1. THE ART OF CONVERSION Alma 5-7

2. Jeffrey R. Holland No modern prophet has addressed this issue (of retention) more directly nor expected more from us in seeing that it happen. With a twinkle in his eye and a hand smacking the table in front of him, (Pres. Hinckley) said to the Twelve recently, "Brethren, when my life is finished and the final services are concluding, I am going to rise up as I go by, look each of you in the eye, and say, 'How are we doing on retention?' "

3. This subject brings us full circle, linking the kind of true, deep conversion the missionaries are striving to bring with the greater commitment and devotion being seen in wonderful members all over the Church

4. Redemptive Faith Preparatory Faith Natural Man

5. Alma’s Problem Backsliding in the church- and how to stop it

6. Alma 4:19 And…he did … go forth among his people… that he might preach the word of God unto them, 1)to stir them up in remembrance of their duty 2) that he might pull down, … all the pride and craftiness and all the contentions which were among his people, seeing no way that he might reclaim them save it were in bearing down in pure testimony against them.

7. Alma 5:6 And now behold, I say unto you, my brethren (and Sistern!), you that belong to this church, have you sufficiently retained in remembrance the captivity of your fathers?

8. Why are the Brethren so anxious to focus and commit so much money to the History of the Church?

9. Conversion 11 …did not my father Alma believe in the words … of Abinadi? … Did he not speak the words of God, and my father Alma believe them? 12 And according to his faith there was a mighty change wrought in his heart. Behold I say unto you that this is all true.

10. Alma’s Challenge 14 And now behold, I ask of you, my brethren of the church, Have ye spiritually been born of God? Have ye received his image in your countenances? Have ye experienced this mighty change in your hearts?

11. HOW DO WE KNOW? What does the “mighty change” look and feel like?

13. We Stay in the Boat! When we join The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, we board the Good Ship Zion and sail with her wherever she goes until she comes into that millennial port. We stay in the boat, through squalls and stills, through storms and sunburn, because that is the only way to the promised land. This Church is the Lord's vehicle for crucial doctrines, ordinances, covenants, and keys that are essential to exaltation, and one cannot be fully faithful to the gospel of Jesus Christ without striving to be faithful in the Church, which is its earthly institutional manifestation. (Elder Holland, April General Conference)

14. Alma’s “checklist” 26 … if ye have experienced a change of heart, and if ye have felt to sing the song of redeeming love, I would ask, can ye feel so now? 27 Have ye walked, keeping yourselves blameless before God? … That your garments have been cleansed and made white through the blood of Christ, who will come to redeem his people from their sins? 28 Behold, are ye stripped of pride? 29 Behold, I say, is there one among you who is not stripped of envy? … for such an one is not found guiltless. 30 And again I say unto you, is there one among you that doth make a mock of his brother, or that heapeth upon him persecutions?,

15. Marion G. Romney I say, no one with the spirit of the Book of Mormon upon him can honestly answer to himself these soul-searching questions (in Alma, Chapter 5) without resolving to so live that he can answer them in the affirmative on that great day to which each of us shall come. (April Conference, 1970)

16. Elder Holland I wish you could meet the marvelous young man who came to us from Bolivia, arriving with no matching clothing and shoes three sizes too large for him. He was a little older because he was the sole breadwinner in his home and it had taken some time to earn money for his mission. He raised chickens and sold the eggs door-to-door. Then, just as his call finally came, his widowed mother faced an emergency appendectomy. Our young friend gave every cent of the money he had earned for his mission to pay for his mother's surgery and postoperative care, then quietly rounded up what used clothing he could from friends and arrived at the MTC in Santiago on schedule. I can assure you that his clothes now match, his shoes now fit, and both he and his mother are safe and sound, temporally as well as spiritually.