SOM Transcript - S5E21 (2024)

The following transcript is intended to aid in your study. However, while we try to go through the transcript, our transcripts are primarily computer-generated and often contain errors. Please forgive the transcripts’ imperfections.

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[00:00:00] Tammy Uzelac Hall: In the last April General Conference, Elder Cook pointed out that in the Savior's intercessory prayer, oneness is what Christ prayed for prior to his betrayal and crucifixion. He prayed that his disciples, which includes us, may be one. And then Elder Cook taught this quote, oneness with Christ and our heavenly father can be obtained through the savior's atonement unquote.

So today's study of Mosiah chapters 18 through 24 is all about oneness and it will help us understand the importance of being one, including others in our circle of oneness. And as Elder Cook stated, The essence of truly belonging is to be one with Jesus Christ. Welcome to the Sunday on Monday study group, a desert bookshelf plus original brought to you by LDS living where we take the come follow me lesson for the week.

And we really dig into the scriptures together. I'm your host, Tammy Uzelac Hall. Now, if you're new to our study group, Please follow the link in our description and it's going to explain how you can best use this podcast to enhance your come follow me study. Just like my friend Rae Nucci and her family, Marcus, Nate, and Sam.

I love you guys. Thank you for coming to the desert book live event. It was so fun to meet you. Now, the other awesome thing about our study group is each week we're joined by two of my friends. And so it's a little bit different each week and today is different. And I am so excited to introduce you to Celine and Dave Morton.

Hello you two.

[00:01:22] Celine Morton: Hello.

[00:01:22] David Morton: Hello, Tammy. So good to be here.

[00:01:24] Tammy Uzelac Hall: Oh, I'm so happy to have you here. Okay. Let me tell you how I know these two. They came to education week last year and they came to one of my classes and I met them and it was just so fun to see them and meet them. And I just adored them at that moment.

I thought they have got to be on the podcast. And so I got their names and then it just, the spirit was like, just wait. Wait, wait, wait. And then all of a sudden their names come to my brain as we're getting ready to study these chapters. And it's been a unique experience because I will just tell you right now, before we get to know Celine and Dave, I've never done this before, but we together have been studying these chapters and we've been communicating back and forth with what we've been learning.

And they actually helped me craft the entire segment based on what the Holy Ghost taught them. And so we're going to try something new this week. And I'm really excited. Because we're going to base it on everything that they learned and then stuff that I learned too. It's been really fun to, how did you guys feel about that?

Cause you've been listening for a while and here we are communicating.

[00:02:22] Celine Morton: We're beta tested a new, a new format. Yes.

[00:02:25] Tammy Uzelac Hall: Beta tested.

[00:02:28] David Morton: It was a great, it was a great experience.

[00:02:30] Celine Morton: Yeah, it was. And it forced me who is not always the best at staying on task to, you know, be constantly thinking about it. So my sweet husband had all this bullet points down and I looked at him, I said, Oh, you're writing stuff down.

That's really great. No, I verbalize it. It was just really good. Cause I was like, that's how you study. Everyone studies differently. He's, he's very formal with how he studies. He likes to sit pen paper. I read and then I go for a run or I do stuff out in the yard and you know, when you talk,

[00:03:02] David Morton: I try to capture it because there's a lot of really good stuff.

[00:03:06] Tammy Uzelac Hall: Yeah. You two are both an example of how to appropriately and effectively study and you do it totally differently.

[00:03:12] Celine Morton: Both ways are right. When we were dating, I tried to do it like him and copy him and he had all these colored pencils. I was like, I'm going to do it like that. And then it didn't make any sense to me.

So I would look back and go, why did I even color it that color?

What did that color mean? I started to do it my own way. Yeah. And it works. You know, we did the Lord teaches the way the Lord teaches the way you need to learn. So that's. That's important I think to figure out. Totally

[00:03:37] Tammy Uzelac Hall: true. Okay, so tell everybody, how do you guys know each other?

Give us your story.

[00:03:42] Celine Morton: Well, um, I have, uh, I have a dad who was a little bit of a, of a, of a man of, of many talents and many interests. So we moved a lot when I was growing up and he was everything from a teacher to a diplomat in, uh, for the Canadian government. And then when he was, after being a diplomat, when he was, 37, I think he had seven children and decided, I think I want to go to med school.

So he went to med school. Um, he was originally Canadian. So he went back to Canada after living in the, uh, in the,

[00:04:15] David Morton: Tell them where you were born

[00:04:17] Celine Morton: was born in Trinidad, in Trinidad. And my, I have a brother was born in Haiti. We lived in Haiti for a while there. And so my dad helped establish the church there many, many moons ago when we were first there.

And, uh, When he decided to go back to, to school, we, we went back to, to Hamilton, Ontario. And, uh, my mom put him through school. She sold real estate and quilts that she had made and taught people how to make quilts that she sold. And, uh, we moved up to them. I, my dad said, you know, it'd be great if I could be a doctor in a small town out in the country.

So we moved up north into the countryside near his family. And I moved into David's ward when I was 11, 12, I

[00:05:01] David Morton: think you were 10. Cause I was 13.

[00:05:03] Celine Morton: Yeah. Young enough. Yeah. And though we lived about 40 miles away from each other, we were in the same ward, so in Canada, it was like conglomerate. And, uh, and so my mom, she's, uh, an immigrant from France and his mom was an immigrant from Italy.

And so they became friends and, you know, by. Association. My brothers became his friends and vice versa.

[00:05:31] David Morton: And then we used to home teach Celine when I was 16. My dad and I home taught their family. So I'm a big advocate of the ministry and home teaching program.

[00:05:39] Celine Morton: He's like, do your home teaching. It'll work out.

It'll work.

[00:05:44] David Morton: When I went and served my mission, came back, we started dating. Then we. Moved here to go to school.

[00:05:50] Celine Morton: We moved to school and then you, and then we started dating. You were dating someone else. And he got, he got back. And,

[00:05:55] David Morton: uh, and, uh, yeah.

[00:05:57] Celine Morton: And then I showed him the error of his way. Then came to utah.

[00:06:01] David Morton: So we'd been married for 20. Going on 28 years, going on 28 years. We've been in Utah, almost all of that. And, um, yeah, life's good. We have five children between the ages of 15 and 25, four boys and one girl. And, um, our oldest son lives in Mesquite, Nevada. Our daughter Ireland is an MTC right now going all the way to Flagstaff, Arizona.

And then our other sons, Gabriel, Max, and Jack, we live, uh, live here. And, um,

[00:06:32] Celine Morton: Yep. It's a madhouse.

[00:06:34] Tammy Uzelac Hall: Really?

[00:06:34] David Morton: Yeah, it is.

[00:06:36] Tammy Uzelac Hall: A fun madhouse. No doubt. Fun madhouse. That's right.

[00:06:40] Celine Morton: That's right.

[00:06:40] Tammy Uzelac Hall: Okay. And then quickly tell everyone listening. What did the two of you do when you're not parenting?

[00:06:45] Celine Morton: I cry a lot. Just kidding. I used to try to be tough, but now I'm not tough anymore.

No. No. I, uh, I, I'm, I'm a stay at home mom, but I don't really cry. Stay at home. But, and I also do theater on the side and volunteer work and photography and

[00:07:06] David Morton: lots of trail running

[00:07:08] Celine Morton: outdoorsman.

[00:07:09] David Morton: And then I, I'm a professor at the university of Utah

[00:07:13] Celine Morton: at the school of medicine. Yeah. So university

[00:07:15] David Morton: Utah school of medicine, department of neurobiology.

And so I direct the anatomy and. Uh, content and physiology content, the anatomy lab for the school of medicine. And, um,

[00:07:25] Celine Morton: he's an amazing anatomy teacher. He's an amazing teacher. Period. Yeah. So he's, he's incredible. Um, your bishop of our ward,

[00:07:33] David Morton: bishop of the ward,

[00:07:34] Celine Morton: I'm the bishop's wife. And when he got called, I got up and I said, don't expect anything to change.

I'm not going to get here on time still.

I said, and don't worry, we won't set up any crazy expectations so that you don't have to say, why can't you be more like the Bishop's family? You'll never be saying that.

[00:07:57] Tammy Uzelac Hall: Oh my gosh, I love you too. I love it. I'm like, we're just going to go lower the bar right now. I want to be in your ward. Oh, that makes me so happy.

Okay.

[00:08:05] Celine Morton: Lowering the bar is great. You let so much more. So much more is pleasing when you lower the bar. It's not a negative thing anymore. I've decided it's a good thing now.

[00:08:15] Tammy Uzelac Hall: I'm sure everyone listening is like, this is going to be fun. This is going to be such a fun episode. Okay. Well, if you want to know more about my guests, go check out their bios and you're going to find that in our show notes, which are found at ldsliving.

com slash Sunday on Monday, because if you're anything like me, I have to see who I'm listening to. So go check that out and then grab your scriptures and we are going to dig into Mosiah chapters 18 through 24. Here we go. All right, you two, what did the Holy Ghost teach you as you studied from these chapters?

[00:08:44] David Morton: There's, wow, there's so much that's inside this. In reading in Mosiah chapter 18 specifically, when we have that whole element where Alma is now by the water and there's 450 people, well, ends up being 450 people that are gathered and they get baptized and, uh, and, and he then says. It, well, they're about to get baptized in verse 11, oh, verse 10 will say, now I say unto you, if this be the desire of your hearts, that you have a, what have you against being baptized in the name of the Lord as a witness before him, that you have entered into a covenant with him, that you will serve him and keep his commandments, that he may pour out his spirit more abundantly upon you.

And now when the people had heard these words, they clapped their hands for joy. And explained, this is the desire of our hearts. And then Elm and he'll go into the water, they get baptized. So when I was reading that and they clap their hands for joy, I thought that is such a neat, um, really just a beautiful image.

