Day 279 Fulfilling God's Promises to the Lamanites

In Matthew 5:13, Jesus tells his followers that they are the salt of the earth, and in the same sentence offers a warning that savorless salt is good for nothing. Join me in an attempt to be savory salt as I share each day one verse of scripture and one small thought. Perhaps this small daily emphasis can lead to greater savor in your life and ultimately you and I can be savory salt.

Hello, my friends and family, wherever you're listening from. Thank you for joining me and know that I'm cheering for your every success. Today, a very special promise to a very specific ancestry.

Welcome to day 279 on our 365-day journey through the Book of Mormon together. Today, we're going to be reading Helaman chapter 15, verses 6 through 17 and Helaman chapter 15, verses 6 through 17. I want to just note right on the front end of this: don't disregard those first four verses in Helaman chapter 16.

We see the results of Samuel the Lamanite's preaching. A lot of times we just remember that Samuel was rejected of the people and yet we see inside of those verses that there are two specific groups of people that follow his direction and go and find Nephi and are baptized. So, special note there.

But today our verse is going to focus from Helaman chapter 15, and it is verse 12. And Samuel is going to be talking here specifically about the Lamanites and the Lamanites of the future. He's going to talk about the promises extended to them and this is really kind of an interesting verse here.

It says, "Yea, I say unto you, that in the latter times the promises of the Lord have been extended to our brethren the Lamanites, and notwithstanding the many afflictions which they shall have, and notwithstanding they shall be driven to and fro upon the face of the earth, the Lord shall be merciful unto them." Now this is not a historical podcast. It's not meant to try and argue the specific locations of where the Nephites and the Lamanites lived or anything along those lines. I'm going to let you go and do your research in the hundreds of other podcasts or YouTube videos or whatever that talk about locations.

But to keep this simplified what I just wanted to do, I just did a quick search on the growth of the Church in Latin America from basically from Mexico down to the very southern tip in Chile, Argentina area and just looked at the growth and this promise coming to play in the ancestry of the Lamanites. And look, I get it if I'm way off in the ancestry of the Lamanites are in North America too. I totally understand.

Again, this is not meant to be, I'm going to argue the geographic location of the Lamanite's ancestry, okay? But I loved to see this growth and perhaps it's because my daughter's currently serving in Argentina that I saw it through this lens and I saw the Lord being merciful to the people in latter times happening right now in my life. But a quick look at Latin America's growth.

In 1989, there were 64 missions across Latin America. Ten years later, 1999, there were 103, almost a double in that 10 years. And then 108 in 2009.

So a little, just a slight bump there over that 10 years. Then 150 in 2019. So another 50 growth there.

Today, present day, there are roughly 161 missions across Latin America. My friends, the Lord's promise to the Lamanites is being fulfilled. And you may know missionaries that are serving in those areas.

I certainly know missionaries serving those areas. And today I want you to think about them. I want you to think about that promise to the Lamanites and know that despite the challenges and struggles that the Lamanites ancestry have faced, the Lord sees them, knows them, and will continue to be merciful unto them as His word continues to go across the earth through the missionary work happening today.

I love that promise and I'm grateful to Samuel for giving it to us so that we could have a record of it and see it happening in our day to day. That's all for today, my friends. Remember that by small and simple things are great things brought to pass.

Keep it small, keep it simple, and always seek to be savory salt. I'll be here tomorrow and I hope you are too.