The Goliath Rap and the Power of the Book of Mormon

Dear family and friends,

Did you like our rap? Did you like it did you like it huh huh?? (see below for link) We had so much fun making it! Bishop Wright suggested on Friday night that we write a rap, maybe about David and Goliath. We said yeah, great idea! We then wrote it in less than an hour and had it memorized by the next morning. We found out when we went over that Bishop was not expecting that it would be ready by then. Hehehe. We will not be underestimated again!

[ Link to Goliath Rap: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k0HS1Aa_KFs ]

Apparently, our young friend Alex has a rare form of epilepsy. He has hundreds of seizures each day, each resulting in a lapse of memory of the time surrounding the seizure. Now we understand why he keeps not remembering everything we thought we explained well! We're starting over in the lessons and moving along at a much more steady pace. We'll be checking for understanding A LOT more this time. He is such a great kid. (:

Joe totally said family prayer with his family!!!!! He's also been reading everything we ask him to in The Book of Mormon. Now if we can just get him to come to church... hmm.

Doug, who we taught last week with Brother Lawrence, we taught again this week with Brother Lawrence! This time, his son Nicholas also sat in. Nicholas said the closing prayer! So cool. Nicholas is our newest gospel investigator, and we think he is ready to bloom, just needs to feel some TLC from the ward and to quit smoking. He's a freshman in high school, he really shouldn't be smoking anyway!

In our lesson that evening, Doug was expressing his serious concerns about how much of scripture was actually from God and how much was edited by man according to what man wants. Sister Tait threw down with Mosiah 3:19! She talked about how we're all working on overcoming the natural man and how you can tell the truth of all things by the power of the Holy Ghost. Oh, yeah. That's my companion!

Doug peppered us with questions that night via text:

Where did the golden plates come from? >> 1 Nephi 6:1-6, 1 Nephi 9:2-6, Mormon 8, Moroni 1:1-4
What language were they in? >> 1 Nephi 1:2
Did Jesus visit the American Indians? >> 3 Nephi 11-26
Were there people in the Americas before the Nephites? >> Ether (all of the chapters)
Did the Jaredites come over before or after the Ice age? >> *crickets*

We weren't really sure about the last one, but we were able to answer all of the others using passages from The Book of Mormon! I love having this vast store of valuable knowledge at my fingertips. Though I have read thousands of books that have shaped my perceptions of the world and my wonderings about life, no book has changed me as much as The Book of Mormon has. To say that I am better for having read it is a sore understatement. Having read it in times of joy and in times of sorrow, I now know in whom I have trusted like Nephi did (2 Nephi 4:19-24). Being able to see this light up those around us who we meet and learn alongside is probably the greatest miracle I have ever seen. Joy, I realized this week, is a true and lasting miracle. (:

Feel joy!

Love you all to pieces,

Sister Naomi Rapier

[Fun Fact: Turns out that the Woodstock Ward bishop is author Jason Wright - Christmas Jars, Wednesday Letters, and a Deseret News column: Wright Words.]