Hank Smith: 00:02 Hello, my friends. Welcome to FollowHIM Favorites. This year, we’re going to share a single story from each week’s lesson. John, we are in Second Nephi One and Two today, and you’ve told me you have a great story. So where are we going to go?

John Bytheway: 00:15 I do. It’s not my story. You might remember the name Elder Robert E. Wells. He wrote a book years ago called Hasten My Work, and in this story he told about a man who took the train home from work every day. And there was a bookstore, a used bookstore right by the train station, and so he’d usually buy a book and read it on the train. Well, this time he only had change in his pocket and he came into the bookstore and said, “What is the cheapest book in your store?” And the owner said, “Well, there’s a bunch in that box down there I was going to throw away. You could have one of those for a quarter,” I think it was. And he found a book with approximately 531 pages in there and picked it up and started to read.

  00:57 This is what he got to, just love this paragraph. “On the bus, he started to read the old beaten Book of Mormon. He did not mind the double columns with every verse numbered because he felt it gave a certain dignified importance to each thought. He did not mind the lack of illustrations nor did he expect any in such a book. But the spirit of the contents intrigued him. He liked the old-fashioned and unique way the story began. He followed it carefully pondering over what he was reading.” This fellow got all the way to Second Nephi Chapter Two when something strange began stirring within him. Now, this is Elder Wells. Second Nephi Two is probably the single most doctrinally profound, deeply philosophical, and spiritually potent chapter in the entire volume. Noted writers on the Book of Mormon such as Dr. Sidney Sperry and Dr. Hugh Nibley have commented on the outstanding nature of this chapter.

  01:50 Back to Elder Wells. “If I had to single out one chapter in the Book of Mormon as having had the greatest impact and importance to me, it would be this one. The brother giving this conversion story went on to say as he read this chapter he felt an urge to pray to God for the first time in his adult life. Now, he offered a simple prayer to God in his mind saying, ‘God, what is this book? What am I feeling? What am I supposed to do about it?’ He said his answer was nothing more than the impression to wait and God would tell him more. That night, the fellow was reading in his humble home when two missionaries on their way home felt a distinct impression to stop at his door. Second Nephi Two, things that act and things that are acted upon there must needs be an opposition in all things. Adam fell that men might be and men are that they might have joy.”

Hank Smith: 02:44 There’s a couple of books in that box over there that I was going to throw away.

John Bytheway: 02:48 Yeah. It’s the cheapest one. You can have any one of those for a quarter.

Hank Smith: 02:52 What a great story, John. What a great story. Thank you, Elder Wells. We hope you’ll join us on our full podcast. It’s called FollowHIM. You can get it wherever you get your podcasts. We’re going to be in Second Nephi One and Two this week. We’re with Dr. Lili Anderson. You’re going to just be blown away really by what she does with these chapters. And then come back next week, we’re going to share another story on FollowHIM Favorites.