Stayin' Alive

Bored and scared. Figured I might as well kick out a blog post. We made it back to Jerusalem, and right now Laman, Sam, and I are hiding just outside the walls. Nephi is apparently improvising a plan/hopefully not dying right now. But let’s back up.

We arrived back in town yesterday, and Laman ended up going first—not of his own volition mind you. We cast lots and he was the one who had to go talk to Laban. We decided to just send one person because then Laban can only kill one of us, and mom and dad will still have some sons to help them out on this whole extended camping trip. Anyway, Laman goes in, asks for the plates, and it went about as well as expected. Laban (since he probably stole the plates) was probably really surprised anyone even knew he had them. Obviously he didn’t want this to get out, so Laban told his henchmen to kill Laman. I’ve never seen Laman move real fast, but apparently he’s got wheels enough to make it back to us alive. I’m thinking, "Alright, we fulfilled the commandment. We came up here, sought the plates, gave it our darnedest, and all of us are still alive to boot. So, not a great day, but could’ve been worse."

Nephi didn’t agree with my assessment of the situation. And even though my viewpoint carried the majority, Nephi seems to think his view is the only one that matters. After his dad-esque lecture, he actually came up with an idea that seemed decent at the time: Go get all the stuff from our house, and use it to buy the records from Laban. So we went down to our house to gather our stuff. It was pretty late, so we stayed the night there, and in the morning we came back up here with our gold and whatever we thought Laban might like. It was a slow hike back up here carrying all our stuff, and I was pretty exhausted by that point. We went to Laban’s compound and proposed the swap.

It was right around the moment we entered the compound that I figured out the plan wasn’t as decent as originally thought. You see, Laban had already shown his propensity to kill. He was willing to kill my brother just for kicks. Then, the next day, the four of us walk in unarmed, carrying all of Dad’s wealth right into his compound for him—his compound that’s filled with armed soldiers! That’s when I realized this likely wasn’t going to go as Nephi planned it. But by that point, it’s too late for me to voice this concern. I instantly dropped my bag of stuff on the ground and started trying to catch my breath because I knew I would be running for my life shortly.

Anyway, Laban, being horrible but not a dumb, saw the golden opportunity that just waltzed in and sent his guards to take us out. Running with a pack puts one at a disadvantage. Consequently, we were obliged to drop our stuff and ran like Ba’al was after us to get out of there. We got out of the city and they chased us for quite awhile until we found a small cave to hide in. We were pretty freaked out, and it took awhile to calm down.

In fact, I have to confess, I did lose my cool as a result. You see, up until this point, I knew that eventually things would calm down with Dad, and we’d all come back home when he thought things had blown over. Then we’d pick up with life like it was before. But the other problem with Nephi’s plan is that it didn’t leave any room for when Dad comes to his senses. You see, when we come back now, Dad’s going to find pretty much all of his stuff gone. It’s hard to run a trading business if you have nothing to trade.

So the realization that we (read: Nephi) just bankrupted our family hit while my adrenaline from almost dying was still pretty amped up. I flipped out on Nephi. Of course, it wasn’t just me. Laman was the first to inform him of how huge of a screw up he was. And man, Laman’s got a mouth on him. That kid needs to calm it down. Anyway, Laman got himself so worked up he started beating Nephi and Sam, and I joined in too. (For the record, I left Sam out of it, I don’t blame him for this).

However, I have to point out here, that in spite of how dumb Nephi is, we shouldn’t have been hitting him. And I guess it’s for that reason that the craziest thing happened. A guy appeared and told us to stop. The thing is, I’m pretty sure that guy was an angel or spirit or something. We have no idea who he was or where he came from, but he just walked into the cave somehow without any of us even noticing him until he spoke. He was dressed in a loose (really!) white robe that came down almost to his wrists and ankles, but not quite. He said something about Nephi being a ruler over us, and then he told us to go up to Jerusalem again, and that the Lord would “deliver Laban into [our] hands.” Then he just left. And I’m sitting there thinking, “Uhhh, why did you leave?! The four of us obviously don’t have the power to get the records from Laban. But you know what would be helpful in this situation? An angel!” Laban would be like, “Nope, I’m gonna kill you (ps, how are you guys still alive?).” And I’d be like, “Nope we’re gonna angel you first.” It would be really epic.

I think this would be pretty effective against a band of 50

But that can’t happen now. Because the angel left. Laman and I both were at a loss about what we should do now. I mean, if the angel commanded it, it must be God’s will. But the thing is, sometimes carrying out God’s will means you die. Isaiah got sawed in half for being obedient to the Lord. So, the fact I’m facing probable death for the 2nd time today was weighing heavily on my mind (and I think Laman’s too since this would be his 3rd time in the last 2 days).

Anyway, Nephi attempted a motivational speech that really we couldn’t argue with. I mean, the whole angel thing is kind of a trump card at that point. As we headed back up to Jerusalem for a third time, I pointed out that we have no idea what we’re doing. Luckily, Nephi told us to chill and he’d give it a shot. I asked him if he had a plan. His response: “Follow the Spirit.” I gotta give the kid some points for his guts. I’ve never been able to really understand what people mean when they talk about direct revelation/inspiration from the Spirit. I’ve prayed, and tried to get direction, but I just don’t think that’s how God talks to me. Anyway, since that’s Nephi’s plan, I hope that’s how God talks to him.

So the three of us have been hanging out here for awhile now. I’m just hoping Nephi’s still alive. Oh yeah, and in case you’re wondering, I apologized to Nephi and Sam (even though I didn’t do anything to Sam—that was Laman, but he hasn’t been in an apologetic mood). I figured just in case the worst happens, I’d like to have things cleared up between him and me.

Not sure how this will play out, but I’ll probably post again with updates when I get a chance.