Helaman 10

I recently read this passage and remembered a lesson that i learned while serving a mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.

4 Blessed art thou, Nephi, for those things which thou hast done; for I have beheld how thou hast with unwearyingness declared the word, which I have given unto thee, unto this people. And thou hast not feared them, and hast not sought thine own life, but hast sought my will, and to keep my commandments.
5 And now, because thou hast done this with such unwearyingness, behold, I will bless thee forever; and I will make thee mighty in word and in deed, in faith and in works; yea, even that all things shall be done unto thee according to thy word, for thou shalt not ask that which is contrary to my will.
6 Behold, thou art Nephi, and I am God. Behold, I declare it unto thee in the presence of mine angels, that ye shall have power over this people, and shall smite the earth with famine, and with pestilence, and destruction, according to the wickedness of this people.
7 Behold, I give unto you power, that whatsoever ye shall seal on earth shall be sealed in heaven; and whatsoever ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven; and thus shall ye have power among this people.

The lesson is mostly unconnected with the content of the passage, but this records a promise and command given to one of God's prophets in The Book of Mormon. Before I went on my mission (I could have ben 10 or I could have been 18 - I don't remember) I remember my mom emphasizing that this was a meaningful passage to her and after that I always paid attention to it when i read it. By the time I was on my mission, this prophet's faithfulness was a primary influence in my daily behavior - i thought about this passage with frequency and aspired to the obedience that brought these blessings to the prophet.

I think that the background for the lesson was this: Several weeks before I came home I was trying to motivate a small group of missionaries to work very hard. I knew that they would be more motivated by recalling instruction they had received from the scriptures or elsewhere to work very hard, than they would by my account of this passage that was meaningful to me. So I asked each missionary to come to a meeting prepared to share a scripture that had influenced their day-to-day behavior on their mission.

When we held the meeting I was shocked that, rather than repeatedly hearing of the "unwearyingness" mentioned in the verses above, I heard passages that described other attributes that should guide the daily behavior of missionaries specifically and worshipful disciples, such as love for others, humility, etc. As I recall, the passages reflected the things that each individual had particular strengths in. As much as i should have known all of this long before, it powerfully taught me two things: 1) working hard was something i was very good at and thought hard about, but it wasn't the only thing missionaries needed to do to be faithful disciples. 2) everybody was already working hard according to what Heavenly Father ad impressed upon them.

Two simple things, but it was a powerful lesson to me.