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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What type of walker are you? And here's what I mean. When you're in the car with other people headed to a destination and you get there, once the car is in park, what do you do? Do you take your time to unbuckle and carefully take inventory of your belongings, grabbing your purse, your water bottle, your keys, and you just slowly walk to get there?

Or are you ready to jump out as soon as you can and you walk so quickly that you're already inside the building before most of the people ever get in the car? Well, today is all about the walk, fast, slow, medium, whatever your pace. The scriptures are very clear that how we walk matters. And Moses chapter seven is all about a people who figured out.

How to walk. 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, please 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 Christine Nielsen, who said hello to me at Harmons.

Hi Christine. 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 I am so excited to introduce you to two friends who I just adore. They, and I adore them because they're funny and they're real. They are.

Sharmaine, Howell, and Taylor Ricks. Hi ladies. Hello. Hi, Tammy. So good to be here. Ha. All right. Shar coming in from Minnesota as we always like to say. Yep. So excited to be here. Any good news in your life, anything new with your family or anything? Oh man, it's been a whirlwind. Yes. Um. I started this podcast with you years ago when my oldest was 12.

Yeah. And he is now, I just dropped him off a week ago to go to school out in Utah. He's gone. He's gonna be at BYU and he already has Mission call. Yes. So he's gonna be going on his mission in May to Argentina. Just feels like time is flying by. So still have my other four at home with me though. It's amazing.

That's crazy. And our oldest are the same. So my oldest, she's going on a mission in like three months. My gosh. And yeah. When, when you think we started this, they were in sixth grade. That's crazy. Yeah. Dang. It's good stuff. It's all good stuff. Good stuff. Okay. And then we got beautiful Taylor, Ricks Taylor.

She's an author, so how exciting is that? I love her book. Do you have any new books coming out? Uh, not yet, but. Have some ideas we're brewing up so we're still working on it. Okay. Yeah. Okay. Very good. Taylor, remind me what your book is, Taylor. It's Everyday Disciples, so it's about people in scriptures.

That's right. That are unnamed and how we can feel a little unnamed too, so it's of That's awesome. Yeah. And Teyl, give everyone a little rundown of your family quickly so people know a little bit about you. Yeah. So we are a blended family, and so I had four kids. My husband had five, so now we have nine.

And the oldest seven are all within four years of each other. So we've got, we just this year started with six kids going to young men and young women's. It's just crazy. Wow. Fun. And then we have, I love it. Little tiny scraggs at the bottom there, so Oh, what great ages. Yeah, we're like, if everyone goes on a mission, I think we would have seven missionaries at the same time and would need four.

Oh man. Oh my gosh. And it's always fun. I mean, you'll have to sell your house and live in a tent. We would, yeah, seven enough of them are boys. Seven boys. So there's smells and all. Oh man. Things you can't unsee, but yeah. That's so fun. We got lots. That's so great. Wow. That's awesome. Oh, that is so funny.

'cause I have all girls and there are smells. Mm-hmm. But it's usually like too much perfume, quite a bit of candle burning. Like a lot of good smells though. Good. Okay. Sometimes good. A lot of good is too much. So yeah, I'm like, who? What's that smell? What is going on? Are you burning another candle? A mix together?

Ah. Oh, well, what are you gonna do? Okay, well, we are gonna have so much fun today. If you guys want to see fun pictures of my friends and read their bios, make sure you go check those out in our show notes, which are found at lds living.com/sunday on Monday. So everyone grab your scriptures and something to mark them with.

And let's dig in to Moses chapter seven, just one chapter. Okay. You two, when you were reading and preparing for today's episode, tell me what did the Holy Ghost teach you? What one thing stood out to you? Well, I think for me what stood out is, um, surprisingly that I matter. Like I matter in this whole process and in Heavenly Father's plan, like there were so many references that were things that I could do and actions that I could take in building and establishing Zion and I, I felt like a part of his family and his plan, and I didn't expect that to be what stood out.

It's never stood out before. But this time the Lord just needed me to know that I have a role in his kingdom and I loved that. Oh, can I ask a follow up question? Yeah, because this is, this is kind of cool. I already had Shar scheduled to be a guest, and then I was praying about who should be with her. And I haven't had Taylor on for a very long time.

And outta the blue, your name popped into my head, so I reached out and you're like, you, but I totally would do it not knowing anything about your life. And then you send me this long email that said you have been studying this specific chapter in depth for a very long time, which I, I had no idea. Tell us a little bit, just can you give us a little bit why it's so personal or why you've been studying about Zion?

Because that blew my mind. Yeah. So, um, I have lived in this area off and on for like 23 years, but I've lived in this particular house this time. Like I go and come back, it just keeps calling me back. But I've lived here for about 10 years and, um. It has become a difficult place to live. It's kind of become, for me hard because we have a lot of really close friend groups.

And if you're not in one of the friend groups, it's really hard to feel like you matter or that you fit in. Mm-hmm. And I've had multiple, multiple friends ha move out simply because they feel like they don't belong and that this isn't the right place for them. And I've sat at dining room tables with friends, just sobbing, feeling like, you know, I don't belong here in this area and in this ward.

And it's been hard and heavy. Our hearts. And I recently got a calling where I am totally outta my league. I'm like, this is beyond my ability. But we're, but I serve on the ward council and our bishop has encouraged us for 2026 to make our goal to, uh, build Zion and establish Zion in our ward. And that feels almost impossible.

It feels almost impossible because I am, I don't feel like I belong here. In fact, I've been looking for ways to go to other wards or be other places and find a place where I fit. And so studying these chapters, especially this chapter in Moses, has been a good reminder of, um, making Zion where we are and almost also how much power we have individually to make that happen.

I think often I have gotten caught up in. If other things change, outside forces change, maybe we can get there. And I'm grateful to be able to talk about this together today, because I think there's so much we can do to build Zion where we are. And I don't think I'm alone in the church. I think there's a lot of people out there that might feel this way in their homes and in their wards and wonder like, am I invisible?

Do I matter? Do I, you know? Mm-hmm. And can I ever belong? And so I'm excited to jump into that. So that's why I've been studying it. Wow. So I feel like our bishop's given us this task and he's, he's in the trenches with us. But how is it possible? I think it might be, but it's, it's, it's a lot to do. We gotta roll up our sleeves and get to work For sure.

Thank you. I appreciate you being willing to be that transparent. 'cause she didn't know I was gonna ask that question. And so I think a lot of people resonate with that predicament though. A lot of us are like, yeah, how do we do that? That, mm-hmm. Whew. It's gonna be a big discussion talking about Zion, so thank you.

Yeah. And you absolutely belong Taylor, right? Right where you are in the circles. You are, you belong there. So, um, that's, I think it kind of goes really well with what stood out to me in the Holy Ghost taught to me is I feel like every four years we studied these se scriptures again. And every four years I'm like, oh, never read this.

This is amazing. I love it. Yeah. And it just like comes to life to me again. So reading chapter seven again, I was like, I didn't remember that Moses saw all, all of the, I mean, Enoch saw all the days from now until our time, and it just, the spirit bore witness to me that they, he wrote this for us. That God showed him this for us.

He wrote it down. And as I was reading about how Enoch saw the second coming of the Savior, Jesus Christ, the latter days, our days, I loved in verse 62, Moses 7 62. And he said, he's telling him like all about the second coming and what's gonna happen and, and all these great things. And he said that my people may gird up their loins and be looking forward for the time of my coming.

It just popped out at me that it was like, gird up my loins, get excited and look forward to it. The time is coming and I was just like. This is the second coming we're talking about. It's the savior Jesus Christ that we wanna see again. And it's so exciting and I'm looking forward to it. And he tells us all about it, and Enoch shows us all the wonderful things that are gonna come.

And it is so exciting and it's awesome and it's difficult in our day to navigate it. Like you were saying, Taylor, but it's so amazing that we have this and that, that he's coming again. Like Jesus is coming. I love it. Oh my gosh. Okay. How many times have I read this? Even in preparation for our discussion, and that never stood out to me, but that hit me with a ton of bricks to gird up their loins and looking forth for the time of my coming.

That just put the second coming perspective, it just shifted it for me. Like, it is gonna be a ton of work for us to get ready for him to come. We, we can't get casual. We can't get comfortable. Right. Like, 'cause he's using Old Testament wording here that gird up your loins. Anyone at Old Testament Times knows when you have to git up your loins, you're, you're working hard.

Yeah. Like get, I love that phrase. Get in there. Yes. That is so cool. Yeah. Yeah. We have a work to do. He's asking us to be a part of it, and there's so much good to be done until he comes again. Excellent. Wow. Thank you to both of you. Okay, so let's just take this imagery then of us belonging that God needs us.

