STP

 Thanks to all the STP that help clean the church. We had plenty of volunteers and were able to  complete the projects. We wont have the assignment again til March 2021.

Prophets

Some years ago I was listening to the Old Testament while commuting to work. I really enjoyed it and I learned quite a bit. There was one story that I keep thinking back to and wondered why we dont talk about it, as I think it is very meaningful.

While the children of Isreal were wondering in the wilderness a group came to Moses and told him "Hey we are tired of wondering in the wilderness and we want to make our own decisions. So could you give us the priesthood and we will make our own thing." Pretty brave right! Well Mose didn't respond to them. He went to their nieghbors and told them they needed to move their camps back away from these people. As soon as they did the desert opened up and swallow them. Guess they got their answer.

I went back to try and figure out what we are trying to be told her and there wasnt anything obvious. So to try and understand this you have to ask the questions. Who was blessed by following the word of the prophet. Many of the lessons in the scriptures are left unexplained. You have to connect the dots.

I think the story of Zenniff is similair. He and his family get home sick and decide to go back to the land of first inheritance that Nephi and his family fled because of the Lamanites. So basically they are leaving the prophet and the scripture and go to a place where they will not have the protection of a prophet.

There story has some similairites to the people of King Benjamin except they weren't as successful. They were paying the Laminites half of eveything they had. King Benjamin protected his kingdom and brought peace to them. It got so bad for the people of Zenniff that they thought it would be better to go back to their family and be their servants.

Interesting connection here. That is what the prodigal son thought. But you say Bro B that was written century laters and shouldn't be connected. But I say no the same supreme being that directed the writings fo these words would have wanted us to make this connection. The story of Zenniff is another telling of the prodigal son.  We are also being taught the importants of prophets and scriptures. They didnt have scripture, they found scriptures but couldnt translate them. They needed a seer to do that.

Prophets and the writings of prophets are very important.

King Benjamin

I really am interested in all of your observations. Here are a few questions to prompt a discussion.

What did King Benjamin do to cause his people to love him so much and be so obedient?

What is your favorite teaching from his talk?

Why is he so important to us?

Please leave comments for everyone to read! Thanks!

Smaller plates of Nephi

Before we jump into Mosiah and the rest of the Book of Mormon, I want just to wrap things up with what we have done so far. Remember that what we have been studying are not the words of Mormon. Those were on the 116 pages that were lost and so we have been studying the writings of various prophets including Nephi. These words come from a different set of plates that both Nephi and Mormon were told to include. I have been wondering if we had the lost pages would they be the same. I can't help but think that we are fortunate to have the words as written by Nephi. There is an incredible amount of information in those pages. More then I think are in any other Old Testament book. We know more about what is going to happen. We have very precise detail of many important historical events. We need to not take this for granted. The world does not have this information. It is unique to us. I think it is interesting that Mormon adds an additional witness of these writing. He tells us in the Words of Mormon that he himself has witness the destruction of his people and then he says that his son will probably see the complete destruction. This was prophesied by Nephi. I think there is another interesting pattern in these writing. Nephi was told that the Brass Plates were very important. They would help them maintain their faith and their religion. I think these stories point out another component that is equally important and that is living prophets. Men that are schooled in the ways of the Lord and are spiritually sensitive to God. They are the very glue that keeps everything working. A big thank you to Lehi, Nephi, Jacob, Enos, Jarom, Omni, Mormon and of course Moroni!

Chaparral Ward Gospel Doctrine Class

Hello everyone! I hope all is well! I have missed our classes and I am hoping that we will be back together soon. I am looking forward to what can happen with this blog. I am looking forward to hear from you all and sharing ideas and impressions.

I want this to be a community effort. I will post my thoughts and impressions and I would love to hear back from all of you. This will help us stay current with our assignments.

Thanks !

