This is a story about a baby who was born right in the middle of human history. He grew up to be a good boy and a perfect man. His name was Jesus. You have probably heard his name before. Did you know that he knows your name, too? He knows your name, and your face, and everything about you. Jesus knows you because he loves you. Even before you were born he knew you and he loved you.

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Moroni lived a long time by himself with his father’s books. And he learned to love his books like people. Because they were like people, in a way, because they carried hope. And Moroni had read the stories so many times they were familiar to him like people, and he could sit with them and they could be together without even opening the cover.

But before Moroni died, he sat down to read his father’s book one last time. He picked it up, and brushed the dust off the cover. And the dust rose into the air and turned gold in the light of the evening sun which was just shining in through the opening of the cave.

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Moroni was still alone. Even after reading all the books, even after writing down more stories and letters, even after running away and trying not to be killed, even after years and years, Moroni was still alive, and still alone.

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Ether’s people were scared of death and of each other. They were fighting and killing and dying. And the war grew and grew and everyone joined in and fought and died until there was just one person left alive. One person, beside Ether. And the whole time, Ether could only watch as the world fell apart. And while he watched, he wrote down everything he saw on metal paper so that the stories would last long after he was gone. And by the end, Ether had written several books containing the sorrow and loss and destruction he had seen from his hideout on the mountain. And before Ether died, he set the books out in the open hoping that someday someone would find them.

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Jared and the Brother of Jared and their family and friends all agreed that they would follow God and step into the boats, which were actually barges, which were like submarines. And then they pushed into the water, and took one last look at the land before closing the hatch. It would be a year before they saw land again.

And a year is a long time to be stuck in a boat on an ocean with people and animals and honey bees. Because when you’re all stuck like that, people tend to get sea sick, and smelly, and probably a little bit cranky. And bees are not always the friendliest neighbors.

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The stories of Ether are not about the Nephites or the Lamanites. They are much older. They start way back, when people first came to live on the earth. At first, people did not know if they could trust the earth to take care of them. And then there was a big storm and lightning and tornadoes and fires and floods, and the people said, “We have got to get out of here.”

And so they decided to build a tower so tall that they could climb to the very top, open the window, and step right out into heaven. They thought, if we can just get to heaven, we will be safe, because God is in heaven and He will protect us. And so they started building, floor by floor. And the higher they got, the more excited they became.

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Mormon was one of the only survivors of the big, terrible, Nephite-ending battle. His city was destroyed and he wept for the roads and the buildings. His dog and his horse were killed, and he wept for the animals. His friends and his soldiers were killed and he wept for them because he could remember how beautiful they had been when they were still living. But most of all he wept for his family, his wife who had been taken away and his son who was now one of the unknown bodies lying lifeless on the ground. 

Everything he had ever loved or cared for was gone. His own body was injured and he could feel it slipping out from under him. He was old already. The world was not what he wanted it to be. He was ready to die. And so he sat on the ground and waited for the Lamanites to come and find him.  

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Jesus told us that everyone would forget Him. But still, it’s hard to believe, isn’t it? But that’s what happened. It did take a while, because Jesus is hard to forget. But eventually, people stopped talking about Jesus and then they stopped thinking about Jesus.  

And because no one was thinking about Jesus, they started thinking about themselves instead. When another person had more candy or more toys or more money, they were angry and said, “Why do they have more than me?” And so they started to fight and steal and have their stuff stolen. And everyone began hiding their money and their toys and their chocolates. They wrapped their most favorite things in a sack, dug a hole in the ground, and buried it. This was their way of trying to keep their precious possessions forever.  

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Before Jesus left the Nephites and the Lamanites, they were just the Nephites. They had  decided to all live together. And they agreed to share almost everything, including their name. They shared food and water. They shared money and toys. They shared homes and cities. They even shared toothpaste. But they did not share their toothbrushes, because that would be gross. 

And all this sharing was wonderful because no one went hungry. No one had bad breath. No one felt alone. No one was better than anyone else, except Jesus. He was better. But it didn’t really matter because everyone loved Jesus. And Jesus loved everyone.  

He enjoyed breaking bread and eating bread and just being with the Nephites. But Jesus had a terrible secret. And before He left for good, He had to tell someone. And so He chose twelve people and called them disciples because they would become the spiritual leaders after He was gone. 

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Jesus spent three days with the Nephites and the Lamanites. He talked and talked. And the people listened. Every night when Jesus left, the people wondered if He would come back the next day. Or if He had run out of things to say. But when the morning came, there was Jesus again, talking and talking and talking. 

This is not surprising because Jesus was not just telling them about heaven or how to raise good kids or what his favorite color is. He was not just telling them about His life in Jerusalem or His life in heaven or his Father in heaven. Jesus was trying to tell them everything. And everything takes a while to say. He was giving the people the complete history of the world, past present and future.

This might seem really boring, but just you wait. Not only was he trying to teach the entire history of the world, He was using poetry to do it.

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