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Recorded in the Book of Mormon is counsel on direct and indirect suffering from the first and last fathers (Lehi and Mormon) to their sons (Jacob and Moroni). Courtesy of Intellectual Reserve, Inc.

Throughout the Book of Mormon, there are many examples of people suffering because of the sins of someone else.[1] The suffering of the righteous or innocent can be direct, as when Alma’s people suffer at the hands of Amulon and Noah’s other priests or when Aaron suffers terribly while imprisoned on his mission.[2] At times the direct suffering of someone can cause indirect suffering for someone else. When innocent women and children are thrown into a fire, their terrible direct suffering causes indirect suffering for Alman and Amulek, who have to watch but are constrained not to intervene (see Alma 14). In the Book of Mormon, two fathers counsel their sons from contexts of direct and indirect suffering: Lehi, the first father in the Book of Mormon, speaks to his son Jacob, and Mormon, the final father in the Book of Mormon, writes to his son Moroni (see 2 Nephi 2; Moroni 9). Thus these words of counsel and concern about the reality of suffering and the difficulty of living with it bracket the Book of Mormon. Examining these messages can help us better understand the nature of suffering, how these figures responded to it, and how we can follow their examples.

We will look first at the context of the two messages and then their content. Next we will consider these fathers’ responses to the suffering they experience and witness. Finally, we will see how both fathers encourage their sons to continue working while trusting that God can consecrate suffering for one’s benefit.

The First and Last Fathers’ Messages to their Sons

Readers often think of Lehi and Nephi as the primary father-son pair that opens the Book of Mormon.[3] To be sure, there are more recorded interactions between Lehi and Nephi than between Lehi and Jacob. But this less noticeable pair of Lehi and Jacob share an instructive context of suffering with the final father-son pair, Mormon and Moroni. Whereas Lehi talks to Jacob acknowledging that Jacob has “suffered afflictions and much sorrow, because of the rudeness of [his] brethren” (2 Nephi 2:1),Mormon writes to Moroni “concerning the sufferings of this people” (Moroni 9:7), which are so great that Mormon worries that recounting them to Moroni will “grieve” him, even “weigh[ing] [him] down unto death” (v. 25).

While the reality of suffering is similar, comparing these two messages shows how the number of people affected is different in each case. In the beginning of the Book of Mormon, Lehi is worried about the faithfulness of his family, a group of approximately thirty to fifty people.[4] Lehi is anxiously trying to keep the family together and counsels them, especially Laman and Lemuel, to accept Nephi’s leadership so there will be stability and peace in the family.[5] After Lehi dies, Jacob watches as his father’s fear is realized when the family splits apart (see 2 Nephi 5:5–6). Mormon’s concern is similar, but on a larger scale. Mormon is worried about the faithfulness of the Nephite civilization. Early in Mormon’s life, he despairs about the state of his people, noting he was forbidden to preach to them because they had “willfully rebelled against their God” (Mormon 1:16), but he still chooses to “remain among them” (v. 17). Mormon lives to see his fear of society’s collapse come to pass, and Moroni later witnesses the entire destruction of the Nephite civilization. The tragic fractures that Lehi and Jacob see on a familial level Mormon and Moroni see on a national level. With these fathers’ messages to their sons bracketing the suffering in the Book of Mormon, we see how Lehi’s remarks to Jacob on an individual level in 2 Nephi 2 foreshadow and prepare the reader for the suffering and tragedy described in Moroni 9.

Lehi and Jacob

The first four chapters of 2 Nephi contain Lehi’s final blessings to his sons.[6] In chapter 2 of 2 Nephi, Lehi teaches some of the more unique doctrines in the Book of Mormon. While a full examination of Lehi’s words in 2 Nephi 2 is beyond the scope of this paper, one significant point that Lehi makes is that opposition and agency are necessary to God’s plan. Because of the Fall, everyone has the opportunity to make choices, most importantly the crucial choice between God and life or the devil and death.[7]

