Jonah 1 - Micah 7

Much of the Old Testament is about the covenants of the Lord with the children of Israel - husband and wife. Because of the covenants, Israel believed they were the chosen one. They believed all others must therefore be despised by the Lord. But the experience of Jonah though teaches that the Lord loves all his children that repent and come unto him -

"He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the LORD require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?" (Old Testament Micah 6:8)

Jonah was greatly entrenched in this belief. As the Lord commanded Jonah -

"Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry against it; for their wickedness is come up before me." (Old Testament Jonah 1:2)

Jonah seemed to have no problem declaring repentance to his people - the chosen people. But to call repentance to the gentiles was something he struggled with and so -

"...Jonah rose up to flee unto Tarshish from the presence of the LORD..." (Old Testament Jonah 1:3)

As he fled on a ship -

"...the LORD sent out a great wind into the sea, and there was a mighty tempest in the sea, so that the ship was like to be broken.
5 Then the mariners were afraid, and cried every man unto his god, and cast forth the wares that were in the ship into the sea, to lighten it of them. But Jonah was gone down into the sides of the ship; and he lay, and was fast asleep." (Old Testament Jonah 1:4 - 5)

The mariners were greatly afraid, and at last resort they approached Jonah -

"What shall we do unto thee, that the sea may be calm unto us? for the sea wrought, and was tempestuous.
12 And he said unto them, Take me up, and cast me forth into the sea; so shall the sea be calm unto you: for I know that for my sake this great tempest is upon you." (Old Testament Jonah 1:11 - 12)

They didn't do this right away but rowed hard to avoid this request. But finally leaving no choice to save their lives -

"...they took up Jonah, and cast him forth into the sea: and the sea ceased from her raging." (Old Testament Jonah 1:15)

Nephi said -

"...I will go and do the things which the Lord hath commanded, for I know that the Lord giveth no commandments unto the children of men, save he shall prepare a way for them that they may accomplish the thing which he commandeth them." (Book of Mormon 1 Nephi 3:7)

The Lord didn't let Jonah of the hook and -

"...prepared a great fish to swallow up Jonah. And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights." (Old Testament Jonah 1:17)

And when Jonah was humbled enough -

"THEN Jonah prayed unto the LORD his God out of the fish's belly,
2 And said, I cried by reason of mine affliction unto the LORD, and he heard me..." (Old Testament Jonah 2:1 - 2)

"And the LORD spake unto the fish, and it vomited out Jonah upon the dry land." (Old Testament Jonah 2:10)

So Jonah did that which he was commanded -

"...and went unto Nineveh, according to the word of the LORD. Now Nineveh was an exceeding great city of three days' journey.
4 And Jonah began to enter into the city a day's journey, and he cried, and said, Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown." (Old Testament Jonah 3:3 - 4)

But to Jonah's surprise -

"...the people of Nineveh believed God, and proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them even to the least of them..." (Old Testament Jonah 3:5)

In that the Lord -

"...God saw their works that they turned from their evil way and repented; and God turned away the evil that he had said he would bring upon them." (JST Old Testament Jonah 3:10)

This greatly frustrated Jonah in that they were still gentiles. The Lord than taught him a great lesson as he built a booth on the east side of the city. The Lord -

"...prepared a gourd, and made it to come up over Jonah, that it might be a shadow over his head, to deliver him from his grief. So Jonah was exceeding glad of the gourd." (Old Testament Jonah 4:6)

But then the Lord -

"...prepared a worm when the morning rose the next day, and it smote the gourd that it withered." (Old Testament Jonah 4:7)

And -

"...when the sun did arise, that God prepared a vehement east wind; and the sun beat upon the head of Jonah, that he fainted, and wished in himself to die, and said, It is better for me to die than to live." (Old Testament Jonah 4:8)

And then the Lord approached Jonah -

"...Doest thou well to be angry for the gourd? And he said, I do well to be angry, even unto death." (Old Testament Jonah 4:9)

The Lord then compares this experience -

"...Thou hast had pity on the gourd, for the which thou hast not laboured, neither madest it grow; which came up in a night, and perished in a night:
11 And should not I spare Nineveh, that great city, wherein are more than sixscore thousand persons that cannot discern between their right hand and their left hand..." (Old Testament Jonah 4:10 - 11)

These people had never heard these teachings meaning to decern between there righto or left hand. The Lord made it clear God loves all his children.

In June of 1978, the First Presidency proclaimed -

"As we have witnessed the expansion of the work of the Lord over the earth, we have been grateful that people of many nations have responded to the message of the restored gospel, and have joined the Church in ever-increasing numbers. This, in turn, has inspired us with a desire to extend to every worthy member of the Church all of the privileges and blessings which the gospel affords.
7 Aware of the promises made by the prophets and presidents of the Church who have preceded us that at some time, in God's eternal plan, all of our brethren who are worthy may receive the priesthood, and witnessing the faithfulness of those from whom the priesthood has been withheld, we have pleaded long and earnestly in behalf of these, our faithful brethren, spending many hours in the Upper Room of the Temple supplicating the Lord for divine guidance.
8 He has heard our prayers, and by revelation has confirmed that the long-promised day has come when every faithful, worthy man in the Church may receive the holy priesthood, with power to exercise its divine authority, and enjoy with his loved ones every blessing that flows therefrom, including the blessings of the temple. Accordingly, all worthy male members of the Church may be ordained to the priesthood without regard for race or color. Priesthood leaders are instructed to follow the policy of carefully interviewing all candidates for ordination to either the Aaronic or the Melchizedek Priesthood to insure that they meet the established standards for worthiness.
9 We declare with soberness that the Lord has now made known his will for the blessing of all his children throughout the earth who will hearken to the voice of his authorized servants, and prepare themselves to receive every blessing of the gospel." (Doctrine and Covenants Official Declaration 2:6 - 9)

Much like Jonah, many latter-day saints struggled with this concept just as Jonah had with the gentiles of Ninevah. Ammon, a son of Mosiah, said -

"Now my brethren, we see that God is mindful of every people, whatsoever land they may be in; yea, he numbereth his people, and his bowels of mercy are over all the earth..." (Book of Mormon Alma 26:37)