8/30/15 | Elder Bailey's Homecoming Talk

I've never been so nervous to talk to a congregation in my life. This is the biggest congregation I've ever seen in about 2 years. Last week I spoke in church and it probably took up about half the front section and that was the entire ward and some other people, so bare with me if I get nervous because I'm pretty nervous right now. I hope that the spirit will be able to carry the message tthat I've pretared for you guys. And today I'm going to be talking about something that is very dear to my heart. 

Today I’ll be talking on the power of personal testimony, what it is, why it’s important, and how to gain a personal testimony. 
So first off, What is a testimony?

In True to the faith it reads,

“A testimony is a spiritual witness given by the Holy Ghost.”

A testimony is a knowledge that something is true, such as knowing that the BofM is true, that Jesus Christ lives, and that Joseph Smith was called to be the prophet to bring back the Church of Jesus Christ in these latter-days. 

President Packer shared an experience of when he tried to explain what a testimony was to an atheist, he said,

“I sat on a plane next to a professed atheist who pressed his disbelief in God so urgently that I bore my testimony to him. “You are wrong,” I said, “there is a God. I know He lives!”

He protested, “You don’t know. Nobody knows that! You can’t know it!” When I would not yield, the atheist, who was an attorney, asked perhaps the ultimate question on the subject of testimony. “All right,” he said in a sneering, condescending way, “you say you know. Tell me how you know.”

When I attempted to answer, even though I held advanced academic degrees, I was helpless to communicate.

. . . he said, “you don’t really know. If you did, you would be able to tell me how you know.”

I felt, perhaps, that I had borne my testimony to him unwisely and was at a loss as to what to do. Then came the experience! Something came into my mind . . . and I said to the atheist, “Let me ask if you know what salt tastes like.”

“Of course I do,” was his reply.

“When did you taste salt last?”

“I just had dinner on the plane.”

“You just think you know what salt tastes like,” I said.

He insisted, “I know what salt tastes like as well as I know anything.”

“If I gave you a cup of salt and a cup of sugar and let you taste them both, could you tell the salt from the sugar?”

“Now you are getting juvenile,” was his reply. “Of course I could tell the difference. I know what salt tastes like. It is an everyday experience—I know it as well as I know anything.”

“Then,” I said, “assuming that I have never tasted salt, explain to me just what it tastes like.”

After some thought, he ventured, “Well-I-uh, it is not sweet and it is not sour.”

“You’ve told me what it isn’t, not what it is.”

After several attempts, of course, he could not do it. He could not convey, in words alone, so ordinary an experience as tasting salt. I bore testimony to him once again and said, “I know there is a God. You ridiculed that testimony and said that if I did know, I would be able to tell you exactly how I know. My friend, spiritually speaking, I have tasted salt. I am no more able to convey to you in words how this knowledge has come than you are to tell me what salt tastes like. But I say to you again, there is a God! He does live! And just because you don’t know, don’t try to tell me that I don’t know, for I do!”

From that experience forward, I have never been embarrassed or ashamed that I could not explain in words alone everything I know spiritually.”
That's why a testimony is so important. It's something that is inside each of us. It's not something that we can convey to people, but it's something that the spirit can convey. The spirit can go forth and touch the hearts of you we talk to as we share that testimony.  

Why is a testimony Important?

Elder Ballard said,

“Personal testimony is the foundation of our faith.

Testimony … changes lives. It changes how you think and what you do. It changes what you say.

When one receives a testimony of truth …, it immediately begins to have impact on that person’s life.”

As missionaries our main goal is to invite others to come unto Christ, we do that by guiding them and helping them come to know the messages we share are true by having them pray and ask God.  Once the people we are working with gain that testimony they act on it by being baptized. 

I remember one time we were working with 2 friends, their names are Shelly and Claricia. They were from Haiti and spoke a lot of Creole and a little bit of English so there was some difficulty connecting with them but I was able to get through pretty well.  We had been teaching them about the BofM and asked them to read and pray and ask God if it was true.  We came back the next day and asked Shelly about her experience with reading and prayer.  She explained to us that she started reading and it made no sense to her, so she prayed and asked God to help her understand what she read.  She told us almost word for word the chapter she had read and then said that she knew it was true. She had gained that testimony.  After 10 days of teaching them they were baptized because of that testimony they had. As of right now they are both faithful members living in Florida. 

Another experience I recall is when we were teaching our friend Tasiea.  We had been working with her for a few weeks and were striving to help her be baptized in March.  She was struggling to know if she was ready for baptism and if March was the time when God wanted her to be baptized.  My companion and I went over one day and shared the doctrine of baptism and bore simple testimony. It was a very simple lesson but the Spirit was there and it touched her heart.  

A couple days later we went back over after Church and she started off by saying, “Elder’s I need to tell you something, don’t’ freak out or get mad at me or be disappointed” And if any of you have ever served missions you know that if someone starts a conversation like that you know it's not going to end too well. And so I kind of braced myself to hear some disappointing news. And then she said “I’m being baptized on Tuesday!!!”  That was one of the happiest moments of my life. When an investigator tells you that they want to be baptized and that they've been able to receive that witness and spirit that it's true. 
My companion, Elder Hayward and I had taught Gospel Principles and chose to teach it on the power of the Holy Ghost and directed it to our investigators who were at church, Tasiea being one of them.  
We found out that after Gospel Principles class, she went home and she had been praying on the car ride home and while in the car she was able to feel the spirit and it specifically told her that March was the month that she needed to be baptized.  And then two days later on March 31st she was baptized and she's now a faithful member of the church preparing to go to the temple.  And again it was that testimony that she had gained that caused her to act. 

It was the testimony she gained that led her to act.

