I am sure you did a great job with the training. I really like the quotes you included. A lot of them are quite applicable! There was a point in my mission when I was trying to focus on getting in all the details, making sure everything was nice and neatly tied in. But then I realized that was teaching lessons not people, and that it is really so much better if you can solidify their testimony of a few principles rather than scampering through all of them. Obviously you have to teach them all the doctrine but it never says do it all in one sitting. That's been something I have really tried to change in my own teaching. The other point, asking questions, is perfect. Any lesson where we do most of the talking is not a good lesson. That ties into the other quote, helping people discover their answers. This not only builds their ability to receive the spirit of revelation but also builds their self confidence that they can learn this on their own and be ok without a missionary to guide them every step of the way. Too many times I've seen an investigator give an honest and true, if not complete, answer to a question, only to have a companion expound on it for another 2 minutes. Too much of that will lead them to doubt their ability to give good answers and feel like there's no way they could learn all the things we've told them. Building them up is how to do it. If not, in the words of Elder Bednar, "You are teaching neither people or lessons. You are talking to yourself in front of investigators."
Anyways. This week was wonderful but also really hard. Z and A had a wonderful baptism. The attendance was great, the branch was excited, and we had several investigators there. However, they were not there on Sunday for their confirmation. T, their one-year-old son, was bitten by a brown recluse spider and they had to take him to the doctor on account of the swelling and grayish pus that was oozing out of his arm. So that was a big downer. They were so devastated as well. We went over with their new home teacher to provide a blessing for T, and A was really worried it wouldn't be possible for her to receive the Holy Ghost. They will be confirmed this following Sunday. So that is a bad thing but we are just glad that they are okay. To quote our branch mission leader, "The thing about Z and A is that if anything bad can happen in their life, it will."
A big thing that we are excited about is C, our neighbor. She is progressing really well and had her baptismal interview Sunday before church! She passed! She really wants to be a member of the church because she knows it is true. What's tough is just that she has no support at home. She lives with her niece of whom she has custody, her brother, and a roommate. We've only ever seen the latter scampering from room to room to avoid us, but he doesn't like us. The brother, according to C, thinks we are "full of it." But this is from a guy with a mouthful of broken brown teeth, a criminal record, and a belief in aliens. C is still on track regardless. What makes this branch so great is that they reach out- Brother S and family are having her over for dinner Wednesday to get to know her better and teach a lesson with us. So we're pretty stoked on that. Anyways. Bittersweet week.
Love,
Elder Wright
Anyways. This week was wonderful but also really hard. Z and A had a wonderful baptism. The attendance was great, the branch was excited, and we had several investigators there. However, they were not there on Sunday for their confirmation. T, their one-year-old son, was bitten by a brown recluse spider and they had to take him to the doctor on account of the swelling and grayish pus that was oozing out of his arm. So that was a big downer. They were so devastated as well. We went over with their new home teacher to provide a blessing for T, and A was really worried it wouldn't be possible for her to receive the Holy Ghost. They will be confirmed this following Sunday. So that is a bad thing but we are just glad that they are okay. To quote our branch mission leader, "The thing about Z and A is that if anything bad can happen in their life, it will."
A big thing that we are excited about is C, our neighbor. She is progressing really well and had her baptismal interview Sunday before church! She passed! She really wants to be a member of the church because she knows it is true. What's tough is just that she has no support at home. She lives with her niece of whom she has custody, her brother, and a roommate. We've only ever seen the latter scampering from room to room to avoid us, but he doesn't like us. The brother, according to C, thinks we are "full of it." But this is from a guy with a mouthful of broken brown teeth, a criminal record, and a belief in aliens. C is still on track regardless. What makes this branch so great is that they reach out- Brother S and family are having her over for dinner Wednesday to get to know her better and teach a lesson with us. So we're pretty stoked on that. Anyways. Bittersweet week.
Love,
Elder Wright
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