapter 6. Okay, this is where we are. And Anne Marie, hit it. Tell us the story in this chapter, and why do we need to know it? So like my mom mentioned earlier, Nehemiah's encountered some opposition, and one of these people is named Sanballat. I don't know if that's how you're actually supposed to pronounce it, but I think it's great.

It's a good name. And he sends a letter to Nehemiah, and he's like, "Come meet us in the plains of Oh No." And Nehemiah's like, "Mm, that sounds like you're scheming to harm me. I don't really wanna go hang out in the valley of Oh No." Um. It sounds like it, huh? And so he doesn't. He's like- The valley of Oh No

great, I'm- I'm going to keep working on this wall. And like, what he responds to them i- in- in verse 3 of chapter 6, he says, "I am carrying on a great project and I cannot go down. Why should the work stop while I come to you?" And they keep reaching out to him. So they send him several letters. They're like, "Come visit us."

And then they come, and they're like low-key threatening him, and they're like, "Guess what? So we can tell that you're actually planning a revolt against the king, and so come talk to us so we, like, don't tell the king you're planning a revolution." And they're like blackmailing him, and he's like, "No, you're lying to me.

You just made this up." Uh, and so he prays to God, and he's like, "Strengthen my hand so I can do this work." And then they try again. And so then there's this guy Shemaiah, who is like, "Nehemiah, they're coming to kill you. Come hide in the temple, and then they won't find you." And Nehemiah's like, "Why would I run away?

Why would I go into the temple to save my life?" Um, and I think an important thing to note here is the ancient Israelite temple had, like, a court where anyone could be, but as you move further into the temple, you had to be a Levite or a high priest, right? Mm-hmm. To go further in. And, and some of the parts of the temple you can only enter at specific times, even if you are the high priest.

And so, hence, I, I highly recommend going to the temple. Great thing to do. But in this case, like, someone's telling Nehemiah, like, "Hey, go break the law. Like, go defile God's temple. Go to a place you're not supposed to be." And Nehemiah's like, "No, like, that's not worth it to me. It's not... Like, my life is not worth breaking this commandment of God."

And he realizes that God is not the one that sent him. He'd been hired, hired to get me to commit sin. And Nehemiah's like, "No, why would I commit sin?" And so they, they do this. And so then the wall's completed, because Nehemiah's like, "I'm not gonna get distracted. I'm not gonna visit you in the plains of Ono.

I'm not gonna take your blackmail. I'm not gonna listen when you hire people to try to intimidate me. I know what I'm doing, and I'm confident in the God that has called me to do this." And I love verse 16 of chapter 6. It says, "When all our hen- enemies heard about this," the wall being completed, "all the surrounding nations were afraid and lost their self-confidence, because they realized that this work had been done with the help of our God."

And I feel like in my life I'm like, "Oh, yes, I want, I want that moment. I want things where I'm like, 'Look, everything's been done with the help of God.'" And I think sometimes I forget about, um, the process of when you're looking at this, this project to begin with. You're looking at your rubble, you're getting all of the letters, you're getting blackmail, you're getting hit men trying to intimidate you, and you're like How much do you trust in the call?

How much do you trust that like, yes, this was revelation, God told me to do this? How much do you trust that this God is the same God that delivered your ancestors from Egypt? How much do you trust that this is the God that brought you like to the land of Egypt from the famine initially? How much do you trust that this is the God that delivered Noah, that this is the God that saved you again and again and is now bringing you out of Persia?

And how much do you trust in your God? Because when your enemies are like, "This work could only have been done with the help of God," that means for a very long time you've been staring at a problem that's way too big for you to be able to solve on your own. Oh, I like that. And it's just overwhelming. But as you trust in your God, then the work is done with God, and God can do it.

Um, and I think that's like so cool. And like one thing, like two separate principles I feel like in this chapter. One, don't get distracted. Like, if you know God has called you to do it, he will call you to do it, and you can do it, and there's gonna be a lot of things that come and try to be a priority, and you're like, "Look, that's actually not my priority right now.

