…VAN EEN VERNUFTIGE
MAKELIJ…
(1 Nephi 18:1)
Belgium/Netherlands Mission
MAKE
IT REAL
(Part
1)
On March 14 & 15, 2013 we held Zone Conferences in the
Mission. The theme of the conference was
“Make It Real” meaning; learning and using some basic people relations skills
to personally connect with others and assist them to connect with you. Although it is the spirit that converts, your
ability to work with and interact with people will improve their chances to
feel and be motivated to follow the spirit’s promptings. Becoming real with
people will enhance your ability to meet the following mandate:
“Missionaries must teach clearly and testify
convincingly to motivate all with whom we come in contact” Elder Russell M. Nelson
You are working every day as set-apart, commissioned
ambassadors of Jesus Christ and the Church.
People see the Church when they interact with you. It is essential to learn and develop the
ability to be: clean-cut, likable, interesting, friendly, vulnerable, humble, fun
and enthusiastic and to have humor. If you
are these things, people will be much more likely to want to spend time with you. Members will be much more likely to trust you
with their referrals. Mastering these
attributes is a learned behavior. Those
who interact with people this way were not simply born that way; they have learned
and developed these skills. These skills
are not only successful in missionary work but also are life skills for
success.
Stuffing the Funnel.
Out of the 18-20 million people in our mission, you start people in the
funnel or the teaching pool when they agree to listen to our message. The width of the funnel indicates the number
of people in the funnel. As you teach and
help people in the funnel progress toward baptism, the funnel narrows because,
sadly, some people do not continue to baptism at the end of the funnel. It follows that the more people you start in
the funnel, the higher the chances of baptism.
If each companionship were to contact on average only about 4 people per
hour during actual proselyting time, they would contact 1,000 people each
transfer. Through this goal of street
contacting plus referrals you will maintain 3-5 progressing investigator groups
in the teaching pool.
Member Referrals.
New converts have family, friends, associates and neighbors who become a
great resource for new contacts. The
mission averages about 60 progressing investigators per week. We would have 120 to 200 progressing
investigators per week if each
companionship maintained 3-5 progressing groups. A large percentage of the 60 come from member
referrals. Therefore, you are more
likely to increase the teaching pool by working with members and new members.
Memorize Lessons.
You have repeatedly been admonished to know frontwards and backwards the
lessons in PMG. In order to teach
clearly and testify convincingly you simply must know the doctrinal points and
scriptures in the lessons. Our Mission
Vision includes:
“Each missionary will be an
effective and highly skilled missionary, who has repeatedly practiced, studied,
exercised and re-trained to have internalized his or her skills. Each will excel from his or her thorough knowledge
and use of Preach My Gospel.”
PMG states, regarding your method of teaching people:
Teach according to “…the needs of
the investigator and the direction of the Spirit. Do not memorize the entire lesson. (p. vii)
“…the lessons do not tell you everything
to say - or how to say it. Instead, you
are responsible to thoroughly understand the lessons and teach by the Spirit in
your own words.” (p. 19)
“It is essential to learn the
missionary lessons but these should not be taught by rote presentation. The missionary should feel free to use his
own words as prompted by the Spirit.” (p. 175)
Since it is “essential to learn and thoroughly understand
the missionary lessons”, I am asking that you memorize parts of the lessons so
that you know the doctrinal points and efficient, simple ways to express them. I am not asking you to teach with memorized
presentations. Memorization takes more
work and effort than simply reading parts of PMG before teaching, but your
teaching effectiveness will dramatically increase when you memorize the
material. Elders and Sisters doing this
have reported immediate: better Dutch,
more unity in teaching, more focus on lesson concepts while teaching, better
coverage of the doctrinal points in lessons and better confidence and capacity
to participate by young missionaries.
If you want to become very good at what you do, you must
master teaching PMG lessons. Remember,
this is a marathon not a sprint. It is
not a panic and you should not chase fads but stay steady and consistent in your
study habits, while you work on this to get it done.
President Robinson
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