My talk from Yesterday

I was asked to give a talk on my Personal Conversion yesterday. Here are the notes from my talk:

I. What is a personal conversion?


a. Conversion signifies not just a convincing but a profound change of nature.

b. The gospel challenges us to be “converted”, which requires us to do and to become.

II. Why is this important?

a. “There is much more to be achieved than statistical improvement,” President Hinckley said. “More importantly, we should be concerned with the spiritual dimension of our people and the enlargement of this dimension. There is a tendency in all of us to ask for better statistical performance. There is a tendency to impose quotas behind which usually lies imposition of pressure to achieve improved statistics. In the work of the Lord there is a more appropriate motivation than pressure. There is the motivation that comes of true conversion. When there throbs in the heart of an individual Latter-day Saint a great and vital testimony of the truth of this work, he [meaning, of course, men and women] will be found doing his duty in the Church. He will be found in his sacrament meetings. He will be found in his priesthood meetings. He will be found paying his honest tithes and offerings. He will be doing his home teaching. He will be found in attendance at the temple as frequently as his circumstances will permit. He will have within him a great desire to share the Gospel with others. He will be found strengthening and lifting his brethren and sisters. [In other words, he will be committed.] It is conversion that makes the difference” (Regional Representatives’ seminar, 6 Apr. 1984; emphasis added).

b. This “mighty change in your hearts” is what conversion is all about. President Joseph Fielding Smith said, “People are converted by their hearts being penetrated by the Spirit of the Lord when they humbly hearken to the testimonies of the Lord’s servants” (Church History and Modern Revelation, 2 vols. [1953], 1:40).

III. How do you get a personal conversion?

a. Mosiah 27:25-26

i. Be baptized

b. 3 Nephi 27:27

i. Follow Christ’s Example

c. Alma 34:32

i. Prepare in this life to meet God

d. Our needed conversions are often achieved more readily by suffering and adversity than by comfort and tranquillity, as Elder Hales taught us so beautifully this morning. Father Lehi promised his son Jacob that God would “consecrate [his] afflictions for [his] gain” (2 Ne. 2:2). The Prophet Joseph was promised that “thine adversity and thine afflictions shall be but a small moment; and then, if thou endure it well, God shall exalt thee on high” (D&C 121:7–8).

i. Nevertheless, Jacob, my first-born in the wilderness, thou knowest the greatness of God; and he shall consecrate thine aafflictions for thy gain. (2 Nephi 2:2)



ii. My son, apeace be unto thy soul; thine badversity and thine afflictions shall be but a csmall moment; And then, if thou aendure it well, God shall exalt thee on high; thou shalt triumph over all thy bfoes.

e. We are challenged to move through a process of conversion toward that status and condition called eternal life. This is achieved not just by doing what is right, but by doing it for the right reason—for the pure love of Christ. The Apostle Paul illustrated this in his famous teaching about the importance of charity (see 1 Cor. 13). The reason charity never fails and the reason charity is greater than even the most significant acts of goodness he cited is that charity, “the pure love of Christ” (Moro. 7:47), is not an act but a condition or state of being. Charity is attained through a succession of acts that result in a conversion. Charity is something one becomes. Thus, as Moroni declared, “except men shall have charity they cannot inherit” the place prepared for them in the mansions of the Father (Ether 12:34; emphasis added).

f. Ether 12:34

i. charity

g. Mosiah 5:2

i. No more evil, do good continually

h. Alma 5:45-46

i. Made known because of fasting and prayer

i. Alma 17:2-3

i. Fasting and prayer

j. “All that I have I desire to give you—not only my wealth, but also my position and standing among men. That which I have I can easily give you, but that which I am you must obtain for yourself. You will qualify for your inheritance by learning what I have learned and by living as I have lived. I will give you the laws and principles by which I have acquired my wisdom and stature. Follow my example, mastering as I have mastered, and you will become as I am, and all that I have will be yours.”

IV. Personal Experiences

a. Converted to receiving answers to prayers.

i. “Do you really love me?” “Are you really there?”

b. Converted to Scripture study

i. Receiving answers to my questions through the scriptures

c. Converted to Church attendance

i. In Chicago and having to fight to go

d. Converted to Eternal Families

i. Family History work

e. Converted to the Temple



V. Conclusion

a. James 1:22

i. 22 But be ye adoers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.

b. Cheryl C. Lant, Primary general president: “Our personal conversion comes as we begin to live the way the Lord wants us to live—steadfast and immovable in keeping all of the commandments, not just those that are convenient. This then becomes a process of refinement as we strive to make each day a little better than the last” (“Righteous Traditions,” Liahona and Ensign, May 2008, 14).

This was so fun to compile!! Hope you enjoy!

Hermana Skouson