Sister Aburto at Sperry Symposium: The Book of Mormon is relevant today

PROVO, Utah — In 1820, Joseph Smith described the world as stuffed with “division amongst the people,” “great confusion and bad feeling,” “a strife of words,” “a contest about opinions,” a “confrontation” and a “tumult of opinions” (Joseph Smith—History 1:5-6, 10).

That could just as easily describe today in addition to the Nephites and Lamanites within the centuries before Christ visited them, noted Reyna I. Aburto on Friday, Jan. 19.

But knowing the calamities, divisiveness, wickedness and conflict that may exist, God — in His infinite wisdom and mercy — “provided a way for a record to be kept by many prophets, preserved by valiant hands, delivered to light by divine means and translated into English by the gift and power of God,” said the previous counselor within the Relief Society general presidency.

Speaking to those gathered within the Joseph Smith Building Auditorium on the Brigham Young University campus for the 52nd annual Sidney B. Sperry Symposium, Sister Aburto offered a keynote address titled, “The Book of Mormon’s Relevance for Us.”

During her address — one in all 22 offered in the course of the two-day symposium on “I Glory in My Jesus: Understanding Christ within the Book of Mormon” — she spoke of the guarantees within the Book of Mormon about Christ and from Christ.

As individuals study the Book of Mormon, they’ll find relevance and solace in the guarantees, Sister Aburto testified, “particularly in the guarantees concerning our day, and, along with Nephi, we will say, ‘I glory in my Jesus, for he hath redeemed my soul from hell’” (2 Nephi 33:6).

Finding relevance within the Book of Mormon

As covenant members of the Lord’s Church, all Latter-day Saints have opportunities to be gospel teachers and invite others to attract closer to Christ by studying and searching the Book of Mormon, Sister Aburto said. 

“A key a part of sparking desire in learners is to assist them see the relevance of what we’re teaching to their lives,” she noted.

As Latter-day Saints help family and sophistication members study the Book of Mormon this 12 months, they’ll follow Jesus Christ’s example of teaching in a way that’s relevant to them. “What did He do to assist His followers study truths in a relevant way? He used parables, He asked questions, He beheld people, He listened to them, He prophesied and showed how some prophecies had already been fulfilled, and He prolonged guarantees,” Sister Aburto said.

Like Nephi, teachers and learners can “liken all scriptures unto us, that it is perhaps for our profit and learning” (1 Nephi 19:23).

Sister Aburto shared the responses of several young adults who reported how the Book of Mormon is relevant for them. One young woman, Brooke, shared how she applied lessons from the Book of Mormon to dating. Another young man, Glen, spoke of the way it helps him when he feels alone. According to a young woman named Elena, who just returned from a mission, the Book of Mormon can assist with every query or problem. 

“These examples show that the truths present in the Book of Mormon can speak to our souls and convey comfort to us,” Sister Aburto said. “The Book of Mormon is actually one other testament of Jesus Christ.”

‘The Book of Mormon was written for today’

From start to complete, the Book of Mormon testifies of Jesus Christ and of His divine mission. “It was written for us and for our time, and in it we discover guidance specific for the latter days,” Sister Aburto said.

She shared a quote from Church President Ezra Taft Benson, who taught, “The Nephites never had the book; neither did the Lamanites of precedent days. It was meant for us. Mormon wrote near the tip of the Nephite civilization. Under the inspiration of God, who sees all things from the start, he abridged centuries of records, selecting the stories, speeches, and events that may be most helpful to us” (Ensign, October 2011).

As she reads the Book of Mormon, Sister Aburto said she loves to seek out passages written specifically for readers within the latter days. “I wish to call them ‘parentheses’ because they’re parenthetical reflections made by the writers on what they learned from the accounts they selected to jot down about and the relevance that they might have for us within the latter days.”

For example, Nephi wrote, “But behold, I, Nephi, will show unto you that the tender mercies of the Lord are over all those whom he hath chosen, due to their faith, to make them mighty even unto the facility of deliverance” (1 Nephi 1:20).

Who is he chatting with? Sister Aburto asked. “To you. To me. That is how personal the Book of Mormon is. That is how personal the scriptures are. That is how personal the gospel of Jesus Christ is.”

Promises within the Book of Mormon

When Sister Aburto found the Latter-day Saint missionaries at 26 years old, she had just separated from her husband and was a single mother to her 3-year-old son. One of the guarantees that stood out to her on the time when she first began reading the Book of Mormon was present in 1 Nephi 2:20. “And inasmuch as ye shall keep my commandments, ye shall prosper.”

“I held on to that promise, and it made an enormous difference in my life,” Sister Aburto recalled. “Somehow, I knew that it didn’t necessarily mean that I might develop into wealthy.”

Besides prosperity, the Book of Mormon also features a promise that the remnants will probably be gathered in and be “delivered to the knowledge of the Lord their God” (3 Nephi 20:12-13).

“I got here to the knowledge of the gospel of my Redeemer and of His doctrine after I needed it most,” Sister Aburto said. “I used to be shown the iron rod that may lead me to the tree of life that represents the love of God. Because of that, I even have tasted of that fruit that’s essentially the most desirable, and I can actually declare that ‘I glory in my Jesus, for he hath redeemed my soul from hell.’”

Sister Aburto’s husband, Carlos Aburto, joined the Church at age 9 in Mexico, but attributable to various circumstances, his family didn’t remain energetic. When Carlos Aburto was 27, he broke up with a girlfriend; in his devastation picked up the Book of Mormon and began reading. He finished reading it in only two weeks, even ignoring the FIFA World Cup, one in all his passions. 

“As Carlos read the Book of Mormon, he had a change of heart and have become a latest man,” Sister Aburto recalled. “He got here back to church every Sunday, again renewing the covenant he had made in his childhood. By that easy act of religion of reaching as much as the Savior by reading the Book of Mormon, he discovered a complete universe of truth and lightweight in his life.”

Fulfillment of guarantees

Latter-day Saints today are witnessing the achievement of the Savior’s guarantees as He continues to collect the House of Israel within the latter days, Sister Aburto declared.

“As we study the Book of Mormon, we will see how the Lord ‘suit[s] his mercies in line with the conditions of the kids of men [and women]’ (Doctrine and Covenants 46:15). We also can see how easy and powerful the gospel of Jesus Christ is and echo the words of Nephi, when he said, ‘For my soul delighteth in plainness; for after this way doth the Lord God work amongst the kids of men. For the Lord God giveth light unto the understanding; for he speaketh unto men in line with their language, unto their understanding’” (2 Nephi 31:3).

Elder Neil L. Andersen of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles attended the Friday night event to support his daughter, Camey Andersen, who was presenting at a subsequent class. He spoke briefly following Sister Aburto’s presentation and thanked her for her “beautiful testimony” and for speaking with the Spirit of the Lord. 

“Who can doubt if she believes what she spoke?” he said. 

The Apostle shared his testimony. “I offer you my humble and sure witness that Jesus is the Christ, that He lives, that He is the Son of God. I confirm to you what Sister Aburto has said so powerfully that we discover Him in great measure on this sacred book, the Book of Mormon.”

— Will Matheson contributed to this report.