And then my mind continually goes, what happens then? And we know that in this chapter, they have this really beautiful experience. Alma's teaching them in secret while King Noah's stuff is his whole kingdom's falling and crumbling while they're out there having this beautiful experience. And then the Lord tells Alma, Hey, get out of there.

King Noah knows where you're at. He thinks you're putting an army together. You got to get out. And so they take off and they go away for, I can't remember a week or whatever they're traveling. And then they could establish the land of Helam. And the thing that got me is, How, how strong of experience was this?

Did they clap their hands for joy? Cause they're like, Hey, this feels really good. This is really neat. I really liked this. I didn't like the direction the King Noah is going. And so they go and they start only to have the exact same circ*mstance that they were in happen again. So not only were they in bondage basically and told to do bad things from King Noah.

They take off following this individual that says is inspired and then only to have happen almost within the week. The, the Lamanite army comes and finds them and says, yeah, we're going to put, we're going to put you in bondage, but Hey, by the way, where's the, uh, where's land Nephi. You show us, we'll leave you alone.

They're like, it's that way. Thanks. Actually, we lied. We're going to come in. Not only that. That Alma's high priest counterpart happens to be ambulance with them at the same time. So if I was, if I was in that group, I'd be, if I was the people, I'd be thinking, wait a second, you told us to follow you because things were going to get better.

This isn't better. If I was Alma, I might be thinking, I thought the Lord told me to do this. And now I'm leading 450 people out into this in the middle of nowhere that we're establishing the Zion community. And, and, and so I wonder what would their thoughts be like? And, and so when I'm those people, they clap their hands for joy, it was real because they stayed firm.

They listened to Alma. They did as they said, whereas in the contrast, we see the people of Limhi, they're like, when the Lamanites take over their group, they're like, I'm angry. Let's go to war. Not once, twice, three times. They're going to fight. Because their anger got the better of them in this group of people, keep the Zion community Alma keeps saying, don't get contentious.

Don't get angry. That'll be okay. The Lord will work out. And so they clap their hands for joy and something happened that they really were changed so that when, when they are put into bondage, the Lord helps them, um, be close to them. And I'd like to think that Alma. The spirit worked with him that he's like, just stay, just stay true to the course.

I know this looks bad, but keep doing what you're supposed to be doing. It'll work out. So I sometimes think as a, as a, a father, um, when, or, you know, in a church calling, if things aren't going well, especially you think let's do this and doesn't go well initially, if the spirit told you to do it, just keep doing it.

[00:12:51] Tammy Uzelac Hall: I have a follow up question, Dave, because that struck me as I was reading this again in preparation for our discussion today. I also, that hit me. They clap their hands for joy, but when you just described it right now, I had this very real moment. I'm like, I got to ask Dave this question because I thought I have had many clap my hand for joy moments.

Those are like my touchstone moments where when times do get hard, I go back and go, no, but I felt it. I knew it. I, I think that's what got them through that experience was they look back on their clap their hands for joy moment. And I want to know, does anything come right to your mind? Do you have a specific clapped your hand for joy moment where you come back to that and go, okay, it's true because of that moment.

[00:13:34] David Morton: Yeah. Yeah. Like, I mean, I'd say everything. Like I, I remember thinking

[00:13:38] Celine Morton: tell them about the temple with your mission. I think that story comes up.

[00:13:42] David Morton: So yeah, like there's, there's so like, so I went and got my endowments before I served, I served in Ireland on my mission. And so I remember going through the temple and didn't understand what just happened.

It wasn't a bad experience, but I just remember going, the temple prep thing was a 15 minute interview. Yeah. About going there and, and so I didn't, I, so I was not prepared. And I remember when I was done, I went and sat out in the, in the waiting room for family to come out. And I looked up and there was a picture of Jesus.

It was the painting of the second coming where he's coming down the blue sky and the angels are on either side. And the, the, the Hallelujah chorus from Handel's Messiah just went through my mind. And it was the way that God taught me, Hey, this is, you're in the right place. at the right time. And anytime I think when I go to the temple, I don't know what's going on.

I think at this moment that the spirit touches me. Um, there's this, the idea of knowing and knowing there's two ways of knowing, like, uh, if you know how to swim, because I watched a video of someone swimming, I know how to swim, but I know how to swim because my brothers threw me in the swimming pool and I had to swim.

Both saying, I know how to swim. And so these individuals, like, so when I think of myself saying, Hey, go on a mission, I'm like, I know a mission's the right thing. I know it because I've listened to everyone talk about their mission saying that, and then I get on my mission. I'm like, wow, this is the best kept secret in the church.

This is really hard. And then I got to know this is the best things I remember back of these experience saying that's the right thing to do any calling being a dad, being a husband, the same thing you're like, this is the best thing. And everyone says, I clap my hands for joy and you get married. And then you find it's tough, clap my hands for joy because I'm getting to be a dad.

And then they're a toddler and then they're teenagers and then they're adults continually looking back at those moments where the Lord said, this is the right thing to do. This is the plan. And that's the spirit that has carried me through missions, temple, married life, church callings. Yeah. Does that answer your question, Tammy?

[00:16:00] Tammy Uzelac Hall: Beautifully. Thank you so much. I, wow, it, it, I, I'm, I'm a little speechless because I've been having thoughts lately about this idea. And right now, as you testified of that, I felt the spirit remind me of all my clap for hand joy moments. And just like, it's true. It's true. And there's going to be lots of times when, like you said, I know it's true and then I know it's true.

And I'm grateful for you sharing that. So thank you, Dave.

[00:16:31] David Morton: You bet.

[00:16:31] Tammy Uzelac Hall: All right, Celine. That was so cool. What's the, what did the Holy Ghost teach you?

[00:16:35] Celine Morton: So I think everyone has like a thing that they think is. It's their thing, you know, like I'm a great listener or, you know, you, it's something that maybe as a kid just always came naturally to you or in the family, someone would say, Oh, she's the peacemaker or she's the Klingon or, you know, whatever the case may be.

And I'd always thought of myself as a very compassionate person. Uh, person. I, I, I felt compact. I loved animals. I loved, you know, I loved hearing people's stories. Um, even as a kid, I, I, I wanted to help people that were sad. I was never put off by approaching anyone who was in pain. I always wanted to sucker.

People who are in pain, but me, myself, my life was sweet. I mean, there was a time I thought Satan didn't care about me cause he never came at me with anything. And I was like, I guess that don't matter, you know, but I was like, well, I guess I'll just take it and go with it. And I lived this, this relatively blissful life, pretty unencumbered.

I have to be completely honest. It just really was. And I discovered that. This idea of this willingness to mourn with those that mourn and comfort those that stand in need of comfort when you desire To understand that it's a very it's it's a it's a simple Phrase, but it is so close to the mission of Jesus Christ that there was someone that I could be That I could talk to that, that mediator, that, that middle child kind of, so to speak, that everyone goes to and talks to when they're fighting with their parents or they don't understand their parents, they don't understand what's happening.

And, uh, you know, the older I got and as things happen, I would, I started to experience some, Pretty major things like some, because someone said, if you don't have trials, just wait, right? Which it's not to scare people. And I used to be afraid of it. And I remember when I had my first child, my, I was terrified because of how much I love that child.

So terrified. Cause I thought I, I love this child so much. If anything happens, I think that I'll die. I was, I don't want to die or maybe I'd rather die. And so I was kind of pent up with this fear of. The unknown and I hated it and I wasn't I've never been like that before and I remember I was in the middle of a Prayer one night and my father called me on the telephone and kind of had a telephone cord and everything interrupted my prayer and um, I just He's like hi.

I I just wanted to call and see how you and they were doing and I He said a few things and I just kind of burst into tears and he said, what's, what's wrong? And I said, dad, I'm terrified because I don't know what to do. I don't want to ask that nothing happened to this baby because I want my will to be his will.

And I don't want to not pray for my child. And I know some people have children hurt and I just don't know what to ask for, not ask for, because some people say, if you ask for it, you'll get it. Or ask for it not to happen. It's definitely going to happen. So I was, I was playing this game of how to pray.

And, um, my dad and they had lost their last, uh, their last child said, well, you know, he might die. And I thought that's not very comforting. He said, and yeah, bad things could happen. He's like, you'll never ever prevent that. And I said, well, what do, how do I pray? And he said, just pray for strength. And just pray for strength that whatever happens, you'll be able to handle it.

And if you do that, then you'll be less afraid of what's going to happen. And you'll have more confidence in your ability to handle those things. And it was so empowering to me. I just was able to pray with all my heart without feeling like I was negotiating that whatever happened. Good or bad or what not that I would be able to handle the situation.

[00:20:35] Tammy Uzelac Hall: Wow. Celine, thank you. Thank you both of you for sharing what the Holy Ghost taught you. That was awesome. Okay. So we're going to, then in the next segment, we are just going to dig into what these stories are all about. And you both have done a wonderful job of kind of wetting our whistle a little bit with these.

Awesome stories. So many chapters, so much to talk about. And we'll dive into that next.

Segment 2

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[00:21:06] Tammy Uzelac Hall: So Celine, I love that you talked about how you were scared as a mom. That is really, I get it. That is me all the time. I pray all the time. My kids won't die. I'm not to the point yet where I prayed not my will, but thine. I'm not there yet. I know I should be, but, um, I don't know. I just, Oh, I don't want that.

We'll do. No, I can't even think about it. I'll start crying. But I want to know this question from you though, because as a mom and as a dad, you both are very concerned about your kids. So if you knew you or your family were in some kind of danger and you needed a safe place to live, where would you immediately go?

Like right now you got to get out of your house. Where are you going to go? But that's safe.

[00:21:45] Celine Morton: Probably my friend, Angie's house. Cause her husband can build anything and he, and they're like, they're so repaired, I'd be the one knocking on the door. Can we stay here if that's all right.