As we're preparing for the second coming of Jesus Christ. We're gonna git up our loins, and in the next segment we're gonna talk about how we walk with our loins, girded, and that's all I'm gonna say.

Segment 2

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Okay. You two, tell me about the scenario I did at the very beginning. When you're in a car with a group of people, what kind of person are you? Are you already in the store? Oh my gosh, yeah. Placing your order before anyone gets outta the car. Like what are we talking about? Okay. First thing I thought of was getting to church.

I get out of the car with my kids. Brian's always already there, so it's just me and my kids. It is literally negative 10, I feel like every Sunday here. Wait, why? And we hop out of the car. You know, I'm in Minnesota, right? So I hop outta the car. I'm like, uh, let's rush inside. Let's go. Let's get in there.

Let's get outta the cold. And I have one son. Tommy who will be in the back row. His shoes aren't on, his tie's not on, he's like, his feet are in the air. And I'm like, standing by the door. Let's go. Let's go, let's go, let's go, let's go. Get out, get out. And I'm like, I'm freezing. And he's just like putting his shoes on.

Tiny shoes, freezing cold, and he's just taking his sweet time. So I'm learning patience. So now I just sit in the car, wait for him. But I would appreciate just hopping out and getting in there. Yeah. You just wanna go fast, right? Just get it done. Yeah. Oh, I can totally see Tommy doing that. That's adorable.

What about you, TEYL? Oh, I'm the same way. In fact, uh, fun fact, I hate purses and. Not my thing. Mm-hmm. Like, so I am like shoving my pockets with whatever I think I might need. And it's like one mint a key and like, and just bolt as fast as I can. Yeah. I just wanna get, get to where I'm going. Yeah. And so, yeah, with all those kids trailing behind, like run in as fast as I can, scope out the place, see if they're ready for us to descend upon them.

For sure. Yeah. Yeah. See if there's a table for us, whatever Right. Where we're going. Yeah, for sure. I know for me it's almost like when, when we're walking somewhere as a family, it's like, I forget I even have kids. I'm like every man for themself. Good luck. Yeah. I'll see you when you get there. Like, I hope you make it like I, I could do a better job of, you know, re coming up the rear and saying Okay.

To my slowest walker, but I'm a fast walker. I wanna get there. Yeah. The only reason I wait for Tommy is because he won't shut the car door. It's without fail. It's open every Sunday when I walk out, so I wait to shut the door. Otherwise, every meant for yourself. For sure. That is awesome. Oh, I'm just picturing it in my mind.

And so cold. So cold. Okay, so I wanted us to have this visual of walking because we did this a little bit last week and we're gonna continue with it. This Walk with God scripture chain. So here's what we're gonna do. We're gonna do a couple of verses together. Now. We started in the book of Moses, in Moses chapter six.

So let's go there really quickly. We're gonna go back and just remind everybody what we did last week. So we read in Moses chapter six, verse 34, something really important about Enoch. And so here we are in verse 34. And Shar, can you read that for us, please? Yep. Behold, my spirit is upon you. Wherefore, all thy words will I justify.

And the mountains shall flee before you and the rivers shall turn from their course. And thou shalt abide in me and I in you. Therefore, walk with me. Okay, so he gets the invitation to walk with God now. Mm-hmm. It's that verse put verse 39, and let's turn to verse 39 and Teyl, will you read that for us please?

Sure. And it came to pass when they had heard him. No man laid hands on him for fear came on. All them that heard him, for he walked with God. Okay, now next to that, where it says, for he walked with God, you wanna put the cross reference Genesis 5 22 and then verse 24. Now in Genesis chapter five, verses 22 and 24, those are the only verses we have about Enoch.

That's the end of Enoch's story. So how much do we, we're so thankful for the Pearl of great price. We're so thankful for the book of Moses, because without it, we would've missed out on this incredible discussion today that I know we're gonna have. So right there in Genesis chapter five, we won't turn there, but in 22 and 24, it just plainly says Enoch walked with God both times.

That's what it says. Now we're gonna add a scripture. So go back to Moses chapter six, verse 39. And we're going to look at what the result was of Enoch walking with God. Here we go Next to verse 39. Put this reference chapter seven, verse 69. We're gonna go into today's chapter. We're gonna, we're gonna start with the end, Moses chapter seven, verse 69.

And Shar, can you please read that for us? And Enoch and all his people walked with God and he dwelt in the midst of Zion. And it came to pass that Zion was not for God. Received it up unto his own. Bosom and fence went forth. The saying, Zion is flood. Okay? Because Enoch walked with God, those who followed him.

I love that in 69 and Enoch and all his people walked with God. So the whole end result of our discussion today will be to figure out how. How do we walk with God? What does that look like? I was really struck to find out, and this isn't a talk from Elder Paul Eu, and he said, in the topical guide, we find over 100 references to walking with God.

That's pretty cool. He says, Adam walked with God in the Garden of Eden. Enoch walked with God. Noah walked with God. Abraham and Isaac walked with God. And so my, my question for you guys is before we get started and find out what, how these people got to the point where they then walked with God. I wanna know just right now outta the gates, what does it really mean to walk with God to you today?

To me it's, it's inviting him in because I think he's always right by us and he wants to be walking with us. It's acknowledging that he's there. And walking alongside of him, following his guidance and direction for us and for our lives. But I also, like, I'm very visual person, so I picture walking with God, you know, and I live right by this little lake and we all walk around it.

It's like our exercise loop, and you pass your whole neighborhood every day. And, and I, so I picture myself walking with God around this loop. And I think of, um, like just to be visual and how humble and what that says about God, that this, that he would. That he would walk with someone like me, right?

Mm-hmm. The, the great our father, the the, the great God of the heaven and earth and everything. And he would spend that time and I think he would go my pace. I don't think he would do what I do and stuff his pockets and bolt down the road. I imagine, I imagine him meeting me where I am and walking with me, but then teaching me as we go.

And so that doesn't quite answer your question probably, but No, it does. Like to imagine that would be like, and, and feel like, well, thank goodness he's not every man for yourself kind of a walker, right? Like me. I, I have a follow up question for you because you said it, you think it begins with inviting him in.

What does that specifically look like though? Like how do we invite him in? What do you mean by that? I think it's being hu like a few things, being humble enough to recognize that I'm not, I have nothing figured out. Mm-hmm. Hmm. I am not gonna be able to do this without him. Right. And then I think it's simple.

I think it's just asking, can you be with me through this? Oh yeah. And looking for where he is, I think looking for instances that he is in our life and story instead of imagining places where he would be absent is huge in recognizing his walk with us. Wow. Hmm. I'm writing notes. Love that. Me too. I was thinking about a walk with God and like sometimes when my kids are naughty and we're walking somewhere, I'm like, get over here.

You gotta walk by me. You know? And I'm like, Nope, don't get to go around for you to walk right next to me. And I mean, I don't picture that, uh, this being exactly like that with Enoch. Like, uh, no, no, no. Come by me. But in a way it's like, I'm gonna show you my way. I I'm gonna let you see what it looks like to be like me.

And you know, when he, even when he invites Enoch and Moses six, he's like talking about how he can, you know, talk to the mountains and the rivers and the, and and you know, say it and, and it will be done. And he's like, if you walk with me. So it's this invitation where God is saying, I want you to have all that I have and I want you to know how to do it.

So come and be by my side so you can see how I do it and I will do it with you. Mm-hmm. It's not him saying good luck figuring out life down there and trying to make choices. 'cause this is a big deal, these choices you're making, but good luck and try to navigate that on your own. He's saying, I wanna do it right with you.

Yeah. And I will show you each step of the way, 'cause I'm walking it too. Although he's already walked this course and he's done it and he is perfect. He's saying, I'm gonna come back and I'm gonna walk it again with you. And I just love that. I like that. I love that thought that he's like, I just, I'm ready to show you my way if you wanna do it with me.

Wow. It that reminds me, it re makes me think of when we would take our kids camping, Shar, and we would take this trail that's around a Lake Taylor. And we've done it so many times before that we knew it was safe enough for our kids. And it's just kind of fun to watch them because they, they run up ahead of course, and then they find this huge boulder they're gonna climb on.

And we let them, 'cause we know it's safe. And then, um, they wanna get lost, but they can't, 'cause there's nowhere to get lost. And they're just kind of all over the place. And, and I feel like it kinda gave us this cool example of what you've said. Like, we've walked this before so we know exactly what they're coming up against and we're gonna let them go explore and have fun, but we're also going to, you know, you know, scream when they're about to fall in the lake or really get hurt.

