Elder Quentin L. Cook (Apr. '22): "Conversion to the Will of God"

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 I went into this conference with questions about conversion-- what was the process?  how could I deepen my own conversion?  how can I keep my conversion fresh? Etc.  So, this talk stood out to me for what it said about conversion.  As I thought and prayed about this activity I felt impressed to focus, however, on missionary work, which was also a large portion of Elder Cook's talk.

The Activity:

  1. Read par. 18 "In the Lord's . . . and His hands."
  2. (Optional) Discuss as a class this quote and why sharing the gospel was such a focus of this conference.
  3. Divide the class down the middle.  Explain that one half will discuss Elder Cook's counsel on how to share the gospel, while the other half discusses the blessing of sharing the gospel.  There will be time for discussions between the two groups after.
  4. Ask the class members in each half of the room to read their assigned quote (found below) and then talk about it-- what does it say?  how have you seen this in your life or the lives of others?  what questions do you have? Etc. 
    1. HOW group-- read par. 22 "For the Savior's . . . come and see."
    2. BLESSINGS group-- read par. 25 "The blessings of . . . the noble task."
  5. After four or five minutes, ask the class members to stand up and create new groups of 4 with 2 members from each half of the room (2 people who have talked about how to share the gospel and 2 who have talked about the blessings of sharing the gospel).  
  6. Have these groups discuss what was talked about in their groups for a bit.
  7. After a few minutes in these groups, come back together as a class and discuss what was talked about.

Using the Activity:

There are several modifications that could be done with this activity that are fairly easy.  First, depending on the size of the class, you may want to further divide the two halves into smaller groups.  Remember the purpose of small groups is to provide as many people as possible with a chance to talk and engage with gospel doctrine.  Second, you could also have the second groups simply be pairs (one from each half of the room).  Of course, you could also choose different passages.

One important aspect of this activity is that it provides two key elements to promote discussion and engagement.  First, by reducing the number of people listening it makes it easier for some to speak up.  Second, by providing an opportunity for all of the class members to come together and to focus on one part of the talk and then to regroup and represent that part of the talk to someone who is less familiar with it can make it easier for people to participate.  They "know" more than the other person about this topic (or this part of the topic).  When we speak up and share our thoughts we are exercising faith and that opens our heart to the Spirit.

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