Entrepreneurial Journal Entry – Week 9

Each week we are giving so many great things to read and watch. We are then given the opportunity to write about what stood out to us the most. Even though I learn so many from all the weekly material I notice it’s usually the church articles that stand out to me the most.

This week’s article was incredible as usual. It was a talk given by Elder Oaks in 2000 – “The Challenge To Become”. I learned so much from this article that I ended up sharing quite a bit of it to my husband. Elder Oaks starts out by teaching a little bit about Simon Peter. Who he was, the experiences he had, the things he had taught, and the position he held in the leadership of the church, etc. It was interesting to hear after all these incredible things he had done and been through, even with the incredible testimony he had and his willingness to share it, Peter was still asked to do and be more. The Savior told Peter he needed to be converted.

So what is the difference between having a testimony and being converted? Elder Oaks teaches that to testify is to know and to declare. But to be converted requires us to do and to become. Oftentimes our journey to conversion requires us to endure trials and adversity. Some of us will even endure what the scriptures call “the furnace of affliction.” Through these difficult experiences of refinement and sanctification our Heavenly Father is able to help us to reach our potential and become who we are meant to be. It is at this state of being that we not only do what is right, but we do it for the right reasons – for the pure love of Christ. People who are progressing toward the process of conversion are beginning to see things as our Heavenly Father and His Son, Jesus Christ, see them. They are hearing His voice instead of the voice of the world, and they are doing things in His way instead of by the ways of the world.