Scripture Power

It's been quite a rainy week. I don't ever want to take the bus again because walking is so nice in this weather.

Things are still going slow with our investigators, and a few of them don't have interest or don't fulfill their commitments so unfortunately we will stop teaching some of them this week. It's always a sad thing to have to tell someone that we aren't going to teach them anymore. But unfortunately, if they don't want do the things we've invited them to do, then we need to focus our time on people that have a strong desire to learn and apply what they learn. Times in which you have to stop teaching some of your investigators can be desanimating if you let it, but it's also an exciting time of finding new people to teach. For example, this week we were looking for less active members and found Glaucia, who lives in a member's old house. She has seen missionaries and talked briefly with them but never has heard the lessons. We also started teaching the friend of two members and the past two visits have gone well. It's such much more efficient to work with members' friends than to try to find people out of nowhere to teach.

Focusing on teaching how the Savior teaches is acts as perfect fuel for days and days of teaching. Because the mission schedule is so patterned, it's easy to fall into doing everything the same way every time. (teaching the same message the same way every time, for example). But if used wisely, the mission can act as a perfect testing ground for teaching techniques. So studying how the savior taught and thinking about it while you walk prepares you to teach using what you learned. And applying what you thought while you walked in your lessons gives you feedback on how to improve. Then you can use the feedback in your study the succeeding day, and continue the cycle. I think that focusing on teaching in His way acts as fuel because when you improve how you do things day by day, you don't get caught up in monotony and you feel more energized, excited to use what you learn while studying and thinking. This week I tried to learn more about Christ's parables and analogies. As I did that I began to be more cognizant of analogies in the general conference talks. It was really cool to see how studying the Savior's method of teaching opened my eyes more to how to teach efficiently. I began to think more about how I could incorporate analogies into lessons that we teach daily and was able to relate basic principles to surroundings and people's interests. I'm grateful that the mission acts as a catalyst for any righteous desire you have. Heavenly Father is always willing to help us accomplish even the little things we desire to accomplish.

A few days ago we got to teach the husband of a member who isn't a member yet. Lately we have been reading chapters from the Book of Mormon and encouraging a habit of daily scripture study. I was so thankful for our "family scripture study" at home in the moment of teaching them how to study the scriptures together. Any time I'm in a group of people and we're all reading the scriptures and talking about them, I remember all those nights before bed at the table when we overloaded on ice cream and then read a chapter in the Book of Mormon (usually with those little action figures and random objects that Dad used to demonstrate the war tactics used in Alma, haha). When we were discussing how to have a family scripture study with Ridaiel and his wife, I was able to share experiences I had with my family and recall things that I learned those nights we studied the scriptures. I am so grateful for the foundation of scripture study we have in our home and am thankful I could use it to help someone else find the power in reading and applying the scriptures. I am also grateful for what I learned that week about how the Savior teaches because the Holy Ghost brought those things to remembrance and enlightened the minds of those who were there.

I'm gotta hit the road now. Enjoy the day off of school!

Love,
Elder Young