in Brian’s post below, Michelle asks me about my conversion story. I think this article explains it as well as I can.

Here is the key excerpt:

The moment my grandfather got up to offer the opening prayer, something happened to me. It was as if a small cloud floated down onto my body. I was suddenly infused with joy, pure joy. I remember looking around at the people in the chapel and feeling nothing but love for them. I felt a concentration of my senses and a keen reminder that I needed to listen carefully to the service.

Family members talked about the importance of baptism, and I found myself following their words as if my very life depended upon it. At one point, a speaker reminded people in the audience that everybody should be baptized, and I had to literally stop myself from getting up and declaring I wanted to be baptized.

The rest of the day I walked around in a kind of a daze. I was so happy, so at peace.

You need to read the entire article to understand this quotation in context. I hope you enjoy the story.

Brian’s post below on conversions caused me to search through some of the articles I have written in the past. I would hope anybody interested in temples or temple dedications or President Hinckley or conversions would find this article interesting. In short, this was one of the three greatest spiritual experiences I have ever had. Remembering the wave of the spiritual confirmation that washed over me at this event makes me get teary-eyed.

Here’s another link to the article.
Here are some key excerpts:

As soon as President Hinckley walked into the room, the choir director started weeping. A huge man sitting in front of me kept on wiping tears from his face, and his teenage son to his right had eyes that were red and shiny. The man who was translating for President Hinckley had a trembling chin and a voice that cracked as he tried to perform his job while being overwhelmed by the spirit in the room.

And…

The prophet then led us in the Hosanna Shout, and the choir sang “The Spirit of God.” The room filled with the sound of people singing, a rising, immense chorus that filled us and lifted us up. The sound felt as loud as an airplane engine. I looked around and noticed that many people, myself included, were crying too much to sing. Who was filling that chamber with so much noise? I don’t know. I do know that there was not a dry eye in the house.

What are we to make of a man who brings people to tears just by entering a room? I found myself wondering whether the prophet causes people to weep when he goes shopping for Christmas presents at a mall in Salt Lake City, but my instincts tell me that there was something special about this particular event that caused the spirit to infuse us all with euphoria and a sense of our greater purpose.

This post argues that people have forgotten and/or conveniently ignored the eighth and tenth commandments. What are they?

Exodus 20:15 — Don’t steal

Exodus 20:17 — Don’t covet somebody else’s property.

What does it mean to covet? Dictionary.com’s definition of “covet” is interesting: “to desire wrongfully, inordinately, or without due regard for the rights of others: to covet another’s property.”

Laws should have some basis in morality. The 10 commandments are one of the foundations for many of our laws, but the moral laws against theft and against coveting are often ignored today.
Continue reading →

Please feel free to add your thoughts from Conference this weekend.

With conference coming up, my wife and I inevitably turn our thoughts to: how we will watch more than five minutes at a time while trying to keep our two young boys from destroying the house? It is worth pointing out that my older girls were very calm and easy to deal with during conference weekends. I could give them coloring books, and they would calmly color. I could ask them to draw the person talking. They would each spend an hour doing that.

My boys are incapable of sitting still for more than 10 seconds. And if you let them wander the house unsupervised, we may end up with major damage that will not be covered by the insurance.

I am open to suggestions and stories from those similarly afflicted.