Silent Symphony

“Ahh hey what are you guys looking at?” I asked to two hippie looking people lying down on some grass.
“We’re trying to figure out to blow up the sun…” They responded as if I should have known…
“Nice, what have you come up with so far?” I asked, because I was actually pretty curious.
“Basically just cursing at God till it blows up..”
“How’s that working for you?”
“It’s not…”
“Yeah it usually doesn’t…”
Well they ended up being way cool and probably on meth but… hey… whatever. They took one of those Book of Mormons and said they’d read it because they don’t have a home.. or a phone… or a car…or food.
Don’t do drugs, kids.
Welcome to the day in the life of an exchange in Marysville. My day was full of Spanish conversations where I almost had the gift of interpretation of tongues and heavy eyelids. The last time I went on a full day Spanish exchange I just prayed my big ole heart out for the gift of tongues. It didn’t quite come. This time I kept praying for it and…………… wait for iiiit………….it still didn’t come. Or at least the way I was hoping it would. I feel like I could read their body language pretty clearly though. I could follow the tone of the conversations and the direction it was heading. I knew what scriptures were being read and what would be helpful for them. So… like…I didn’t start speaking Española or anything (well… I did… just gibberish to be funny. Classic joke) but I did have some help from God to understand the subtleties of communication. I liked that.
Well, if you were wondering… I did have a great Sunday. What a day. Our WWU investigator was baptized. She just had her tonsils removed on Thursday so she still felt pretty crummy, which isn’t… ideal. She was so nervous about having to re-do it if it didn’t go well the first time ha. The last three baptisms she went to of ours, the person baptizing had to redo it several times and she didn’t like that. Luckily it went well. I stepped on her toes so that they wouldn’t fly up ha. I felt so much love for her and this gospel at the same time. The adrenaline and power that comes from baptizing someone is phenomenal. The thunder was so loud outside that the lights were flickering and people were crying (just one). I think a lot of the people inside were calm and peaceful despite the torrential storm. The Lord’s house is the great protector of all forms of danger. I could feel the spiritual safety of the soul and the love of everyone around me. It’s amazing to think that just a couple months ago I first saw our investigator on a college campus, walking to class with a friend, having no idea what was going to happen her that day. A couple months later she has accepted the gospel of Jesus Christ and has changed everything about her life to become in line with God’s will. God is a God of miracles. Always has been… always will be. I always want to see His guiding hand in my life. It’s there if I let it be.

The overall stress in the mission is at an all-time high. Everyone. Times are tough for the WEM but we’re about to bounce back and come up to our potential here pretty soon. We have a leadership training this week for all the zone, district and sister leaders. Comp and I have been thinking about what they need…. maybe something about how to be bold but not overbearing with people. Accountability. Something. We’ve trained a lot on finding techniques a couple months ago so we took a break because we figured everyone is tired of that. It’s weird to think most of the mission is new and hasn’t even heard our “recent” trainings. So we just need to do everything over again. Train and retrain… or so it’s said. I don’t know.
Alright here’s another tip for the day in addition to the whole “not doing drugs thing.” It involves studying the scriptures. Friday morning I came to studies with a question I’ve had for probably eight months. Now... I’m sure some or even most of you already knew this… I’m just a little behind the game. I’m going to try and explain my question and answer to you.
Ezekiel 37:16-17
“Moreover, thou son of man, take thee one stick, and write upon it, For Judah (BIBLE), and for the children of Israel his companions: then take another stick, and write upon it, For Joseph, the stick of Ephraim (BOOK OF MORMON), and for all the house of Israel his companions: And join them one to another into one stick; and they shall become one in thine hand.”
I love that prophecy. It shows that we need more than just the Bible and we have the fullness of the gospel coming together from both testaments of Christ. Makes sense. Well here’s where my question comes in… In Alma 10:3 I found out that Lehi is actually a descendant of Manasseh, not Ephraim. So I was confused for like that past eight months about that. How is the prophecy referring to the Book of Mormon if the people in it (descendants of Lehi) are not from the tribe of Ephraim but from Manasseh? It must be talking about something else. The church must not be true! (not really my thoughts, but the exaggeration makes my point)… what’s the answer? Well, all during personal study I was looking up people’s genealogies trying to figure this out. Then in comp study Elder Draper and I started talking about it and still had no idea. Well we thought back to Lehi for a bit. Now Lehi commanded Nephi to go get some people before they left to the Promised Land. He said to get Ishmael. Why Ishmael? Well I never thought about it all… I just thought it was because he had some nice looking single daughters or something. But I was wrong… or at least in part because Ishmael is actually a descendant of Ephraim! It had to be him… or someone of that descent… which fulfills another prophecy in Genesis 48:14-16 which says:
"14 And Israel stretched out his right hand, and laid it upon Ephraim’s head, who was the younger, and his left hand upon Manasseh’s head, guiding his hands wittingly; for Manasseh was the firstborn.
15 And he blessed Joseph, and said, God, before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac did walk, the God which fed me all my life long unto this day,
16 The Angel which redeemed me from all evil, bless the lads; and let my name be named on them, and the name of my fathers Abraham and Isaac; and let them grow into a multitude in the midst of the earth.”
Whoa buddy… Ishmaels family (Ephraim) and Lehi’s (Manasseh) came together and “grew into a multitude in the midst of the earth.” Now combined that with Ezekiel 37 and you got yourself a multi layered fulfilled prophecy. I testify that Joseph Smith was a Prophet who translated true scripture by the power of God. The Holy Ghost has helped this make sense in my head and has touched my heart so that I could know that Joseph was a Prophet of God. I cannot deny it. I will not deny it. The Book of Mormon is a true account of the Prophets and people in Ancient America and has brought me closer to God than any other book as I've lived by it's teachings. It is God’s word. It is something that I have come to love.
Israel, Israel



Elder Trent Jay Merrill