LEARNING A FOREIGN LANGUAGE

Lydia sent Andy's obituary to many of you. I feel like there is an empty place at the table or an empty room in the house. I saw him infrequently but he was always there somewhere and he was always family and his presence was like an old and comfortable winter coat---worn rarely but ready and reliable always.

My feelings have been more poignant with the passing of Andy than even with my Mom. She was so good and so ready and had been so sick for so long. The thought of her release from these mortal chains was exhilarating almost. Andy was less ready, and of course he was my generation. I know this separation will take some getting accustomed to.

Eileen, my oldest sister, had her birthday yesterday. I won't say which birthday, but she may have watched Orville and Wilbur at Kitty Hawk.

Bishop Edgely, a counselor in the Presiding Bishopric came to the Institute yesterday to speak at our Friday devotional, but he came an hour early and spent 45 minutes with the faculty. He told us he had been in a meeting with the First Presidency that morning before coming to Orem, and that it was nice to have all three chairs at the head of the table filled. That has not always been the case. In his remarks, he described an interesting event.

He was in a meeting with the First Presidency in their room at the Church Administration Building on the 3rd of March, 1995, He was standing at his place making presentation when the door to the room opened and Michael Watson came into the room with the news that President Hunter had just passed away.

Bp. Edgely said he was watching President Hinckley at that moment, and had the sense or awareness of the passing the mantle. It happened at the moment of President Hunter's passing, or courses, but President Hinckley's awareness of it happened as he watched.

On Thursday I taught the first three chapters of Mosiah including the first part of Benjamin's sermon.

We are told in chapter 1 that Benjamin

"had three sons; and he called their names Mosiah, and Helorum, and Helaman. And he caused that they should be taught in all the language of his fathers, that thereby they might become men of understanding; and that they might know concerning the prophecies which had been spoken by the mouths of their fathers, which were delivered them by the hand of the Lord.

"And he also taught them concerning the records which were engraven on the plates of brass, saying: My sons, I would that ye should remember that were it not for these plates, which contain these records and these commandments, we must have suffered in ignorance, even at this present time, not knowing the mysteries of God.

"For it were not possible that our father, Lehi, could have remembered all these things, to have taught them to his children, except it were for the help of these plates; for he having been taught in the language of the Egyptians therefore he could read these engravings, and teach them to his children, that thereby they could teach them to their children, and so fulfilling the commandments of God, even down to this present time" (Mosiah 1:2 - 4).

The brass plates were in Egyptian. I assume that the plates of Nephi were also in Egyptian and Reformed Egyptian (see Mormon 9:32). Therefore, anyone who wanted to study the scriptures in the original language was required to learn a foreign language. Whether Benjamin knew and taught his children some Egyptian, or simply taught them the messages that had originally been written in Egyptian I cannot say, but can confidently say that all experiences with scripture are part of a study of a foreign language.

Most of you remember your first exposure to Leviticus or to Romans, or even to the Book of Mormon. The construction, the language, the flow and format were all strange to you. Your first attempts at reading were like your first piano lessons. The initial effort was incredibly important but not very productive. Great effort and continued immersion in the fundamentals and then a great deal of time in front of an open music book were required to achieve excellence, and not many of my children really did. But the same is true of the scriptures. Skills with the language require continued immersion and a great deal of time looking at an open book.

You have known people who have paid the price---people who can sit at the piano and play almost anything, or who can open the scriptures and explain almost anything.

The verses above about Benjamin and the scriptures and his sons led me into musings about our own efforts to provide our children with the necessary tools to speak the language, so that they might be men and women "of understanding; and that they might know concerning the prophecies which had been spoken by the mouths of their fathers, which were delivered them by the hand of the Lord."

The labor could not be more intensive if we tried to teach them Egyptian or Laotian or Portuguese, but the results are infinitely more important. Benjamin knew that. I hope we do too. For you with little children, it is never too early make them a part of the process of learning the language of the scriptures. Never mind if they are too young to read, or even to listen as you read. Let them become familiar with the names and the sounds and the spirit of the scriptures. If you wait they are old enough to read and study on their own, you will find them old enough to say 'no' and to resist those early morning hours as my children sometimes did. But if the study of the scriptures has been a part of their lives from their infancy, then by the time they are old enough to choose for themselves, it will have become (as it did for Benjamin's son, Mosiah) an indispensable habit with them.

And there are great blessings that come from such study.

Benjamin desired to provide the best of every benefit and opportunity for his children. And he did, by teaching them the scriptures. Benjamin teaches us a great lesson about the benefits of the scriptures and gives great counsel about how to take advantage of those benefits:

"I say unto you, my sons, were it not for these things, which have been kept and preserved by the hand of God, that we might read and understand of his mysteries, and have his commandments always before our eyes, that even our fathers would have dwindled in unbelief, and we should have been like unto our brethren, the Lamanites, who know nothing concerning these things, or even do not believe them when they are taught them, because of the traditions of their fathers, which are not correct" (Mosiah 1:5).

What a blessing to have the opportunity to “have his commandments always before our eyes.” Have you taken advantage? Or have you, by reason of neglect of the scriptures, dwindled in unbelief from time to time in your life? Have you sometimes “suffered in ignorance, not knowing the mysteries of God”? I have heard that Mark Twain once said, “ A man who won’t read is no better off than a man who can’t.” This is certainly true of reading the scriptures. If we do not read the Book of Mormon, the Doctrine and Covenants, the Pearl of Great Price and the Bible, what advantage do we have over those who cannot read because they do not know about the scriptures or do not have them?

Sister Robin Hendricksen said while reporting her mission in my ward, "Scriptures that are falling apart usually belong to someone who isn't."

Amen!