Feasting with Nephi

The book—Feasting with Nephi—was born from a simple question that refused to leave me alone.

A few years ago, while studying the Old Testament, I found myself puzzled by something that seemed missing from Nephi’s writings. If Nephi grew up in Jerusalem during the late 7th century BCE, surrounded by rich Jewish traditions, why didn’t he ever mention the festivals that would have shaped his spiritual life?

The man who could quote Isaiah at length somehow never got around to talking about Passover?

The question nagged at me—tucked away in the corners of my mind like a riddle I didn’t yet know how to solve. And I might have left it there, if life hadn’t intervened. Or rather, if the Spirit hadn’t nudged me in a very particular direction.

Somewhere between sending a son off to Africa on a mission, running a business, chauffeuring kids, planning girls’ camp, and doing family history, my son’s mission leaders started a Book of Mormon challenge. I jumped in. Over the next two years, we read the Book of Mormon six times together—each read-through focused on a different theme:

• Look for Jesus Christ
• Gospel principles (faith, baptism, Holy Ghost, repentance)
• Gathering of Israel
• Obedience and promised blessings
• Acting on faith
• Personal revelation

Each time, I saw something new. But with three months left in my son’s mission, I got ambitious (okay, maybe a little crazy) and decided to squeeze in one more round.

And that’s when the miracle happened.

I was at the library, finishing up a writing session, when I spotted a book called Your Guide to the Jewish Feasts on the shelf. The heavens didn’t part, and no angelic choir sang, but something in my spirit whispered, That one.

One library card swipe later, I was neck-deep in a world of festivals, Torah readings, and sacred rhythms of ancient Israel. And suddenly, that old question came roaring back.

Where are you hiding the feasts, Nephi?

So I grabbed a fresh, blue Book of Mormon, sharpened my colored pencils, and dove in—with fresh, festival-focused eyes.

I opened to 1 Nephi chapter 1. And there it was.

Rosh Hashanah. Right there in Lehi’s first vision.

I actually laughed out loud. “Okay, fine,” I thought. “That’s definitely a coincidence.”

Spoiler alert: It wasn’t.

As I kept reading, I found more. And more. Not only were the Jewish festivals there—they were in order. As if Nephi had intentionally woven the entire Hebrew calendar and feast cycle into his record.

Plot twist: He totally did.

Three months later, I welcomed my missionary home… and I was still only on 1 Nephi chapter 4.

The deeper I dug into the Book of Mormon as ancient scripture—studying the feasts, their Torah portions, the themes, the literary markers—the more stunned I became. This wasn’t surface-level cleverness. This was ancient, intricate, reverent craftsmanship. These weren’t random smudges of Jewish culture. These were deliberate fingerprints. Clear. Deep. Beautiful.

It made me wonder—how had I missed this before?

That’s the question that launched Feasting with Nephi.

And maybe that’s the question I want to ask you too:

What if there’s more to the Book of Mormon than meets the eye?
What if we’ve been reading a feast and mistaking it for fast food?

This blog (and the book behind it) is my way of inviting you into that discovery. I’m going to show you what I saw. But more importantly, I want to teach you how to see it yourself.

You’ll notice I include a lot of scripture passages—I promise it’s not to overwhelm or bore you. It’s to help you see the patterns, the echoes, the symbolism, the spiritual structure, the hidden beauty that’s always been right there in the text.

This isn’t about scholarly analysis. It’s about a living, breathing conversation with God through His word.

Because here’s the truth:
The Book of Mormon is ancient. It is layered. It is brilliant.
And every layer points us back to Jesus Christ.

So let’s ask big questions. Let’s dig deep. Let’s stop assuming we’ve already seen everything this book has to offer.

Let’s feast.