Lehi addresses Jacob, saying, “Thou art my firstborn in the days of my tribulation in the wilderness. And behold, in thy childhood thou hast suffered afflictions and much sorrow, because of the rudeness of thy brethren” (2 Nephi 2:1). Lehi acknowledges his own tribulation and then that of Jacob. He makes it clear that Jacob is not the one responsible for his own suffering. Lehi specifies that Jacob has suffered “because of the rudeness of thy brethren” (v. 1).[8] It is perhaps surprising that, as the father of Jacob’s “brethren,” Lehi was not able to stop Jacob’s suffering. As much as Lehi did as a father for his children, Jacob still suffered because of other family members. For whatever reason, Lehi was not able to prevent Jacob’s suffering.[9]

Lehi’s message about the need for opposition to create the circumstances necessary for agency to be exercised likely had particular significance to Jacob and Lehi given the suffering they had experienced because of other people’s choices. Lehi famously tells Jacob that “it must needs be, that there is an opposition in all things. If not so, my firstborn in the wilderness, righteousness could not be brought to pass, neither wickedness, neither holiness nor misery, neither good nor bad” (2 Nephi 2:11). With the possibility of choices comes the possibility of making bad or wrong choices, because “men are free according to the flesh” (v. 27). Having explained the need for agency, Lehi concludes his discussion of agency by begging his sons to “look to the great Mediator . . . and choose eternal life . . . and not choose eternal death” (vv. 28–29). His last statement in the chapter, “I have none other object save it be the everlasting welfare of your souls” (v. 30), makes clear how important that choice is. Lehi’s exhortation to his sons (see v. 14) to exercise their agency to make good choices is appropriate given how the speech opens with Lehi acknowledging how those sons’ choices have negatively affected Jacob.

The rudeness of Jacob’s brothers caused Jacob “afflictions and much sorrow,” which suggests that Jacob’s suffering was substantial. Lehi’s acknowledgment of Jacob’s suffering at the beginning of the message and his hope that his children will use their agency to choose God puts his message to Jacob in the context of suffering, specifically suffering caused by the (sinful) choices of others. Specifying at such length that Jacob’s suffering comes from the sins of those around him might seem unnecessary given how often the source of suffering is not within the sufferer.[10] However, it is worth noting because there is such a common human reaction to ask when we are suffering, “What did I do to deserve this?” or “Why did this happen to me?” Looking at Jacob’s situation, we can see that from Lehi’s perspective, the answer to the first question could be stated as “Nothing. Jacob did nothing to deserve the suffering he experienced at the hands of his brethren.” If the answer is that sometimes, even often, the suffering is not the fault of the sufferer, then the second question—“Why did this happen to me?”—is even more difficult. Perhaps part of the reason Lehi explains the need for the Fall and that the ability to make choices is necessary for progression is because that information helps answer that very question. The opposition necessary for agency to be possible requires the possibility of making bad decisions, and the bad choices of others can cause suffering for the righteous and innocent. Even though agency can be used to cause suffering, agency is also the only way to experience progress in mortality. Lehi’s answer to “Why did this happen to me?” seems to be “Because something like this happens to everybody.” Everyone will experience suffering that is undeserved because of the agency given for everyone to choose good or evil.

Mormon and Moroni

In the writings of Mormon and Moroni, we see a great deal of both direct and indirect suffering. There is the direct suffering of people in a war-ravaged nation as well as the indirect suffering of Mormon and Moroni from seeing the suffering of others.[11] The plight of the Nephite civilization is such that Mormon declines to include details of it in his own record (see Mormon 5:9). He does include details when writing to his son, and Moroni includes that letter in Moroni 9.[12] In Moroni 9, which is one of two letters from his father that Moroni copies into his record, Mormon writes “concerning the sufferings of this people” (v. 7) and proceeds to recount the awful state of both the Lamanites and the Nephites. He sees suffering in the destitute state of many women who have been left in a destroyed area. They wander scavenging for food, and “many old women do faint by the way and die” (v. 16). These women, suffering from exposure and starvation, are geographically near to Mormon’s position, but a Lamanite army is between him and them, so it is impossible for Mormon to help them. Even worse is the suffering of the women and children captives (see vv.7–19). Both Lamanite and Nephite armies are horribly abusing their prisoners of war. The Lamanite men’s horrific mistreatment includes feeding women and children the flesh of their slain husbands and fathers. The Nephite men rape and torture their prisoners and then eat the dead prisoners’ flesh. According to Mormon, “The suffering of our women and our children upon all the face of this land doth exceed everything” (v. 19). The intensity of the physical pain and the depths of the resulting psychological and emotional trauma are beyond imagination.

