Ecclesiastical Training — Provo Missionary Training Center — August 25, 2019
1/ President Titensor
- Our main goal as leaders is to strengthen the missionaries in their conversion to Christ.
- The new mission presidents were told by Elder Anderson that they should help make these sons and daughters of God into lasting and enduring disciples of Jesus Christ. That is their number one goal.
2/ President Watson
- Make the Sabbath a delight. Your Sunday afternoon activities should help the missionaries in achieving their purpose. Review the Isaiah verses on the Sabbath.
3/ President Stratton
- Make sure your Sunday afternoons are structured. Have intentional and deliberate schedules
- There are 42 doctrinal points in Chapter 3 of Preach My Gospel. All of them can be utilized.
- As you teach, ask yourself, “How does what I am teaching help these missionaries come unto Christ?”
- The Grafs teach a lesson on a given Sunday, and then the missionaries teach the same topic one week later in Priesthood and Relief Society.
4/ President Henderson
- How can we keep the missionaries engaged during the afternoon?
- Pray for the Spirit to be present.
- Don’t just lecture – make it fun. Have them do more than just listen.
- Don’t be a talking head.
- Ask missionaries by name to participate.
- Don’t play ‘guess what I am thinking’.
- Share personal feelings.
- Don’t forget that silence can be golden.
- Help them discover truths on their own.
- Who is doing the work of finding new truth? It should be the missionaries.
- Have them teach each other.
- Develop a spirit of inclusion.
- True gospel learning can only happen when the Spirit is present.
5/ President _____________
- Why is Sunday afternoon schedule the way it is?
- This generation expects to be fully engaged, and they expect to be facilitated, not lectured.
- Consider keeping each session no longer than 20 minutes. Consider having the leaders rotate through the districts in 20 minute intervals.
- Have engaging learning activities.
- Have companions study together and then teach each other. Have them study on their own and then share what they have learned.
- Have them explain a topic in 60 seconds.
- Try to connect various principles together.
- The six topics to be taught in all the branches are:
- Recognizing the Spirit
- Plan of Salvation
- The message of the Restoration
- The role of the Book of Mormon in conversion
- The commandments
- Laws and ordinances (the temple)
6/ President Alexander
- Focus on having missionaries learn, understand, and apply.
- Teach the doctrine contained in Preach My Gospel.
- What can we do in interviews? Talk less.
- One branch has five different learning sessions – three are taught by ecclesiastical leaders, one is taught by zone leaders and sister training leaders, and one is taught by the branch president.
- Explain, demonstrate, practice, evaluate, practice again (the E-D-P-E-P method).
- Practice teaching principles in 2 minutes. Use smaller groups and shorter times.
- These missionaries are miracles, every one of them.
7/ President Frandsen
- Recognize the power of pondering. Review Doctrine and Covenants 138:1-2.
- When viewing a mural, have the missionaries bring paper and pencil and scriptures. Give them 20 minutes to view and ponder.
- Have them ask themselves what they can do to bring the principles of the mural to life.
8/ President Rahlf
- Remember the importance of temples and temple walks.
- Find a quiet place. Do some teaching about temples.
- Remember to be reverent around the temples. Group photos in a dignified manner.
- Temple walks are a good time for one on one visits.
- In the next 2 weeks, review what has been shared today and counsel together about what you can do to improve your Sunday afternoon training with the missionaries.
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