74???

I had a really awesome experience this past week. I finally got around to purchasing a notebook to take notes on my Book of Mormon study, something I've been wanting to do for quite a while. It was incredible to see how quickly I received personal revelation after deciding to take notes. I started at the very beginning ("a very good place to start" according to Maria in "The Sound of Music"), and read a scripture that I'm sure I've read the most out of all of them:

1 Nephi 1:1 I, Nephi, having been ^aborn of ^bgoodly ^cparents, therefore I was^dtaught somewhat in all the learning of my father; and having seen many ^eafflictions in the course of my days, nevertheless, having been highly favored of the Lord in all my days; yea, having had a great knowledge of the goodness and the mysteries of God, therefore I make a ^frecord of my proceedings in my days.

I then continued to read the chapter and came upon:

1 Nephi 1:20 And when the Jews heard these things they were angry with him; yea, even as with the prophets of old, whom they had ^acast out, and stoned, and slain; and they also ^bsought his life, that they might take it away. But behold, I, Nephi, will show unto you that the tender ^cmercies of the Lord are over all those whom he hath chosen, because of their faith, to make them mighty even unto the power of ^ddeliverance.

I vaguely recall as a child hearing that one writing style in the Book of Mormon is that the first and last verse in the chapters are connected. As I read these verses I made a connection. In verse 1 Nephi states, "having been highly favored of the Lord in all my days," and in verse 20 he states, "over all those whom he hath chosen." It appeared to me to be about the same. Then in verse 1 he states, "having seen many afflictions in the course of my days," and in verse 20 states, "the tender mercies of the Lord." It came to my mind that it was the same again. Many times in our lives we talk about "tender mercies" as small blessings, but I have never thought about "afflictions" being "tender mercies." I testify that the afflictions and troubles we face in our lives really are "tender mercies of the Lord." It is through our trials that we learn and progress. It is through our afflictions that we come to understand how much we truly need the Lord in our lives. It was incredible to have made these connections on Saturday... because it ended up being one of the hardest days of my mission thus far and I was really grateful for what I had learned that morning. The Lord truly knows what he is doing.

Something awesome was that yesterday we had 74 people attend church... quite the change from the 25 who attended my first Sunday in Pablo Nogués! The Lord is incredible.

I love you all!

Elder John William Garrett