And I feel like that's how our heavenly parents are, they're like walking with us. Mm-hmm. And they're not. Mm-hmm. Walking. They're walking, like how you said, TEYL exactly at our pace, whatever that looks like. And I think that's something that we need to recognize because Zion didn't become Zion overnight.

These people didn't walk with God because all of a sudden they're like, I'm in. I'm walking with God. Like you will read throughout this narrative of Moses seven, it took Enoch time to teach the people he had to start out by teaching them all of just the basics like we do with little kids in primary. We teach them the basics.

And then throughout this course of Moses seven, they become Zion because they then ultimately walked with God. And so we're gonna discontinue this discussion throughout our whole episode about what it means to become Zion and what it means to walk with God. And so in the next segment, we're going to look at some of the effective ways to walk with God and become a Zion people and what made them specifically his people.

We'll do that next

Segment 3

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so I asked my guests ahead of time to look for ways that the people of Zion were the Lords. Like ultimately you guys, how did they walk with God? How did they become Zion? And I can't wait to find out what did you find? Give us the verses so we can mark them and let's discuss. I liked when it starts in verse 10 and it talks about.

Go to this people and saying to them, repent. And I highlighted the word repent and then in 11 it says, and he gave an unto me commandment that I should baptize. I highlighted baptize in the name of the Father and of the Son, which is full of grace and of the Holy Ghost. So I highlighted Holy Ghost. And um, I just feel like I'm finding the first principles of the gospel as I was reading through here.

Mm-hmm. And also there was faith and so Great was the faith of Enoch that he led the people of God. So by his example of faith, he's teaching them. And I'm not sure if this is exactly answering what you're saying, but I just love that seeing those four like in a row and you know, it's always been very confusing to me or like mysterious how the people of Enoch did it.

You know, it's like, it's a big secret. Yeah. How did they become these wonderful, amazing people who like check they did it? You know? And it just seems like. It's that principle that, that primary answer, like faith, repentance, baptism, holy Ghost, they were taught those things. Mm-hmm. And guessing they lived those things in order to continue to draw closer to God.

So I just thought that was cool, finding the first principles of the gospel right there. Oh, I think that's awesome. And then, did you just love 13? Did 13 blow your mind about Yeah. Can you just read that verse? 'cause again, this goes back to how many times have I read this? Oh, totally. And so great was the faith of Enoch that he led the people of God and their enemies came to battle against them.

And he spanked the word of the Lord and the earth trembled and the mountains fled even according to his command. And the rivers of water were turned out of their course. And the roar of lion was heard out of the wilderness. And all nations feared greatly. So powerful was the word of Enoch, and so great was the power of the language which God had given him.

Yes. Great. So cool. I love that. Especially coming from when Enoch didn't feel like he was very powerful in language and speech. Mm-hmm. And to have him be just like totally 180 flip flopped and getting blessed with all that he needed because of his great faith. Yeah. Awesome. Shar. Thank you. In 13 two. I love that.

It shows to me the power that comes when we're so well aligned with the Lord, right? Mm-hmm. Yeah. I don't think he would've been able to have the earth tremble or the rivers change course or any of those things happen if it wasn't in perfect unity with the will of the Lord and what he would want to.

Mm-hmm. And so I think it's just another reminder of the power of aligning with him and walking with him and then our will becomes his will. And the things that we do speak into existence can become possible because they align with what he would have us do. And so that reminded me of that too in 13.

Mm-hmm. I did have a thought with 13 and 14 too. 'cause 1414 says the same thing. It's kind of cool that because of him land came up from the depth of the sea and, and what you're saying really struck me, Taylor, because when I was reading this, I thought, well. I would follow that too. Like if I saw a guy that could do amazing things like that, I, I be in like, whatever he's teaching, I'm buying kind of a thing.

And then I thought, do we have that today? Like, are there things that our prophets and apostles are doing that maybe we're not even aware of? Like, I don't know. My mind went all over the place. Like, how, what is a modern day prophet doing for us today that makes us think he's moving mountains and lions are roaring?

I don't know. Do you have any thoughts about that? Yeah, I think that's, I think that's such a cool connection is thinking about how our prophet is doing the exact same thing because we're not seeing the physical lions, physical mountains and things and the land popping up. But in so many ways, the prophet has just been that watchman on the tower.

Mm-hmm. In my mind, who can like that talk? Prophets can see around corners. And just finding the little bits where I'm like, wow, I can't believe the prophet said that, you know, two years ago, three years ago, and now I'm seeing this great effect that it had on our lives. You know, like home and family church, bringing that to about, about right before COVID.

Yes. And we're like, wow, we all know how to study with our families without being at the church building. This is amazing. And we have a book to do it from. There's just so many ways that I feel like he is moving mountains and he is making huge changes in our life and it's there if we wanna see it.

Mm-hmm. And if we don't look for it, we probably won't see it. Right? Yes. Oh, and even just all the temples, I mean, we went from just a few to You can't Absolutely. You can't go to 'em all, I don't think in a lifetime anymore. Mm-hmm. Or the missionary changes and how that like tripled the number of missionaries we have out sharing the gospel.

Mm-hmm. All over the place. So like those are some of the more visual things and I can't even. Begin to imagine the things that, that we don't see that are going on to prepare for the Lord, which is so cool too. Okay. Your answers were so good 'cause you just taught me because I'm thinking right here. I wonder if they were to see our day and just be blown away like we are with this description by going 300 temples.

'cause they had one tabernacle and for them to be like, I'm sorry, what? You have 300 dedicated buildings. Yeah. Church buildings, thousands of missionaries. Like those are our mountains coming up outta the land. Those are our lions roaring like, yes, I think we are living. I love that. Yeah. So it, I think sometimes I get so casual when that, when these things happen, because they've just been so commonplace to us.

That's what I'm scared about is that maybe I need to do a better job of girding up my loins and realizing getting to the temple, all of these things 'cause this, this is the second coming. Okay. This is so fun. I'm so glad. Thank you for sharing that with me. Alright, keep going. How else did the pe, what did the people do to walk with God?

Is it too soon to talk about verse 18? No, that's part of this. Get it. Are we good? Okay. I'm like, okay, let's read 16 through 18. And from that time forth, there were wars and bloodshed among them, but the Lord came and dwelt with his people and they dwelt in righteousness. The fear of the Lord was upon all nations.

So great was the glory of the Lord, which was upon his people. And the Lord blessed the land, and they were blessed upon the mountains and upon the high places, and did flourish. And the Lord called his people Zion because they were of one heart and one mind, and welt in righteousness, and there was no poor among them.

Ooh. Now, why did that stand out to you? Well, I think we quote verse 18 a lot, you know that they were of one heart and one mind and dwell in righteousness. But this time, setting it through different things stood out. So I loved. That they were of one heart and one mind. But it doesn't say that they were of the same heart or the same mind.

Now tell me what you mean about that. Well, what I think about is I think that sometimes to fill unity, we, we think that we need to have sameness. Mm-hmm. We all have to have the same opinions on certain things. We all have to maybe do things the same way. Like I stay in my church clothes all day on Sunday, and we all should do that to be more holy.

I don't do that. I change as quick as I can. Right. But I think sometimes when we think of oneness, we think of sameness with the same approach and the same view of things. But when I study this, I think. One heart and one mind would be one in the same goal, right? They were one in their desire to walk with God and become like him and to rely on the Savior and to live the gospel and to follow the prophet, right?

They were one in that, but I think they all probably approached it in their own unique way and in the way that the Lord created them to be and the people that they were. And some people might have worshiped through singing 'cause music was great and other people might worship better through like really quiet prayer or, and, and how beautiful it is that there was room for everybody to be who they are, but to still be one in the direction that they were going.

Yeah. And I love that that is part of it. And, and then we talk about that there was no poor among them. And I think there's many ways we could look at that. And one way might be that they shared everything that they had. Maybe it was kind of a law of consecration. I don't know. The footnote kind of suggests it might be, but what that made me think of is that for there to be no poor among them, they were sharing and working together.

But also it takes this burden off of me. I don't have to be everything. Mm-hmm. I don't have to be perfect at making sourdough bread because my neighbor is really good and she's gonna share and make sure that I'm not poor in that area. And I don't have to be perfect at teaching sunbeams, but I'm good at teaching 13 year olds or something.

And, and so we all come together and what, what we are, because we're focused in that oneness and one in the desire, we still get to bring what we're great at and we all get to benefit from it. And I, I don't know, to me that was just this huge blessing that I can be tailor and I can. Have the talents that I have and keep working on those.

And those help me become one without being exactly like my next door neighbor and how I can honor who she is and she can honor who I am. But we can still be one in becoming like our savior and becoming Zion. Yeah. And it makes me think a lot about how we know our faults. We know our strengths, and we're okay with that, right?

