Motormouth Nephi

I came across an odd passage in the Doctrine & Covenants tonight. In the middle of a "missionary chapter," Section 33, v. 8, Elders Thayre and Sweet are told to "open their mouths and they shall be filled and you shall become even as Nephi of old..."

Now Nephi was a great guy and all but he never served a formal mission. So what are we supposed to understand from this?

Fact is, he spent his life sharing the gospel among his family and friends, and the cross reference to 2 Nephi 1:27 answers my question. He opened his mouth, it was filled by the Spirit and "he could not shut it."

Such was the promise for Thayre and Sweet, or any missionary filled with the Spirit. They followed in the footsteps of Jeremiah, who so burned with the zeal of the Spirit that it was "as a fire shut up in his bones and he could not forbear. (Jer. 20:29)."