My priority is building here." So let me ask you this question then, Anne Marie. Yes. 'Cause I'm gonna take this now and apply it to real life every day and ask you if you've been through this. Okay, so here's my question for you. When you made the decision to serve a mission, I mean, you haven't talked about your mission, so I'm gonna ask you some questions.

You make the decision to serve a mission, maybe even leading up to making the decision to serve a mission, 'cause God knows your name, and he knows what he needs Anne Marie to do. What would you say were your Sanballats in your life? What were the things that were trying to call you from doing the thing God asked you to do?

Like, if someone's preparing to go on a mission, what are gonna be the Sanballats that they're gonna face, or the Sanballats, that guy who said, "Come on down. Don't do it." What are some examples of modern-day versions of that for missionaries? There's so many. Um, like, it's interesting, I've always planned to serve a mission unless I got a firm answer of a no from God, was kind of always how I saw it.

And so I submitted my mission papers. I got my mission call in January of 2022. And I was taking winter semester. I was called to leave, like, five days, mm, maybe slightly more than that, a week after finals ended. So it was gonna be a really fast turnaround. And those four months were some of the hardest, probably the hardest months that I'd ever had in my life up to that point.

Mm-hmm. Um, my best friend had just left on her mission. She was home preparing to go to the home MTC, uh, in January, and so she was my study buddy. So then I was like, "Great, now my friend is gone, and the person that motivates me to study is gone." I got some of, like, the worst grades in my life that semester before I was going- Mm-hmm

to my mission because it was like I was depressed. I felt like everything was overwhelming. I'm trying to learn Chinese to serve in England. I'm trying to figure out what is it that I need to pack, what is it that I need to do to get a visa, what is it that I need to do. And all of these are good things.

Like, as a missionary preparing to serve anywhere, you're gonna go have to go clothes shopping. Like- Yeah ... you're gonna have to probably, if you're going international, you need to get that passport. You need to get a visa. These aren't bad things. Um- And so it's like those were the things that I'm, like, trying to do.

And honestly, like, in some ways you could probably say some of my classes might have been, like, a sand ballot kind of thing of, like- Mm-hmm ... how much time do I wanna give to a class? How much time am I spending with my friends? How much time am I spending wallowing in self-misery, right? And these are all just different things that are gonna pull you away.

And so as missionaries, you're gonna face opposition in a lot of ways, and you're not gonna be perfect. Yeah. Like, you're not gonna be happy and overjoyed all the time. Um, if you're preparing to serve a mission, highly recommend you do. Excellent thing. But it is the hardest four months before you go. I- Yeah

I think every missionary would agree, because there are things to keep you distracted. So now you're on your mission. What are the sand ballots when you're on your mission? What, what's tr- what does Satan do to keep you distracted? Ooh, there's also a lot of those. Um- I mean, I, uh, I was visa waiting for the first two months of my mission.

So I, like, I knew some missionaries, me and my companion were both visa waiting and got reassigned to the same mission, and, like, that could be kind of difficult where, like, you're like, "Hey, I got a mission call to somewhere else, and I'm not there yet." And so for some people, they, like, would try to disengage of, like, "I'm not gonna be here that long.

Like, I could get a visa next week. Do I really care?" Mm-hmm. And the answer is yes. Yes, you care. You invest wherever you go. There's companions, too, of, you know... All I've... When I was, when I first got to England, we had, like, four countries represented in my flat, like my apartment. There were four missionaries, four different countries represented.

And that was a little bit of an adventure. Like ... we're all there. We're all trying to serve the Lord. But we all have very different backgrounds. We all have different approaches to even something as simple as cleaning the kitchen or what to get for dinner. Yeah. Right? And so it's like, as a missionary, you could get caught up in, what food am I gonna eat?

How am I gonna clean the kitchen? I want to fight with my companion on this. And it's like, look, none of those are, none of those are the important things. Like- Yeah ... those are all just distractions because when we go out and when we do the work, like, that's, we're all trying to fulfill our purpose there.