It is vital for each of us to gain a personal testimony at some point of our lives.  I believe it is critical for the youth to seek diligently to gain a personal testimony.  Especially before they leave their houses, before they go to college, before they serve a mission.  It was my testimony that caused me to keep working hard with faith and diligence during the 2 years I spent in Florida.  I remember some days it felt like everything was working against us, Like all the powers of Satan were trying to get us to not be obedient and not put forth our efforts.  Like days when it was 100 degrees and 100% humidity; Days when we rode our bikes through thunderstorms and extreme heat; Days when it appeared that no one cared to listen to us as we knocked door to door for hours; and days when it seemed that every gnat and mosquito was out to get us. It was on days like this when my testimony was tried and tested, but it was never shaken because I had gained my testimony when I was younger in my youth been and was able to strengthen it and help it grow for while before I left on my mission. 

If there is any advice I would give to the youth it would be this, to gain a personal testimony that this Church is true, that the Book of Mormon is true and that Joseph Smith was called by Jesus Christ to restore His church, before you leave home to serve a mission or to go to college. That's the biggest piece of advice that I can give because that is what will make a difference in your life. 

I’d like to share my experience of when I gained a personal testimony.  A few years ago, when I was 17, I had the opportunity to work in Nauvoo doing construction for the Church.  At this time I really wanted to know if this church was true, if everything I had been taught growing up was true and if Joseph Smith was a true prophet. One evening I was sitting on a hill just south of the Temple looking over old Nauvoo and decided to pray and ask God if all of this was true.  As I offered up that simple, silent prayer, the Spirit confirmed to me that it was all true.

  This little experience changed my life.  It was because of this moment that I decided to go serve a 2 year mission for the Church. Before that I didn't really have plans to serve a mission, and because of that moment when I gained that testimony that I had the desire to go. After 2 years later I have no regrets of my two year service. I was able to go and change the lives of people in South Florida and it was all because I gained that personal testimony. 

Because I gained that testimony when I was younger I was able to strengthen and grow that testimony so that when I went on my mission I already had a testimony of all the messages that we shared.  Because of my testimony the Spirit was able to teach with me more and touch the hearts of those we taught. 

Just last Monday I had the opportunity to teach my last lesson as a missionary, to a couple we had found. We found this couple last Saturday night and then taught them Monday night.  By this time I had taught it hundreds of times, yet the Spirit felt while sharing that message was the same.  As I testified that what we had taught was true, that Joseph Smith was a prophet and that this is the Church of Jesus Christ, the Spirit touched the hearts of the couple we taught.  They said, “This all makes sense, we believe that what you taught it true.  Now, when can we be baptized by that authority you were talking about?”

That’s my favorite question to hear!!  It is the bearing of simple testimony that helps change the lives of many people.  For us and for those we teach it is great to acquire a testimony, but that’s just not enough. Elder Bednar said, “Testimony alone is not and will not be enough to protect us in the latter-day storm of darkness and evil in which we are living.  Testimony is important and necessary but not sufficient to provide he spiritual strength and protection we need.”

So what gives us the strength and protection we need?

Elder Bednar continues, “Testimony is the beginning of and prerequisite to continuing conversion . . . Strong testimony is the foundation upon which conversion is established”

To stay strong and resist temptation, one must be converted.

How do we become converted?

From the Book of Mormon we receive a 5-step process on becoming converted:

1.     Study the scriptures and the words of the prophets; general conference talks

2.     Exercise faith in Christ

3.     Repent

4.     Experience a mighty change of heart

5.     Become “firm and steadfast in the faith”

It’s a simple process. God wants every one of His children to know that this is His church and to be converted unto Him.  He asks us to learn of Him, whether by reading the scriptures or listening to the missionaries, and then asking him through prayer so that He can send the Spirit to tell us that it’s true.

I invite all of you to seek to strengthen your testimony and become converted by following this process.  The way to stay strong, faithful and happy is to have a strong testimony as our foundation so that we can build upon it and become converted.

I urge all of you who are questioning whether to serve a mission or not, to ask God if you should serve.  He will let you know that it is one of the best things you could do with your life!  I don’t regret one minute of my missionary experience. 

And please seek to gain a personal testimony before you leave the comforts of home or leave to serve a mission.  It will increase your experience dramatically if you have a testimony and if you’re converted before you leave. 

I saw too many times missionaries come out into the field seeking to gain a testimony as a missionary.  It grieved my heart to see these missionaries struggle with disobedience, laziness and lack of desire as they struggled to know if this is true.

 On the flip side I also saw many missionaries come into the field with a firm testimony, those were the ones who worked miracles right from day one. They understood why they were there, they had the desire to work, and they were able to go and work miracle among the people for the entire 2 years. 

There is nothing more important in life for the youth than to gain a personal testimony. Become converted to the gospel young and then be able to build upon that and strengthen it over the years.    It is just as essential for the adults and the parents as well to keep their testimonies strong and bright and to help their families gain testimonies of their own and then help each other become converted to the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
That's my prayer to just help each of us to become converted. I want us all to be able to make it one day to the Celestial Kingdom of God. To be able to live with friends and family, and the way to do that is to become converted.
And I'd like to just give thanks to all those who helped me through my two year mission. Especially my family, my siblings, my dad. All my friends and all those members of the ward here that helped me throughout the two year experience.

I'd like to bear my testimony that I know that this church is true. I know that Joseph Smith was a Prophet. That he was called to bring back the church of Jesus Christ. I know the Book of Mormon is true. There is no other book that compares to it. And I know that Jesus Christ loves each and every one of us and he's there for us. He wants us to live with him again someday. He just asks us to reach out to him. Pray and ask him for that help.
I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.