Mm-hmm. We're not trying to say, well, I have this flaw and you have that strength, hence, I'm less than you, or I'm better than you. Or, you know, we know that we are strengthened through Christ and that he makes us better and the same is going on for somebody else. So we don't need to compare each other to each other.

But I like that thought of that. No poor among us. What you were saying about that and how that might mean, like, we are not, there's no lack. Nobody feels that sense of lack. Mm-hmm. And so, you know, finding a way to do that in our. In our wards and in our neighborhoods. That's a really, that's a big challenge.

Like you were saying at the beginning, Taylor, there's a lot that we need to do to do that. And I, sometimes, I think of the loft consecration, you know, that's one of our covenants we make in the temple, and in my mind, sometimes it's, oh, that's a big deal. Like maybe I'll start living that when other people start living that right?

Or I'm, I'm not sure I'm ready to give up all of my things so when everybody else does it, then I'll jump on board, right? Mm-hmm. But I do love that idea that the love of consecration is more of something in our heart, and you never, I never know. I'm not sure. We might in the end, be asked to give up land and property and who knows what, so that we are all equal and on the same footing.

But I do love the thought that the law of consecration, of saying, you know what? It doesn't matter what everybody else in my ward is doing, almost giving them the benefit of the doubt. Yeah. Saying, I'm gonna give my all my heart, my mind to Jesus Christ, and whether it's in my calling or serving my neighbor or serving my kids, or whatever it is, and guess what?

I bet they're doing the same. If we can live in that in the way of saying, I'm gonna just, I'm just gonna do it and assume that everybody else is doing it as best as they can with whatever's going on. That's really helped me as I was studying this to think that way and to think maybe if I just jump in and give my all, maybe it won't make me have less, maybe it won't make me angry at them that I'm giving so much.

Maybe it actually will make me happier. Mm-hmm. Maybe actually will make me love them more. And in turn, when you do that to other people, then. Maybe it helps them to love a little better and to give a little more. It's like that, you know, you add into somebody else's bucket and it just makes it multiplied, right?

Yeah. So, I don't know, living in that one heart and one mind, it seems so hard, but if you just say, I'm just gonna start. I'm just gonna do it. Maybe it's not that hard. I like that idea about not the same, like, I think that that's really important because what I love is down in verse 21 where it says, Zion in process of time was taken up to heaven.

That to me implies it took a while for the people to get there. That it in process of time, what I love about the word poor, and if you just wanna mark the word poor right there, there was no poor among them. I love the meaning of the word poor. In Hebrew. The word is doll, DAL, and I remember it. 'cause then I think poor people, poor kids don't have dolls.

So there we go. I have a lot of mnemonic devices for Hebrew, but it's DAL. And listen to this, this is kind of beautiful. It says the Hebrew adjective doll to describe someone as poor portrays a condition of material poverty, social vulnerability, or physical weakness. I, I love that social vulnerability.

And there were no poor among them socially. Like that's the one that hits home today for us. And then it just goes on to say that while often translated poor, its nuance extends to thin powerless or insignificant individuals who lack the resources or influence to secure their own welfare. In many contexts, it's in many contexts, it's juxtaposed with the rich or strong high, the sharp social contrasts within ancient Israel.

And there were sharp contrasts in ancient Israel, but boy, are there today. Oh, it sounds like to me, Taylor, you have felt very poor in your condition. A little bit, but, and, and one. One story that came to mind when you were talking about that. I don't want anyone to feel bad, but I have the coolest boss ever.

I don't want anyone to feel sad that they don't have the same boss. But, um, when he was in college, him and his wife with a few friends started a nonprofit outside of the country where they go and build schools and wells. Wow. Then they also hire people there and they set it up to where they can take care of themselves and maintain those wells, and then they, they can go and do it in other places.

And he was just sharing with us in a work meeting yesterday. That they set it up for families to be able to go down and take their families with them to go down and help these families in these other countries. And he said, we always think of poor as like they don't have the same houses as us and cars and clothes and things.

And he said, by the time you're done with spending time with these amazing people, you see that the things that you might be rich in, they may not be, but the things that they are rich in, you may be more poor in they're rich time and in relationship and in, um, in generosity and in love and all of these things that sometimes we lose sight of.

And so again, it just reminds me, and it goes along with what you shared, right? That no poor among us is not just everybody has the exact same car and house and right things in our pantry, that it's so much deeper than that, that, you know, we, we need to be rich in all of the blessings God has for us. I think most of those are not measured in material most of the time.

Because I would dare say that every ward is full of poor people. Every Sunday that chapel. We are all poor in one way or another. Mm-hmm. So, yeah, poor in spirit needing Christ. So, wow. Thank you so much ladies, for that discussion about some of the things that led them to become Zion. So let's do this. In the next segment we're gonna talk about something these people knew that may have assisted them in their walk.

We'll do that next.

Segment 4

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Paul Leika in his same talk or la, he gave a great talk called Walking with God on the Covenant Path. And he said this, to walk with our heavenly Father and his son, Jesus Christ, we first need to know who they are. And I think that that played a big role into these people becoming a people of Zion.

Because you will read in Moses seven several names or titles for Jesus Christ. And so I asked my guest to go through Moses seven and highlight every time they found a name or a title for him. And so guys, you're ready to do this. Give everyone grab something to mark your scriptures with, and these two are gonna call out the verse and the name of the Savior or God.

Here we go, Moses, chapter seven. We'll start with Taylor. We'll go Taylor, Shar Taylor, back and forth. Okay. Okay. My first one is a little bit cheating. It's actually verse 11 because they're talking about being baptized in the name of the Father and of the son, which is full of grace. So it says the name, which is Full of grace.

So it made me Mark Grace and I, I loved that one. Um, just thinking about our savior and our heavenly Father, being so patient with me, I need as much grace as possible and the patience and the love and generosity, that word holds. Oh, well, for someone who cheated, that worked out great. Thank you. I love that.

That's great. I found in, um, 28, and maybe I've skipped one, but the god of heaven. Mm-hmm. In 35, I loved Man of Counsel and 35 also has Man of Holiness. Mm-hmm. And it has, I am. Yes. And. And endless and eternal. There's a lot of 'em. Isn't that, that one's packed. Just highlight the whole verse. Yeah. Seriously. I was like, I we're gonna take turns on each of those.

No, no, sorry. Sorry. Keep going. That's your turn. I'm teasing you. Oh, like, um, those were the rest of mine. No, just kidding. There are more really good ones. Let's see. The next one that I liked was in 53. The King of Zion. Mm-hmm. Liked in 39. His name is chosen Neat. Oh, right before, in 53, before King of Zion is Messiah.

Mm-hmm. And then also Rock of Heaven. And then in 47 it's son of Man. And that one actually is like Oh neat. In a whole bunch of verses. 47, 54, 55, 56. Um, so I really like that one. I'm so glad you pointed that one out. Sorry. I also, in 47 was the righteous. And the lamb. Oh, cool. Yep. 48 has creator and then 59 and 62 only begotten.

Very cool. Um, I actually marked a lot of where he's references the Lord. Good. He's the Lord. It's everywhere. Isn't that good? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And 66 the Almighty God. There's probably more. Did you have more Taylor? I think about close to what I had. Wow. Those were so good you guys. Way to go. You totally understood the assignment.

Okay. So the second part of the assignment then was which one stood out to you and what did you learn about the title? So for me, the son of Man really stood out and I don't, it just caught my eye when I, maybe it's 'cause I saw it a number of times. So it's in 47, 54, 55, 56, 59, and 65. It just talks about the Son of Man.

And I read somewhere that it was, it's referring to that he is the son of the Man of Holiness. So that was one of the other names that we saw of Man of Holiness. And I kept on thinking like, why is this name standing out to me, the Son of Man? And as I kept pondering about just the word son, it reminds me that I have a relationship with, with him that it is a family relationship.

There's all these names of I Am the God of Heaven, the Creator, the Endless and Eternal, which are incredible names, the King of Zion. And sometimes, sometimes those aren't very relatable, uh, on like a, a peon level like me, you know, like I'm just a nobody. So like, he's amazing. He's everything. And I just love that the Son of Man makes it a relatable to me.

That reminds me that. God is my father, that I am his daughter. And that there is, there's a connection between us that can never be broken. And I think I've told this story once before, but when Mackay, my oldest, when he was like eight or nine, playing with some friend, a friend in his, in his room, he was a non-member friend and saw a picture of Jesus on his desk and said, who is that?