Mormon’s response to the victims suffering because of others’ sins is very limited. He cannot free the abused Nephite captives. As for the Lamanite captives being held by the Nephites he has command over, he might not be able to help much because he can no “longer enforce [his] commands” (v. 18). This helplessness from seeing underserved suffering causes him to lament, “O the depravity of my people. . . . Behold, I am but a man, and I have but the strength of a man” (v. 18). Mormon is left to suffer indirectly along with those suffering directly. He expresses his suffering owing to the wickedness of his people elsewhere, such as in Mormon 2:19: “My heart has been filled with sorrow because of their wickedness.”[13] Mormon specifies that his suffering is indirect, caused by the wickedness of his people, who “must perish soon, unto the fulfilling of the prophecies which were spoken” (Moroni 8:29).

Responses to Suffering

Although both fathers are addressing their sons from a context of suffering, neither speaks specifically about dealing with that suffering. Despite not directly linking the ideas of suffering and service together, both Mormon and Lehi counsel their sons to continue to serving the Lord despite the suffering they experience. Even though there is little Mormon can do to help the suffering victims and his preaching has been in vain (see Mormon 3:3), he “labor[s] with [his people] continually” (Moroni 9:4). In the face of this suffering, Mormon tells Moroni, “My beloved son, notwithstanding their hardness, let us labor diligently” (v. 6). This counsel is similar to how Lehi tells Jacob that his life should “be spent in the service of thy God” (2 Nephi 2:3).

Moroni seems to take his father’s command seriously. Moroni’s calling is to keep and add to the records, which are “written,” he declares, “that we may rid our garments of the blood of our brethren, who have dwindled in unbelief” (Mormon 9:35). Fulfilling his calling is how Moroni sees himself as being justified in his service. He could not prevent the wickedness and suffering of those around him, but he could work diligently at preserving and completing the record entrusted to him. Moroni is so concerned about sufficiently fulfilling his calling that he reports the Lord saying to him, “Thou hast been faithful; wherefore, thy garments shall be made clean” (Ether 12:37). Moroni is to be content in his appointed labor to provide his future readers with a record sufficient for them to be converted. And he is not liable for whether or not future readers have charity—he has been faithful in doing the job the Lord asked him to do.

Mormon ends his letter to Moroni with a similar sentiment of hope in Christ, saying that he trusts “in Christ that thou wilt be saved” (Moroni 9:22) and “may Christ lift thee up, and may his sufferings and death, and the showing his body unto our fathers, and his mercy and long-suffering, and the hope of his glory and of eternal life, rest in your mind forever. . . . And may the grace of God . . . abide with you forever” (vv. 25–26). This benediction shows the need for dependence on the Atonement. Despite the horrors he’d witnessed and cannot prevent, Mormon focuses his final words on the blessings of the Atonement. For Mormon, when suffering seems inevitable and impossible to bear, the answer is that while you continue to do what you can, you also focus on the Atonement and the grace of the Savior.

Lehi makes a similar correlation between acknowledging suffering and remembering the Lord. After noting Jacob’s suffering, Lehi tells him, “Thou knowest the greatness of God; and he shall consecrate thine afflictions for thy gain” (2 Nephi 2:2). This idea that suffering can be consecrated is an aspect of the Atonement that may elude us. God’s granting of agency to all humans means that unfair suffering will happen to all humans. But that suffering, even when undeserved, perhaps especially so, does not have to be meaningless. When God consecrates afflictions, the sufferer gains something from them that perhaps cannot come any other way.[14]

That sufferers can have their suffering consecrated for their gain does not mean that those causing the suffering have no consequences for their decisions. Lehi points out that although “no flesh . . . can dwell in the presence of God” without relying on the “grace of the Holy Messiah” (2 Nephi 2:8), the “intercession” made by Christ means that everyone will return to God’s presence to be judged (v. 9). Jesus will “bring to pass the resurrection of the dead,” and everyone will “stand in the presence of him, to be judged of him” (vv. 8, 10). This point, when read in the context of Jacob’s suffering, suggests that even though Jacob could not avoid suffering from the sins of others, those sins will be addressed by God. Lehi explains that through the Messiah and “because of the intercession for all, all men come unto God . . . to be judged . . . unto the inflicting of the punishment which is affixed, which punishment . . . is in opposition to that of the happiness which is affixed” (v. 10). Because there is both a punishment that is affixed (to choosing evil) and a happiness that is affixed (to choosing God), sufferers know that those choosing to do evil will be held accountable.

