For those of you that know me know that family is very important to me. My parents met in this ward, and I still have several cousins, Aunts, Grandparents, and an Uncle in this ward today.
The Book of Mormon is a story of a family. It begins with Lehi and his family.
As we read the Book of Mormon we can relate it to our families today.
Darian and I work hard to keep our home and family physically safe.
To do this we lock the doors at night, close all of the windows, we make the kids go to the restroom in pairs, and we do not let them go to a friend’s home whose parents we do not know. We have them memorize their phone numbers, and we tell them not to talk to strangers. These are just a few ways in which we try to keep our children physically safe.
There isn’t much as parents that we wouldn’t do to keep our children safe. We make sure they get their shots; we take them to the doctor if they are sick, we send them to school to get their education, and we send them to soccer practice for exercise.
Parents everywhere do the same for their families. I think we may fall short in another area of safety that is more important than physical safety.
Spiritual Safety
We have been promised by our prophets and leaders that if we read the Book of Mormon with our family we will be kept spiritually safe.
President Ezra Taft Benson said, “Reading the Book of Mormon together as a family will especially bring increased spirituality into your home and will give both parents and children the power to resist temptation and to have the holy ghost as their constant companion.”
What more would you want for your children. I would love to know that Chase and Garrett can be protected everyday on their sometimes crazy campuses.
Elder L. Tom Perry said “Never let a day go by without holding family prayer and family scripture study. … See if it does not bless your home with greater peace, hope, love, and faith.”
Our family seems to go in phases when reading the Book of Mormon. We seem to start out reading everyday but soon we get distracted with things like sports, schoolwork, or just being too tired at the end of the day. I have found that when we do read together every night we have less contention in our home. The kids seem to do better in school and everyone seems happier.
In our house we have kids of all ages. Some can read and some can’t. We have had to adapt to this so that the children can all participate and stay interested. This is one of the ways that works for us: We all take turns reading a few versus and when it’s the little kids turn we will hold their finger and point to the words as they repeat them after us.
In the closing address of the April 1989 General Conference, President Ezra Taft Benson spoke directly to the children of the church.
“I know you are reading the Book of Mormon, for I have received hundreds of personal letters from you telling me that you are reading this sacred book. It makes me weep for joy when I hear this.
Many of you have read the Book of Mormon all the way through.
How pleased I am to hear of your love for the Book of Mormon. I love it too, and Heavenly Father wants you to continue to learn from the Book of Mormon every day. It’s Heavenly Father’s special gift to you. By following its teachings, you will learn to do the will of our Father in Heaven.”
When I was younger and living at home all of us could read except for my youngest sister Sydney. When it was her turn to read we started her off my saying the words to a familiar primary song and she would finish the verse herself. I remember how happy she was when she finished because she thought that she was reading it all by herself. This made her pay attention and wait patiently until it was her turn again.
Elder Tenorio of the seventy shared a cute story about family scripture study with young children.
My dear wife and I decided to follow that counsel to read the book of Mormon as a family. We set a goal to read a chapter a day with our three children—Jorge, 10; Susi, 9; and Luis, 3. We read every day, each of us reading one verse at a time. Even though Luis could not yet read, he wanted to participate. He sat on my lap, facing me, with the Book of Mormon between us. When it was my turn to read, we both followed my finger as I pointed to each word, and Luis repeated out loud every word I read while he looked at those words upside down.
Just before he turned five years old, Luis asked, “When is it my turn to read?”
We explained that when he was older, he would go to school and learn to read.
He responded, “I already know how to read!”
Astonished, I handed him a Book of Mormon. He opened the book upside down and began to read perfectly. He had learned to read by following along in the Book of Mormon!
When he was six years old, Luis sometimes went with me to visit Church members. I asked him to share his testimony as well as a short scripture message that I had taught him. Whenever he read from the Book of Mormon, he held it upside down and read perfectly.
Another thing about our family that you may or may not know is that all of the men work for the railroad. So the scripture in Proverbs 22:6 has special meaning to me. It says
“Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.”
I know the Book of Mormon was written to help and bless families in our day.
When I was a teenager I went through a very tough time. It was during that time that I turned to the Book of Mormon. I don’t really remember exactly what I learned from reading it but I know that I felt close to Heavenly Father. I know that all of us can feel closer to heavenly father by reading this book.
President Browns challenge to read the Book of Mormon this year and my preparation for this talk has reminded me the importance of reading the book of Mormon as a family.
Testimony