And so I think, yeah, as a missionary, there's a lot to distract you. Yes. But then you just gotta know what you're focusing on, know what you're fighting for, and know who it is that has called you. Right? Right. Like what you're talking about. And I have one more question then. So sand ballots before you go.

Sand ballots while you're there. Then you get home. You did it. You served your mission. So excited you're back. What are your sand ballots now to keep you on focused? Wow. I've been home for, like, over two and a half years at this point. So I, I don't know exactly how they've evolved. Um, but it's interesting.

On my mission, I developed the habit of spending 30 minutes in prayer every morning. Not personal study, not companionship study, just prior to the, like, the 9:00 AM start of my day, spend extra time with God, which was something my mission president encouraged. And so when I first got home, that was a consistent habit I think I kept maybe f- six months to a year.

Mm-hmm. I haven't done it in a long time, but I think about it. And so I think sometimes, like, the sand ballots then are now I'm staying up later. I wanna sleep in more. I have a lot going on. And I think there's also times when, as a return missionary, you need to cut yourself some slack of You don't only have the one purpose, right?

Yeah. As adults, like I watch my parents and it's like she has to parent six kids, seven kids now I guess. Um, y- you gotta, she has her own life, you know. She started a master's program and like there's just like, there's a lot going on in life. There's a lot you're trying to juggle. You're trying to have food and go shopping and make sure your laundry's done.

And so I think Knowing what your priorities are, are, is the important thing. Because, like, for Nehemiah, he knows that people are scheming to harm him, so he's not gonna go hang out with them. Yeah. And so I think making sure you take that time in your day where y- Nehemiah is right with God enough that he has this gift of discernment, where he can know what people are doing good and what people aren't doing good, and he's gonna prioritize his time accordingly.

He knows what he wants to accomplish, and he's gonna work for that. And so look, if people are scheming to harm me, I'm not gonna hang out with them, but I need to make sure that I'm in tune enough with God. And so I think making, like, figuring out what plan you want for your life, and I mean, going back to the verse I mentioned in the beginning, sometimes I feel like it's, like the king is God, right?

And God says to me, "What is it you want?" Mm-hmm. And I have to take a deep breath and say, "Maybe you will do everything against what I'm about to tell you," because sometimes that's how it feels, "but this is what I want in my life," and then I'm gonna go work for it. Yeah. And once I start placing those priorities and I work for it, there's gonna be other things to do.

There's gonna be friends that are taking different classes, have a lighter class schedule, have a heavier class schedule, have a different workload than you do. And so finding what is my priority, what am I working towards, and then being able to discern, is this gonna help me achieve that, or is this pulling me away?

And I like that she said he knew his, he knew who the enemy was, and he... But, like, you can contrast that with Alma 47 and Lehonti and Amalickiah, and he- Yes ... w- here in Nehemiah, on the fourth time, he still said no. But Lehonti, on the third time, said, "Okay, I'll come down just a little," and- Yeah ... that led to his downfall, where we just gotta stay firm.

If we know who the enemy is, stay firm. You know who the enemy is and- Yeah ... keep saying no even the fourth time. And how much do we love the way it ends in chapter six, verses 15 and 16, which you read for us? Because it says, "When the wall was finished," like, isn't that great? Like, when it was finally done.

When we are all finished and done with this life, we'll be able to look back and see all the Sanballats who tried to oppose us all along the way, all of the, the ones we dodged, and all of the ones we succumbed to, whatever it is, but we stayed steady. We stayed knowing that, again, how it ends, that this work was wrought of our God.

That was the whole point, that we did it for Him, and we did the best we could, 'cause was the wall perfect? Probably not. And Tammy, I think it's important to know, like, this is a real wall. Like, you can go to Jerusalem today and see a segment of Nehemiah's wall, and they can, they can identify it because how it was rebuilt and say, "Wow, look at, we can tell that this was rebuilt You can see Nehemiah's wall today in Jerusalem.

It was a real wall. They really finished it in 52 days. And things that God puts into our heart, you know, it, it, I just feel like there's evidence that God can put a good thing in your heart and help you help other people accomplish it, and it can be finished, and you can look back and say, "That was God.