For those suffering from another’s sins, this teaching could cause frustration and despair or relief and comfort. Victims might be frustrated that consequences may not come in mortality. They could despair especially if they continue to experience affliction and much sorrow either because the sinful behavior continues or because the trauma from the behavior is long-lasting. While such reactions are understandable and pursuing justice might be necessary, the healing promised does not come from the consequences for the perpetrator, but from the consecration of the suffering. Victims can find relief in knowing that God’s judgment is promised and a punishment affixed “according to the truth and holiness which is in [Christ]” (2 Nephi 2:10). They can find peace in knowing that even if their suffering is unfair, it is not meaningless because God can consecrate it for their gain.

After Lehi explains that suffering happens at least partly because of the sins of others in his family, he tells his children to “look to the great Mediator, and hearken unto his great commandments; and be faithful unto his words” (v. 28). Lehi is hoping that his children will treat each other well both to stop suffering being inflicted and to prevent the dispensing of divine punishment.[15] Lehi points out that those who use their agency “to choose captivity and death” will be subject to divine justice and those who “choose liberty and eternal life” (v. 27) will be subject to “the happiness which is affixed” (v. 10).[16]

Lehi explains that punishment and happiness will be real for the wicked and righteous respectively, and he famously tells Jacob that “men are, that they might have joy” (2 Nephi 2:25). When Jacob records that “peace and the love of God was restored again among the people” (Jacob 7:23), we see that there were times of joy for himself and his people. However, Jacob never felt free of suffering because of others’ decisions, lamenting how his people “did mourn out [their] days” because they had been “cast out from Jerusalem, born in tribulation, in a wilderness, and hated of [their] brethren” (v. 26). Jacob’s life was not always filled with joy and happiness even though Lehi tells him that “men are, that they might have joy” (2 Nephi 2:25) and that God “shall consecrate thine afflictions for thy gain” (v. 2). The use of the future tense verb shall in this verse is perhaps telling. Lehi does not say that the afflictions have already been consecrated. Unfortunately, Lehi does not specify exactly how a sufferer can have afflictions consecrated, but he does give us hints by telling Jacob what he should spend his life doing—namely, “thy days shall be spent in the service of thy God” (v. 3; emphasis added). This statement suggests that choosing to serve God despite difficult circumstances is what Jacob can do so that God can consecrate his afflictions. Jacob does spend his life serving and takes that responsibility very seriously. In 2 Nephi 6:2 Jacob opens a sermon to his people by saying that he has “been called of God, and ordained after the manner of his holy order” and “consecrated by my brother Nephi.”[17] Jacob further explains later that he and Joseph “did magnify our office unto the Lord, taking upon us the responsibility, answering the sins of the people upon our own heads if we did not teach them the word of God with all diligence” (Jacob 1:19). Jacob is consecrated a priest and is promised that afflictions can be consecrated for his gain. Perhaps this wording is less coincidental than it is causal. Jacob’s devoting his life to what his father commanded might suggest that Jacob saw his service as a way for his afflictions to be consecrated.

Like Jacob, Mormon and Moroni both continued working in the service of God throughout their lives. They also seem to have felt that their lives were to be spent in the service of their God. Lehi, Jacob, Mormon, and Moroni all saw their diligence in their own work as important. They knew they could be held responsible for others’ sins if they did not do their best for those under their stewardship. Lehi implies this in 2 Nephi 4:5–6, and Jacob says it specifically in Jacob 1:19 and 2 Nephi 9:44. Mormon seems to say as much in Moroni 9:6, 35. Moroni, in addition to feeling the weight of his own people’s sins (see Mormon 9:35), also feels responsibility for future readers’ reception of his text (see Ether 12:37). Lehi’s affirmation that Jacob has suffered, that his afflictions can be consecrated for his gain, and that he should spend his life in the service of the Lord suggests that serving the Lord is perhaps the best response to suffering and can be how afflictions can be consecrated for one’s benefit.

