The single most important thing for us to do in mortality to prepare to meet God is to repent. Repentance must take place now, before we get to the spirit world.
Hartman Rector, Jr.
"Oh yes, it is possible to repent in the spirit world, although we are given to understand that it is much more difficult to repent there because we will not have our physical bodies to help us. Also an integral part of repentance is that we must make restitution. This means that if you have stolen five dollars, you have to return five dollars to the person whom you have robbed. This may be very difficult to do in the spirit world. You can also understand then why murder and adultery or fornication are such grievous sins; how can you make restitution? Virtue once gone cannot be replaced. Neither can a life be restored.
“It may be very difficult to gain forgiveness for these kinds of sins. President Brigham Young said it is a hundred times easier to repent here on the earth than it is in the spirit world. By the same token, if we go there in the right condition, it is a hundred times easier to learn in the spirit world than it is here in this life. So we should do what we can do best where we are. Now is the best time to repent; then will be the best time to learn.” (Conference Report, Oct. 1970, p. 74)
Melvin J. Ballard
“This life is the time to repent. That is why I presume it will take a thousand years after the first resurrection until the last group will be prepared to come forth. It will take them a thousand years to do what it would have taken but three-score and ten to accomplish in this life.” (Spencer W. Kimball, The Miracle of Forgiveness, p. 10)
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Joseph B. Wirthlin
"Prepare and perform are the key words in how we will improve our time in this life.
"This day is the day to perform our labors. We should not just mark time and kill time, for time is too precious to waste. We do not want procrastination to use up our precious time, for the Lord revealed in that great council in heaven before the foundation of the earth was laid that an earth would be created ’whereon these may dwell; and we will prove them herewith…’ (Abraham 3:24-26.)
"We made choices in our first estate, and as a result, we are here today. Today is the time to improve ourselves. We should not procrastinate. Today is the time for us to decide what our priorities will be and how we will accomplish them. Procrastinating decisions that will affect our eternal salvation and seeking for happiness in doing things contrary to the commandments will not help us keep our second estate…
“Everyone is given the same amount of time. Each of us has twenty-four hours in each day. We all know that some people accomplish several times more than others. There are also some who are over-accelerated, who hurry too much and accomplish too little. Time management is really self-management and discipline in how we manage ourselves in the time allotted. It involves making choices, and choosing how to use that time that is sometimes difficult.” (Finding Peace in Our Lives, p. 224)
Russell M. Nelson
"Each of us prepares for future exigencies with life insurance, wills, trusts, and all that may be needed to organize business affairs. Time is both fleeting and precious.
“We who tarry here have a few vanishing moments remaining to prepare to meet God. Unfinished business is our worst business. Perpetual procrastination must yield to perceptive preparation.” (The Gateway We Call Death, p. 104-5)