Aligning Our Lives More with the Gospel of Jesus Christ

General Session of Stake Conference

January 21, 2024

1. Introduction

4. Sister Wendy Nelson: “It’s not an accident that we are immersed in the waters of baptism…we weren’t sprinkled to be baptized, we were immersed to be baptized. If after being immersed, we then only sprinkle our lives with a little scripture here, a little prayer there, a little fasting there, we will only know enough about the gospel to feel guilty and not enough to feel joy.”

-It is my prayer and my mission in our stake to help everyone feel joy from the gospel.

5. Reflect for a moment about yourself (and not anyone else): right now in your life,

Are you sprinkling or are you immersed?

6. I’m speaking today to those who are sprinkling

7. I hope to help motivate your return to immersion in the deep healing and comforting 

waters of the gospel

7. I don’t intend to and won’t be blaming or accusing, just offering help.

I’ve been there before and it’s not fun

8. Most of the time, people don’t want to only sprinkle; they just feel stuck in some way

8. Family trip to Outer Banks – “Great Dismal Swamp” - I couldn’t get out on my own

Terrible feeling: helpless, trapped, unable to take my family where they needed to be

9. Moving from sprinkling to immersing is the same – we need help

We have a Savior!

According to Alma, He already suffered our temptations and afflictions, and took upon himself our pains and sicknesses

10. How do we seek the Savior’s help to make this change?

We must first seek a desire to become more immersed

In the beginning, this may be the biggest challenge

B. Let me suggest a powerful motivator – REST, deep authentic, real REST!

ii. We live in a tumultuous, stressful, confusing, fearful world, and it seems to be getting worse every year in many ways

iii. For mom’s and dad’s: marriage and family responsibilities, jobs, bills, house payments and rent, inflation, taxes, debt, health, troubling local and world affairs

iv. For youth and young single adults: school, job, fitting in, money, social media, friends, parents, family, dating, college,

vii. When we are stuck in the sprinkling mode, we may feel that we

don’t have the time or spiritual or emotional energy needed to become immersed in the gospel

***

But I testify that this feeling is a really an illusion:

Leaky gas tank / dull ax

***

The time and energy needed to fix these things makes the whole endeavor more productive and easier to endure

…So it is when we immerse ourselves in the gospel:

Every act of faith ultimately makes our lives better

ix. Jesus promised “Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.”  (Matthew 11:28)

xii. How do we receive this promised rest?

11. Yoking ourselves to the Savior

The Savior explains that His rest comes from yoking ourselves to Him, which primarily happens through ordinances of the gospel and keeping our associated covenants 

(I’m going to give simple, practical ways – make available online after conference today)

To move from sprinkling to immersion, let me suggest some important conversations for you to have:

Ask those you love (spouse, parents, close friends) how you can

make their burdens lighter and resolve to act on what they say

consistently in your life

ii. Ask a member of your bishopric or your EQ or RS presidency how you can help more in the work of the Lord

(and leaders put them to work!)

iii. Resolve today to magnify your calling and your ministering role more fully.  Prayerfully ask the Lord to reveal to you what that would look like. 

12. Beyond this, I feel inspired today to suggest two other simple ways of accessing the Savior’s rest by opening your heart to the power of His atoning sacrifice, moving from sprinkling to immersion. 

They are gratitude and following impressions from the scriptures

A. Gratitude

i. Prophet Moroni encourages us to ”remember[] how merciful the Lord hath been unto the children of men, from the creation of Adam even down until this time”

ii. The Lord has promised “And he who receiveth all things with thankfulness shall be made glorious.”  (D&C 78:39)

iii. Elder Uchtdorf has described this glory that comes from gratitude beautifully:

Gratitude “transcends whatever is happening around us. It surpasses disappointment, discouragement and despair. It blooms just as beautifully in the icy landscape of winter as it does in the pleasant warmth of summer.

***

“Being grateful in times of distress does not mean that we are pleased with our circumstances. It does mean that through the eyes of faith we look beyond our present-day challenges.

“This is not a gratitude of the lips but of the soul. It is a gratitude that heals the heart and expands the mind.”

iv. I encourage you to spend time each day affirmatively thinking of your blessings and why they are precious to you, starting with the Savior and His teachings, example, and atonement, especially when things seem troubling or sad.

v. As you do so, your desire to move from sprinkling to immersing will naturally and powerfully increase. 

B. Living by the impressions that we received from the scriptures

Reading the Book of Mormon in Come Follow Me this year is a great blessing

To move from sprinkling to immersion, l encourage you to read it each day, not simply letting the words pass through your mind, but listening for thoughts and impressions as you go.

Sometimes those thoughts and impressions will come from the actual words written on the page; other times they will come directly from the Spirit and not relate at all to the reading

When you finish your daily reading, make a note somewhere, on paper, on your phone, however you do it, and then earnestly seek to apply and follow that impression during the following day

As you consistently do this, you will have daily spiritual experiences that will further increase your gratitude to the Lord and your desire to be near Him and follow His teachings.

This will prompt you to continue binding yourself to Him by completing ordinances and fully keeping the covenants associated with those ordinances.

13. I testify to you that immersion in the gospel of Jesus Christ is the key to joy in this life and in eternity.