In his words to Jacob, Lehi knows that Jacob has been afflicted and has suffered. He knows that Jacob’s suffering is not the result of misusing his agency, but rather the result of how others misuse theirs. Lehi’s teaching that afflictions can come from the sins of others can help us see how the Atonement heals us. The Atonement is provided to heal us from the damage caused by the sins of others (see Alma 7:11–13). Because of the Fall, everyone deals with the challenges of mortality and commits sin. Some of those sins damage people around us. If we are guilty in that regard, we need to repent.[18] If others have inflicted damage on us, we need to allow the Lord to “consecrate [our] afflictions for [our] gain” (2 Nephi 2:2). In this context Lehi’s message is that the “greatness of God” and the “righteousness of [the] Redeemer” make it possible that “the way is prepared from the fall of man, and salvation is free” (vv. 2–4). Not only does redemption come through the Messiah, but the answer to suffering is a willingness to serve where we are called and a trust that God can consecrate any affliction for our gain.[19]

Conclusion

What lessons can we learn about suffering from these two fathers and their messages to their sons? We can learn how Lehi acknowledges Jacob’s suffering that comes directly from the sins of others. Lehi teaches us that that the Atonement can heal us when suffering is consecrated so that our suffering eventually results in our benefit. We can learn how Mormon experiences indirect suffering because the majority of his society chooses not to be righteous. Mormon teaches us that when we are limited in how much we can help those who are suffering, our limitations can cause us to suffer as well. We can learn from Moroni that serving diligently in what God has asked us to do will be sufficient so that our “garments shall be made clean” (Ether 12:37). Even if there is not much we can do, both Lehi and Mormon teach us to continue to labor in the ways we are able and to look forward to the promise of the Resurrection, when “all things shall become subject unto him" (Moroni 9:26).

Seeing the first father and the last father of the Book of Mormon as bracketing the suffering in the record shows how suffering is part of mortal existence. Lehi’s discussion in 2 Nephi 2 in the context of Jacob’s suffering about the need for agency shows both the need for agency and the consequences of it. Moroni 9 attests how horrific the consequences can be when people chose to do evil. Lehi’s message about agency and choices prepares us as readers for when the severe consequences of misused agency cause horrible suffering, as in Moroni 9. For these two Book of Mormon fathers, the reality of suffering proves how much we need God. We learn from them that even the righteous and innocent experience suffering. We can take comfort in knowing that suffering is not unique to us or necessarily comes to us because we deserve it. Suffering is a result of agency and can be consecrated for our gain. As Lehi and Moroni both say, the Spirit and Christ are the same “yesterday, today, and forever.”[20] The same God who loved Lehi and Jacob and Mormon and Moroni loves us today. He will consecrate our suffering for our benefit as we follow the examples of these exemplary fathers and sons by choosing to trust God and to live lives in his service.

Notes

[1] Trying to understand why God allows the righteous or innocent to suffer is sometimes called “theodicy.” From two Greek words, theo meaning “God” and dike meaning “justice,” theodicy considers the question of how God can be just when there is so much suffering in the world.

[2] See Mosiah 24; Alma 20:28–30; 21:13–14.

[3] The Book of Mormon is replete with father-son relationships. For discussions of them, see E. Douglas Clark and Robert S. Clark, eds., Fathers and Sons in the Book of Mormon (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1991).

[4] See John L. Sorenson, “The Composition of Lehi’s Family,” in By Study and Also by Faith: Essays in Honor of Hugh Nibley, ed. John M. Lundquist and Stephen D. Ricks (Salt Lake City and Provo, UT: Deseret Book and FARMS, 1990), 2:174–96.

[5] See 1 Nephi 10:13, where Lehi hopes the family will go “with one accord” to the promised land. See also Grant Hardy, Understanding the Book of Mormon: A Reader’s Guide (New York: Oxford University, 2010), 50–52, for an argument that Lehi’s dying wish was that the family stay together.

[6] The presence of so many father-son relationships in the Book of Mormon may raise the question of father-daughter, mother-son, or mother-daughter relationships in the text. Toward the end of Lehi’s teachings, he does mention his daughters as well (see 2 Nephi 4:3, 5, 9). For a bibliography on the complexity of gender in the Book of Mormon, see Daniel Becerra, Amy Easton-Flake, Nicholas J. Frederick, and Joseph M. Spencer, Book of Mormon Studies: An Introduction and Guide (Provo, UT: Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young University, 2022),151–52.

