Astonished Exceedingly

I woke up a little bit before 6:00 with a dog in my face. Literally. He had his paws on my bed and was nose to nose with me. I think he was looking for Mike who was nowhere to be found. Turns out he was sleeping in the motorhome. Bear had gotten him up suuuuuper early. He played fetch with him and then tried to go to sleep. He left the motorhome door open. Well, Bear came inside and woke me up. Haha

For church today we talked about the war chapters. I love those chapters. I had heard John Bytheway talk about them years ago, so I was excited when I saw one of Our Turtle House firesides was on those chapters. We listened to Hank Smith and John Bytheway. Hank Smith made the point that Mormon abridged these chapters. Why did he put them in there? Well, that is the life Mormon knew. He is teaching us through what he knows. Mormon sets up Amalickiah as a Satanic figure and Moroni as a Christlike figure. Anyway, one of my favorite stories in those chapters is about Lehonti. Lehonti was 'fixed and determined' not to go against the Nephites. Lehonti is on the mount Antipas and Amalickiah wants him to come down. Three times he sent messengers to ask him to come down, but he would not go. Finally Amalickiah goes nearly to Lehonti's camp and asks again. He asks him to come out just a little, and bring your guards. Lehonti decides to go. He agrees with Amalickiah's plan to surround his armies and makes Amalickiah second in command when he surrenders. Then Amalickiah's servants poison him by degrees. As long as Lehonti was on Antipas he was safe. Once he came down... just a little... he had lost. The entire time this was happening, Lehonti thought he was in complete control. I love the lesson there.

I also love how Moroni spent time fortifying the week cities. When the Lamanites attacked them they were, "astonished exceedingly." Hank Smith talked about how predators work. They attack the week. You see it all the time in nature shows, and Satan follows the same blueprint. We need to look at ourselves and figure out what our week spots are, then fortify them. When we are attacked at our previous week spots then Satan will be astonished exceedingly. Haha. I love that!