Eduardo Gavarret | A Mighty Change of Heart | April 2022 General Conference | Faith To Act

A Mighty Change of Heart:
“I Have Nothing More to Give You”

By Elder Eduardo Gavarret

Of the Seventy

This change of heart is not an event; it takes faith, repentance, and constant spiritual work to happen.

Introduction
On Friday, October 28, 1588, having lost its rudder to being governed solely by oar, the ship La Girona, belonging to the great Spanish Armada, collided with the rocks of Lacada Point in Northern Ireland.1

The ship capsized. One of the castaways struggling to survive wore a gold ring given to him a few months earlier by his wife with the inscription, “I have nothing more to give you.”2

“I have nothing more to give you”—a phrase and a ring with the design of a hand holding a heart, an expression of love from a wife to her husband.

Scripture Connection
When I read this story, it made a deep impression on me, and I thought of the request made by the Savior: “And ye shall offer for a sacrifice unto me a broken heart and a contrite spirit.”3

I also thought of the people’s reaction to King Benjamin’s words: “Yea, we believe all the words which thou hast spoken unto us … , which has wrought a mighty change in us, or in our hearts, that we have no more disposition to do evil, but to do good continually.”4

Personal Connection
Let me share with you an experience I had when I was 12 years old, the effect of which lasts to this day.

My mother said, “Eduardo, hurry up. We are late for the Church meetings.”

“Mom, I’m going to stay with Dad today,” I replied.

“Are you sure? You have to attend your priesthood quorum meeting,” she said.

I replied, “Poor Dad! He is going to be left alone. I’m going to stay with him today.”

Dad was not a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

My mother and sisters went to Sunday meetings. So I went to meet Dad in his workshop, where he liked to be on Sundays, and as I had told my mother, I spent a while, that is, a few minutes with him, and then I asked, “Dad, is everything all right?”

He kept up his hobby of repairing radios and clocks, and he just smiled at me.

Then I told him, “I’m going to go play with my friends.”

Dad, without looking up, said to me, “Today is Sunday. Aren’t you supposed to go to church?”

“Yes, but today I told Mom I wouldn’t go,” I replied. Dad went on about his business, and for me, that was permission to leave.

That morning there was an important soccer game, and my friends had told me that I couldn’t miss it because we had to win that game.

My challenge was that I had to pass in front of the chapel to get to the soccer field.

Determined, I dashed towards the soccer field and stopped before the great stumbling block, the chapel. I ran to the opposite sidewalk, where there were some big trees, and I decided to run between them so that no one would see me since it was the time the members were arriving at the meetings.

I arrived just in time for the start of the game. I was able to play and go home before my mother got home.

Everything had gone well; our team had won, and I was thrilled. But that well-executed run onto the field did not go unnoticed by the deacons quorum adviser.

Brother Félix Espinoza had seen me running quickly from tree to tree, trying not to be discovered.

At the beginning of the week, Brother Espinoza came to my house and asked to speak with me. He didn’t say anything about what he had seen on Sunday, nor did he ask me why I had missed my meeting.

He just handed me a manual and said, “I would like you to teach the priesthood class on Sunday. I have marked the lesson for you. It is not so difficult. I want you to read it, and I will come by in two days to help you with the preparation for the lesson.” Having said this, he handed me the manual and left.

I didn’t want to teach the class, but I couldn’t bring myself to tell him no. I had planned that Sunday to stay with my father again—meaning, there was another important soccer game.

General Conference Saturday Morning Session April 2022

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