And he is like, you don't know who he is. He's Jesus. He's all powerful. He's, he can do everything. He has all the power in the world. And the friend was like, whoa, that's so cool. And I, I just love that. I love that he is that. Us and he's also our brother. So that contradiction of being so powerful and yet so intimate.

Mm-hmm. And, um, I just love that he is both of that. And so in that title, the Son of Man, it just reminds me that he is also that intimate God, that God who loves me personally and knows me personally because we are family. And that's what you do with family. You love them personally and you care about all their, their struggles and, and everything intimate about them and you're there for them.

So that's why I love the Son of Man just really stood out to me this time. Neat Shark, thank you for researching that, and thank you for bearing testimony of your relationship to that name and to the father. That was awesome. Thank you, Taylor. Okay. I love N 35 Man of Counsel. That stood out to me because, I don't know, I just think.

What a gift it is to be able to just be like, okay, I need some advice on this. And I think sometimes my prayers maybe aren't as ENT as they should be. 'cause sometimes I'm like, um, we've been working on this for a long time and it's not working out and I just need your advice on what to do. But sometimes this counseling can be so quiet and so humble.

And I just love that he is always willing to kind of counsel. And when I think of counsel counseling together is not just like downloading a problem to someone and then they say, this is how you fix it and this is how you do it. I love the imagery of counseling where it's like back and forth where I'm seeing and feeling and experiencing this, um, heavenly Father.

And this is what I think would work. And like I'm trying it and it's not working and, and then. In the scriptures and through the Holy Ghost and through conference talks and all the different ways we can receive answers. His counsel back where it's like, well, maybe tweak this a little bit and you can make that little tweak and you can go back and be like, I made this tweak and I did this change.

And, and it's just, it's a relationship. Counseling to me is this, um, it's not a one and done and it's not one person being like bigger than the other. It's really like this coming together to discuss and to work through and to figure out. And I can think of all these different times in my life where I, I don't think I would've made it through without the ability to just feel like we could sit and counsel that I could counsel in my prayers with the father.

And, and sometimes you don't even get an answer back in that moment, but it's to be able to like. Download what's going on and share that and know that you're not alone in it, and it, you can get out from that prayer and be like, Hey, we're working on this together as a council. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Council between me and my Holy Father and my savior and the Holy Ghost we're working together as a council.

I, I don't know, I just loved that, stood out to me so much. Oh, that's a great name. And, and we love that. We've been encouraged to do councils now, right at the beginning of Relief Society. And if you're ever there for that, it's been, at first I was kind of like, Ugh, what a waste. Let's just get into the lesson.

All right. Already. And we had a great council in my ward last Sunday. It was so cool because our bishop gave us a challenges award to read the Book of Mormon this year. So immediately I'm like, I'm in, this is great. My family needs this. Let's do it. And my husband said, there's a way on the app, on the church gospel app, library app, there's a tool that will actually write out a schedule for you to read the Book of Mormon.

You can put in the day you wanna start. And I didn't know that. So I went in during sacrament during the challenge and figured that out for my family. And then when we went into Relief Society to have our council, someone asked, well, how, you know, how do you do that? And how do you work the gospel app? And it was so cool.

'cause I don't know what. The, the original council was, but it got scrapped maybe. And the Relief Society president said, everyone get out their phones. And we counseled together and we helped all the women in the room, some who weren't tech savvy and others who were, and they put it up on the TV so you could see what to button to hit and where to go.

And I'm like, okay, this is counseling. This is so awesome where you're addressing the issue head on rather than, there have could have been times where people were like, oh, we'll have, we'll send your ministering sister to help you. I don't think the Lord does that. He's like, ah. Like I think when you go to him, let's counsel.

He might send the ministering sister later, but in that moment he's like, let's talk. Let's counsel. Let's talk about your issue and what it is. So I think that is a great name. So thank you. Great job. There's one that stood out to me that I thought was cool that I learned. In Moses chapter seven, verse 39, the word that I'd never considered, that that was a name for Christ.

'cause verse 39 says, and that which I have chosen, the right Jesus above that and Jesus, which I have chosen, have pled before my face. Wherefore he suffereth for their sins in as much as they will repent in the day that my chosen shall return unto me. And until that day, they shall be in torment and I had never considered.

And that which I have chosen has pled before my face. Can you imagine? Mm-hmm. The Savior pleading before the face of the father, before her he's ever even born knowing fully what the atonement is going to mean and saying, I got this. It'll work for them. And, and pleading for his face. So I really liked that in that verse.

'cause I was like, what is that? So I researched it mm-hmm. And found out that that is Jesus. Literally that is Jesus. So very fun. That's great. Okay, so all of these wonderful names that we have about the Savior and Zion, the people call themselves Zion, and you can see they're becoming one heart, one mind.

And again, going back to what you said, TEYL not the same, but in their purpose, which is Jesus Christ. And Christ is on their hearts and Christ is in their mind, and they're not. And they are righteous. They dwell in righteousness because of Jesus Christ. And so as magnanimous and as incredible as these names are for Jesus Christ and talking about our heavenly Father, the question then that Enoch has is, but why will you weep?

We'll talk about what causes them to weep in the next segment.

Segment 5

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What do you imagine when you hear someone is weeping and is weeping different than crying? Just imagine myself after I drop my son off at school, sitting in my car by myself. Why are you weeping? Dreaming? I'm gonna miss him. Aw, that's sweet. It wasn't tears of joy. Tammy. Yes. He's finally gone. Okay. I get it.

You dropped him off at BYU. That's fair. Yeah. Come on. You're allowed to. We live 20 minutes away. No, no, that's true. I thought you meant like Tommy. I'm like you're gonna see him in hour. Okay. Sorry, my oldest. Sure, sure, sure. Okay. Uhhuh? No. When they go to school it story, you're allowed to weep. Very good.

Okay. Yeah, that's what I was thinking. Like a kindergarten drop off. I guess I that, but not on the day two. Just say one I, I imagine like when I think of weeping, I feel like it's like my whole body. I can feel sorrow, like my whole body. It's not just crying where it just comes out of my. Eyeballs. It's like my whole body is in this deep sorrow and mourning and the only way to release it is through crying.

It like weeping to me is this release of the deepest sorrow that I felt and it's just, there's nowhere else for that sorrow to go. Yeah. Oh, I like that description. Your whole body. Yeah. 'cause to me crying is different than weeping. 'cause I can cry a lot, but very few times have I wept. Just all. Yeah. You can feel the emotion behind that word.

And I think it's beautiful how that's consistently been used with the savior. Like he wept. Yeah. What does that tell you about the savior when he weeps? Just how much feeling he has. You know, the scriptures, when you said that to me, it made me think that the scriptures a lot of times say we cry unto the Lord and Jesus weeps.

Mm-hmm. Just the amount of feeling and emotion that is behind his love. Is is on a different level than ours because we cry and he weeps. Like there's just a different level of love and, and emotion that he has. It personalizes him so much, right? Yeah. Like he's the definition of the most happy and the most joy and the most good.

And also he has seen the most sorrow and he expresses it and knows how to express it. Mm-hmm. You know, and it makes it, for me, easier to relate to him that he, he is, even with knowing how everything is gonna work out or knowing the answer, that he's still willing to sit in the moment of weeping with us and, and to do that.

Mm-hmm. It almost gives me permission to do it too. Right. Yeah. Because, you know, we kind of can have a culture where it's like, pull up your bootstraps and get to work. And he reminds us there's a space and time for the weeping too. Beautifully said. Absolutely. So let's go into Moses chapter seven, because Enoch beholds a lot of amazing things.

He's having so many cool visions, and in this vision that he has, he's beholding angels, but he's also beholding the adversary. Go to Moses chapter seven, verse 25. In this verse right here, it says, he saw angels descending out of heaven, and he heard a loud voice saying, wo, wo. Be unto the inhabitants of the earth.

Highlight that wo, wo twice right there. That is called in Hebrew, a wo oracle. So anytime you see that in scripture, you're gonna see it a lot. Anytime you see woe said once, twice, or three times, three times, it's a serious woe. And so right here we have this woe oracle, which is a prophecy or a statement of impending anguish.

Misery or judgment to the wicked. That's what it means in Hebrew. A woe oracle. So again, a prophecy or a statement of impending anguish, misery and judgment for the wicked. So he's saying, wo woe be into the inhabitants of the earth. And then 26 just gives me chills. Like I, I get so scared when I read this first.

Taylor, will you read it, please? Sure. And he beheld Satan and he had a great chain in his hand, and it veiled the whole face of the earth with darkness. And he looked up and laughed and his angels rejoiced. Oh, but then Enoch beheld, angels descending out of heaven bearing testimony of the father and the son.