[00:21:56] David Morton: So, uh, it's funny cause when you, that question, I don't know. I just know. I don't think I'd go where Alma went. That's the thing that I find so funny. You say this because there's always like when the zombie apocalypse happens, where we're going to go. I'm like, well, we live close to Grove Creek Canyon. I think we're going to go up Grove Creek and we'll go up a couple of miles and we should be okay for every movie that we have.

But I'm like, I'm not very good at anything. So I'm like, I'm not sure what I'm going to do to protect this family, but I don't think I do what Alma is, which is go in the wilderness where there's not a lot of trees and find a bush and hide behind it. Like, I think it's kind of, it's kind of funny when I see this, I'm like, and yet it worked.

[00:22:34] Tammy Uzelac Hall: Yes. Isn't that so fascinating? Okay. So everybody, let's all go back to the map that we drew where we drew Zarahemla and the land of Lehi Nephi. And what you want to do is find Noah down there in the land of Lehi Nephi and write Alma. We did put a Benedict and then Alma. And now you're going to take Alma and you're going to just go over to that half circle that you drew in the right hand corner and mark that.

The place where Alma and his people went. So Dave, will you go to Mosiah chapter 18 and read verse four for us, please?

[00:23:06] David Morton: Yes. And it came to pass that as many as did believe him did go forth to a place, which was called Mormon, having received its name from the King, being in the borders of the land, having been infested by times or at seasons by wild beasts.

[00:23:20] Tammy Uzelac Hall: There it is. I love how Dave's like, I would never go there. Wild beasts. Yeah, I'm out. Now this name, let's market inverse for, I want you to mark the word Mormon and I'm going to give you all the verses that it's in so you can market. Go to verse five. At the very beginning it says there was in Mormon a fountain of pure water.

Go to verse seven. It says they gathered together at the place of Mormon. Go to verse eight. It says it again. Here are the waters of Mormon. Then you're going to turn the page and you're going to go to verse 16 and it tells us again that they went forth to the place of Mormon. And then we have verse 30, it came to pass that all this was done in Mormon, yea, by the waters of Mormon in the forest that was near the waters of Mormon, near the place, Mormon, the waters of Mormon, the forest of Mormon, that name appears a lot.

So of course I had to look it up now. Immediately we know from past conference talks from Gordon B Hinckley that the definition of Mormon has come to mean more good based on an interview by Joseph Smith. Now this was really interesting to me because I did some research and I read some scholarship articles where they say that it could have been actually when Joseph Smith said Mormon meant more good.

It was sort of this pseudo etymology. That was formulated as a satirical response to ridicule anti Mormon polemical treatment of the name Mormon. That was a mouthful. I know I'm quoting scholarship there, but it was Joseph's in this sort of fun way of just kind of poking fun at anti Mormon saying Mormon means more good.

Then there's an article that actually breaks down the word Mormon using Egyptian words. And here is so something so cool. Did you guys find it? Tell us what Mormon means. I'm gonna let you tell us.

[00:25:06] David Morton: So that was that, that article because I grabbed it. Um,

[00:25:11] Celine Morton: yeah, I read, I read it again this morning actually.

And I, I loved it because this next time through when I was reading it, I was thinking, first of all, I've never seen anyone. the way he picks things apart and can find meaning in it. But at the same time, I love it because this idea that it means, uh, it, it, it means a desire. It means, uh, this idea of this love, this embodiment of love in the word Mormon and the word Mary, this embodiment of Jesus and where he comes from and all of that.

I love that because we have always, I mean, I have always wondered why the waters are called Mormon. I, we don't know a Mormon before this. Like, like, You just, as a kid, think, oh yeah, Book of Mormon, Waters Mormon, but you don't, why was that called Mormon? Maybe the Book of Mormon, Mormon, who compiled it, was named that after the waters and after this area, but why was that called that?

So I really enjoyed, uh, actually listening and, and reading about, about the etymology and just made me think of how much we love to do that, you know, you know, if you look your name up online and it'll say, you know. You know, this mean your name means lazy or something. You're like, and it's so disappointing.

What if it means like bringer of light? Oh, that is a great name. You know, that's something you really want to tell people. Oh, by the way, my name means bringer of light. Just like that etymology of, of where it comes from. I love that. I thought it was cool.

[00:26:42] Tammy Uzelac Hall: Yes. Dave, give me your take on it. When you read the article.

[00:26:45] David Morton: Well, so,

and the reason why I'm pausing Tammy is one of the reasons I love listening to your stuff is that. Your stuff that sounded bad. I'd love to listen to your podcast. How about that sound better? I love stuff. Because, because you're, you're

[00:27:05] Celine Morton: this Hebrew scholar.

[00:27:07] David Morton: I'd rather, if you don't mind, I'm like, can I turn that question back?

I'd rather listen to you. Cause I read this article and I thought it was good. I want to hear, because you're so good at breaking down these words in Hebrew. One of the challenges I do in the book of Mormon is I'm like, if it's a new Testament, I'll go find a Greek translation. If it's the old Testament, I'll go Hebrew.

I'm like, Book of Mormon. Reformed Egyptian. I, I mean, I would love to know what you thought of when, cause I read this article just like Celine did as well. And I'm not adding to anything that Celine just added.

[00:27:36] Tammy Uzelac Hall: Oh, well, what Celine said was just so perfect because it is this idea of an intense, strong love.

In fact, the one of the ways they put it was an everlasting love slash desire. And that just blew my mind when you consider that they went to this place of Mormon, the waters of Mormon, and this connection to this everlasting love. That is exactly what the covenants of our heavenly father. What does that mean for all of us?

It is a way that he loves us, hugs us, embraces us is through covenants. And here they are entering into their first covenant with him at a place of everlasting love, a place that means the word desire. And then when you go into chapter 18, oh my goodness, look how many times they say the word desire. So then go to verse eight.

Celine, will you read verse eight for us?

[00:28:28] Celine Morton: Yeah. You bet.

And it came to pass that he said unto them, behold, here are the waters of Mormon. For thus they were called. And now as you are desirous to come into the fold of God and to be called his people and are willing to bear one another's burdens, that they may be light.

[00:28:48] Tammy Uzelac Hall: And then we, he goes, we're going to talk about these baptismal covenants in the next segment, but I want us to mark the word desire in verse 10.

He says, now, if this be the desire of your hearts, and then verse 11 that Dave shared at this, that the Holy Ghost taught him, when the people say, this is the desire of our hearts. This, there's so much beauty in this because then I connected it to covenants. And when we make covenants, is it what I desire? And have I really thought about my covenants with my heavenly father is something that I really desire or am I just doing it to do? Because I, I love that idea, Dave, because I know it's right. Or do I know? And so I desire to keep these covenants. Tell me about that connection. Are there any covenants that you have made with the father that you now desire because of blessings that have come from it?

[00:29:38] Celine Morton: So I, I was a very faithful. I've never had a problem and even if I didn't understand it, I didn't have any issues with it because I'm an easygoing person and I know that I'm, I may not always think as scholarly as, as some people did. And so, because so many people told, told me, I probably wouldn't get it or whatnot.

I kind of just. I went in with that. And for years I went and I would listen to people say that, you know, it was their favorite place and they couldn't live without it. And to be completely honest, I didn't think that of myself as not being righteous, but I just thought I can't really say that. Like that I crave to go to the temple.

I can't. I, I don't. And I don't think that I ever will say that, but that's okay. Heavenly father, I'm not going to stop going. I'll still go and I'll still do it. Cause you asked me, cause I want to be obedient and I want to do it with what you would have me do. And, um, and then just recently I, I, I. Started to go a little more and I remember having this like quiet conversation and I just I said, it's okay Like I I don't ever have to know it's fine.

[00:30:49] David Morton: A quiet conversation with God.

[00:30:49] Celine Morton: Yes. Yes. I just said I will don't worry about me. I'll be okay if I don't ever get this cuz It's all right. And I had this impression. So I see in, I see in pictures and stories and I had, uh, this impression and it was of a place like the Philippines or Cambodia or something like that.

We had been to Bali. Maybe that's why I thought of that. And we had seen these old people in rice fields and they were still working. I thought they just had been working from dawn and until dusk and I saw this person working out in the fields. And then I saw missionaries approaching. This, this small older man really weather beaten and talking and him smiling with like this great smile you can imagine in National Geographic magazine or something like that.

And I saw them teaching him and then I saw them in his home and then I saw him, this, this old man in a, in a white shirt and a tie. And then I saw the missionaries showing him a picture of the temple and this impression came to me and it said, I'm not a respecter of persons. Don't you think he has every right to be in the temple and receive the same revelations as even the prophet?

You have every right to receive any revelation to have any knowledge Because you're here and you're important to me and I'm not withholding from you because I don't think you're smart enough or whatnot You're worthy to have it If someone who can't speak is worthy to have it, someone who has no hands is worthy to go through the temple.

And I just, just had this, it just was open to me that he, didn't see me any differently than anyone else that I could, I could know it just as much as anyone could, that there wasn't. And I stopped thinking about the temples being so complex and being this dead sea scrolls that I couldn't decipher. And I just sat there and in that moment, the simplicity of it.

And I thought it's so simple and there's not some magic key. It's just, it's my keys, what he wants me to know about how I keep my covenants with him. That's it. And now I do go because I feel so good about myself when I'm in there because he tells me how are you living this law? How are you living this law?

So not how is everyone else living it? How is everyone else keeping this covenant? But this is your and my covenant. And for you and me, it means something different than it does for like, you know, law of consecration for me and the Lord. He knows it's different. Then it is for, for Dave. It's just different.

And when we go to the temple, he helps us figure out how to hone those covenants, those promises so that you desire and you say, I want to get these down. I want to get them right. I want to get them.

[00:33:55] Tammy Uzelac Hall: You know, Celine, as you shared that experience, I, in my mind, I immediately went to verse 30 of chapter 18 and I want to do this.

