Lessons From Moroni

To my son,

              Recently as a family we have been reading the war chapters in the Book of Mormon, and in particular we have learned about Captain Moroni’s incredible leadership and his devotion to the Lord and His people. His military genius alone is pretty amazing, from the incredible fortifications he built around the Nephite cities to the way he was able to use stratagem to recapture Lamanite cities. He was brilliant in the way that he came up with unique solutions, such as using a decoy to lead away the Lamanite army from Mulek to retake the city or having his men lower themselves into Nephihah in the middle of the night for a surprise attack on the enemy or getting the Lamanite guards drunk in the city of Gid so he could arm the Nephite prisoners there and rescue them. He also knew how to motivate his people as he inspired them to fight for their freedoms and what was right when “he caused the title of liberty to be hoisted upon every tower which was in all the land, which was possessed by the Nephites” declaring, “In memory of our God, our religion, and freedom, and our peace, our wives, and our children” (Alma 46:12, 36). He was fully committed to preserving the rights of his people to worship the Lord and spent his life giving his all to do just that.

                As I think about his example, there are two lessons in particular that come to mind for us. One is that we can never stop preparing! You remember how he well he worked to fortify each of the Nephite cities so that the Lamanites could not penetrate them. The first time the Lamanites came up to battle against those cities, they completed failed, for “the Nephites had all power over their enemies” because of Moroni’s fortifications (Alma 49:23). After the Lamanites retreated, did Moroni sit back and relax knowing that his fortifications had worked? No! Rather, “Moroni did not stop making preparations for war, or to defend his people against the Lamanites.” They dug heaps of earth, built timbers on top of those, and put towers on top of that so they could cast stones down on the attacking Lamanites from there. “Moroni did prepare strongholds against the coming of their enemies, round about every city in all the land” (Alma 50:1-6). He never stopped preparing for the enemy, and that is how we should live too as we prepare against spiritual enemies. We never stop praying and studying the scriptures and striving to live more like the Savior. We keep going to Church and partaking of the Sacrament, we keep repenting, and we keep visiting the temple. All of these things help us when challenges and temptations and struggles come. I hope that you will help our family try to prepare like Moroni did and work to consistently do these things in your life.

                The second lesson from the stories of Moroni that I think is particularly important for our family is the need for unity. When the Nephites struggled in the war against the Lamanites, it was because of contention and fighting for power among themselves. There were people called king-men who wanted to take over the Nephite government for themselves and this caused fighting amongst the Nephites. Because of this, the people were distracted from the enemy and the Lamanites were able to capture many cities. Moroni lamented, “Yea, had it not been for the war which broke out among ourselves; yea, were it not for these king-men, who caused so much bloodshed among ourselves; yea, at the time we were contending among ourselves, if we had united our strength as we hitherto have done; yea, had it not been for the desire of power and authority which those king-men had over us; had they been true to the cause of our freedom, and united with us, and gone forth against our enemies, instead of taking up their swords against us, which was the cause of so much bloodshed among ourselves; yea, if we had gone forth against them in the strength of the Lord, we should have dispersed our enemies” (Alma 60:16). It was the internal fighting that had allowed the Lamanites to get the upper hand in the war, and I believe that this is a lesson for our family: if we want to stay strong and protect ourselves from the spiritual enemies that want to drag us down, we need to avoid contention and fighting. Moroni knew that “the inward vessel shall be cleansed first,” and when he and Pahoran did that and removed the contention from among the Nephites, they were able to successfully ward off the Lamanites and end the war. So too we need to work to get rid of fighting and contention amongst ourselves and strive for unity. I know that can be difficult sometimes, but I hope you will help us to keep our family strong against the enemy by reducing contention and helping us prepare for whatever might be ahead for us. President Nelson made this comment, “We're witnesses to a process of restoration. If you think the Church has been fully restored, you're just seeing the beginning. There is much more to come.… Wait till next year. And then the next year. Eat your vitamin pills. Get your rest. It's going to be exciting.” There is much to look forward to as we prepare spiritually and are unified in our family! 

Love, 

Dad