So he's seeing these amazing, incredible things. And then in 28 it came to pass that the God of Heaven looked upon the residue of the people, meaning the people who were not Zion. And he wept. Highlight in verse 28, all the times you see the word wept. There it is twice. You see it again in verse 29. You're gonna see it in verse 31.

You'll see it in verse 40. You'll see it in verse 41. In verse 44, like, I'm just giving you these. I went and circled every time I saw the word weep or wept, because in these verses, Moses is weeping. And so my question for you, and I wanna know what you guys discovered, why is he weeping? Mm-hmm. Because you could read this and almost make you feel bad, like, I'm making Jesus weep 'cause I'm naughty.

Like, what's really going on here? Why is he weeping? Yeah. I just love how it, it shifts from Enoch is saying, wow, we did it. We're the signed people. This is awesome. And, and, and then Jesus is saying, but wait, there's more, there's more people. I have all my children, and like you said, the residue of the people or the remainder of the people who are still on the earth, and, and so he's now gonna look at the remainder of the people all the way to us.

Mm-hmm. We're a part of the residue of the people, the remainder of the people who love that he's weeping about. And so he sees, he sees these people and you know, he's weeping because in 33 it says, I've given them commandments that they should love one another and choose me, but behold, they're without affection and they hate their own blood.

He's saying, number one, I'm sad, I'm weeping because they're not, they're refusing to repent and they're refusing to follow the Lord. You know, the first two great commandments, they're right there and 38 he says. These, which thine eyes are upon shall perish in the floods. He's sad. They will, you know, those, those people will be perishing in the floods.

He's not happy about that 39 he's saying, talking about Jesus, and that which I've chosen has pled before my face. Therefore, he suffered for their sins. And as much as they repent in the day that my chosen shall return unto me, and until that day they shall be in torment, he's saying, I'm sad because they have to suffer for their wickedness.

I'm really not happy about that. I'm, it makes me so sorrowful that they have to suffer until the Savior performs as atonement. And, and so he's, he's here weeping, and I love in verse one because he starts it all off by saying that there's two choices that we've been given. And he says, behold, father Adam taught these things.

So it's been taught since day one, since Adam, that they have two choices. Many have believed that's you can choose to believe and become the sons of God. And many have believed not and have perished in their sins. So he is saying the, the thing that we always have been taught since we've been born, that we have a choice.

We have a choice to choose to believe and or to not believe. Mm-hmm. And God and Jesus Christ are really sad. It really makes them sad when we choose not to believe. And they're sad for the consequences that follow us. They're sad because of the suffering they see us in. It's not, they're like, oh, you did something bad.

You're making me sad. They're, it's because they want us to be happy. They're sad because they want so much more for us. They want us to be happy. And they know that choosing not to believe won't make us happy in the end. Oh, the great insight, Shar. That was awesome. Yeah, well, and like building off of that it, how hard it must be that, you know, we're taught that I the Lord am bound and I'm sure that it's just so hard to have to uphold that side.

I'm sure it's really fun to uphold the side when we do what he says. I'm sure he's like, yes. Mm-hmm. So excited to pour all this out. But like, even though he knows it's his plan and he laid it all out there and it's what he set up, like, it's not exciting to him to have to uphold that side of it. And it, I think it's just like such a sweet reminder of that.

And I think of. Enoch crying. And I think if he was a man so righteous that he walked with God and he built up Zion, I think a man like that would just want everybody, you know, like when I, I remember the first time I finished reading the Book of Mormon as a youth and in my little journal I wrote, I wanna tell everybody about this.

This is awesome. I want the whole everyone to know. Well, he understood on a level like 50 million times higher than I, my 12-year-old little self did. And so I'm sure the sorrow of like, how can I not bring everyone into this? How can I not make sure that everyone knows? Mm-hmm. And it was like the deepest of contrast.

You have a city lifted up to heaven walking with God. And then the only time I've spoiler alert with Noah coming up, you know, the only time that the whole world is swept besides the people on the ark swept away. Like those are the, such a deep contrast in. Relatively a short amount of time now. I mean, it wasn't like 10 years, you know?

But I would just think of who he was that had to have been hard to see, and it shows how similar he was to our Heavenly Father and our savior, that he felt that same sorrow for people. He didn't know that our Heavenly Father feels for their, for his children. So I love to see how similar he became to our Heavenly Father that he felt some of that same sorrow.

Mm-hmm. Oh, I like that Teyl. In fact, TEYL, will you read this quote? This is from Elder Gong. Then what he had to say about why they weep. God's Plan of Moral and mortal Agency allows us to learn by our own experience. Some of our greatest life lessons come from things we would never choose in love. Jesus Christ, ascended below and ascended above all things He rejoices in our divine capacities for creativity and delight, kindness, without hope, for reward, faith, and to repentance and forgiveness.

And he weeps in sorrow at the enormity of our human suffering, cruelty and fairness, often brought by human choice, as do the heavens and the God of heaven with them. Taylor, how does that apply to you right now in your scenario? Um. Just, it is just such a sweet reminder of, of we're not walking through any of this alone.

Like, we're commanded to become like Zion. We're commanded to do so many things. Right. And then he's like, but also I'm gonna do it along with you. Mm-hmm. I'm gonna week with you while you're figuring it out and I'm gonna rejoice with you while you're figuring it out. And, um, and that I, I love the acknowledgement there that some of our greatest life lessons come from things we would never choose.

And I have a testimony of that. I have a list of things as a, as a teenager that I was like, I'm never gonna be married to someone in the military. I hope I'm never divorced. I don't think I could ever have a kid with special needs. Um, I don't think I could ever handle a multitude of things. Right. And almost all of them, almost all of those, those things I have been able to experience, but yet they've also been.

The greatest moments of growth and where I've seen the Lord's hand in my life the most, and where my testimony has been the most strengthened. So mm-hmm. I just love that, that that promise he'll, he'll be there with us through those things, and what a chance we have to grow in them. Yeah. Well, I, I love Taylor that your bishop challenge at your ward to become a Zion people this year and, and how awesome this concept is that thinking of a Zion ward.

But first it starts as just being a Zion person and making sure that I am Zion, that I know his name, that I've studied him, that I'm following his words, that I'm doing the just the fourth article of Faith. You know, and maybe this whole year would be my year of figuring out what it means for me to be Zion.

And I love how you've beautifully done a great job of saying it's not same heart, same mind, one heart, one mind. That's a game changer for anyone who's a member of any ward anywhere in the world. And to become. Make sure that be dwell and righteous and there's no poor among us. So I, I love that challenge.

And just that, that quote from other gong, like he's gonna help you do it well. Yeah. And it reminds me of Elder Stevenson's talk. Blessed are the peacemakers and he was talking about first we build it in our hearts, in our, yeah, it was in, uh, October, 2025. And he is like, first we have to build that in our hearts, then we build it in our homes and then we build it in our communities.

And our ward council chat was like blowing up because that's what we had outlined like a two or three months earlier, is that we were gonna try and focus on helping each other build in our hearts first and then the next quarter work on in our homes and then in our community for the second half of the year.

And so I love how much power that gives us to build Zion in our own hearts and in our own minds first. And I think the rest kind of. Follows. It trickles down from there. Once we establish that in our hearts. Well, so I'm working hard on it. I have a lot of room to grow. Well, and and of course anytime anyone's trying to become Zion, Satan is going to have a great chain in his hand.

He's gonna veil the face of the whole earth with darkness. And he and his angels are laughing and rejoicing. That verse says in 26. Mm-hmm. About, yeah, Zion, you can't do it. Give me a, oh geez. And so it just goes back to that idea, Shar, that you began with git up your loins now. Yeah. If you wanna become Zion.

'cause it is gonna be hard work. Absolute hard work. Well, and I think individually we're all like really great. Mm-hmm. Like, I feel like I know some of the most amazing people you could meet, like with these incredible talents. And I think Zion is being able to find a way to bring those together in a positive way and harness those well too, right?

Mm-hmm. So. Yeah. The other thing I love that with all of this is like M 30, when, when Enoch is asking like, how is it possible that you can weep? You know, you've given all these people so many chances. We've taught them, we've been here, we have angels coming down to teach them. And then he, in 30, he says, you can't even number the millions of, of earths and creations and can't even begin.

And, and the curtain is stretched out. And he says, yet thou aren't there. And th bom is there. And now we're just, and merciful. He's like, you, you have so much. How are you weeping over these wicked people? Mm-hmm. And, and it's even just, you're being a just God because they're wicked, you know? Yeah. And I just love the way he, his response in 32, the Lord said unto Enoch, behold these thy brethren, they are the workmanship of my own hands.

