followHIM - 25¢ for Eternity • followHIM Favorites • Feb 5 - Feb 11 • Come Follow Me

Episode Date: February 1, 2024

Thanks to the followHIM team:Steve & Shannon Sorensen: Cofounder, Executive Producer, SponsorDavid & Verla Sorensen: SponsorsDr. Hank Smith: Co-hostJohn Bytheway: Co-hostDavid Perry: ProducerKyle Nelson: Marketing, SponsorLisa Spice: Client Relations, Editor, Show NotesJamie Neilson: Social Media, Graphic DesignAnnabelle Sorensen: Creative Project ManagerWill Stoughton: Video EditorKrystal Roberts: Translation Team, English & French Transcripts, WebsiteAriel Cuadra: Spanish Transcripts"Let Zion in Her Beauty Rise" by Marshall McDonaldhttps://www.marshallmcdonaldmusic.com

Hello, my friends. Welcome to Follow Him Favorites. This year, we're going to share a single story from each week's lesson. John, we are in 2 Nephi 1 and 2 today, and you've told me you have a great story. So where are we going to go? I do. It's not my story. You might remember the name Elder Robert E. Wells. He wrote a book years ago called Hasten My Work. And in this story, he told about a man who took the train home from work every day and there was a bookstore used bookstore right by the train station and so he'd usually buy a book and read it on the train well this time he only had change in his pocket and he came into the bookstore and said what is the cheapest book in your store

and the owner said well there's a bunch in that box down there I was going to throw away. You could have one of those for a quarter. I think it was. And he found a book with approximately 531 pages in there and picked it up and started to read. This is what he got to. Just love this paragraph. On the bus, he started to read the old beaten Book of Mormon. He did not mind the double columns with every verse number because he felt it gave a certain dignified importance to each thought. He did not mind the lack of illustrations, nor did he expect any in such a book. But the spirit of the contents intrigued him. He liked the old-fashioned and unique way the story began. He followed it carefully, pondering over what he was reading. This fellow got all the way to 2 Nephi 2, when something strange began stirring within him.

Now, this is Elder Wells. 2 Nephi 2 is probably the single most doctrinally profound, deeply philosophical, and spiritually potent chapter in the entire volume. Noted writers on the Book of Mormon, such as Dr. Sidney Sperry and Dr. Hugh Nibley, have commented on the outstanding nature of this chapter. Back to Elder Wells, if I had to single out one chapter in the Book of Mormon as having had the greatest impact and importance to me, it would be this one. The brother giving this conversion story went on to say, as he read this chapter, he felt an urge to pray to God for the first time in his adult life. Now he offered a simple prayer to God in his mind, saying,

God, what is this book? What am I feeling? What am I supposed to do about it? He said his answer was nothing more than the impression to wait, and God would tell him more. That night, the fellow was reading in his humble home when two missionaries on their way home felt a distinct impression to stop at his door. Second Nephi 2. Things that act and things that are acted upon. There must needs be an opposition in all things. Adam fell that men might be and men are that they might have joy.

There's a couple of books in that box over there. Yeah. Just it's the cheapest. You can have any one of those for a quarter. What a great story, John. What a great story. Thank you.

Elder wealth. We hope you'll join us on our full podcast. It's called follow him. You can get it wherever you get your podcast. We're going to be in second. If I wanted to this week, we're with Dr. your podcasts. We're going to be in 751 and 2 this week. We're with Dr. Lily Anderson. You're going to just be blown away, really, by what she does with these chapters.

And then come back next week. We're going to share another story on Follow Him Favorites. © transcript Emily Beynon