Let's go back to verse 30 and will you please, Celine, will you please read verse 30 and every time you come to the word Mormon, I want you to replace it with everlasting love.

[00:34:10] Celine Morton: Okay. And now it came to pass that all this was done in everlasting love, yea, by the waters of everlasting love. In the forest that was near the waters of everlasting love, yea, the place of everlasting love.

The waters of everlasting love. The forest of everlasting love. How beautiful are they to the eyes of them who there came to the knowledge of their redeemer. Yay. And how blessed are they for they shall sing to his praise forever.

[00:34:42] David Morton: Yeah, that's awesome. Like I, The, this, the word Mormon, um, has always been intriguing to me because when, when I think of what happened here, like the book of Alma is one of my favorite parts of the book of Mormon and I, the book of Mormon, I got to love when I was a teenager.

And it was because of the Book of Alma. And as I go back, like this backward design about, how did the book of Alma happen? Well, the Book of Alma happen because Alma, the younger was kind of a crapper. And then he was like, and uh, I shouldn't say that. He was a little rebellious. Uh, and Alright. A lot rebellious, which we love.

[00:35:20] Celine Morton: Rebellious. Yes, we love rebellious.

[00:35:22] David Morton: Or he's, I have a few in our home he's, he's exercising his agency and Mm-Hmm. learning how to exercise his agency, his dad, then also. Had kind of a background that we wouldn't expect to be someone to be a profitable and you, you go back and I can imagine being Mormon's dad, that this story somehow got passed down centuries and centuries about this area of where 450 people gathered around Alma and something beautiful happened.

That, that genesis of this beautiful spiritual experience of what can happen to a group of people that this, if, if they let Jesus in. This is what can happen. And you see generations and centuries of people and all the way through Jesus onto the other side of when Jesus came, that that story has come, that Mormon's dad's like, whatever happened in that place, I want to name my son, this to the point that, that, that when we see in third Nephi in chapter five, he even says that when, um, when, when he says.

Sorry. Here we go. Third Nephi. Um, is it chapter five? Yeah. It says in verse 35, chapter five, verse 12, behold, I am called Mormon being called after the land of Mormon, the land in which Alma did establish the church among the people. Ye the first church, which is established among them after their transgression.

Behold, I am a disciple of Jesus Christ. The son of God, I've been called of him to declare his word among his people that they might have everlasting life. This event that happened there, this beautiful thing, it really is miraculous. And in going back to, and just adding this element of knowing that it means desire, it means everlasting love.

I think it's just this beautiful way of capturing this event that occurred that affected so much all the people in the Book of Mormon time.

[00:37:32] Tammy Uzelac Hall: Thank you. Thank you for sharing that. I love that you just connected it to Mormon and where his name came from. Oh my gosh, that is so cool that he's named desire or everlasting love, which now I'm thinking forward.

to his final words to his people and his son. And that is exactly, I think how he was feeling this desire for them or everlasting love for them. Okay. That's so cool. So good. Thank you for teaching that. Okay. So in the next segment, then we are going to find out as we've read verse 11, that the people clap their hands for joy.

And they said, this is the desire of our heart. So in the next segment, we'll find out what it is they desired.

Segment 3

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[00:38:19] Tammy Uzelac Hall: We're going to go right into Mosiah chapter 18 and we're going to read what it is that Alma says. Now, if you are desirous, now here's all of the things he says, are you desirous to do any of this? So these are the baptismal covenants. This is what every one of us, and I think we should be teaching this to our primary kids.

When you're about to get baptized, are you desirous to do these things? These are what we're being asked to do. So Celine, will you please read for us? The baptismal covenant verses in verses eight, nine, and 10.

[00:38:52] Celine Morton: All right. And it came to pass that he said unto them, Behold, here are the waters of Mormon, for thus were they called.

And now, as ye are desirous to come into the fold of God, and to be called his people, And are willing to bear one another's burdens, that they may be light. Yea, and are willing to mourn with those that mourn. Yea, comfort those that stand in need of comfort. Stand as witnesses of God, at all times, and in all things, and in all places.

That ye may be in, even until death. That ye may be redeemed of God. And be numbered with those for the first resurrection that you may have eternal life. So that's 10 as well. Now I say unto you, if this be the desire of your hearts, what have you against being baptized in the name of the Lord? As a witness before him that you've entered into a covenant with him, that ye will serve him and keep his commandments, that he may pour out his spirit more abundantly upon you.

[00:39:55] Tammy Uzelac Hall: Thank you. Celine, tell me why that makes you emotional.

[00:40:01] Celine Morton: Just because it said to stand as a witness and

wherever you are, even to your death, and um, these people. We don't know if all of them made it. We know that they were put into captivity. We know that their greatest enemy, uh, seemed to never get his just desserts. Like he just, you know, that priest that just has it out against, uh, against Alma just keeps, it's, he seems to get everything that, that he wants.

And, um, this idea that they really did. Say, even, even till we die, we will, we will continue to keep this, these promises that we've made. And it just, I, I, I don't know, I, I, I, I've never read that before like that. And it just, it just hit me, this idea of, of when, when we were always looking for kind of an ending to our trials and it's like, don't look for an end.

And just. There is no end, just keep going, just keep going forever until you die. And I guess if you know that, if you know that from the start, then you just stop thinking about an end date to your trials and you just go, well, till I die, you know, it's a beautiful idea.

[00:41:25] Tammy Uzelac Hall: No big deal. No big request. Yeah.

[00:41:27] Celine Morton: Exactly.

[00:41:28] Tammy Uzelac Hall: Well, thank you for sharing those feelings. And I appreciate that. I love the emotion as you read these because I've never heard them read that way before. And it just added this beautiful weight of how important these, these covenants are that we make them, how important the covenant is. When we enter into baptism, I was struck by reading some wording by Hugh Nibley, where he said about these verses, notice there's no mention of repentance in these verses.

Yeah. And then he says this, he believes that these verses were preexistent, eternal, unchanging gospel that was presented to us in the grand council of heaven before any of us were born. And when I think about that and how you're going to go down to earth now, I'm imagining I'm heavenly father, heavenly mother, and we're saying to our kids, you're going to go down to earth and you're going to make these covenants.

And I just love how everything's connected. The wording everlasting love. Here's how you're going to feel our everlasting love by making these baptismal covenants and every covenant is about taking care of your siblings. Cause I'm the oldest, so I know my mom and dad would say that they've said that to me so many times.

You've got to take care of your siblings. I once bought a house so my sister could live with me because she was divorced with two kids. So I'm like, Oh sure, I'll buy a house and because I'm single, why, why wouldn't I buy a house? You know, as parents, you want your siblings to take care of each other. And here's heavenly father, heavenly mother saying, take care of each other.

[00:42:52] Celine Morton: And it's, it's, it's this broad, it's this broad blanket so that it's not so specific. And it's like. I know you, and I know, I know what this means for you. So for everyone, it can be, you know, it's less about comparison, it's less about doing it right. It's just doing it the way that you do it best and promising him you're going to give it your all.

And that it may look a hundred percent different than how someone else does it. And you just don't worry about anyone else because you're just doing the best way that you can. I know how. I love it. Love that.

[00:43:25] Tammy Uzelac Hall: Yeah, I agree. And the ultimate blessing in the end of verse 10 is that if you do these things, he will pour out his spirit more abundantly.

The word poor, that word just how fast water comes out for me when you're pouring a pitcher and then. I imagine it gets, you know, when you're pouring it out and there's ice in there and then it gets stuck and then the ice machine and everything gushes faster than I thought. Like I want to imagine that kind of poor.

I don't want to slow pour. I want it gushing out and pouring abundantly like it says more abundantly upon me. And so I'm just, I, and I didn't even prep you guys for this question. But I am just curious to know, have you experienced in your life a time where someone took care of you, where they mourned with you or comforted you?

And that there was this experience with feeling the spirit, any of these baptismal covenants play into your life?

[00:44:18] Celine Morton: Yes. So many times. I think what I discovered was that. The spirit is awesome. First of all, he's great. I remember one time having trouble with my kids and I was like, what can I say? And they don't want to hear my voice anymore.

And the spirit was like, I talked to Napoleon. I talked to some pretty tough dudes. I can talk to your kids just fine. Like, trust me, you tell me what you want me. To say, and I will say it to them so that they can hear it. And so I stopped, it prevented me from feeling like I was responsible for every word that came out of my mouth.

I'm going to ruin that. I'm going to do all this stuff. And it was like, no, there's again, another person there. That's the intimate, you know, the, the, the, in the interim of between me and my children, there's the spirit. And that, as long as I talk with the Lord and then I listen to what he says, and then I.

discuss it with the spirit, you know, so to speak, and then, and then I let go and I allow the spirit to do what, what he does. Then I have, I have to have that faith that what I have felt the spirit pouring on me, he can do also for my children or anyone else that I'm trying to reach. I don't have to reach them.

I just have to want to reach them. And they'll get breached in my opinion. Yeah.

[00:45:46] Tammy Uzelac Hall: Well, and then let's connect it to verse 11 now, because in my mind I'm thinking here they are saying, if you're willing to take care of each other. And look at this. They clapped their hands. The people heard this. They clapped their hands with joy.

I mean, just think about that. Now that we know what they're clapping their hands in joy about, like, yes, we'd love to take care of each other. This sounds, oh, you just wonder, was there someone going, ah, that seems like a lot of work. You don't know my family. Yeah. Like clap your hands. How much are we talking?

Like all the times I just, you know, you, I can't help but think I'd probably be a naysayer. Like can we get some directive on this? But no, everybody there had this like day of awakening, this moment of clapping their hands for joy and then saying, this is the desire of our hearts.

[00:46:35] David Morton: Yes. So, so one of the things that I got thinking of when I was reading this is.

