The Book of Mormon: Another Testament of Jesus Christ

Our family scripture study in the past has consisted of either me or Charles reading to Azure (and occasionally to Vince) out of one of the scripture story books before bed. (Old Testament, New Testament, Book of Mormon or Church History and Doctrine and Covenants)

About a month ago that changed. Charles and I had both been feeling prompted to read the Book of Mormon again. He bought The Book of Mormon Reference Companion for his personal study and I started reading on my own. Azure and I had finished the Church History and Doctrine and Covenants stories sometime at the end of the summer and had started again on the Old Testament stories. However, after discussing these separate promptings I felt that we needed to read from the Book of Mormon stories again, all together, including Vince.

We have been consistently doing this for the past month now and it's been wonderful. Don't get me wrong- the good parts have been wonderful. The loud, crying, interrupting parts have not been as wonderful. Surely, it's not all gumdrops and lollipops. But, I feel this ritual knitting our hearts together in unity. I can literally feel my heart being tugged some nights as I look around and see all of us gathered together in Vince's room reading the word of God.

We start with a loud, "Ok, time for family scripture study!" to gather the troops. Then once everyone is assembled we sing a rousing verse of Scripture Power which mostly is just the singing of the chorus as none of us knows all the words. Note to self: learn the words!

We take turns reading and Azure is doing a phenomenal job. As she reads Charles and I just stare at each other with our jaws gaping open as she pronounces words we had no idea she knew. Last night she read this:

"After Lehi's family had camped by the sea for many days, the Lord spoke to Nephi. He told him to build a ship to carry his family to the promised land."

The only word she struggled with was "camped". She said "kept". (If you're reading this and have a 4 yr old who is not yet reading and are starting to think that something might be wrong with you or your child: don't.  I don't spend all of my free-time teaching Azure to read. In fact, she pretty much taught herself to read on starfall.com and maybe some help with LeapFrog's Letter Factory, Talking Words Factory, and Code-Word Caper. I don't think I can take much credit for this.)

When it's Vince's turn to read, we have him repeat what we say and we can't keep from laughing. It is so adorable! Most of the time he says words that sound nothing like what we said. Though, he usually gets the syllables correct.

After we read, we act it out. This is usually the best part. Azure gets SO into this. 2 weeks ago we first acted out getting the brass plates from Laban. Every day since she's asked to "play Nephi" and I've now lost count how many times we've acted it out. We all took turns being Laban and getting our heads chopped off. What kid doesn't think that is cool?!

Azure also really liked pretending to be Nephi and sending an electric shock to her brothers Laman and Lemuel (me and Charles) when they refused to help build the ship. Sometimes when we read it feels like she's not paying attention but, then we act it out and we realize how much she took in. She is like a sponge and can't get enough of these drama re-enactments. I'm so happy to have found a medium to use to teach her so well!

Whenever I begin reading the Book of Mormon again I am always amazed at the simple, straightforward language that is used. I am so grateful that this account was preserved. It truly is the word of God. There is no denying that when you read it.