And I just love that phrase so much. Coming back to that like. He, it's so individual. He mm-hmm. When you picture somebody working with their hands, it's not that they're making like molds of thousands of things at a time, like in a big, huge factory, you picture like, oh, I love that shot. You know, like somebody whittling wood and they're working one thing at a time and they're, it's if, if it's in their hands, it is so personal.

And we are gods, we are his. That's why he can weep. He's like, I have made each one of them. I know you can't count them. I know you don't understand that because there's so many creations that I have, but I've made each one with my own hands and I just love the thought of my own hands. And you can connect that to Christ and you know, the symbols in his hands when he, when he is on the cross and how symbolic that is, that we are on his hands.

And I just love that thought so much because of all the, the creations on the world. He weeps over each one of us because we've been in his hands. And so when we aren't feeling that, you know, that Zion community or we aren't feeling, you know, we have that poor spirit or we're feeling that lack in our life, just knowing that God weeps and he holds us in his hands is such a beautiful thought to me.

And, and that knowing that we are his. Wow. So then, oh my goodness, sha, I love that I wrote notes. I would take my, my pen and I'm gonna connect verse 32 to 41. 'cause 41, I put so many hearts around that verse and I highlighted it in pink so I can remember this verse. 'cause it connects to what both of you have beautifully shared.

41 says, and it came to pass that the Lord spa unto Enoch and told Enoch all the doings of the children of men, wherefore Enoch knew and looked upon their wickedness and their misery and wept and stretched forth his arms and his heart swelled wide as eternity and his bowels yearned and all eternity shook.

I mean that right there is the perfect definition of the man of holiness, man of counsel, endless and eternal, all the like. Even after all of that heart swelled, why does eternity, bowels yearned and eternity shook. That's amazing like that right? There is, that is Zion. Absolutely. And um, I, I think how for us to get to that point.

We can just look upon mankind and still love them the way God does. I think that verse 41 is where Enoch and, and this is a great lesson because Enoch is a similitude. He's a type or a shadow of Jesus Christ. And that right there seals the deal in 41. And that's our goal, is to become like our savior. And so if we can react that way, when we see the wickedness of the world, when we don't have the same mind and the same heart, but we can still love them, that our heart can swell, why does eternity?

That's pretty awesome. I think that's what it means to be Zion. And thankfully in verse 21, in process of time, Zion was taken to heaven. Mm-hmm. We got some time. We got some time, which is so good. Thank goodness. So in process of time, while we are trying to become a Zion people, in the next segment we're gonna tell you why becoming a Zion people is so important before the second coming.

We'll do that next.

Segment 6

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Let's turn to Moses chapter seven, verse 59, because throughout these visions that Enoch is having, he, I love that it's like a q and a 'cause he gets to ask God questions. Isn't that so fun? And then the Lord gives him an answer. So he asks a question that's twice. And now this is a really cool Hebrew literary device that I wanna show you.

So Taylor, will you please read verse 59? And as Taylor reads it, Shar, I want you to underline or highlight what's the question? What does Enoch wanna know? And Enoch beheld, the son of man, ascend up to the father and he called unto the Lord saying, will thou not come again upon the earth? Where as much as thou art God, and I know thee and thou has sworn unto me, and it commanded me that I should ask, in the name of thine only begotten thou has made me and had given unto me a right unto thy throne, and not of myself, but through thine own grace.

Wherefore, I ask thee if thou will not come again on the earth. Okay, what does he wanna know? When will you come again? Very good. Now, this is kind of cool you guys. I learned this in Hebrew, verse 59 is something called a presumptive repetition. What this means is he asks the question at the beginning, wilt thou not come again upon the earth, and then he asks it at the end, wilt thou not come again on the earth.

But the stuff in the middle is sort of like. Sort of like when you're telling a story and then your friend says, well, what color of clothes were they wearing? And then you go into detail about the clothes, and then you come back to the story. That's what that is. So Enoch says, okay, well wilt that not come again upon the earth.

And he goes, because you know, because you're God and I know thee, and you've sworn unto me and have commanded me that I should ask in the name of the only begotten son. He's like, you said that I could ask that question. And then he comes back. So are you gonna come and get on the earth? Isn't that so cool?

Mm-hmm. Love you. Love. You'll find those throughout scripture anytime you find that it's called a presumptive repetition. There's a lot of them in the Old Testament, but again, this is proof to me. Joseph Smith would not have known that. Mm-hmm. And so it's just a really cool Hebrew literary device that you wanna mark and make sure you know.

So here we go. Will you come again? And here's his answer, Shar, will you please read verse 60? And the Lord said unto Enoch, as I live even so, will I come in the last days, in the days of wickedness and vengeance to fulfill the oath, which I have made unto you concerning the children of Noah. We talked about that last week or two weeks ago, the covenant.

So this is really cool. He is like, oh, I'm coming. Absolutely. I will come again. Mm-hmm. And then he gives in detail things about the second coming. And so I had you guys read verses 62 all the way to the end of the chapter, and what stood out to you? What are some things about his second coming when he comes again, I love the thought that, you know, he has promised Noah that he will never flood the earth again.

We, you know, learned that. And in 62 he talks about a flood that he's gonna have come and he says he's gonna send a flood of righteousness and truth to sweep the earth. I love this so much. It's amazing. Why? Tell me why. Oh my gosh. I just feel like. I've been watching the news a little bit here and there and it's rough, it's sad.

Yeah. I feel, you know, I was sitting on the couch, just got all our kids to bed and the news was on 'cause we were trying to think of something else to do or watch and it was just on, and I just started getting so anxious and so worked up and I was like, you know what? I just, I just gotta go to bed. I can't even think straight.

I'm just so worried and stressed. So I went to bed and I started reading this the next day about this flood of truth and righteousness and you know, the second coming and this and the time that we live in it can feel really scary and dangerous and not fun. Even in 66, I think. Describes the, the great and terrible that will happen.

You know, he talks about the tribulation of, of the wicked and he talks about how the sea was troubled and that that imagery just makes me feel like, you know, you just see like waves just like lapping around and just like curling over and it just feels so ca chaotic and so stressful. And Enoch sees that and he's like, yeah, yeah, I know that's gonna happen.

I saw that I, 'cause I've seen it all. But he's like, but just wait. There's gonna be a flood of righteousness and truth spreading forth through all the world. And you know, we know that one of the names of Christ is, he is truth. And we already saw in this, this chapter that he is righteousness. Yeah. And so what's spreading across the earth?

Christ, it's him. It's his word. Love it. It's, it's his love. And I just started to realize that as much as we see the terrible going on and it's in our faces, a lot of the time he's gonna prevail. Mm-hmm. God will prevail like President Nelson said. And so I guess the question is like, how are we gonna be a part of that flood?

What are we gonna do to flood the world with truth and righteousness? How am I gonna do that? Because so easy to flood the world with anxiety. Mm-hmm. And with, oh, it's good shark with liking stupid, stupid things and bad posts and Yeah. And with being like, yeah. And talking about it with their friends even, oh, did you hear this about the news and this and that?

I can't believe this is going on. That's not spreading righteousness and truth. So what am I gonna do to step up and start dumping over the buckets of righteousness and truth so I can start blooding? Right? I just love this. Isnt that interesting imagery so much? Isn't that I do too. 'cause I love that idea where you're like, I wanna be a part of this flood.

Like what can I do? That is such a great challenge. What a great question. How am I part of the flood? Oh, that's so cool. And Teyl, you were just shaking your head. Yeah. Oh, amen, sister. Yeah, no, I love all of that. And I love like as much as this. This section of scripture feels like, yeah, yeah. There will be some bad stuff, but like look at all the good stuff.

Mm-hmm. Like as much as there's some bad things, there are so many good things, but it's gonna take a lot like for that much bad to go on and then that much good to go on a lot is like a lot is happening. A lot of work and a lot of movement. And so I, what stood out to me was in both 61 and 64, it says the earth shall rest.

Mm-hmm. So it was like the second coming of the Lord is this is the culmination, culminating event. Right. And so much is going to go on leading up to it, and both for good and for bad, and the spread of the goodness everywhere, but then the earth will rest. And that just stood out to me of like. All of this spinning and then a calm, and, and for me, the savior is calm.

That's what he represents in so many ways in my life, in so many aspects. And so to just imagine all of that and then just rest. Mm-hmm. The earth itself resting from all that we have to go through before he comes again. So how neat is that? Because don't, okay, I love that you just pointed that out because it says the earth will rest and then it talks about the flood, and then it talks about girding up your loins, which you're like, oh, okay.