This is one of those verses, this, these, these three verses are those verses that I, whenever I read them, and if I'm going through the Book of Mormon again, I hit them. I'm like, Dave, slow down because If I had a nickel for every time I read these three verses, when I serve my mission, or as I served an award mission later, or, and taught Sunday school, I'd have a lot of nickels.

Like that's a lot like we read these. And so as a result, they become so familiar that we, that, okay, I'll be, I may not pay as much of attention. So recently in getting ready for this, as I read through this and it is, and in verse nine and are willing to mourn with those that mourn. My initial thing has always been.

You are sad. I'm going to be sad with you or you are depressed or you are in a very tough time. And of course you're mourning. I'll be there with you. And of course, I'm not saying that's not what it means, but when I focused on that word, mourn about what else could that mean? What else could someone mourn about that? Someone would say, I'm in. I'm like, I'm a messed up, dude. I am so like, this is me, Dave. I, I, I'm not a perfect person. I've got these problems and I continually doing this and I'm continually making mistakes every day. And I know it. So when I meet someone who has also made mistakes and by mistakes, let me insert sin that I mourn with them because I'm like, I know how that feels.

And that's why we have Jesus. And he's the one that makes it right. So are willing to mourn that those that mourn and comfort them that yes, death is a challenging thing and sickness is challenging, but sin is worse because sin separate. So when I sin, I feel distant from God. I'm not close to him. I don't like that feeling.

I love the feeling of being close to God. And I feel that that's one of the things that the gospel does is it helps me remember what it's like to be with Him. And when that happens, I'm like, Oh, that's great. And if I meet someone who is not happy because of choices made that sin, I can be with them. I know what that's like.

And I can't fix it. So one of the things that I have in mind when I'm, when I, when I'm, uh, when I'm sitting with someone who's counseling because of either a faith crisis or sin in the role of a bishop is that I recognize I can't fix anything. So I'm, I listen and I do a lot of listening. And in my mind, I actually, even if they're sitting in front of me, I picture myself sitting to the side and I picture them talking to Jesus.

And I just keep pointing, keep pointing. Keep looking. That's where the strength comes. That's if we're going to mourn together. Yes, you mourn because you've sinned, but look, that's the physician. That's the healer. That's the one that can make things right. That's the person that can make you feel back in God's presence.

[00:49:55] Tammy Uzelac Hall: Well, thank you. I'm feeling the spirit so strong when you said that. Thank you, both of you for discussing those verses so beautifully and powerfully, because As you were talking, I'm thinking, isn't that amazing that Heavenly Father is sending imperfect people to do his work. And I'm connecting now what you said, Dave, like these imperfect people to do his work.

And then I love how you taught us, Celine. And he's like, I've talked to bigger people than you. Like I can do this. So. You, you just go do what you scrubbing it to do. I'm going to fix it. I will take care of the rest. And so thank you to both of you for teaching us those verses in a way I've never considered them before.

That was amazing. Okay. So they clap their hands for joy. This is the desire of their hearts. And after they are baptized, then as Dave taught us, heal him and Alma go into the water and then they start to baptize all the people. We're going to find out about a name that they get and we'll talk about that in the next segment.

Segment 4

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[00:51:01] Tammy Uzelac Hall: One of the things that Dave and Celine pointed out to me that I thought was so cool was they said, let's talk about the importance of names. So I want you two to start us out. Tell me what your thoughts are about the importance of names, because these people are about to get a very important name. So tell me first about the importance of names and then we're going to mark the name.

[00:51:19] Celine Morton: I mean, I think a name defined, there's so many things that happen with your name. For example, like I said, it, some people love their names. Some people don't love their name, but they, most people would like to know that when their parents named them, they didn't just. Pick something out of a hat that they actually thought of something.

They wanted to kind of endow an idea onto, onto this child, uh, where they were at the time, you know, uh, and, and where, and where their hearts were at the time, and then some people say, you know, my, I had a name and then my parents saw me and they. Name me something different because something else came to mine and it just gives identity.

And when you meet someone else who has your name, there's this immediate connection. What? We have the same name. It means nothing, but we just connect like, wow, that's so great. Or last names, uh, when you're doing family history and you find an ancestor who might have the same name as you, and immediately there's just this connection.

You want to know more about that ancestor. What was that person? Like, or if you see, you know, your name on a street that's, that has the same last name as you, or

[00:52:27] Tammy Uzelac Hall: you want the sign, you want to break it down

[00:52:32] Celine Morton: and, and if, and the more it means. The more your name starts meaning to you, I think. And so I think that names are, are, are pivotal in our lives.

So many people define who they are by, by their name.

[00:52:48] Tammy Uzelac Hall: Yes. I'm guessing that's why you named your daughter Ireland.

[00:52:53] David Morton: Yes.

[00:52:54] Tammy Uzelac Hall: Yeah. Exactly.

[00:52:56] David Morton: And our oldest son, Jared, because Celine's youngest brother, his name was Jared, who died after he was born. Gabriel, because my mother's name is Gabriella and he was born at Christmas time. Max, after a family member, Jack, after a family member. And after

[00:53:09] Celine Morton: your favorite author. And then they do. They identify with it. They, they, they'll tell the story.

[00:53:14] David Morton: Yeah. Cause his middle Jack's middle names are Victor Lewis. Because I love Victor Hugo because of Les Mis and C. S. Lewis because he's one of the greatest Christian apologetists ever.

[00:53:25] Tammy Uzelac Hall: Yeah. Wow. Okay. So names matter to you too.

[00:53:29] Celine Morton: Yes.

[00:53:30] David Morton: Yeah. And, and

[00:53:30] Celine Morton: whenever I look at your name, David

[00:53:32] David Morton: O. McKay, cause my parents joined the church,

[00:53:35] Celine Morton: but then you also identified with David, the King, like you said, you always think I could be. I could be David and Goliath, or I could be David the King. He always said, I can fall just as easily as he could.

So he would always kind of think, what is my weakness? Because this great man who was his whole life and people cheered on him and he said, and then I would look at that and say, I could be that David, the one that also makes the mistake or that. So how do I. You know, so he just identified with that, that name in the Bible.

Yeah.

[00:54:06] Tammy Uzelac Hall: Wow. Okay. So let's go into the name. Then if names matter, then this name definitely does. In Mosiah chapter 18, we're going to mark the name that they're given in verse 17. And Dave, will you read that for us please?

[00:54:21] David Morton: And they were called the church of God. Or the Church of Christ from that time forward.

And it came to pass that whosoever was baptized by the power and authority of God was added to his church.

[00:54:31] Tammy Uzelac Hall: Thank you. The collective union, they're going to be called the Church of Christ. And that is who they're named after. We've talked earlier about names that are given to people where they're called the children of Christ.

And here we have the church of Christ. And the reason why this name is so significant is because of verse 21. So let's go to verse 21. And Dave, will you also read that for us, please?

[00:54:56] David Morton: And he commanded them that there should be no contention one with another, but that they should look forward with one eye, having one faith and one baptism, having their hearts knit together in unity and in love, one towards another.

[00:55:11] Tammy Uzelac Hall: The word that stood out to me in that verse was the number one, the word one. It's repeated often, um, the idea of one eye, one faith, one baptism in love, one towards another. And I read a quote at the very beginning from Elder Cook, where he said, oneness with Christ and our heavenly father can be obtained through the Savior's atonement.

And then he said, the essence of truly belonging is to be one with Jesus Christ. And that's what baptismal covenants do. And I was struck with this idea of becoming one. And the thing that I love the most about her Hebrew is when I learned in Genesis chapter one, verse five, and we talked about this way back when we did Genesis, but it's kind of cool because this is not a new concept.

Children of our heavenly parents, this idea of being one. If you turn to Genesis chapter one, verse five, there's something unique about the wording in here. And so I just want to read this and you can put that cross reference next to that verse, Genesis chapter one, verse five. And here's what it says. And God called the light day and the darkness he called night and the evening and the morning were the first day.

Now in Hebrew, it's not, we, we say first day, but in Hebrew it's actually translated as day of oneness. And so when I read that and I would just, and I, my Hebrew teacher taught this to me, she said, isn't this remarkable that When you start right here, it's not first day. It's day of oneness. And it could be that God taught us to become one on day one, because there's an idea where he separated the dark from the light is when he separated Jesus from Satan.

That the choices had been made and we had been split, and now here we all are. We're ready to enter into a covenant with our father up there in our premortal life. We're gonna be taught to mourn with those that mourn and comfort, those that stand in need of comfort. We are gonna be taught that the whole goal of the baptismal covenants is to be one.

And he sums it up right here in verse 21. And we're one through Christ well. And then there's this really great quote by Joseph Smith. Celine, can you read this quote? Because. I like this idea where it says that their hearts were knit together in love towards another. It doesn't mean another saint, another member of the church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints.

Another is another. Everyone in anyone. And here's what Joseph Smith teaches about being one.

[00:57:43] Celine Morton: The States can testify whether I'm willing to lay down my life for my brethren. If it has been demonstrated that I've been willing to die for a Mormon, I am bold to declare before heaven that I am just as ready to die in defending the rights of a Presbyterian, a Baptist, or a good man of any faith.

Any other denomination for the same principle, which would trample upon the rights of the Latter day Saints would trample on the rights of the Roman Catholics or of any other denomination who may be unpopular and too weak to defend themselves. Thank you. He's awesome. I love, I, this is the church being part of the church of Christ is not about segregation.

It's not about separating yourself. And we hear a lot, you know, separate yourself from the world, but I think the world is an idea of, of, of a place that or of sin and to separate ourselves from sin is not to separate ourselves from people who are sinning. We need to. Encompass them. And I remember, uh, just a couple of, uh, Uh, lessons ago and you were guys were talking about Isaiah and I was jumping on the bandwagon of I don't get Isaiah.

