The Year Between the Destruction and the Savior's Coming

There's something about the Book of Mormon that I don't think most people notice, even people who have read it many times. It has a lot to say about why we prepare.

If you're not familiar with the Book of Mormon, it's a book of scripture that members of my church study alongside the Bible. It tells the story of ancient peoples in the Americas. The high point of the whole book is when the resurrected Jesus Christ visits them. Before that visit, though, something terrible happens.

The Day the Land Was Broken

The account is in 3 Nephi, chapter 8. At the time of the Savior's death, the whole land was torn apart. There were terrible storms, earthquakes, and fire. Whole cities burned. Some sank into the sea. Others were buried under the earth. The highways were broken up and the level roads were spoiled. Then a thick darkness covered the land for three days, so heavy that no one could even light a fire.

Read it slowly and try to picture it. Your town is gone. The roads are gone. The fields and the stores and the trade between cities are all gone. Whoever survived is standing in the ruins wondering what comes next.

Most People Get the Timing Wrong

Here's the part I want you to notice. Most of us assume that when the darkness lifted, the Savior appeared within a day or two. That's how the story usually gets told, and it's how I pictured it for years.

But look closely at the dates the record gives.

The destruction started "in the thirty and fourth year, in the first month, on the fourth day of the month" (3 Nephi 8:5). Then, at the end of chapter 10, the record says that it was "in the ending of the thirty and fourth year" that the Savior showed himself to the people (3 Nephi 10:18). Chapter 11 picks up with a crowd gathered at the temple in the land of Bountiful, talking about the changes that had happened in their land.

Not everyone reads those verses exactly the same way. But taken at face value, they put the Savior's appearance near the end of that year. That means the survivors may have lived among the ruins for close to twelve months before he came.

Twelve Months in the Ruins

Think about what that year must have been like. There were no stores to restock from. The fields might have been buried or burned. The roads that once carried goods between cities were broken. Families had to find enough food and clean water to keep going, month after month, with very little around them to live on.

They were the righteous ones too. The record says the more righteous part of the people were spared. Being spared didn't mean being comfortable. They still had to get through the year.

When I put it all together, I see a pattern. I believe the same kinds of calamities are coming again. And I suspect that's one reason Church leaders have encouraged families for generations to work toward a year's supply. Help may come, but it may not come right away. We may have to hold on for a while first.

Joseph Saw It Coming Too

This isn't a new idea. Thousands of years earlier, Joseph of Egypt was warned through Pharaoh's dreams that seven years of plenty would be followed by seven years of famine (Genesis 41). He didn't panic and he didn't ignore it. He stored grain during the good years, and when the famine came, Egypt had enough to feed itself and the families who came begging for help, including Joseph's own brothers.

Church leaders have pointed to Joseph's example for a long time, all the way back to the early days of the Church. Leaders pressed the message even harder during and after the Great Depression, when so many families learned the hard way what it means to go without.

Start Where You Are

A year's supply can sound overwhelming. It doesn't have to be. Start with a few weeks of water. Build up three months of the food you already eat every day. Then keep working toward long-term staples like wheat, rice, and beans.

The free Food Storage Calculator on this site will tell you exactly how much your family needs for however many months you choose, whether that's one month or twelve. It also shows the cost if you buy through the Church's Home Storage Centers, which are open to anyone. You don't have to sign up, and nothing you enter is ever saved.

A Thought to Carry With You

The people in 3 Nephi didn't know how long they'd have to wait. They only knew that they had to keep going. I think the deepest lesson of that year is that the Savior did come. The waiting ended. The people who held on, faithful and fed and still hoping, were the ones standing at the temple when he descended out of heaven. That's who I want to be, and who I hope you'll be, when our own hard year arrives.