Murmuring: Are You Nephi or Laman?

You have probably noticed by now, but there is a huge difference between Nephi and his elder brothers, Laman and Lemuel. They are different in many ways, but what I think is the root of the difference simply stated is Faith and Trust in the Lord. ……
                  Let me give you an example in the difference between these men. In 1 Nephi, chapter 3, Lehi is commanded to have his sons go get the Brass Plates. When he asks Laman and Lemuel, to do it they say, “It is a hard thing you have required of us.”(1 Nephi 3:5) When he asks Nephi on the other hand, Nephi says, “I will go and do!”(1 Nephi 3:7) Pretend for a moment that you were in Lehi’s sons’ shoes, or sandals… What would you have said? Honestly think for a moment about what is being asked. They have left their home, possessions and friends. They have traveled down to the borders of the red sea and then 3 days onward which according to Hugh Nibley, Book of Mormon scholar, is around 180 miles. The people of Jerusalem want to kill them! And now Lehi wants them to travel back 180 miles and ask a wicked king who is keen on ending their lives for a book?? Now seriously, would you say, “I will go and do!” Or would you say, “It is a hard thing you have required of us.”
                  For the mere fact that I would complain simply because my Mom asked me to do the dishes, I would venture to say that a lot of us would state that it was “a hard thing”. I would say that was a big understatement from Laman and Lemuel, it was a very hard thing, a nearly impossible thing! But that did not scare Nephi! He did not murmur or complain. How can we be like that?
                  Well, we need to stop murmuring! And in order to stop it you have to recognize it. Just as there are promises, laws and formulas for blessings in the scriptures there is also a formula for murmuring. Before I give you the formula, let me recount a story from the Book of Mormon, in 1 Nephi 3:26-31, Lehi’s sons have attempted to get the plates twice up to this point, and Laban has stolen all of their precious things. Naturally Laman and Lemuel are ticked! In their anger they start to beat their younger brothers with a Rod! As they were beating their younger brothers an angel appeared unto them and says, “Why do ye smite your younger brother with a rod? Know ye not that the Lord hath chosen him to be a ruler over you, and this because of your iniquities?” and then this Angel of the Lord gives them an absolute promise, “Behold, ye shall go up to Jerusalem again, and the Lord will deliver Laban into your hands.”
                  After receiving a promise from an Angel it may be easier to say, “I will go and do.” But still Laman and Lemuel murmur, and here we learn something about the formula for murmuring. (1 nephi 3:31) First element of the formula: We Question. Laman and Lemuel do it best, “How is it possible that the Lord will deliver Laban into our hands?” How often do we find ourselves doing that? Our mission President asks us to do something, implements a new rule or new mode of doing something and we say, ‘Why?’
                  Second element of the formula: We Justify. Back to Laman and Lemuel, “Behold he is a mighty man, and he can command fifty, yea, even he can slay fifty then why not us?” How often do we do that? ‘I’ve been doing that this way my whole mission and I have seen a lot of success, why change?’
                   Third element of the formula: We Are Slothful. Laman and Lemuel yet again show us the way, in 1 Nephi 4:4 we learn that Laman an Lemuel, “were yet wroth, and did still continue to murmur; nevertheless they did follow me up until we came without the walls of Jerusalem.” While Nephi went into Jerusalem to fulfill God’s commands Laman and Lemuel sat outside the walls. After questioning, and justifying, we then sit out. We slack off, and our progression is haulted.
                  I think we can see why it’s not good to murmur. I think all of us have made fun of Laman and Lemuel for years for their murmuring, yet we do it just as often as they did! Why do we do it? 1 Nephi 2:12 reads, “And thus Laman and Lemuel, being the eldest, did murmur against their father. And they did murmur because they knew not the dealings of that God who had created them.” It is harsh reasoning, but it may be eye opening for us to know that we murmur when we do not know the dealings of God!
                   In contrast with that, why does Nephi not murmur? In 1 Nephi 2:16 we learn, “And it came to pass that I, Nephi, being exceedingly young, nevertheless being large in stature, and also having great desires to know of the mysteries of God, wherefore, I did cry unto the Lord; and behold he did visit me, and did soften my heart that I did believe all the words which had been spoken by my father; wherefore, I did not rebel against him like unto my brothers.” The answer to why Nephi does not murmur: Personal Conversion. Nephi did not naturally want to say “I will go and do” he first had to receive his testimony through faithful prayer, humility, and diligence. (1 Nephi 2:19)
                   Sometimes the Lord’s commands are tough to comprehend. Sometimes the counsel from his appointed servants is hard to follow. But in those times I consider a few scriptures from Doctrine and Covenants. Section 1, verse 38, “What I the Lord have spoken, I have spoken, and I excuse not myself; and though the heavens and the earth pass away, my word shall not pass away, but shall all be fulfilled, whether by mine own voice or by the voice of my servants, it is the same.” Also, Section 82, verse 10, “I, the Lord, am bound when ye do what I say; but when ye do not what I say, ye have no promise.”
                   When we start to murmur think about this: Are you Nephi or are you Laman? I hope we will all strive to become personally converted!
                   In conclusion, I ask this: Do you love Jesus? “If ye love me, keep my commandments.” (John 14:15) I do love our Savior, and I hope to deepen my conversion and to follow the Saviors example by saying, “…Nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done”(Luke 22:42)

