My Notes from Regional Stake Conference and Elder Bednar

Brother Beck, General Young Men's President

Youth today are truly immersed in a battle against evil. You must be engaged in God's work. You have a great work to do. You cannot wait for others -- YOU need to step up and battle evil. BE good and DO good EVERY day. It is needed!

Heavenly Father will help you with this great work. God empowers righteous youth. The video on lds.org titled "Dayton's Legs" is an example of this.

Doctrine and Covenants 58:27: “Verily I say, men should be anxiously engaged in a good cause, and do many things of their own free will, and bring to pass much righteousness." To fail to do so is "one of the most lethal weapons of the adversary."

Sister Dalton, General Young Women's President

Heeding the counsel of Elder Bednar is vital to our success and happiness. Never get discouraged from being faithful.

Story of a group of college class presidents asked to stand next to the sign that most closely resembled their opinion on various issues. On the issue of "premarital sex" one young man found himself alone under the sign that said, "Strongly Disagree". His friends thought he was kidding. He firmly said, "I am not being funny. This is what I believe."

Shows a photo of 3 sheds: Several years ago I was given a photograph of three sheds, two of which were leaning on the third and smallest shed. The accompanying caption read: “You need to be strong when you are the last one to take a stand.”

Elder Christenson of the Seventy

Spoke on strengthening our testimonies.

Elder Bednar

Set an example. The world may criticize, the world may mock, but your worthy example drowns them out.

Testimony is being brought to the knowledge of the truth through the Holy Ghost. Conversion is consistently being true to what we know.

"In the world in which we live, testimony will not be enough." -- Elder Bednar. We must give rise to a deepening and ongoing conversion.

In Alma 23:6-7 we learn that as many who gained a testimony AND were CONVERTED unto the Lord "never did fall away. For they became a righteous people; they did lay down the weapons of their rebellion, that they did not fight against God any more, neither against any of their brethren." Do we lay aside our own weapons of rebellion?

A testimony is what we know to be true by the witness of the Holy Ghost. It is NOT enough without conversion. In the book of Matthew, the parable of the Ten Virgins shows the difference between testimony and conversion.

The lamps were the lamps of Testimony. The oil was the oil of Conversion. The wise virgins didn't withhold oil from the foolish virgins because they were stingy -- Conversion is something that cannot be shared in a moment of adversity or crisis. It comes to us drop by drop and line upon line. ALL had testimony, the wise ALSO had conversion.

Even to Peter, strong and valiant as he was, the Savior said, "When thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren.." We need to experience a mighty change of heart. Those who heard King Benjamin's speech had “no more disposition to do evil, but to do good continually” (Mosiah 5:2).

CONVERSION IS: Moral Qualities, Moral Capacities, Strongly Developed and Consistently Lived. Elder Maxwell once said to Elder Bednar, "Except for the character of Christ there would have been no atoning sacrifice." In the New Testament, Matthew, Chapter 4:11 says, "Then the devil leaveth him, and, behold, angels came and ministered unto him..."

However, Joseph Smith Translation says, "and now Jesus knew that John was cast into prison, and he sent angels, and, behold, they came and ministered unto him (John) …"

This sheds light on the character of Christ. At this time the Savior was spiritually hungry and in need of assistance and suffering more than John. But, He was aware of John and sent angels to John, even in the midst of His own affliction.

Study the New Testament and 3rd Nephi for more stories of the character of Christ. Here are some examples:

1) When the Savior institutes the sacrament, He prays for the peace of others, not for Himself.

2) In the Garden of Gethsemane the Savior asks the apostles to stay awake for him, and several times they sleep anyway. When He left the Garden where he had suffered so greatly that He bled from every pore, he was betrayed by Judas. He had been through much in that moment, and yet, he healed the ear of the guard.

3) On the cross, the Savior's concern was on His mother, and the thieves beside Him.

These examples show the character of Christ to be one that turns OUTWARD instead of INWARD even when He is suffering. Moving toward this should be our ultimate objective. "As we continue to conversion...a mighty change of heart is a turn to looking outward, not inward. " -- Elder Bednar. We can't do it alone, however, we can't accomplish it under our own strength.

Our capacity to achieve this mighty change of heart is enlarged through the Holy Ghost and the Atonement. We DON'T, CAN'T WON'T achieve it simply with goal setting. Mosiah 3:19 says, "For the natural man is an enemy to God... and will be, forever and ever, unless he yields to the enticings of the Holy Spirit, and putteth off the natural man and becometh a saint..."

How is this done? The first part "putteth off the natural man" is accomplished through the Atonement when we repent. The second part, "becometh a saint" is accomplished as we overcome the things we have previously repented for and repent for less and less serious sins. As we do this, we become more and more sanctified.

Elder Maxwell gave a talk at BYU Idaho and apologized to Elder Bednar, feeling his talk was sub-par. Elder Bednar believed it had been one of the best talks he'd ever heard. So, Elder Maxwell still repented of things, but even the bad stuff he repented of, was really good stuff.

Do all we can do IN the strength of the Lord. When the people of Alma were oppressed, the Lord said, “I will … ease the burdens which are put upon your shoulders, that … you cannot feel them, … that ye may know … that I, the Lord God, do visit my people in their afflictions....And … the Lord did strengthen them that they could bear up their burdens with ease, and they did submit cheerfully and with patience to all the will of the Lord” (Mosiah 24:12, 14–15).

This is how we accomplish OUR conversion, our mighty change of heart, our process to turn outward and not inward, to get oil for our lamps and emulate the character of Christ. We ask the Lord to ease the burdens of our weaknesses, our trials, the obstacles in our way...not that they may disappear, but that they may be light upon our shoulders and we may bear them with ease so we may cheerfully and patiently submit to all the will of the Lord.