He made that happen." So right next to verse 16, I have a cross-reference. Isaiah 49:16. That's the reference you want. Isaiah 49:16. Oh, this is such a good verse. I love it. And will you read that for us, Anne Marie, when you get there? Yeah. I have it in the NIV. Perfect. It says, "See, I have engraven you on the palms of my hands.

Your walls are ever before me." There it is. "Thy walls are continually before me." Not ... And he's speaking of these wall right here, the wall you're about to build, but he also speaks messianically of us. Like, the walls you're building today are continually before me. I see your walls. I see the imperfections.

I see the spot where maybe you didn't put enough mortar. Whatever it is, I see it. And I love that because it's not even like, "And I look away." That's what I love. He's like, "And I love it. I love what you're doing with your wall. You just keep working. Do not give up." 'Cause the first part of that verse makes sense, "I've graven you on the palms of my hands," but forever I was like, "Why would he say thy walls are continually before me?"

Oh, because these people are rebuilding. They know what that means. So anyway, I love that. Thank you. Thank you from both of you. That was such a good discussion. Okay, so we're gonna wrap it all up in the next segment, in our last segment, about something that is really cool that brings the people joy, and we'll do that next

Segment 6

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Lani and Anna Marie are gonna tell this story together. So now we're in Nehemiah chapter 8, and hit it you two. Tell us the story that we need to hear that comes from this, and apply it to our lives. You can even start with once upon a time. Whatever you wanna do, however you wanna tell the story. Once upon a time, they finish the wall, they build their temple, and guess what they find?

They find the book of the law of Moses. Hmm. And so Ezra says, "Great, let's read it." And so he gathers all of the people and they all listen attentively as we read the book of the law, which is fantastic if you've, like, read Leviticus. I don't usually listen attentively as I read the book of Leviticus. No one does.

Sure, you're good. You know, we can, we can listen attentively, guys. If, if they can do it to Leviticus and the book of the law, we can do it. So he opens this book and he praises God, which we've already talked about, but it's amazing 'cause they're just so grateful that they have the book of the law to know how are we supposed to work on this temple and what are the things that we're supposed to be doing to keep God in our lives?

Ooh, Anne Marie, I love that you pointed that out. I want to point out in chapter 8, verse 3, look how long they read it. From daybreak, which could be, like, 6:00 AM, to noon. Could be, like, 12:00 PM. So that is- A long scripture read ... hours. Yeah. So they read it out loud, and he's reading it. It makes it clear he's reading it in a place where lots of people can hear him.

He's kind of up high. It's kind of like King Benjamin type. He's up a little bit higher so lots of people can hear his voice. And, um, that's in verse 5. "Ezra opened the book. All the people could see him." He's standing above them, and everyone's so happy, even after he's read it for so long. And I... And they...

When they hear it, they are all just very worshipful. I guess I want to make the comment on sometimes it can be really good to spend a lengthy amount of time in the scriptures. And I remember the first time I sat down and read the Book of Ether all in one shot. I was in another country. It was soon after I was married, and I barely spoke Spanish.

I mean, spoke enough, but anyways, I kind of felt like I couldn't wander around by myself. And my husband was gone for the evening, and I kind of was like, "What do I do?" And I didn't have much in the apartment, and I ha- needed to read my scriptures. So I opened it up, and I was reading Ether, and I just kept reading.

And as I read the entire book, and it doesn't take that long. I mean, it's not a super long book. But I'd never read it in one sitting, and I saw things in Ether when I read it as a whole book that I'd never seen when I just, like, had read it chapter by chapter. And I just got this, like, wow, I don't read the scriptures like a novel when you just sit down and read it.

But there's something- Mm-hmm ... that's kind of fun when you... And I, I don't want to put the pretense like I read the scripture six hours a day from 6:00 AM to, from daybreak to noon. But I just think that is, that's can be a fun way that we can change things up is sit down with it a little longer and don't use the chapter breaks that are in there.

