A Sweet Gift from President Nelson's Book of Mormon Challenge
Written December 31, 2018
When the prophet issued the challenge to read the Book of Mormon, my eight year old was sitting right next to me. It was her first women’s conference and kind of a big deal. Unaided she said she was going to read and finish with me before the end of the year.
We started strong.
Every day’s assignment took a long time because we were reading aloud and marking as we went. As you can imagine, her interest and patience waned and I couldn’t decide how to parent through it. Should I continue to lovingly push her so she can experience the joy of this challenge? Would it be a good experience she could look back on or would it be something she would resent me for if I pushed it and then resent the Book of Mormon?
December hit and we were almost 200 pages behind and one day she said she didn’t want to read anymore, she just wanted to watch her show. I patiently reminded her about the challenge AND the promise that President Nelson gave us, but I let her leave knowing that agency is important, even for prophetic Book of Mormon challenges, and I prayed that the Lord would give her another opportunity sometime to read and gain testimony of the Book of Mormon.
I started reading that night and five minutes later she came to me and asked me where the Book of Mormon scripture stories book was. I helped her find it and she declared that she was going to read this book from cover to cover, all 155 pages before the end of the month. In an instant I could feel the Holy Ghost working on her. She left the room and was prompted to find that other book that was totally her level, and yet still a challenge in the time we had left.
I felt the spirit whisper to me that she could succeed at this and that this was the right thing for her. She read on her own and I read with her from time to time (but remember I’m behind in the FIRST challenge…). Still we had some great moments together and when she read alone I was grateful for the stories she could comprehend and remember. She’d emerge from her room and retell me the stories that she had just read (often she read out loud to herself). I even had a moment where I remembered that the spirit was also helping her with her reading and comprehension with this self-imposed challenge.
Today, she had 10 pages left. She read them all out loud and my mama heart has been bursting (and my tear ducts, too.) She finished. I cried. I left the room so she could pray, but she prayed out loud and asked Heavenly Father to confirm that the Book of Mormon was true and I heard her say that she was grateful for Moroni. She came out and told me how happy she was for finishing and then bounded downstairs to tell her dad.
I fell to my knees and sobbed. I thanked Heavenly Father for helping her find a way to succeed. I’m so grateful for this challenge. I’m SO proud of her. I’m grateful that she found a way to do it with the help of the spirit, and I pray that she will always remember the time that she followed the prophet. I also pray that she will remember how happy she was finishing this hard thing and that those stories will live in her heart forever. I know it will live in mine. The Book of Mormon is TRUE and the Book of Mormon can change lives. Even young lives. Thank you, President Nelson.
