Assignment

I'd been going along at a steady pace, minding my own business.

Many years ago I set myself a VERY informal goal: read the Book of Mormon "once a journal".

That is, in the time it took me to fill a journal, I would read the Book of Mormon.

It was a good plan, too. It worked out to about once or twice through the Book of Mormon during a year.

Then we moved and I was no longer commuting on the bus, so my journalism dropped off. My last journal took about 4 years to fill up. I DID read the Book of Mormon during that time. Once.

I finally filled that old brown journal last October.

So, I started thinking about reading the Book of Mormon again. And then I actually started. I chose the RLDS 1830 Facsimile edition to read this time around. I learned, when I compared it with the LDS 1830 Facsimile edition, that the LDS Facsimile edition is actually a copy of the RLDS 1830 Facsimile edition. Same markings, blotches, etc. Odd.

Anyway, I was reading. Regularly. But no real hurry.

Then I went to church on the first Sunday of the year, January 3rd. Due to family illness, I had not been at church the week before.

I was surprised to hear on that early Sunday morning (we'd switched from the 1:30 - 4:40 pm schedule to the 9 am - noon schedule), that the Bishopric had set a goal for the ward:

Read the Book of Mormon by the end of February.

7000 chapters read by the ward membership by February 28th.

To finish the Book of Mormon in 2 months, they figured that 4 chapters a day would do it.

I learned, to my dismay, that I was 12 chapters behind in completing a goal that I'd never heard of until that moment.

Hmmm.

I've participated in Book of Mormon reading challenges many times in the past. Some from church leaders, some I've set myself. In most all of the previous times, when I learned of the challenge, I would good-naturedly start the book over again and participate.

Well, this time I had just gotten through Alma's personal priesthood interviews with his sons. I was half-way done! Should I really start over again? Did I have to?

After a minute or two of consideration, I figured that I would just up my reading to the 4 chapters a day rate and participate that way. So by the end of February I would have finished the Book of Mormon and be back to the middle of the Book of Alma.

I'm on schedule.

Even though I started 12 chapters behind.

I finished Moroni 10 on Friday January 29th.

I've got thoughts about Moroni to share. But they'll have to wait until, ummm,

tomorrow.