Emily Belle Freeman - Dont Miss This in the Book of Mormon: Exploring One Verse from Each Chapter

2019 Emily Belle Freeman and David Butler

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

(CIP data on file)

ISBN 978-1-62972-704-2

eISBN 978-1-62973-913-7

Printed in the United States of America

LSC Communications, Crawfordsville, IN

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Cover image: godshutter/Shutterstock.com and Malina N. Grigg

Book design Deseret Book Company

Art direction: Richard Erickson

Cover design: Heather G. Ward

To my mother, Leslie Oswald, who loves
the Book of Mormon more than anyone I know,
and who passed that love down to me.

EBF

To my Jenny, who has His image
in her countenance.

DB

Contents

Introduction

Greg, Megan, and I (Emily) once spent a day at Disneyland in the company of a tour guide who wore a checkered vest. The man was an expert at knowing which rides to go on early in the day, where we should stop for lunch, and where to get the best treats in the park. But one of my favorite things about the guide was that he would stop us periodically to show us things most people might not ever notice. For example, have you ever discovered the tiny little house built next to the roots of the very big tree that stands just outside the line for the Indiana Jones ride? Oh! our guide would exclaim as we walked through certain parts of the park. You dont want to miss this! We would stop, and look, and learn. We loved that day! It was one of our favorite journeys we have ever taken through Disneyland.

For the purpose of this book, maybe you can imagine we are taking a similar tour through the Book of Mormon. If you want to imagine David in a checkered vest, thats even more fun. We may not be the greatest experts on the context and content of every single chapter, but there are definitely things we dont want you to miss! So we have chosen one powerful verse from every chapter in the Book of Mormon, one of our favorites, and we hope it will become one of yours. Sometimes weve even just chosen a phrase from a scripture that had special meaning for us; at other times, weve included a passage that carries on for more than one verse. If you wonder whose choices are whose, just check for our initials at the bottom of each chapter.

It is our hope that as you study, you wont just focus on our favorite verses but will also find some of your own: powerful verses that you can hold on to for answers, direction, and comfort. This is so important to us that we have actually included a spot at the bottom of every single page for you to write down your own favorite scripture from that chapter. We hope as you read there will be moments when you will say, Oh! Im so glad I didnt miss this! Perhaps, by the end, this will become one of your favorite journeys through the Book of Mormon.

The devotionals in this book are meant to be read alongside your Book of Mormon. We hope the lessons, stories, and daily reflection questions will help supplement your experience and open your eyes to things you may never have noticed before. That is our prayer for you. We are so excited to embark on this journey together. In addition to this book, we will be sharing weekly messages on YouTube, and you can find more things you dont want to miss at www.dontmissthisstudy.com.

We wish this book could have come with a pineapple Dole Whip and ended with a firework show, but instead we send our love, our encouragement, and our hope that this study of the Book of Mormon will be one of your fondest yet.

Enjoy this journey!

David and Emily

1 Nephi 1:20

But behold, I, Nephi, will show unto you that the tender mercies of the Lord are over all those whom he hath chosen, because of their faith, to make them mighty even unto the power of deliverance.

The Book of Mormon begins with an invitation tucked away at the end of the first chapter. Nephi explains that he wants to show us that the tender mercies of the Lord are over all those whom He has chosen. Tender mercies that come from faith, that make us mighty, that deliver us.

One year when I was teaching seminary, I invited the kids in my class to look for a tender mercy in every chapter of the Book of Mormon. We spent the year looking for the experiences in which the people were made mighty and delivered from a hard situation. Every morning, one student would get up and share a tender mercy he or she had discovered in the reading the night before. It was an awesome experience... one you might want to try for this whole year with your family. One of my favorites came as a surprise. It was at the very beginning of the year. A ninth-grade girl stood up at the front of the class and said, It was a tender mercy that Laman and Lemuel left Jerusalem and went into the wilderness with their family. I had never thought of that before. But she was rightfor Lehi and Sariah, the fact that Laman and Lemuel actually left Jerusalem behind was a tender mercy. That year was filled to the brim with tender-mercy moments.

At the end of the Book of Mormon, Moroni closes with an invitation very similar to the one that Nephi began the Book of Mormon with: Behold, I would exhort you that when ye shall read these things... that ye would remember how merciful the Lord hath been unto the children of men... (Moroni 10:3). Remember His mercies. EBF

Your favorite scripture in
1 Nephi 1

Reflect and Respond

As you read the Book of Mormon this year, watch for the tender mercies of the Lord in every chapter.

1 Nephi 2:16

Wherefore, I did cry unto the Lord ; and behold he did visit me.

My friend lived and worked on a dairy farm growing up, which meant he was assigned several jobs and chores that he dreaded. One of those was moving pipes in the middle of the night to be sure the land and cattle got the water they needed. One early morning, about 2:00 a.m., he went out to move the pipes and got the truck stuck in a ditch. He tried and tried to get it out, but no luck! He sat in the bed of the truck, tired, cold, and covered in mud, and wondered to himself: Who can I call for help? No one was awake. He was out in the mud. There arent many people willing or able at a time and situation like that. But, instinctively, he thought of his dad. He called him on the cell phone and woke him up. The conversation was simple. Dad, I need help. The answer was a groggy but willing, Ill be right there. Within ten minutes, my friends dad had come with a tractor and a tow line to get him out.

Not many people have permission to wake up a hardworking farmer in the middle of the night and expect or even get a response. But a son can. Children always have permission. And they can always expect an answer.

Nephi knew this too. He had a needa desire. He felt like he was stuck and out in the cold in his search for truth. So he cried unto His Father for help, and, just like you would expect a father wouldthe Lord came and visited His son.

God is always available. He is willing and able and anxious to hear our pleas and come to our relief. Its what fathers do. DB