But just keep reading and get a bigger picture of the whole view. I, I know one of my children's teachers said he wished that we would read novels more like the scriptures, kind of annotate them and stuff, and then read the scriptures more like novels. And just kind of switch it up maybe. Anyways, that's my little thing for spending a lengthy amount of time in the scriptures.

Oh, I like that. What a great challenge. And I say challenge, and I mean it. Six hours? I've never done that, but that's awesome. Reading the scriptures. And I do love... Let's read in verse 6 the reaction of the people after they had finished reading for that amount of time, 'cause I love the wording in this. Um, Anne Marie, will you read that?

Ezra praised the Lord, the great God, and all the people lifted their hands and responded, "Amen. Amen." Then they bowed down and worshiped the Lord with their faces to the ground. Awesome. So they loved the scriptures. This is so fun. And Lani, I love that you pointed out that this is one of the things you love about Nehemiah, chapter 8, is just this concept and idea of getting the most we can out of scriptures and having a good experience with the scriptures.

And I asked you two to come prepared with a story about a time when scripture study was maybe fun or engaging for you, either alone or with your family. And you shared with us, Lani, reading the Book of Ether, which I love. Um, Amory, do you have a time about a story f- with your family or yourself when reading the scriptures was engaging or fun?

Well, I love in verse, um, 10 and 12, Nehemiah's like, "Go get good food and sweet drinks. This day is holy." And then in verse 12, they, like, went away to eat and to drink and celebrate with great joy, because the best way to celebrate with great joy is with good food and drink. Amen. And so it's wonderful. And it's so fun to me because Sunday at my house growing up w- especially Fast Sunday, was the day that I made the best treats.

Like, this is like, we're gonna make really good bread. My older brother sometimes would make, like, cinnamon and sugar pretzels. This is, we're making cookies. We're making cinnamon rolls. Because, I don't know, we had nothing else to do with the day. And so we would make these treats and, and, and I think that to me is one way that we can find joy, like in the Sabbath, but also in the scriptures.

And for me, some of the most impactful scripture study lessons I had growing up, I don't know how much my mom remembers these, but every Easter, we would celebrate things, like during Holy Week. And so on Good Friday, there was one time growing up, I was less than 12, 10 years old probably, we had a very, very simple meal in the dark, in the kitchen, because she's like, "The Nephites were in three days of darkness."

And so it was, like, pretty dark. We had light coming in through a window maybe, and just ate this really, really simple dinner, and that, like, has stuck with me for over 10 years. And another time, we, we would make a Passover meal, right? And so I think there is this connection where scripture study is fun, and it is what we make it to be.

Where some of these people, they were crying after weeping, and, and Nehemiah instructs them of, like, "This day is holy, like, find joy in the Lord." And I think there's a deliberate effort we can make, whether we involve food in our scripture study and, and use it in a symbolic way, or we use food to bring that joy of that bribery to young adults and teenagers so we attend firesides.

But- Absolutely ... like, it's one way that as we want to have joy in the Lord, that's really where the scriptures will be meaningful to us. Excellent. And, and maybe- Fun memories ... and Anne Marie really liked to have, and it wasn't just Anne Marie, but pancakes were a treat. So sometimes we would do pancakes with the prophets.

Do you remember that? Yep, I remember that. But that's an idea I got from somewhere else. I said, "What do you do on Sunday to make it a great day?" And they said, "Oh, pancakes with the prophets." So they'd have pancakes, and while they're eating they'd read an article from one, uh, a most recent general conference from the prophets.

So that was like, that's another food. I'm bringing in the food- ... tradition. But I love that they read the scriptures and then they act. So it's Nehemiah 8:14, "They found written in the law, which the Lord God had commanded through Moses, that the Israelites were to live in temporary shelters during the festival of the seventh month," talking about living in these booths.

And I just think that sometimes I might forget, oh, scripture study is just about checking it off, and I've done my scripture study, but it's actually about bringing us to the Savior and about acting on the principles that we're learning. And I love how they are so quick to say, "Oh, we're supposed to be doing this?

