"A Mighty Change of Heart"

Wednesday, May 27th, we taught from Alma, chapter 5 in the Book of Mormon, at the Queens Stake Institute Forum. We began with a heart shaped dry sponge and talked about hard, scratchy, unyielding hearts. Next we dipped our heart sponge in a bowl of water and watched the, "mighty change" of our heart. Instantly it was enlarged, soft, and pliable. We could work with it! It was just a little sharing time moment to introduce our topic.

Elder West compared an individual who's life was saved by a heart transplant, and the importance of being spiritually saved after we experience a mighty change of our hearts. As we read the scriptures in Alma 5, he pointed out Alma's 28 indicators he gave to his people through out the chapter as to whether or not they have spiritually been born of God. Alma also wrote this for our day. Alma's question to us also, are we being celestialized?

Our students were organized into four activity groups. They studied and reported to the class different principles Alma focused on. Each group did a great job. We were so pleased with their insight and the outcome of their interaction together.

This group was asked to describe the judgement day, when we will all come before God to be judged. The searched Alma 5 16-25 and compared the feelings of the unrepentant and the repentant.

These students focused on Alma's testimony that he shared in 5:37-52. They shared five important words or phrases in his testimony and explained why they selected them.

Alma knew that the Church members in his time faced difficult challenges. This group searched Alma 5:26-35, and 52-62. They were asked to list two challenges Alma mentioned that are also challenges in our day and what we can do to overcome them.

These class members were asked to imagine a friend who does not take religion and the gospel very seriously. They had a lively discussion about how they would help their friend understand what it means to "be saved." They reported to our class about what we can do to have a mighty change of heart and how important it is to continually work to change and progress in this life.

We finished the lesson with some examples of how pride and selfishness can get in the way of what Alma teaches each of us about having soft hearts. President Ezra T. Benson said, "Pride is concerned with who is right. Humility is concerned with what is right." When we humble ourselves the Spirit will always tell us what is right.

This evening was the culmination of our formal teaching, CES assignment. We will treasure this part of our mission experience. We have loved the students we have worked with, the opportunity to immerse ourselves in scripture study and lesson preparation, and the opportunity to teach together. It has been a rich part of our mission and we will miss it. Thank you to all our beloved students who have willing attended and shared with us each week. We love you and you have forever changed our hearts!