1 Nephi 1:16

16  And now I, Nephi, do not make a full account of the things which my father hath written, for he hath written many things which he saw in ^avisions and in ^bdreams; and he also hath written many things which he ^cprophesied and spake unto his children, of which I shall not make a full account.

     “he saw in visions and in dreams”

            -what qualified Lehi to have so many heavenly manifestations?  Clearly he had a gift for such experiences and we may not know a fraction of his experience.  Had the thophanies commenced of a sudden or did he experience a gradual and increasing maturity –perhaps even from his youth-- that culminated in the events related in the first chapter of Nephi?  What visions and dreams did not make it into Nephi’s record?  Whereever this gift began and however frequent they may have been we don’t know.  We can, however, suppose that Nephi’s greatness was probably modeled after his father. And while Laman and Lemuel are nearly as bad as Nephi is good, Nephi appears to have had a mentor in Lehi.  We have solid ground to assume that Lehi was as fantastic in his faith and obedience as was his son.  It is certain that Lehi qualified for such tremendous heavenly experiences because he was faithful and committed to the word of God.  Who has the faith and integrity to take his family from their established home, leaving everything and departing into the desert with no firm or final plan of action?  If I am honest with my weaknesses, my pride and my level of faith, I have to admit that I would not be up to the task.

   ‘Which he prophesied and spake unto his children”

            -there is an age at which children lose their estimation of parents as infallible.  Sometime in early adolescence parents lose the “superhero glow”.  This rapidly deteriorates into a sense of parents being out of touch and susceptible to the foibles of foolish traditions.  Children proclaim their own omniscience together with their parents embarrassing inability to know anything regarding the culture of the younger generation complete with its better, more progressive values, music, potential and society.  The “ramblings” of a man overcome with visions, who was constantly harping on the height of the cultural mainstream, must have been petrifying for Laman and Lemuel who were probably in the thick of this developmental stage.  We can almost hear their protests, “Come on dad, enough already.  Do you know how crazy you sound?  You look like a fool and you are embarrassing us.”

       “...full account..."

            -these things must have occupied the 116 lost pages; and Nephi (in his "small plates”) is just giving us a quick rendition of the most vital events/doctrines.