In the sacred name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

Elder Jonathan D. Yates

Well... My last email had a lot of concerns that I had in dealing with the poor attitudes and the murmurings of some of the leaders in the mission. We had Mission Leadership Council on Wednesday. President Wilson asked Elder Neumeyer and I to give a training. He asked me to talk about obedience. I went over my time allotted, which is never good, but afterward President thanked me for the words that I shared. I focused my thoughts on attitude. Mainly Doctrine and Covenants section 123 verse 17. Doing all things cheerfully that lie in our power. I drew a parrallel to the story of Abraham. How he was asked from God to sacrifice his son. He didn't ask why, he didn't ask the purpose for doing this, he didn't say it was a dumb thing to be asked to do. He just obeyed. Often times we get caught up in the "Whys"... Why do we have to do this. I am a prime example of this! and my parents and those who know me can attest to this. I always wanted a reason for why I was asked to do things. What did it bring me? CONTENTION! What do we learn from the scriptures about contention? It is not of God, but of the Devil. I didn't understand the true principle of obedience. I did what I was asked of me (most of the time haha) but I did it with a poor attitude. I needed to be more like Abraham. When asked to do something. He was obedient and did it. His faith was so strong that he knew that blessings would come from being obedient in ALL things. I then talked about Zions Camp. If you aren't familiar with Zions Camp, I highly recommend learning about it. These men were asked by a key holder to leave their homes and travel miles (roughly from Richmond to the southern most point of Florida) to help save the saints. The people were obedient, but when they were taken out of their comfort zones, they complained! Complaining didn't make the journey any faster, or any easier for that matter. The purpose of the camp was to test their obedience.

We had two really cool miracles this last week! On Tuesday we had a lesson set up with a lady that we met in Walmart. We took a priest from the ward with us, it was his first lesson with the missionaries. It was such a good lesson! Her son got baptized in Chicago a while ago, and she always wondered what he got into. She said that if she found these things to be true, she would get baptized, and she would do whatever it took to find out. She accepted the invitation to come to church and read and pray about the Book of Mormon. She lives in a different ward boundaries, so we passed her on to those missionaries. They sure were excited when we told them about her and gave them her information. I would be too haha!

The next miracle happend Friday night. Every first Friday of the month, there is a big art festival in Downtown Richmond. Lots of people come and are walking along the street. Missionaries set up a lemonade stand and talk to people on the street. it was early in the night, not too many people out yet, when a small kid approached me quietly. I asked him if he wanted some lemonade, and he shyly nodded. His Mom followed him and I made sure it was ok to give her son some lemonade. She saw that I had a restoration pamphlet in my hand with a picture of Jesus on it. She told me that she loved Jesus. I laughed and asked her if she goes to church. She said she didn't. I asked her if she wanted to go to church. She said sure! The church was a block away, and I asked her if she wanted to see the inside of the church right now. She said sure again! So we took her and her 11 year old son on a church tour. It went really well! After the tour we asked if we could sit down and talk more. She said she needed to get home for her son, but he piped in and said he wanted to stay. Hallelujah! So we sat down in the chapel and taught the restoration. It was the most spiritual lesson I have ever taught in my life. Everything rang true to her in her heart. She told us at the end that she knew that all of this was true. We set her to be baptized on August 31st. Her and her son. They are so excited! I'm so happy to have met Theronda and Jaylin. They live in another area as well. So we passed them on to the respective missionaries. They were stoked when we told them about her! I would be too! haha! In alma 29:14 it talks about rejoicing in the success of his brethren. It's amazing!

