THAT IS THE WORST LESSON I'VE EVER HEARD
The new missionary district leader could not believe what he was
hearing. He was listening
to Elder Parker, who had been out for almost
two years, stumble his way through
the first discussion. Any missionary
of worth who had been out three
weeks or longer knew the first discussion,
but Elder Parker didn't.
The early morning study session came to a close
and Elder Parker left with his
companion.
The new district leader turned to his companion, shook his head and
said, "That's the worst first
discussion I have ever heard. Isn't Elder Parker
dedicated enough to learn the
discussions?" His companion was surprised
that he did not know the discussion;
he had always felt that Elder Parker
was an excellent missionary.
The next day was their first district meeting of the month, and each
of the companionships was to
come prepared to share its goals for the
new month. It was not an
easy mission to baptize in, and the baptism
goal of each companionship ranged
from three to five people. Then it
was Elder Parker's turn to share
his baptism goal for the month. When
he said that they were planning
on baptizing twenty people that month,
the district leader almost laughed
out loud. He thought to himself, "Elder
Parker doesn't even know the
first discussion but is going to baptize twenty
people. This I have to
see."
The next week when the missionaries met, the only Elders who had
baptized were Elder Parker and
his companion. They had baptized five
people. The district leader
wanted to see how Elder Parker could baptize
so many despite his not knowing
the discussions, so he asked to go with
Elder Parker the next time he
was going to teach a first discussion.
The next day, the district leader received a phone call and was invited
to go with Elder Parker the following
morning to help him teach the first
discussion to an interested family.
In those days, the discussions were
memorized and given almost word
for word. Missionaries would take turns,
each giving a few paragraphs
and shifting back and forth so it seemed like
an informal discussion.
Elder Parker started the discussion and completely
murdered the first part.
The district leader took his turn and tried to bring
some order back to the flow of
the discussion. It was then Elder Parker's
turn again--he completely skipped
several key paragraphs. By the end of
the lesson, the district leader
was totally disoriented and confused. He felt
that the family probably felt
the same way.
When the discussion was over, Elder Parker leaned forward and put
his hand on the arm of the family's
father. He then looked him straight in
the eyes, told him how much he
loved him and his family, and bore one of
the most humble and powerful
testimonies that the district leader had
ever heard. By the time
he finished, every member of the family, including
the father, and both Elders had
tears running down their cheeks. Next
Elder Parker taught the father
how to pray, and they all knelt down while
the father prayed that they might
receive testimonies of their own and
thanked Heavenly Father for the
great love that he felt. Two weeks later
the whole family was baptized.
As they were driving away from the discussion, Elder Parker
apologized to the district leader.
He told him that he felt very bad that
he did not know the discussions
better. He said that he had always had
a problem with memorization.
He said that he got up at five-thirty instead
of six o'clock every morning
and spent two hours on the discussions but
could never remember them well
when it came time to teach them. He
explained that he knelt in prayer
before teaching each family and talked
with Heavenly Father about his
problem. He would ask Heavenly Father
to bless him so that when he
bore his testimony the people would feel
his love and the Spirit and know
that they were being taught the truth.
Humbled, the district leader spent the rest of the day pondering
what he had learned about teaching
the gospel. For the first time he
realized that it was not discussions
but love and the Spirit that converted
people to the gospel. The
district leader never taught the gospel the
same way again.
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TEACHING IDEAS AND RELATED SCRIPTURES:
Humility: Elder Parker demonstrated
the importance that humility
plays in having the Lord's help
when we are trying to help others.
D&C 112:10. "Be
thou humble; and the Lord thy God shall lead thee
by the hand, and give thee answer
to thy prayers."
(See also Matthew 20:25-28; Helaman
3:35; D&C 12:8; D&C 38:41).
Judging Others: The district
leader learned a lesson about judging
others without the Spirit or
even all of the facts. He thought that the
Elder was lazy when actually
he was working harder than the district
leader.
Moroni 7:18: "And now,
my brethren, seeing that ye know the light
by which ye may judge, which
light is the light of Christ, see that ye
do not judge wrongfully; for
with that same judgment which ye judge
ye shall also be judged."
(See also I Samuel 16:7; Matthew 7:1-2;
Romans 8:27; James 2:13.)
Love: The story demonstrates
the importance that love plays when
teaching the gospel.
D&C 12:8: "And no one can assist in this work
except he shall be humble and
full of love, having faith, hope, and
charity, being temperate in all
things, whatsoever shall be entrusted
to his care." (See also
John 13:34-35; Galatians 5:13-14; 1 John
4:20-21; Moroni 7:48.)
Missionary Work: This story
can be used as a good example of the
kind of missionary work that
changes lives--missionary work done
with love and the Spirit.
D&C 42:14: "And the Spirit shall be given
unto you by the prayer of faith;
and if ye receive not the Spirit ye
shall not teach." (See
also Galatians 5:13-14; D&C 12:8; D&C
50:13-14; D&C 50:17-18.)
Teaching: This is also an
excellent story to use when teaching
teachers how to teach.
It stresses the importance of teaching
with love and with the Spirit.
D&C 50:13-14: "Wherefore, I the
Lord ask you this question--unto
what were ye ordained?
"To
preach my gospel by the Spirit,
even the Comforter which was
sent forth to teach the truth."
(See also D&C 12:8; D&C
42:14; D&C 50:17-18.)
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