Let's do it." Just like, they're so humble, and that when I read something in the scriptures or when I'm in the scriptures, I think more it's this conduit for the Spirit to teach me that I can, um, be quick to heed the, the Spirit. But I'll tell you one more just a fun idea for- Please ... um, I probably, you have already talked about this lots of times, is popcorn reading, where in a family scripture study maybe some people don't wanna pay attention to where we're studying in the scriptures.

So we'll do popcorn reading where you can just stop. It doesn't have to be the end of a verse, and then you just say someone's name, and they need to continue wherever you stopped. So maybe we're reading a conference talk, or we're reading the a- actual scripture chapter. But it's a way to help everyone, like, stay and follow along, and if they don't know where you're reading, then they need to do, like, a couple pushups or something.

But this can also get contentious. This has gotten contentious in our house where someone doesn't want to do the pushups, and then it brings more contention than help. So maybe you don't do that. As an alternative method to scripture study for those of us that are not huge fans of popcorn reading, um- As a college student, I had a professor, and he recommended Or it was something he did with his family, but it was to simplify a verse and to restate this.

Um, and so like for instance, Nehemiah chapter 8 verse 10, he said, Nehemiah says, "Go and joy, choo- choice food and drinks, and send them to people who have nothing prepared. This day is holy to our Lord. Do not grieve, for the joy of our Lord is our strength." And so then what I would do is I'd look at this verse, and I'd try to simplify it.

And he's like, "With your kids, less words seems easier. It's not." Mm-hmm. But like, if I had 10 words or less, how am I restating, like what is this verse saying? For this example, I'd say, "God is joy and strength," you know? That's a five-word- Mm-hmm ... summary of that's what I think this is taking. And so I'll, like when I'm doing my scripture study, sometimes I'll just make notes where I try to restate, if I were to boil this verse down, what is it saying?

And so that's- a n- a different way to engage in the scriptures instead of reading through everything to try to pick a verse, and maybe everyone gets a different verse, but to summarize it and to say, "What is this one getting at?" I think that's great. And if we just have- Me too ... like for young kids, I think drawing a picture of what you're reading or doing Pictionary, even guess what part of the story I drew or even acting out- Mm-hmm

which part of the story is fun. I love the idea of making it simple, and Anne Marie, I will end with this, 'cause when you said that, in my mind, I made it simple, too. I used the same thing you did, which is that the, the joy of the Lord is strength, and then I thought, "And so is food." So I'm gonna take the challenge now to change the way I read my scriptures.

I'm gonna make myself a nice charcuterie plate, and I'm gonna just sit down out in my backyard. We just got some... Well, we've had patio furniture forever, but we brought it from a different place, and we put it, and we use it now, which I love. So tomorrow morning, I'm gonna make a little charcuterie plate and read my scriptures while I eat.

I love that connection. I've never done that, 'cause sometimes it is just something I check off, so I'm gonna make it more fun now. So thank you. Thanks for the challenge, everybody. Here's what I wanna know, everyone who's listening. Go online and share what are some fun ways you read your scriptures. I would love to have other people's ideas.

Share some fun things you've done on your own or with family members or with friends, 'cause we'd love to hear it. So that's the end of our discussion. We're done. You guys did it. Thank you. That was so fun, Tammy. Yeah. Thank you. Thank you for that invitation. So do this now. Gather all your thoughts, gather everything we said, and just share something you learned from this episode throughout our discussion.

What is your takeaway or what eternal truth did you learn from our discussion? I think my takeaway from this episode with Nehemiah and Ezra is remembering who God is and who I am, knowing that God knows my name, He has this plan for me, and that He has a work for me to do. And sometimes it's like remembering that that work is in fact a work.

So I need to be willing to go, to put that effort in to make that my priority, and to not get distracted, and also to know who God is, and to trust that the God of my salvation is in control, and that He will make that work happen as I move forward. But that no matter how small my efforts seem to me, He can make this great work to the astonishment of everyone around me Oh, good one.