Well, that sums up the highlights of my week.

Love you all!

Elder Michael Litchfield

Ps... My former companion wrote an article about murmuring while we were together. It's really really good. It talks about how we are more like Laman and Lemuel than we think.

The past couple of weeks, God has been trying to teach me something. Actually he has been trying to teach me a lot of things... But one stands out to me. That is Charity. Charity is SO HARD! I try. I try so hard to love others. And I have improved immensely on my mission! But people do things that REALLY test it. The Church lowered the age for missionaries. Everyone went nuts! Thousands of missonaries started entering the MTC. Everyone went nuts! 58 new mission were created. Everyone went nuts! Our missions were affected by the changes and we got a new mission president. I think 5 people were excited... President Wilson starts reinforcing concepts that are found in the White Handbook (A handbook that is produced by the 12 apostles and the first presidency on how missions should go). People start murmuring. This isn't something new to me. When President Riggs first came in, lots of missionaries were complacent. But what is new to me is the amount of complaining. Complaining of what, you may ask? Missionaries are complaining that President Wilson is asking us to be obedient...to work harder and to set our goals higher. There is a feeling in this mission of being ok with mediocrity. President Wilson is trying to change that... And to my shock, there are even missionaries rebelling. Not just any missionaries though. Oh no. ZONE LEADERS... SISTER TRAINING LEADERS... DISTRICT LEADERS! Seriously? The leaders of the mission are being modern day Laman and Lemuals? Sadly.. yes. They are. It blows me away. One zone leader even chewed out President Wilson in his first interview with him. So... as you can see, my patience and love is being heavily tried. Luckily... and I thank Heavenly Father every time I pray for this, I have a companion who is always on the same page as I am. Oh what a blessing it is to have a companion that is obedient and loyal. It's a test and a trial that I would have never expected to go though on  my mission... But then again, I never expected a lot of things that have happened to me on my mission. haha...

On a brighter note... We have been working with a man named Tony Douglas. He has a wife and 5 kids. He is catholic, but has very similar morals and values as the LDS faith. We helped him move some of his stuff out of his attic (oh and I didn't realize how hot attics get in the humidity in the summer!). We were able to talk with him a lot, and then he fed us a smoked pig shoulder. It was so good! There were a ton of leftovers... and he gave them all to us. His family is out of town for 2 weeks while he packs up to move. Otherwise I'm sure he would have kept some for his family haha. We were able to read out of the Book of Mormon with him and he really enjoyed it. The only problem is... He is just as devout to his small congregation, as I am to mine. So... we have our work cut out for us haha. But with God, all things are possible!

We also met a lady at Walmart last Monday who has a son who is LDS. We got her her information and set up an appointment with her for tomorrow. We're really excited for that!

I heard through the grapevine that the scripture mastery scriptures have changed? Is this true? I want to see those new ones!

Love you all!

Elder Michael Litchfield

This is where I live right now

Transfer week was last week, and it was a busy one. First off, the missionaries here normally find out where they are going and who they will be with before transfers. That was new to all of the missionaries coming from DC South. President Wilson talked about how he wanted to do transfers with us, and he went with the DC South way. Holy smokes. That shook the mission. It was a big change to say the least. Because it was a new way, that meant no one knew what to expect. So that made Elder Nuemeyer and my job very very busy. But after the dust settled, and many many hours of driving around the mission (Richmond to Waynesboro, then Richmond to Woodbridge)... everyone made it to their designated area. I pray that the next transfer meeting will go much smoother. It should... Now that everyone has a good idea of what to expect.

We worked our tails off last week, which opened up a good chunk of time on the weekend to work in our area. IT WAS AWESOME! We were able to see a couple of less active families that we have been working with... We were able to do a lot of finding, as well as visiting former investigators. We were able to accomplish a lot over Saturday and Sunday. A real highlight of the weekend was having a less active couple surprise us and come to church for all 3 hours! I was shocked when I saw them walk in the door. Something just clicked in their heads (Aka... the spirit) and the came to church. They have a strong desire to go to the Temple for the first time... So coming to church is a great step for them!

