Fun Week

Dear Family,

This week was a great week.  We had a really great trip to the São Paulo Temple.  We went there on Wednesday.  When you are in the temple you don´t even feel like leaving.  The Spirit is so strong and when I leave the temple I feel like I recharged a spiritual battery and received more strength.  It really helps me remember the eternal prospective and focus on the task at hand without getting distracted.  We are currently preparing for the devotional with Russell M. Nelson on Wednesday.  It is going to be awesome!  I have been waiting my whole mission to see an apostle and finally its going to happen.  I am excited to see him.  

I have been thinking recently about something I noticed when I was studying the Book of Mormon.  The other day I was reading in 1 Nephi about Lehi´s family and I noticed a part that I had never noticed before.  It was in verse 28 of chapter 3 when Lehi´s sons where trying to get the brass plates from Laban.  And after their first and second attempts to retrieve the plates were unseccessful, it Nephi says "and it came to pass that Laman was angry with me, and also with my father; and also was Lemuel, for he hearkened unto the words of Laman".  I had never really thought about the last part of this verse before.  But for some reason while I was reading this really struck me that we don´t know exactly what was going through the heads of Laman and Lemuel.  But Nephi says that Lemuel was upset and was lead to making wrong decisions because he hearkened to the words of his older brother Laman!  Or in other words Lemuel wasn´t the type of guy that had a strong personality, he certainly wasn´t firm enough to stick up for what was right in front of his older brother Laman.  He was swayed too easily by his older brother and because of this, was lead to making wrong decisions.  Another proof of what kind of personality Lemuel had is found in verse 10 of chapter 2 of first Nephi.  "And [Lehi] also spake unto Lemuel: O that thou mightest be like unto this valley, firm and steadfast, and immovable in keeping the commandments of the Lord!".  Lehi wanted desperately for Lemuel to be firm in keeping the commandments, especially in the face of the person who he most admired which was his older brother Lemuel.  Unfortunately we know from the story that in the end Lemuel let himself be influenced and persuaded my Laman until it had huge consequences on his life and the lives of his posterity.  How often are we like Lemuel?  How often do we want to do the right things but let ourselves be influenced by those around us to do something we wouldn´t do otherwise?  I know that all of us have been guilty of that at at least one point in our lives.  I hope that we can always have the courage to stand up and do what is right!  That´s it for this week!

Love,

Elder Anderson