Hinckley Challenge

On Sunday our lesson was on President Eyring's talk "O Remember, remember" , and I'm going to make a more concerted effort to document the tender mercies of the Lord in behalf of our little family. Because this is a public blog I haven't decided how many of those I will post here, but for now we'll see how it goes, and should we decide to make it private I'll let you know.

We decided to take the Hinckley challenge at our house, and I'd been trying to figure out how to do it with our small children, who likely won't listen to the five pages a day necessary to finish the Book of Mormon in 97 days. Last night FHE was special experience for me that I think needs to be included. Yes, it was Tuesday. Monday night Justin got home late, we had dinner late, and it was easy to just say "let's put the kids to bed and have FHE tomorrow night instead." Without giving it a second thought, we did. The trap with that, though, is that last night was really no different. I'd made poor choices in my activities that day so that come 6pm dinner was running late, the house was a mess, the kids were a mess and we had no FHE preparation done. I actually made the comment to my kids as I "encouraged" them to help pick up the front room that "if you don't get this picked up, we're not going to do FHE tonight - we can't have FHE in this messy room!" It was then I first felt the still, small voice whisper "why not? which activity is really most important?" I took a few deep breaths, and the night began to change. After dinner and baths it was getting late, but I asked the kids for five minutes to get a lesson ready. Although I still felt tight and angry, I locked myself in my room and began to pray for help. We were supposed to be having our Book of Mormon lesson to kick off our reading, but I didn't know what to say to preface that, and I felt more than a little guilty for just asking for lesson inspiration with five minutes of planning. I'm usually the one who plans lessons and talks a week or so in advance, just to allow for that little bit of extra inspiration. I figure I need all the help I can get.

When I finished my prayer, I went to my favorite researching source, of course, the internet. I typed a huge search string into google - "Reading the Book of Mormon together as a family", on a whim to see what came up. The very first google entry was for a talk by President Hinckley, and when I opened it I realized it was the talk from 2005 when he first issued his challenge to read. I printed it quickly, grabbed my missionary flip charts, and FHE began. The kids were mesmerized, even in the messy room, when I started to explain where we got the Book of Mormon. We started with the pictures of Moroni burying the plates, and then the First Vision. We talked about Joseph Smith as a prophet, and covered a few familiar stories they knew (nephi, Christ in America). We read Parley P. Pratt's story from President Hinckley's talk, and then his challenge at the end. They ate it all up, and when we talked about having a greater measure of the Spirit in our home and what that mean, Erick raised his hand and said "Mom, my heart feels really warm and happy." Izzie then shared that she felt the same way, and we had a sweet discussion on the Holy Ghost. I felt it too, and was so grateful.

The Book of Mormon does have a power in and around it that's difficult to explain. President Hinckley's promise reads: "Without reservation I promise you that if each of you will observe this simple program, regardless of how many times you previously may have read the Book of Mormon, there will come into your lives and into your homes an added measure of the Spirit of the Lord, a strengthened resolution to walk in obedience to His commandments, and a stronger testimony of the living reality of the Son of God."

And in one evening, just starting to read, we recognized the fulfillment of all three promises. Our (messy) home was filled with the Spirit of the Lord, Erick prayed in the closing prayer, thanking for the opportunity to read the book of mormon as a family, AND the fact that we pulled off FHE to begin with I think is in response to the second promise, and the 180 we experienced from the beginning of the night to the end because of a heartfelt prayer has strengthened my testimony in a personal way of the living reality of the Son of God.

We've decided that although we may not finish the entire book as a family in 97 days (although Justin and I are going to try), as a family we will read every night for 97 days and hopefully that will develop the habit we'll need to finish together eventually. I'm so grateful for living prophets, for the Book of Mormon, and for a Father who is mindful of our needs and hears and answers prayers, even the most sheepish sometimes, and I know He's there.