Amen. Wow, Anne Marie, that was so profound. That's what, that is what I feel like my takeaway is just to keep to, to intentionally reflect on God's goodness multiple times a day, and His goodness in sending His Son to die for us, His goodness in giving, putting things in our heart to do and helping us accomplish them, His goodness in helping us in our roles, in our parenting roles, in our callings- Yeah

His goodness in sending His Spirit. I think I, I want to spend more time reflecting on that so that I can see that more. And like Elder Renlund promised, when we reflect on His goodness more, it increases our sensitivity to His Spirit. Mm-hmm. Um, like, I want that promise, and I want the promise of wanting, of being able to trust Him more because I'm reflecting on His goodness, which is real, which is true.

He is so good, and He does fulfill His promises, and He does make beauty from ashes, and He does build walls, and He does bring back treasures from the temple even though we're like- ... why would any enemy country bring back the treasures? But it happens. Or how could He help one man come and build a wall, a whole wall, a two and a half mile wall around Jerusalem?

Could that really happen? And it happened. And, and just can He, can He do great things in your life? Oh, He definitely can. And will He? Oh, He definitely will. So I don't... I feel like my takeaway is reflect on that, remember that, and relish in it, and, like, enjoy that feeling of truth. And, um, and also I want to take seriously when God puts something in my heart, I want to take it seriously.

Like, if- Mm-hmm ... just imagine if Ne- Nehemiah had been like, "Oh, yeah, God put something in my heart, and I just thought I'd keep bringing the cup bearer to the king," you know, like, not do anything about it. Mm-hmm. Like, how sad. I'm not to put shame on anyone or anything, but, like, when we feel that those impressions from the Lord, we w- look at the good that happens when we act on them and, and take them for what they are.

They are impressions from the God of the... God Almighty who wants to do a good work through you. It's pretty, pretty awesome. So I think that's my takeaway is- Yeah ... to remember that truth. Absolutely. Wow. Okay. So here are my takeaways. Um, Lani, again, in what you said, I just want to reiterate it, and I'm so grateful for this, that when we reflect on the greatness of God, things work out.

They absolutely do. And you... I love when you said because life is complicated and messy. I love how you said that. Life is complicated and messy, but He is so good, and God really is. So thank you for teaching that. And then Anne Marie- Loved that you started out with this idea of a quick prayer, and that you quoted Elder Holland telling us to keep praying.

But then you used the word constant conversations. I thought that was so cool. We have to keep having constant conversations with the Lord. But then I loved it when you said, "But when it comes to life..." This is the exact quote you said: "I want this to look different." You said sometimes we come to points where we're like, "I want this to look different."

So what's it gonna take? What sort of actions am I willing to take so that it does look different? So thank you for teaching that. That was a great moment. Both of you, so many good moments. What a great discussion. Yes, now everyone can say that Ezra and Nehemiah are their favorite books. Oh, amen. Amen. We better say that.

So good. Thank you for joining me. You guys are awesome. Thanks for taking the time, 'cause I know you're both so busy. And Anne Marie, you, good luck with that schooling. Thank you. Thanks, ladies. Thank you. Thank you. Okay. Bye bye. Okay. Oh, that was a fun discussion. I really hope Ezra and Nehemiah are now your favorite books.

They might be mine. That was fun. So tell us what your eternal truth was, what did you learn, and then share with us what you've learned throughout this whole discussion. Comment on the post that relates to this lesson and share your thoughts, 'cause I did ask everybody. I wanna know, what are some fun ways that you have read your scriptures?

You can get to both our Facebook and Instagram by going to the show notes for this episode at ldsliving.com/sundayonmonday. And go there anyway, because it's where we have links to the references and a transcript of this whole discussion. So go check it out. The Sunday on Monday Study Group is a Deseret Bookshelf Plus original, brought to you by LDS Living.

It's written and hosted by me, Tammy Uzelac Hall. And today, our perfect study group participants were Anne Marie and Lani Hilton. And you can find more information about my friends at ldsliving.com/sundayonmonday. Our podcast is produced by Cole Wissinger and me. It is edited and mixed by Cole Wissinger, and our executive producer is Aaron Hallstrom.

Thanks for being here. We'll see you next week. And you better remember that you are God's favorite.