Bro. B

ARCHIBALD WALLER OVERTON BUCHANAN 1830-1915 WHISTLING AND WHITTLING BRIGADE - NAUVOO Archibald was baptized on his ninth birthday, 9 February 1839, some of his family having been converted by missionaries as early as 1834. His father died in Lima, Illinois, the same year he was baptized, leaving his mother with 10 children. The family suffered the persecutions of the Saints in Caldwell Co. Missouri and the violence of being expelled with the rest of the Saints in 1838. In late 1838 and 1839, they were in Quincy and Lima, Illinois where John died, and they were in the midst of the persecutions of the Church there. After her husband’s death, Nancy Ann moved her family to Nauvoo for safety. They were there when the Prophet Joseph Smith and Hyrum were martyred. Archie was 14 years old. He relates: “About this time, [after the martyrdom] when there were many strangers among us, we boys were organized into little groups to follow these people to find out about them and what their intentions were. We were called a ‘Whistling and Whittling Brigade.’ It was organized among the younger boys and I was one of them. We watched around town for people who were strangers. If we saw a man looking around, whom we did not know, we would go up reasonably close to him and start to whistle and whittle. We followed him at a fairly close distance, just enough to be an aggravation to him and yet not to be too close. If he came to us and asked questions we did not look up nor did we answer but only continued to whistle and whittle. I suppose we were too young to hit individually but if he had attacked us, the group could easily have overcome him so there was really no danger. With this method we were able in many cases to force the stranger out of town.” He also remembered: “Because I was there I must tell you that I saw with my own eyes the mantle of the prophet fall upon Brigham Young. I heard the voice of Brigham Young become the voice of the Prophet Joseph. I heard this with my own ears, and I again bear witness that the Council of the Twelve was to be the leaders of the Church. Mother and her family were willing to follow them.” (By Claudine Cable, Great-great-great granddaughter.)

Teenage Witness to the Martyrdom

BY GOLDEN R. BUCHANAN

Just a lad of eight or nine was I, but I have not forgotten what he said, or how the old man trembled as he talked.

Grandpa Archie sat in Mother’s rocker, waiting for his lunch. Suddenly he called me to him, took me on his lap, and said, “Golden, I am old. I won’t be around much longer, but I have something to say to you that must not be lost. I want my grandchildren and their children to know that I was in Nauvoo when they murdered our Prophet.”

His old body trembled, and he squeezed me until I was almost frightened as I felt the deep anger in his soul. His feeble eyes blazed, and his soft, faltering voice became as hard as ice, and as cold:

“How I hated those who dared lay their hands upon the prophet I loved.”

He sighed, and his old body relaxed a little. “I was there when they brought their bodies back from Carthage. I saw their bloody, lifeless forms; I heard the anguished cries of their wives and neighbors; I saw their sobbing children and tried to comfort them.

“I knew the Prophet’s boys, played with them. They were often in our home, and I in theirs. Now they were fatherless, even as I. Their father was a martyr by bullets; my father was dead because of drivings, persecutions, and hate—but no less a martyr for the truth.

“I was there when they buried the sandbags to deceive the mob and laid the bodies in secret graves.”

Grandfather paused. He needed strength. And then he went on: “Listen again, my son. I tell you this because I want you to know. After the Prophet’s body fell from the window at Carthage, the mob rushed upon him to desecrate his body. But God would not permit this act of violence. He sent a sheet of lightning between the Prophet and those sons of the infernal pit, and they dared not touch him. Golden, my son, remember this—they could not touch him. They ran and are running still and will run till judgment day.”

He was tired now and his voice trailed off, “I hope I am present at that day.”

He dozed. Slowly the color crept back into his face, and when he opened his eyes, they shone with a light I had not seen before. Holding me at arm’s length, he commanded with a voice that no longer shook:

“My boy, look at me and listen. I want you to hear it from one who was there. I want you to hear it from one who loved him. I want you to hear it from one who knows.

“Joseph Smith was a prophet of God. Through him God restored his church, and it will never be destroyed or taken from the earth. Now, my boy, remember what I say. I, your grandfather, was 14 then, and I wasthere.”

Editor’s note: The family of Archibald Buchanan (1830–1915) joined the Church in 1835 at Lima, Illinois. He came to Utah in 1852, filled a mission in the Elk Mountain Indian Mission, and afterward served for many years as Brigham Young’s interpreter to the Ute Indians. Brother Buchanan was a member of the first Sevier Stake high council.

[illustrations] Illustrated by Larry Norton

Brother Golden Buchanan is an assistant sealing supervisor in the Salt Lake Temple. He lives in Big Cottonwood 12th Ward, Salt Lake Big Cottonwood Stake.

Published in the June 1974 Ensign