Not much happened this week, since we have been doing the same thing every day for the past five weeks!
I'm actually so PUMPED to get out of the MTC. The zone got their travel plans today and I am even more excited to get to France! Ten days left in the MTC and then an incredibly long flight and my time in France will commence. I'm super excited to spread the gospel to the people of France.
Our Sunday night devotional this week was the BYU Men's Choir. It was super cool, they sang so well and brought such a nice spirit with their words. After the devotional I went and saw the Joseph Smith restoration video. It's so inspiring to see the devotion Joseph Smith had towards this work and how he gave his life for what he knew to be true. I aspire to build up my faith and be as he was, a true spiritual Giant among men.
Monday was...interesting. We did a Skype call with a member from Bordeaux named, Adam, and it was quite the experience. He spoke a million miles an hour. I understood a few things he was saying but not much. Then when I would ask him a question he wouldn't understand it and would rephrase it properly, which was nice, but I couldn't understand him when he rephrased it haha. It could have been a slap in the face, but it really wasn't because I don't know the language super well yet. It was pretty amusing and a great learning experience/realization of what I can expect in ten days!
The Tuesday night devotional was super awesome! We heard from Elder S. Mark Palmer and his Wife. He will be speaking at general conference this weekend, so keep an eye out for him, if you will be watching; if you aren't watching you should because it's great to hear from modern day prophets. His talk was focused on how we can recognize the spirit in our lives, which was great for me because I have been trying to figure out how I can always be in tune with the spirit even when my surroundings are not the most accommodating for the spirit. Ironically, what I got out of his talk wasn't the answer to my question it was an important lesson I needed to be reminded of. The lesson is that the work isn't about me, it's about Heavenly Father's children. Elder Palmer also shared a portion of a letter he received from one of his missionaries while he was a mission president; the words have really stuck with me since I heard them. Once we are converted we go and share - The Greatest Message the World has Ever Known. I thought that was a very profound statement.
I learned one other lesson this week, which I am positive will bless me throughout my mission. That lesson is to Teach People, Not Lessons. With our investigator, Hospice, we taught him lessons directly from the Book of Mormon. They were very interactive lessons, with him answering questions that allowed him to figure out and analyze what he just read himself; my companion and I were more of the guides throughout the lessons. But, yesterday we gave him a lesson straight from one of the pamphlet's we have and the lesson was completely different. It was much more mechanical and although the topics were focused on what Hospice needed to hear, it didn't give him the opportunity to process any of it and figure it out for himself. We just dropped a lot of information on him and I felt like he left feeling confused. I finished that lesson feeling a little unsettled about the way it had gone. I realized that I had no idea what I had been saying in the lesson because I was reading from the pamphlets and that doesn't help me at all and that it was much harder to bear testimony and be guided by the spirit because we were just trying to finish the lesson. That is why the lesson I learned was "To Teach People, Not Lessons." Each investigator is unique and each lesson has to be tailor made for that investigator. It has to be pondered over, prayed over, and given the proper amount of preparation - reading from a script is not a tailor made lesson. Teaching from the Book of Mormon and allowing the spirit to direct and guide your thoughts is what we need to do in every lesson; to focus on the simple truths taught and then help the investigator understand those doctrines. When we fully surrender our will to Heavenly Father, he can then direct our words, through his spirit, and enable us to teach people and not lessons.
Nothing else has really happened other than that. Just super excited to finally get to France and begin my mission.
à bientôt
Elder Molinari
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