[7] For an understanding of how the Book of Mormon teaches about agency, see Dallin H. Oaks, “Free Agency and Freedom,” in The Book of Mormon: Second Nephi, The Doctrinal Structure, ed. Monte S. Nyman and Charles D. Tate Jr. (Provo, UT: Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young University, 1989), 1–18. For an extensive discussion of the doctrine of the Fall, see Daniel K. Judd, The Fortunate Fall: Understanding the Blessings and Burdens of Adversity (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 2011). On the theology in 2 Nephi, see Terryl L. Givens, 2nd Nephi: a brief theological introduction (Provo, UT: Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship, 2020), specifically pp. 62–68 for a discussion of opposition. For a history of the Fall in Mormon thought, see Terryl L. Givens, Wrestling the Angel: The Foundations of Mormon Thought: Cosmos, God, Humanity (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2015), 176–98.

[8] For Lehi (and Nephi), the word translated as rudeness was probably much more emphatic than modern connotation might imply. The only other times when the word appears in the Book of Mormon are twice in 1 Nephi 18:9–10, where Nephi describes the problematic behavior on the ship that caused him to “fear exceedingly lest the Lord should be angry with us, and smite us because of our iniquity.”

[9] Another part of Jacob’s suffering came from the physical tribulation that the family experienced. Lehi’s mention of Jacob’s childhood here emphasizes that Jacob was not culpable in the cause of his suffering.

[10] Jacob’s suffering is perhaps greater than that of other members of the family. In 2 Nephi 3:1, Lehi tells Joseph that he was born “in the wilderness of mine afflictions . . . in the days of my greatest sorrow.” If Lehi is referencing more than wilderness hardship alone, he may be alluding to the pain and suffering he has experienced owing to his family’s poor choices.

[11] Moroni does not speak much in his own voice about the sins and suffering of his own people, but his lament in Mormon 8:2–5 and then his inclusion of his father’s letters, particularly the second letter, suggest that he shares his father’s grief over the sins and suffering of their people.

[12] The dating of Mormon’s epistles has been discussed by Alan C. Miner in “A Chronological Setting for the Epistles of Mormon to Moroni,” Journal of Book of Mormon Studies 3, no. 2 (1994): 94–113. He suggests that because of similar wordings the period Mormon is describing to his son is the same period that he writes about in his own record in Mormon 4 (approximately AD 365). Joseph M. Spencer, in “On the Dating of Moroni 8–9,” Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship 22 (2016): 131–48, concludes that Moroni 9 was not written until AD 375 or later.

[13] See also Mormon 2:15, 27 and 3:12.

[14] In the ten times consecrate is used on the small plates, God is the subject of that verb when a subject is expressed (see 2 Nephi 1:7, 32; 3:2; 10:19; 32:9; 33:4). When a subject is not expressed, consecrate is used passively, such as when Jacob is consecrated as a priest over his people (see 2 Nephi 5:26; 6:2; Jacob 1:18).

[15] Lehi’s statement that he has “chosen the good part, according to the words of the prophet” (2 Nephi 2:30) shows that he has chosen life and has listened to the prophet, which is what he is asking his sons to do—that is, listen to the prophet, who for them is Lehi himself.

[16] In referring to Lehi’s message to Jacob, President Russel M. Nelson observed, “The joy we feel has little to do with the circumstances of our lives and everything to do with the focus of our lives.” Russell M. Nelson, “Joy and Spiritual Survival,” Ensign or Liahona, November 2016, 81–84.

[17] Given the connection between the promise of consecrated afflictions, it is notable that Jacob’s consecration as a priest is mentioned three different times, here in 2 Nephi 2:6, again in 2 Nephi 6:2, and a third time in Jacob 1:18.

[18] Jacob worries that he and Joseph could be liable for others’ sins if they do not sufficiently fulfill their callings (see Jacob 1:19). Referencing the sufficiency of his priestly efforts, he also says to his people that he is “rid of [their] blood” (2 Nephi 9:44).

[19] This concept is similar to what the Lord expressed to Joseph Smith when Joseph was greatly suffering: “All these things shall give thee experience, and shall be for thy good” (Doctrine and Covenants 122:7).

[20] See 2 Nephi 2:4 and Moroni 10:19.