All of the missionaries are buzzing about BYU coming to Virginia to play football against UVA. Its at the end of August. It probably wont happen... But how cool would it be to be able to go?!

LOVE YOU ALL!

Elder Michael Litchfield

Change. If I could sum up my mission experience in one word thus far, it would be change. Living away from home is a change. Having to shop for food was a BIG change! I honestly don't understand how people do it. It is so boring!... The weather was a change. Humidity is something else! Getting transferred is change. Getting new companions is change. Getting my 2nd mission president was a big change! Change isn't always easy either. I loved the way President Albright ran things. I was comfortable. When President Riggs came, he changed a lot of things, and it made me uncomfortable. But quickly I realized what a blessing it was to be able to learn from 2 different mission presidents! Things in the DC South mission were perfect. I then was informed that I was to travel to a different mission. Another change. I came to Richmond and met President Perry. My 3rd Mission President. In the short time I served with him, I learned quite a bit. He served as a seventy before being a mission president and I was able to learn many things about the structure of the church leadership. Then June 27th, 2013 happened. Elder Neumeyer and myself got dressed up in our suits, and drove to the airport. We met President Perry there and waited. It felt like an eternity (it was actually only 20 min). Then, in the distance, I saw them. President and Sister Wilson. Beaming from ear to ear as they walked down to the waiting area. I then met my 4th Mission President. Right away I felt such a strong spirit about him. We drove his bags to the mission home, and then left him and President Perry to do an hour orientation. Only an hour! Friday morning we went to the mission home and met with him. We met from 10 am to 4 pm. We talked about the way both the DC South mission, and the Richmond mission, ran. We set goals for the mission, and we were able to get to know him a little bit better. They are some of the nicest people I have ever met. SO LOVING! Sister Wilson is hilarious too. She cracks me up. Sunday we met with them again from 6 pm to 9 pm. Still going over different aspects of mission life. Monday, pday, we met with him from 10 am to 3:30 pm. Tuesday we had a whole mission conference where I was able to meet many of the missionaries, and they were able to meet President and Sister Wilson. I loved being able to finally meet them. My goal throughout this whole new experience is to show them how much I love them. To let them know through my actions that I care about them. When people know that you love them, they are far more willing to heed counsel and guidance. They open their hearts and allow the spirit to testify to them of truth when we are speaking in behalf of President Wilson. Now, don't get me wrong, I am no master missionary. Not even close! I am learning just as much, if not more, than any missionary out here! 

Today was a bit of a sad day. We had Mission Leadership Council. Where the Zone Leaders and Sister Trainer Leaders meet and discuss ways to better the mission.  It was awful to watch. It basically was a battle between DC South policies, and Richmond policies. I felt so bad for President Wilson. He expressed to us afterward that the meeting did not go the way he had wanted it to go. There was a ridiculous amount of tension pretty much the whole meeting. I am so lucky to have Elder Neumeyer as a companoin though. He is so humble and kind. We both discussed afterward how both missions acted immaturly, and we talked about ways to smooth things over. We don't look at the mission as richmond (President Perry) and DC south. We are Richmond (President Wilson)! If there is any advice that any of you could give, that would be highly appreciated! :)

I have been studying Alma Ch. 8 lately. That is a PERFECT chapter that describes change. Alma went from Melek, an area where people came to HIM to be baptized from all over the land, to Ammonihah, an area where people rejected him and persecuted him. Change. It's inevitable. I learn from Alma that we need to appreciate the times in our lives where we are in "Melek", because it won't always be like that. And we need to look for the lessons learned when we are in places like Ammonihah. For Alma, the lesson was to meet Amulek. That horrific experience of first going to Ammonihah turned into Alma meeting his future missionary companion that was to be by his side through HUGE miracles!

I love my mission! I love the changes that it brings, not just the outward changes... but the changes that are inward. The changes in me!

Love you all!

Elder Michael Litchfield

ps. Attached is a picture of comparing what the DC South mission looks like now, compared to what the Richmond Mission looks like now. Crazy huh?!