Reading Sections: 30-37

These sections were filled with a lot of information and and revelation. It starts out with the Lord rebuking David Whitmer. I like how the manual pointed out that anyone of us could replace David's name with our own and the doctrine would still apply. We need to remember that the Lord wasn't just rebuking David Whitmer, but all of us. In the next section we hear about Thomas Marsh, the family being an essential unit in God's work, and the blessings you can receive for being righteous. In Thomas Marsh's case, he was able to be eloquent in his speech which made preaching the gospel easier. I would really like that blessing! The next couple of sections talked about the first mission to the Lamanites. There was a lot that went into spreading the gospel to the Lamanites. Lucky for the missionaries a lot of them accepted it with open arms. When I first read section 33, some parts confused me, but after reading the manual and seeing how key phrases related to the parable of the ten virgins, it all fell into place. If you can relate what you are reading to something else you have read, it makes understanding all that much easier. These sections also contained a lot of revelation directed to specific people. Orson Pratt, Edward Partridge, Sidney Rigdon, etc. What a great blessing it is to have this revelation recorded for us to read! A lot of these men received answers to questions that we ask today, so it is nice to know that they are right here in these sections. Lastly,we have the revelation given to the Saints to move to Ohio. To me this seems bittersweet. With all of the persecution the Saints were getting, a new gathering place was needed. However, the members were alresdy established and to just pick up and move like that is a great sacrifice. It shows a deep testimony of the Saints to heed the word of the Lord when he commanded them to go to Ohio, and I am grateful for that.