I did “peicu” with the missionaries again tonight. [How’s that for Chinglish??]
Ok, I have to explain. I joined them when they taught an investigator. It’s my 2nd time doing it. The first time was when I made my decision to serve a mission!
Tonight was another great experience. I’m so excited to be a missionary! But I’ve thought of a . . not problem . . . an obstacle. I have so much information about the gospel (but not all, of course) and I’m so excited to help people see the light and feel the love. BUT I can’t just dump it all on them! I have to go slowly.
And along with that, you have to decide what bits of your life experiences to share and which to leave out. So many of them apply to the lesson topic and could help the investigator, but there isn’t enough time. And you don’t want to overwhelm them.
*sigh* The image I thought of on my way home is this: they are dry, parched ground and I have a watering bucket. I want to dump all of my water on them, but I need to go slowly.
Note: this was another golden contact! She read a little pamphlet they gave and the part she really liked was exactly the message we talked about in tonight’s lesson – the Holy Ghost. It was fabulous (just taught some of my students that word and rediscovered that I really like it). And she understood instinctively and explained things just how I’ve always learned them. It was neat.
2 comments:
Hi Amberlee,
As a missionary you will learn that the ONLY way to teach the Gospel of Jesus Christ is by the Holy Ghost, which timely enough, you taught the investigator about last night.
Your comparison to parched ground is perfect. If you dump your whole bucket of water on it at once - all of the water runs off and nothing seeps in. But if you drop little by little it will soak in and all of the water will be of benefit. The Gospel is the same. Drop by drop... until we have a full understand of His teachings!
Love,
Dad
Neat missionary experience, Am. You express it well. You do have the watering bucket. They are baptized when they feel the spirit, but they know very little. There is so much for new converts to learn. Part of the problem down here is that there is so much illiteracy. Many people can't study scriptures very well, because they can barely read. Another thing, people are poor, and they don't have a way to get to church. It's challenging for the missionaries to get members to give them rides. I think the follow-up lessons are SO important. You are going to be a wonderful missionary. We had two new sisters come this week, and they are awesome. Sister Hatfield has had experiences very parallel to yours. Her dad went on a mission to Thailand about the same time your dad did. They had a Thai student. They've visited Thailand. An aunt of the student is a cook for a Thai restaurant in South Jordan, etc., etc. Sister Hatfield is gung-ho. You will be needed wherever you go. Can't wait to hear.
Love you!
G. Barlow
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