And then I read this part in Isaiah where the prophet is, uh, is speaking to the Lord and the Lord tells him, you know, go and preach into this people and, and, and declare unto them my word. And, and the prophet says to them, It says back to him, how long shall I do this? And he says, until the earth is laid to waste and not one in heaven is left.

And I thought it doesn't matter who it is. You always preach this until, until you like, again, like we said, until you die, until you're done, it's, there's no end to it. All the people on the earth. are meant to come to Christ. And if you think that the end, I always say, if you guys think the end of the world is coming, you better get out there and start preaching the word of God.

What we're supposed to be doing is, is, is, is bringing people to Christ as many as we can. Um, yeah.

[00:59:50] David Morton: And, and when I, when I see, uh, Joseph Smith's quote, we take a look at this and command there should be no contention one with another. They should look forward with one eye, one faith, one baptism in love, one towards another.

Uh, it is, I think, arrogant for me to think that only people in my tribe get God. That is, I think it is, um, and that Jesus is reaching to everyone. Like everyone's, if, if what my tribe teaches is true, that we are all brothers and sisters, that means my brothers and sisters who might not identify in this tribe, who may consider the sums Catholic or Presbyterian, Muslim and so forth, have a relationship with a deity that I can learn from.

And I, I, I look for them because when I find a voice, I'm like, they get him. Um, Transcribed I want to be like that because, uh, that that's one element. And even, even C when C. S. Lewis talks about a mere Christianity, he says the problem with saying that you can, that, that if someone says, Oh, they're a good Christian or a bad Christian, take a look what they did.

He says, you really can't do that because. He says, there's many people who claim to be Christian, who have been distant from God because of choices they've made for a long time. He says, and we call some of them pastors. And then he said, and there's many people who don't even consider themselves religious, but.

They're closer to him than they even realize because God's drawing them in. He has this patience to help them and to help each one of us because everyone has a way of painting this tapestry of getting to know deity. in a beautiful way. Heavenly father is inspiring anyone who will listen to him because the whole purpose of this earth is to bring everyone back together.

All of Israel, even people who don't know they are in Israel right now. I'm kind of monologuing a little bit on that Tammy, but yeah. Um, amen. Amen to the prophet Joseph.

[01:02:01] Tammy Uzelac Hall: Amen. Well, and I wrote down, I love when you said everyone is painting a tapestry of getting to know deity. Wow. That was a beautiful way of saying that.

And so here's what we're going to do in the next segment then. We're going to look at a group of people who were not one and were not painting. They were not actively painting a tapestry to get to know deity and what the results were of that. And we'll do that next.

Segment 5

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[01:02:33] Tammy Uzelac Hall: All right. So in this segment, the three of us are going to rapid fire the storyline found in Mosiah 19 through 22. So sit back and enjoy our retelling of these wonderful, fabulous stories. So I'm going to start with Mosiah 19 and let's go to verses one and two. It says, And it came to pass that the army of the king return having searched in vain for the people of the Lord.

Now, what happened was Noah sent a group of people out to find Alma and all of his people because they have left and they couldn't find them. And now behold, the forces of the king were small, having been reduced and there began to be division among the remainder of the people. So they are clearly not one.

In fact, so much division that in verse three, the lesser part began to breathe out threatenings against the king. And there began to be great contention among them. And then we get this man named Gideon. He's a hero. You're going to want to mark his name in verse four. There was a man among them whose name was Gideon.

Highlight it and put hero to the outside because we're going to hear a lot from him. He was a strong man and an enemy to the king. He did not like King Noah. That's the timeframe we're in. And he said in his wrath, he was going to kill the king. And so he tries to, he actually follows after he finds the king, he goes to kill them.

And as they get on the top of this tower, we're getting At the moment where you can kill him, it's like a movie. The King sees the Lamanites coming in and he says, hold the Lamanites are coming in. They're going to destroy all of us. Sit, spare my life. So Gideon does spares his life. The King commands that all of the people flee before the Lamanites.

And then we have this crazy story where the Lamanites come in. A couple of people leave with Noah, Noah, and some of his followers flee into the wilderness and leave the rest of their people to ask and plead for their lives from the Lamanites. The Lamanites have compassion on them because of the women and children that begged for their lives.

And then in verse 15, as you read that the Lamanites did spare their lives, took them captives, carried them back to the land of Nephi and granted unto them that they might possess the land under the conditions that they would deliver up King Noah into their hand to the Lamanites. And deliver up their property, even one half of all they possess.

So they said, you have to pay us a tribute, you have to pay us a tax. And then we get to verse 16. Now there was one of the sons of the King among those that were taken captive, whose name was Limhi. So go back to your map. We've already heard, we've already read the story about Limhi. And we know that Ammon who comes from Zarahemla finds Limhi.

And Limhi is so excited to know that there are people from Zarahemla. So remember that story kind of connected here. Here's where it all connects. And now Limhi is taken captive. But he's desirous that his dad should not die. That's in verse 17. And then in verse 18, Gideon sends men into the wilderness secretly to find the king and they search for him because they're going to kill the king and the priests.

Well, there's turmoil in the wilderness and in verse 20, they end up killing the king and the priests. Who were with the king. They run away. So that's in verse 21. It says, and they were about to take the priests also and put them to death and they fled before them. I highlighted verse 21 and then I drew a line and connected it across the page over to chapter 20 where it says some Lamanite daughters are abducted by the priests of Noah.

That's who they are. The guys in verse 21 are the ones who kidnapped the Lamanite girls, which causes a whole other ruckus of problems because Limhi thinks he's leaving, living in peace. The Lamanites say, okay, we're not going to hurt you. Pay us half a tribute. We're going to let you live peacefully.

Meanwhile, these wicked priests find some beautiful girls. Talks about in chapter 20, they're at a well, they're singing and they're dancing and they get kidnapped. The Lamanites get word of this and they think it's Limhi and his people that kidnapped the girls. So they come up in war against them and they fight in verse 10 that says they fought like lions for their prey and the Limhi and their people, they fought for their lives and their wives and their children and they exerted themselves and like dragons they did fight this crazy war.

Limhi. I mean, I can't believe how fast we're doing this Limhi and the king of the Lamanites. He says, why have you done this? And the king says, because you kidnapped our daughters. And then Gideon in verse 17 of Mosiah chapter 20 says, wait a minute, it's not us. It's the wicked priests. We've just got to find them because they're the ones that stole your daughters.

And so this pacified the king of the Lamanites. He did not kill the Limhi's people. He had compassion on them. And now we get into chapter 21.

[01:06:55] David Morton: So basically now that the, the, the Lamanites are like, all right, in verse 26, at the very end of that chapter, the Lamanites saw the people of Limhi that they were without arms.

They had compassion, pacified towards them, and they returned to the land in peace. And you think, oh, this is good. And that doesn't last very long because then the Lamanites get really angry at the Nephites. So they start, um, but because they had an oath, they're like, we can't slay them. But we can make their lives miserable.

So the Lamanites in verse three, it says, and they would smite them on their cheeks and exercise authority over them, began to put heavy burdens on their backs, drive them as if they were a dumb ass and all this, that they are the word of the Lord might be fulfilled. And so the Nephites are like, this is really bad.

And they start murmuring. And then the Nephites, people of Limhi, they get angry. And then they come to the king and they're like, Hey, enough is enough. Uh, and in verse seven, they gather themselves together. They went, put on their armor and they went forth against the Lamanites battle number one, and they are decimated.

Just it's so sad. Um, in verse eight and came to pass the Lamanites to beat them and drove them back and slew many of them. And then in verses nine and 10, you see how much mourning happened. And so in verse 11, they did stir up their main people. And they said, I'm angry again against the Lamanites in verse 11.

I mean, yeah, in verse 11, Number two time they go against and then verse 12 number three times they go against the Lamanites and they are beat each time So many of the men are killed and now we have numerous widows that are in the land and in verse 13 And they did humble themselves even to the dust And in verse 14, and they did humble themselves even to the depths.

And we see this humbling happen in verse 15, it says, and the Lord was slow to hear their cry because of their iniquities. What was their iniquities? They were mad. They wanted to go and fight and kill the Lamanites. So all this is going on in verse 17, there's a great number of women, more than there was men.

Therefore, King William High said, Hey, we got to take care. Of all these individuals now that their families have been decimated and, and then King Lemai is like, we got to get together. This is really tough. And not only that, Oh, those priests are coming back again and they just stole a bunch of our wheat.

So now we got to be together and watch out for those priests who are just making our lives miserable. We have to pay this tribute. We can't fight anymore. And then it's like, you see the Lord say, all right, Ammon, Here you go. So Ammon has just come down from the land of Zarahemla shortly after King Benjamin's address to come and say, Hey, what's going on?

They thought it was the priests. So they put him in jail. Then they come back. And then we see this really cool thing in verse 25. And King Lemhi had sent previous to the coming of Ammon, a small number up. And they went all the way up to the land of bones and they brought back these records. And Lemhi's like, Hey, what's going on?

Can you, Ammon, can you translate this? And Ammon's like, I can't do that, but I know someone who can. So then we see, um, I'm kind of, I'm going longer. Uh, and so we see in verse 27, they brought the record with them, even a record of the people whose bones they'd found. Oh, I would love to have seen that land.

That would have been fascinating to see what that place, because what a history we, we just have this whole group of, of the Jaredites. The thing that I love about this chapter, I promise I won't monologue too long on this, is we now have the Nephites, the Mulekites. And the Jared ites all come together in this chapter where we see records and the whole bit all coming together.

We just got something from Amazon. So in verse 30, um, okay. So now what happens is am and now isn't together. And they said, Hey, we got to get out of here. We, we need to find a way out of this. Now they were desirous to become even as Alma and his brethren who had fled into the wilderness. They were desirous to be baptized as a witness and a testimony that they were willing to serve God with all their hearts.

