Listening to the Spirit

Dear Family and Friends,
Here are some pictures from a recent P-day excursion to "Mt. Scott" which isn't really a mountain. :-)

We had a great experience on Friday. We went with a member in our ward-- "Sister Forbes"--to see a guy that had ordered a Lamb of God DVD from a pass along card we left in his door. We had a district meeting about the Doctrine of Christ and especially how the Prophet and the 12 Apostles have asked us to invite people to be baptized in the first lesson. This is something that is often surprising to members so we told this sister about it. That when we paused, we weren't struggling for words we were trying to listen to the Holy Ghost and allow the Holy Ghost to speak to the investigator.


So we got there and listened to "Bro. Bradley" and asked him several questions about his religious/spiritual life. Several times I was about to make a comment and I felt like I should just listen and then two seconds later he would say something important that helped us understand him better.

Sister Forbes and Sister Esau (my companion) both bore great testimonies and we built his knowledge of the gospel off of the things that he had shared with us. I felt the spirit very strongly in that lesson! After we had talked about prophets, the apostasy, Joseph Smith and The Book of Mormon, I asked him, "What do you think of the things we've shared with you?" He said that he believe what we had told him and that it seemed to him that the Book of Mormon was just there to add additional light and truth. Inside I was shouting Yes!!!!! Exactly right!!!!! He gets it!!!!!!!!!! We asked him to be baptized, and he said yes. We invited him to be baptized on Nov. 12 and he said yes and put it on his calendar!

After we got in the car Sister Forbes said she learned so many things during that lesson, and that now she understands why we invite people to be baptized in the first lesson. She mentioned how she always wants to tell people about everything at once and how she sees now that you have to start where they are at and build from there. She said that we did an excellent job in teaching him. It was so nice to hear her say that!

Learning to know when to listen and when and what to teach has been something that I have had to learn on a mission. I remember before when I would talk about the church I was all over the place and trying to tell people everything at once. A convert told us of his experience talking with the stake president who explained to him that you have to start with the roots and the trunk of the tree and then you have to get to the branches and then to the leaf on the outermost limb of the tree. Just like God teaches us line upon line and precept upon precept, that's how we have to teach others!

Love,

Sister Lila Jenson