Today was a very long day and I feel so good. We spent the day learning how to be direct in getting those we are loving, and teaching, to make committments that will better their lives. We watched several New York Times videos of people describing their lives, including their likes, and their burdens. From these personal hints we tried to decipher where to begin teaching them. We then practiced with our companions these lessons from "Preach My Gospel" and then practiced on other couples in our disdrict by taking turns roll playing the investigator and the missionaries.
The day began with a Brother Peterson teaching us about our purpose: that being to invite others to come unto Christ by helping them receive the restored gospel through faith in Jesus Christ and His Atonement, repentance, baptism, receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end. He was so dynamic and impressed on our minds vividly these verbs listed in our purpose.
We ended the day with a devotional. General Authority Emeritus Elder Robert K. Dallenbach and his wife spoke to us about some facts concerning the translation of the Book of Mormon. He compared the translation of the B. of M. into Bulgarian. A good translator, after being approved, can translate a page a day in a language he understands well, from an English Text. Joseph Smith translated at the rate of seven pages a day into English from a language that no one could recognize.
Diane and I sang in the missionary choir one number for this devotional. The choir consisted of about 400 missionaries. There were only 6 of we senior missionaries in the choir. It was powerful. The director was Cory Mendenhall. He interviewed with me for the Jordan High School Choir Director position when I retired. I remembered him well and we visited during a break. He is now teaching at the Maple High School in Utah County.
Our assignment for tonight is to prepare to teach a volunteer investigator tomorrow and determine what that investigator needs from "Preach My Gospel," which we can't have with us.
Eating in the MTC cafeteria is quite like eating at Chuck-O-Rama three times a day. We must be judicious.
Sounds fun but hard!
ReplyDeleteHave you been memorizing the Preach my gospel lessons for a while now? Or just since you got to the MTC? I remember how difficult those teaching tests were. But I had the use of my book.
ReplyDeleteWe've been studying "Preach My Gospel" for several months.
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