Nevertheless, they did prolong the time and an account of their baptism shall be given hereafter. Oh, this is cool. They recognize and they miss now. They're like, Alma left. He was the last one who had authority. We want to do that. We want to be just like Alma, which I think is so cool because then I think Mormons like putting these plates together.

He's like, all right, I'll put this, I'll make a note that they want to be like Alma. Then I'll tell Alma story and then we'll circle back to where they finally do get to be knitted into this body of Christ.

[01:11:16] Tammy Uzelac Hall: Oh, awesome. Fantastic job. So good. All right. So like you said, Dave, they were like, we got to get out of here.

Ammon, help us. So Celine, You're up. Tell us about the great escape in chapter 22 of Mosiah.

[01:11:31] Celine Morton: This escape is my kind of escape. This is like a while everyone's sleeping and quietly while sleeping drunken, but just that and Dave made this comment about, well, they're the. People of King Noah, they know how to make wine because Noah wasn't a fan of it, so.

[01:11:49] David Morton: Limhi's dad was really good at it, so.

[01:11:51] Tammy Uzelac Hall: That's awesome. I love that, I've never thought of that before.

[01:11:55] Celine Morton: Good, potent stuff. And again, something that we might see as an evil was used as a, as a, as a way to help them. So, it was, uh, I love it because they, they don't, they try something different. We're not gonna fight this time.

We're going to do something different. And all they need is another person, Gideon, who I love because. Yes. He's angry. Yes. He swears he's going to kill the king, but you know, there's, he seems to be grounded. Like he does not let his anger overtake him because he spared the king. And in this case, he's the one who comes up with this different idea, which is there's a back way out of here, a back door in the backside of the back part of this city.

And when they're asleep, we'll just like, we'll go and we'll just leave. without raising one sword, they're, they're, they get into the wilderness and they, and they leave just by, just by timing it right. And I, I love it. They're, they were able to get their animals out. I don't know how they did that quietly, but they must've been really drunk and the animals, that's impossible.

Um, and, and, and they, and they, And they left and they take their gold and their silver and everything that they have with them. And they, and then they join the people and they bring this, everything that they have to them and they add to the records and they add to all that. And you start to see this way that this gathering, you know, and talk about the gathering of Israel.

There was a gathering in the book of Mormon as well. There's this great gathering that I, that I love. I love. When people think of a different way of doing something, there are many ways to fight and they don't all include, you know, uh, violence. I just love that.

[01:13:49] Tammy Uzelac Hall: Wow. You did a great job.

[01:13:52] Celine Morton: Faster than you, but much shorter.

[01:13:54] David Morton: Yeah, you are much faster than me. I'm always, I've never been, I've never, no one's ever said, Dave, you're really got a lot of brevity. Okay.

[01:14:02] Tammy Uzelac Hall: Well, Celine, you said they gathered, they gathered up into Zarahemla. Will you read verse 14? Because I like the reaction of the gathering.

[01:14:10] Celine Morton: Oh yeah. Oh yeah. It's great.

And it came to pass and Mosiah received them with joy and he received their records and also the records which had been found by the people of Limhi.

[01:14:20] Tammy Uzelac Hall: Thank you. That seems to be the pattern of Mosiah and the land of Zarahemla. When people come, they receive them with so much joy. And going back to again, the way that we've defined Zarahemla in Hebrew, it is, it means seed of compassion.

And so you're going to see that over and over again, that this city of Zarahemla, the city of seed of compassion. welcomes people with joy every single time. And so this is not the only group that Mosiah and Zarahemla will receive. So in the next segment, we are going to continue on with the story of Alma the older, and we'll do that next.

Segment 6

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[01:15:06] Tammy Uzelac Hall: We are now going to discuss the account of Alma. If you look at Mosiah chapter 23, Right before above the section heading, it says an account of Alma and the people of the Lord who were driven into the wilderness by the people of King Noah. So remember back and forth, go back to your map because here we are, we have King Noah and next to it, you put Alma and Alma took his people and went to the waters of Mormon.

But what happens next is so good. And I've asked Dave to sum these two chapters up for us. So hit it, Dave.

[01:15:35] David Morton: Okay. So Alma is warned by the Lord while he's at the waters of Mormon with these 450 people. Hey. Uh, King Noah's coming after you got to go. So he then inspires everyone. They take everything and they leave for eight days.

They're journeying in the wilderness and they come to land in verse three. It's be, uh, verse four. It's a land that a beautiful, pleasant land of pure water. And they pitched their tents and they started till the ground and they build buildings and they were industrious and they labor exceedingly and they're establishing this really cool area that if I were the people, That would fall in no Alma.

I'd be like, this is exactly why I clap my hands for joy in the original. Look at this. We're away from King Noah, where this beautiful water we're building this area. And then they're like, Alma, let's make you our King. And he's like, okay, no, uh, we've done that before. I don't want to do this. We're not going to do that.

And in verse 12, he says, uh, you've been oppressed by King Noah and have been in bondage to him and his priests and been brought into iniquity by them. Um, We're not going to do that again. So they come and they establish in verse 15, Alma starts teaching them. And it's evident that Alma has witnessed what contention does.

He watched an entire area that hit that the, he was the high priest to King Noah and he saw what contention. So one of the first things he tells them is no contention. We're not going to have that. And, and that he became their high priest in verse 16, he being the founder of their church. And then he starts establishing and he starts to in verse 18, they did watch over their people, did nurse them with things pertaining to righteousness.

And I love how they called the land Helam because Helam was the first person that was baptized. And we don't know much about Helam, but I just think it's so cool that Alma, the older, Had his amulet that, uh, that Helam, we don't know much about him, but he was there to help and assist and be there so much that they named the land after Helam.

And they started to multiply in the Lord, uh, bless them. And we see that he starts to actually the, um, established teachers to go around and everything is going great. Um, and then verse 25 happens. It came to pass that while they were in the land of Helam, yea, in the city of Helam, while tilling the land round about, behold, an army of the Lamanites was in the borders of the land.

And they come. And so the people are frightened. Alma stands forth in verse 27, and exhorted them that they should not be frightened, but that they should remember the Lord their God, and He would deliver them. And they Therefore they hush their fears and then begin to cry into the Lord. The Lord softened the Lamanites hearts and they come together.

And the interesting thing, this is the exact army that was chasing the people of King of Limhi. Limhi leave the army chases. They get lost and you're like, Oh no.

[01:18:22] Celine Morton: And they find

[01:18:24] David Morton: people and, and so they're like, well, we didn't find Limhi's people, but we found these people. And the leader of, well, the Lamanites had first found the high priests, Amulon joins them.

So Amulon is now with these Lamanites that are come and Amulon's like, I know you, I know you. And so, and so. What happens here is, yeah, so they said, tell us where the land of Nephi is and we'll leave you alone. Alma and his people point the way to the land of Nephi. And then I imagine Amulon had a part to play in this and they're like, uh, we're, we're going to be, we're going to be watching you and we're going to take you as our prisoners.

So 24 happens. Amulon persecutes Alma and his people. And. Um, and so the people start praying and the Lord sustains them and amylons like, Hey, I know what's going on here. No more praying. If you pray, we're going to put you to death. So they start praying inside their hearts And in verse 12 and alman his people did not raise their voices to the lord there But they'd pour out their hearts to him And he did know the thoughts of their hearts and he came to pass the voice of the lord came to them in their affliction saying Lift up your heads and be of good comfort for I know the covenant you have made unto me And I will covenant with my people and deliver them out of bondage and the Lord sustains them and eases their burdens.

And, and so the point that they are able to, you see this oneness happening as well. And, and then basically the Lord then inspires them and say, Hey, get all your stuff together. I'm going to make the Lamanites fall asleep. And then the middle of the night. Just go and I'm going to guide you and the Lord gather.

And so Alma gathers the people, the Lamanites go to sleep and they stay really, they were just in verse 19 in the morning, the Lord caused a deep sleep to come upon the Lamanites and all their taskmasters were in a profound sleep and 20 and Almanac people depart into the wilderness and they traveled all day, pitched their tents in a valley and they called the valley Alma.

And then they keep going. And they make their way to the land of Zarahemla.

[01:20:36] Tammy Uzelac Hall: And then read verse 25 for us.

[01:20:39] David Morton: And after they had been in the wilderness twelve days, they arrived in the land of Zarahemla. And here it is again. And King Mosiah did also receive them with joy.

[01:20:48] Celine Morton: You guys too?

[01:20:50] David Morton: Yeah.

[01:20:50] Celine Morton: Ah, I didn't want

[01:20:52] David Morton: Ah, that would have been the coolest discussion. That would have been the best dinner.

[01:20:57] Tammy Uzelac Hall: To hear the stories. Oh, my gosh. Okay. That was such a good job. So good. I think what's so interesting to me is as you were telling the story, Go back to Mosiah chapter 23, and I feel like verse 21 through 24 is like a parentheses. So to the outside of 21, I put a little parentheses mark because it's almost like they're telling the story.

Then all of a sudden somebody inserts this because they call it the city of the helium And then he goes, Oh, but nevertheless, the Lord see a fit to chase in his people. Yeah. He try it. Their patients with their faith. Nevertheless, whosoever put if his trust in the same shall be lifted up at the last day.

Like there's this whole dialogue right here that has nothing to do with the story. It's like, Oh, by the way, times are about to get real, real hard. It's going to get so difficult, but he's going to help out his people. And then it ends in verse 25 for, and it came to pass that he did deliver them. He did show forth his mighty power into them and great where they're rejoicing.

Now, back to our story. Then we tell the story and then we get like you said, Dave, we get how the hardship for these people. And I'm always struck with verse 15 and 16 because you taught us how he eased the burdens that were put upon their shoulders when I would have thought he would have just removed them.

I would have expected to say he removed the burdens, but he didn't. He just made their shoulders capable of carrying the burdens that there were given. But then we get right here. At the end of verse 15, when it says that he, they were able to bear the burdens with ease and they did submit cheerfully and with patience to all the will of the Lord.