You get a little anxiety, but then it ends. And then it ends. It's couched with, but the earth will rest. So that's awesome. You too. How great is that? Okay, we have to read this quote. This is by Elder Christofferson. He gave it in April, 2019 in his talk called Preparing for the Lord's Return. Shar, will you please read the first quote and then Taylor read the second quote.

In ancient times, God took the righteous city of Zion to himself. By contrast, in the la in the last days, a new Zion will receive the Lord at his return. That's us. Ha. We must acknowledge that the building up of Zion occurs tumultuous times, a day of wrath, a day of burning, a day of desolation, of weeping, of mourning, and of lamentation.

And as a whirlwind, it shall come upon all the face of the earth sayeth the Lord. Thus, the gathering into stakes becomes for a defense and for a refuge from the storm and from wrath when it shall be poured out without mixture upon the whole earth. Awesome. I love that. So now let's go back into this whole thing.

'cause maybe this is the challenge then Teyl, and I love this idea becoming a Zion people. What can we do then to really become part of the flood of righteousness and truth? And maybe that's an individual thing, but even a ward thing, like I've seen so many great things, wards really rally together. Um, one of my favorite was I saw award that had a painting of Christ and the painting was little tiles.

And every time someone in the ward went to the temple, they came back, got a tile, wrote the name, they did the work for the dead for, and then put it on this picture. And by the end of the year they had completely recreated this artwork. Like it was so cool. Oh cool. Anything else that popped into your mind about how we flood?

I think that is the goal right now, the Zion that we are trying to become, maybe we united join this flood of righteousness and truth. Thoughts. Yeah. I was thinking about like, how can I do that? And you know, the motto that we hear all the time to love sharing invite. Mm-hmm. I was just thinking about how it's, we're, we're really good at loving, we're really good at sharing.

And so sometimes we're not so great at inviting. I'm just talking for me. You guys are probably great at it. No, I'm not. But, um, I, I just love the thought that I've invited people a few times to church, you know, and I'll be like, Hey, Audrey is in a musical number. You should come hear her. 'cause they know Audrey really well, and they're like, oh, I'd love to hear her.

That's so great. So she comes and they listen and then, and that's it. Or I invite kids to hear the primary program or we've invited people to come listen to like someone give a talk in church. Right. And the invitation is always, you should come here. So and so speak, you know, at our church. And everyone's so kind here that they're like, oh, we'd love to, that's great.

But I was thinking about that the other day, which those things are not bad invitations. I just don't know if they're the right invitation because mm-hmm. It's like if, if we're actually trying to flood with truth, like our, we have to sh invite others to him, right? So inviting them to learn of him not to come, not to come hear Audrey, but to come hear him.

Oh, I love that. And I just was like, maybe I'm, maybe I'm extending the wrong invitation when I'm doing the love sharing invite and I'm, I'm inviting people to come hear my daughter sing, which I sure hope they feel the spirit there in the meeting. And that is, might be the best thing and, and awesome as well.

But how often am I inviting people to come hear him and to say, Hey, I've been thinking about you and all the things going on in your life, and I really think that, you know, the gospel of Jesus Christ has something that you might. That might help you and bless your life. And as, as easy as that is for me to say that to you guys, it's really hard for me to do it.

I'm not that good at doing it. I'm gonna follow up with you. That is so cool. Wow. But I just love that, I love the thought of maybe saying instead of love, share and invite is love the truth, which is him share the truth and, and invite others to the truth. Like that's maybe how I can flood the, the world with truth.

Yeah. Is by adding that word into that invitation of love, share, and invite and really finding ways to love Jesus and share him and invite others to Him. To him. Wow. And so, wow, that. Perfect. Thank you. Um, what stood out to me from that quote was at the very end it talked about that our stakes will be a refuge and we'll like cook together.

Yeah. And a picture I thought of like. Coming together as our stakes and our awards and we get replenished, you know, and we partake in the sacrament and we renew those sacred and make those sacred covenants with our savior. But then we need to go out after that. And maybe our words and stakes aren't supposed to be the end all be all.

We're not supposed to necessarily stay only in that capsule and only in that refuge, but then we go out and we participate in this flood that we've talked about and we help with all of that, and we spread it from there. And then that's gonna be kind of exhausting. And then we get to come back in and replenish and, and strengthen together in our stakes, and then go back out and gather more and bring them in that, mm-hmm.

That kind of was the imagery that came to my mind with that. And my husband is the. This is his first year in a brand new high school that just opened, and he is the head wrestling coach. He was a nationally ranked wrestler and he loves it. And he has 60 kids that he's like, these are an extension of my kids.

And I've watched him pour out into these kids and two or three of his coaches have started investigating the church and going to church with some of the other coaches. And there's the spirit of community and that we like are lifting and building each other up. And so he's been a good example to me of coming in and, and getting the replenishment and the growth in our words and our stakes.

And we need to create that in our words and stakes for sure. But then we go out and we flood it and we bring more in and then repl and bring more in. I just love the, the thought of doing that. Oh, I do too. Wow. Wow. Awesome discussion ladies. Thank you so much. That's the end. We're done. That is Moses seven.

What a great discussion on being a Zion people. I felt the spirit throughout this whole discussion today. So gather your thoughts for a minute and just share what is one takeaway, what's one eternal truth that you learned or from our discussion or something that you'll remember. Mine's kind of a double.

I loved, uh, talking about girding up our lines, getting to work. I love that. I'm an action person, so I'm like, okay, we can do this. We can gird up our lines and get to work. But with that combined was just how we talked about how it's line upon line and that, uh, building Zion took time. Mm-hmm. And little by little and so girding up our lines and getting to work and then also realizing.

It's not much like Rome. Zion was not built in a day right here, here. Awesome. I'm much a, I love finishing things. I don't like starting things because if I start it, I don't wanna stop until it's finished. And it's just a reminder of the work of the Lord is a process and we get to work and we do it line upon line.

Little pun little. I, I love talking about that with you guys today. Yeah. Excellent. Thank you. That was good. Um, I just loved the conversation about that. This was written for our day and I love the thought when talked about how Enoch was moving mountains and the roar of lions. I love that in connection with temples and missionaries that.

Our prophet is doing that today. Mm-hmm. He is moving mountains and lions are roaring by the prophecies and by the, the restoration of the gospel that is happening today. And then also, like how you were saying that the second coming is coming and it's exciting and, and it's awesome to be a part of this flood.

And then I just looked down on my computer screen at the little thermometer that it shows what the temperature is and it said cold days ahead. And I was like, oh, why would you say that? Oh. But like, it just, I, I was like, okay, yeah, I know I live in Minnesota, but, um, cold days ahead, like sometimes that's what it feels like with the second coming.

Yep. Like, it's gonna be rough coming up, but just knowing, you know, all the good that's coming and that the world will be flooded with Jesus Christ. I just, that was my takeaway that to, to fix. Absolutely. Figure out how I can do that in my little, my little sphere of influence is flooding the world with him.

Excellent. Wow. Thank you. Thank you to both of you. Loved your takeaways. Uh, mine was Taylor when you talked about the difference between being the same and being one, one heart, one mind versus same and how tolerant we must be. Um, that I think you could even insert the word tolerant into that verse. 'cause I think that's how we dwell in righteousness, just to love.

And so I, I thought that was a great way you taught that. And then Shar, I loved when you went into the workmanship of mine hands. I'd never considered how when you do take a piece of wood and you whittle it, I've done that before. And you get cut and you get hurt. And I just think of like how much effort goes in to the Lord or to our Heavenly Father who made us, we are the workmanship of his hands.

He's carefully crafted every little nook, every little line, everything about us in our lives to, to just be the most perfect creation. So I love that word workmanship. And the way you described it, my brain went all over with it. It was cool. So thank you to both of you. I love you both. So good. Thank you, Tammy.

So good to meet you, TEYL. Thanks for having me. It's fun. Okay, what eternal truth did you learn? What is your takeaway? Please join our group on Facebook and follow us on Instagram and share what you have learned. And then at the end of the week on a Saturday, we're gonna post a question from this discussion.

My question is going to be, how are you going to flood the earth? Or what are some examples of people flooding the earth? Like how have you seen that comment on the post that relates to this lesson? And share your thoughts. You can get to both our Facebook and Instagram by going to the show notes for this episode at ldsliving.com slash Sunday on Monday, and go there anyway, because it's where we're gonna have links to all the references we use today, as well as the 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 so fabulous study group participants were Taylor Ricks and Sharmaine Howell. And you can find more information about my friends at ldsliving.com slash Sunday on Monday.

Our podcast is produced by Cole Wissinger and me. It is edited and mixed by Cole Wissinger and our executive producer is Erin Hallstrom. Thanks for being here. It'll see you next week, and please remember that you are the workmanship of his hands and you are his favorite.