We are about to go to a summer party put on by the American Embassy. There will be free flow beer and a bluegrass band. Just like America. Its going to be weird. I will report back about it next week.
The other day we had a dinner appointment with a young couple in our branch. Kenny Matthews is a returned missionary from Cambodia. He is back here with his wife because he started up a dairy farm and he is trying to grow his business and the raw milk market here in Cambodia. They are called Moo Moo Farms. Go check them out: http://www.khmerfreshmilk.com/ We buy a gallon almost every week. Its the best milk of all time.
Anyways, they invited a friend over but when she found out that we would be there too she totally bailed. However, we were not surprised. So instead of teaching the first lesson to their friend we decided to do a practice run through the first lesson. The Matthews pretended to be the investigator and we taught the first lesson to them like we normally would. We also had a timer set for every 5 minutes so that we could stop and they could give us feedback and tell us how they were feeling as investigators. And it was probably the most productive 1st lesson I’ve ever taught! It was super cool. The Matthews gave us a ton of good feedback and things to think about. Elder Lambert and I were taking notes the whole time.
Some feedback they gave us:
- We sound creepy when we talk too quiet.
- When starting to teach we need to get to know the people. We need to get their background and where they are coming from. And then we can understand their needs and tailor our lesson to that.
- Some people aren’t going to be interested in certain parts of our lessons.
- We should talk about the Restoration of the Gospel, not just say the lesson to them.
- They will only read the Book of Mormon if they know why it matters. So what if this book is true?
It was a super cool experience and the Matthews really helped us out. The members understand better how investigators will feel and what will help them learn. We’re going to try to improve our teaching this transfer.
You don’t have to make friends with someone before you invite them to learn about the Gospel. Clayton Christensen shared a story about how their ward had a list of steps to do for sharing the gospel. They first identified someone. Then they started talking to them. Then they went to dinner or a movie. Then they talked about religion. Then they invited them to dinner with the missionaries. Then they helped teach the lessons. Then their friend got baptized. Boom, boom, boom. One, two, three. Easy. But then Christensen shared how he did this multiple times without much success. He did all the right steps and got to offering to have the missionaries teach them but the friend didn’t accept. For one reason or another they just weren’t ready to make the change at that time. Okay. Well thats fine, but then Christensen said that he kind of moved on to the next candidate to continue trying to help the missionaries. A while later though, Christensen found out that the people he made friends with before were very offended. They felt like he was only friends with them in order to invite them to church, and then when they didn’t accept, he stopped being friends with them. Which he totally did!!! And which is what almost always happens!!!
You should not fake friendship with people in order to get them to accept the Gospel. You should make genuine friends with people of all faiths and invite them to learn about your faith. BUT you should also do missionary work by inviting acquaintances and co-workers to learn even if you are not close friends.
Love,
Elder Osborne
We got it framed: https://www.dropbox.
I got my Cambo drivers licence. It looks like know how to play photoshop too. https://www.dropbox.com/
Theres a cat on our car! https://www.dropbox.com/
We made 3 kilos of BBQ pork this week: https://www.dropbox.com/s/