And then verse 16, so it came to pass so great was their faith and their patience. I mean, it wasn't, this is kind of what the spirit taught me when I was reading this. It's the first time I've noticed the word patience because the word patience then implies it did not get better overnight. The word patience even implies, when I think about how long my patience has been tested or tried, I mean, If I just think about how I didn't get married till I was 35, that's 35 years of patience.

So that's my only, my only frame right here. Did they wait 35 years? We don't know how long they waited, but it had to have been long enough for them to have their patients tried and to go, seriously, we're still here. We're still dealing with it. Come on, just let us go, you know? And then they finally do get this awesome, fabulous miracle.

And so for me, when we were talking about this, one of the things that you guys brought up that you loved. Was you said that there are roles that people played in all of the stories that we talked about? And for me, I immediately thought of the role that patients played. in this story and the role that patients plays in my life.

But you were specific about the roles that people play. And I want you to tell me about that. Why did that stand out to you? Cause that was so cool.

[01:23:34] David Morton: Um, well, so Gideon for me is one of those individuals that, uh, like the role he plays in this whole thing. We don't know tons about Gideon, but you see Gideon's name pop up so much in use.

You said the circle and we write the word hero beside it because you see him right there. He says, I've had enough. I've watched King Noah. I'm I'm done. And he goes after him. But then he's the one who helps basically bring people together when they're like, Oh boy, the Lamanites are coming. The Lamanite King is just, there's fought.

So Limhi and the Lamanite King or nose to nose and Gideon's like, um, before you send that letter out, didn't the high priest leave. Aren't those the ones that probably did it? Oh, you're right. Diffuse the situation between the two Kings. And then we see Gideon come back basically is like, Hey, I got an idea how to get out of the city.

Let's do this. And I think it is a beautiful thing that he's with Alma all the way through to the point that Alma, the younger than is the one who sees when Gideon is finally martyred by Nehor. And I think it's a beautiful thing that Alma's son is also benefited from this individual Gideon and that Gideon right to the end of his life.

You know, he, he testified of Jesus and you're like, he's one of those people. I'm like, I'd like to be like Gideon, not in the limelight, not have to be the one that's in the forefront, but supporting and doing that everyone can play a role. And I'm like, I thought that was cool.

[01:25:04] Tammy Uzelac Hall: I like how you just said the role, the role of support.

Uh, that is one of the most important roles, more important than being a president of anything. It's the first and second counselors that are so important. It's that, that support that a president needs. I like how you said that. This is an interesting thing, Dave. I think you'll find this kind of cool. Um, my mission, I met a man who got baptized solely because of the story of Gideon and I was like, that's an odd.

Yeah. He's like, I only joined the church because I read the book of Mormon and when I got to this Gideon guy who was so amazing. And then he dies. No author kills the hero like that. That just doesn't happen. You let him live at a wonderful. And I just thought that is the craziest thing ever. He joined the church because he's like, no human man would have ended Gideon's life that way.

I thought that was so great. So I think that's so cool. This idea that Gideon is the role of support. Awesome role. What about you, Celine? What's a role that stood out to you?

[01:25:57] Celine Morton: So this actually just came to me today when I was taking the dogs for a walk and I was thinking about this idea of, um, of the, the priest, that dirty scoundrel who just keeps getting everything he wants.

He steals the daughters and then they like, you know, then they plead for his life and then he ends up in charge and it just seems so unfair. And then I don't know why, but then I started to see what happened that because he was put, because, um, And when I say there are roles to play, even the role of villain plays a role.

And he is put over all of these differently made armies because of this. He teaches them the ways of Nephites. They learn to speak the language of the Nephites. They learn the language. And then if you look here, um, after in chapter 25, it says it came to pass in 12 came to pass that those who are the children of Amulon and his people.

Brethren who had taken to wife the daughters of the Lamanites were displeased with the conduct of their fathers. They would no longer be called by the names of their fathers. Therefore they took upon themselves the name of Nephi. So now you realize the role they played, uh, the people of Alma played as a role.

Examples to the children of this evil, you know, priest, so much that they wanted to go with them and they, and they, and they saw them and they, and the children. So right then this, like this, uh, tradition of, of doing wrong stops. At the children of these, of these priests, because, and they're, they're, they're, they're children of the priests and of the Lamanite daughters, not a, not a union that was probably a good union, but from that, something good.

And I remember talking to a woman who had taken these children in from these very, like, bad situations, and she was. Feeling very sad. Like, what am I doing? I still can't, I can't fix this child that or this. Now she is a young woman that all this stuff had happened to. And I sometimes wonder what my role is.

And to me, it was so clear. I said, you're, you stopped the cycle. You may not be able to fix her or what she will be to her child and to their children. That we believe in eternity and you're playing a role in this eternal line of, of, of this daughter that you rescued. You may not see the immediate effect, but you're meant to love her so that she can know love enough to now love her daughter.

[01:28:34] Tammy Uzelac Hall: That's cool. You know what I love about what you both have shared? Eternity. Um, and I think that's a really important thing to remember is that when we talk, when we went into talking about roles, the obvious roles would have been for us to talk about Alma and Limhi and Ammon. And you took the subtle roles, the less talked about the Gideon and these fathers.

And I think that was powerful. Because then I connected it back to this, how we began in Mosiah chapter 18 and how this idea of being Mormon, being a place of everlasting love, and then the baptismal covenants that we make. And you said this, Celine, but what is my role? What role am I playing then in building the kingdom in helping us to become one?

And so I think that is our challenge to everyone listening. Is as you're driving now, as you're going out about and driving for me is my dead time when I don't think about anything, but I think about everything and I challenge everybody to take that time to just think about what is your role and what is God going to do to use?

Again, I love Celine. You're like, I've talked to bigger people than you. Like, I can take care of the work. What is going to be our role this week? That's our challenge. Just this week, because we don't want to think further till the end of time because that's too long. Right? Yeah, I love that. Just this week.

Ask God, what is just today? Just today. What is my role today? What can I do today? So everyone take this minute. And think about what can you do today and what is your role and connecting it back to this story that was so beautifully taught by Celine and Dave. So thank you. Thank you both of you. That's the end of our episode.

We're done. How great was that? I loved it. I loved it. Okay. So just take a minute now, gather your thoughts and what is your takeaway from our discussion? What's something that will stay with you or that struck you as we discussed? And I have so many. Oh my gosh, I have so many.

[01:30:23] David Morton: I love that element of the place of, of the word Mormon mean everlasting love that king, when King Noah, because it says, I think King Noah is even the one that, um, where he,

[01:30:35] Tammy Uzelac Hall: he would have been the one who named it.

[01:30:37] David Morton: Yeah. Like he's the one who named it. Right. And, and you think King Noah, and we always think of these bad things and he didn't even realize what he had done. And that part of King Noah, this, I mean, pardon me, uh, Mormon being desire and meaning everlasting love is one of those things that I was not always bad.

[01:30:57] Celine Morton: You're right. My takeaway is that, um, The story within a story within a story, and not just the story that the Book of Mormon is, but the story of a person and we meet people, we hear their name and we may, I think a lot of times we pass judgment on who they are, how they behave, but that the, that they are not just.

Their name, their name also is, uh, is something that their parents gave them that with that name, their parents gave them a history and so on and so forth. And that this idea to keep searching and the way you, you pulled these little nuggets out, me reading a scripture that had never, ever affected me emotionally to be able to read and have it.

That's the spirit, the spirit will show you the story within the story. He will teach us what's behind a name. What's behind the person that you're, that you're in contact with, and that it's our job to have that willingness, that desire to love and to be one and to let the spirit guide us and let us, we don't have to know how we're going to be one, we just have to know that we want to do it.

[01:32:10] Tammy Uzelac Hall: He'll help us through the rest. Wow. Thank you, Celine. Um, my takeaway of two was when Celine, when you read, Mosiah chapter 18 verses eight through 10, the baptismal covenants. I had never heard them read with such emotion. And I feel like when you read them that way, that was how they were meant to be felt when you read them.

And I hope we all feel when we read those. And Dave, I like how you said to slow down when you come to these, because if we did have a nickel for every time. I'd have enough to pay my tithing now I'm just getting, I think it's rude that how you said that was great. And then, um, Dave, I really appreciated when you shared that personal experience of listening to people in your office as a bishop and how you imagine yourself sitting next to them looking at Christ, the person that we become one with that really touched me.

So thank you to both of you. What a fun discussion this, you just exceeded my expectation. I already knew it'd be good, but this was. Awesome. The spirit was so strong. I love you too. Thank you.

[01:33:12] David Morton: Love you too. Tammy. Thank you very much.

[01:33:14] Tammy Uzelac Hall: Thank you for taking your time.

So what was your takeaway?

I want you to go and join us on Facebook or follow us on Instagram and share what you have learned because wow, we learned so much from Celine and Dave. This, This episode was awesome. Then at the end of the week on a Saturday, we usually post a question from this specific episode. So comment on the post that relates to this lesson and share your thoughts.

You can get to both our Facebook and Instagram by going to the show notes for this episode of ldsliving. com slash Sunday on Monday, and it's not a bad idea to go there anyway. It's where we're going to have the links to the references that we used as well as there will be a transcript of this whole discussion, so be sure to check it out.

The Sunday on Monday study group is a desert bookshelf plus original brought to you by LDS living. It is written and hosted by me, Tammy Uzelac Hall, and as well as our guests, Celine and Dave for this episode. And today our awesome study group participants for Celine and Dave Morton. And you can find more information about my friends at LDS living.

com slash Sunday on Monday. Our podcast is produced by Cole Wissinger and me. It is edited and mixed by Cole Wissinger and our executive producer is Erin Hallstrom. Thanks for being here. We'll see you next week. And please, oh, please remember. That the everlasting one has everlasting love for you because you are God's favorite.