Day 143-Never Underestimate the Power of Visual Aids-8-18-06
Good ol’ Brother B. You can always count on him to come through. We have everything set up for the temple trip tomorrow. We called the Visitor’s Center and requested a screening of The Testaments of One Fold and One Shepherd. We stopped by and saw Y later this evening to remind him about tomorrow. J was already asleep.
The plan is: tomorrow we wake up at 6:30 in the morning (as always). Have our regular morning routine, then be out the door at 10:00. Now, every Saturday and Tuesday we do an hour and a half of service at the Senior Center, but tomorrow we might have to shorten it to an hour so we can get home, change our clothes and be ready to go when Brother B. comes to pick us up.
Brother B should arrive around 11:45 to pick us up. Then we go to get J and Y, and be on the road about noon. We should get to the temple about 1:00. The movie lasts about an hour. We will have some time to look at the exhibits. Then about 3:00 we will leave the Visitor’s Center and go to “This is the Place” bookstore and look around for a while. We will leave about 4:00 so we can get back in time for J to get to work on time.
That is the plan for tomorrow, but right now I need to focus on today. Today we taught J at the N’s house. We taught him the third lesson, The Gospel of Jesus Christ. It went pretty good. We talked about the Gift of the Holy Ghost and how it is a comforter, but it also acts as a protector against the world. My companion, Elder Pierce did something neat. He gave a visual aid to show how the Holy Ghost protects us. To do this, he used:
2 bowls of water, a pepper shaker, and some liquid soap. First, you take the pepper and vigorously shake it over one of the bowls. This represents the world. Next, get a volunteer to dip their finger into the bowl of pepper-water. When they take their finger out, it should be covered with pepper. This represents sin. Have the volunteer wash their finger in the other bowl of water; the clean one. That represents repentance and baptism. (Am I going too fast? No. Okay, good) Now, after they dry their finger, put some liquid dish soap on it. This represents the receiving of the Gift of the Holy Ghost. Put the finger back into the pepper-water and watch what happens.
Did you see that? The pepper retreats to the edge of the bowl and doesn’t even come close to the finger. That’s what the Gift of the Holy Ghost can do for us in our lives. Now, if we choose to take our finger and run it along the edge of the bowl, what’s gonna happen? We’re gonna get it covered in pepper again. Just because we receive the Gift of the Holy Ghost, does not mean we never have to worry about sin anymore.
“And now, my beloved brethren, after ye have gotten into this straight and narrow path, I would ask if all is done? Behold, I say unto you, Nay; for ye have not come thus far save it were by the Word of Christ with unshaken faith in Him, relying wholly upon the merits of Him who is mighty to save. (That is one of my favorite descriptions of the Jesus Christ-“Him who is mighty to save.”) “Wherefore, ye must press forward with a steadfastness in Christ, having a perfect brightness of hope, and a love of God and of all men. Wherefore, if ye shall press forward feasting upon the word of Christ and endure to the end, behold, thus saith the Father: ye shall have eternal life.(2 Nephi 31: 19-20)
Aw, how I love visual aids. When my good friend Elder Spencer Poyner left for his mission last summer, I told him, “Never underestimate the power of visual aids.” Now I have a better appreciation of visual aids because of examples like this one with the pepper, and the “cups” lesson (see Day 100).
We also stopped by and saw A today. I haven’t mentioned him before. Today was my second meeting with him. The first time I met him was when I was tracting with Elder Davis back on {Day 102}. A is in his late 20’s. He’s married, with a wife, T, expecting their first child. A is having some problems, though. He is currently unemployed and has been for a year. This is causing a lot of contention between he and his wife.
Some background: A’s wife, T is Catholic. So is her whole family. A definitely believes in God, but doesn’t really have a church that he believes in. We’re beginning to work with him on that. Today we talked with him about temples and temple work. ( A great ice-breaker in starting up a gospel conversation. Temple work is really something that sets us apart from other Christian denominations, and most people are curious as to why we build temples in the first place.
A seemed really interested. We gave him a Book of Mormon and committed him to read it. The next time we meet with him, we’ll share the message of the restoration. We plan to keep working with him.
Wow! Today sure was exciting, huh?! And tomorrow’s gonna’ only get better! Temple trip! (Yes, I’m well aware that this is the same thing I said on {Day 122}. This time it’s gonna work though!)
The plan is: tomorrow we wake up at 6:30 in the morning (as always). Have our regular morning routine, then be out the door at 10:00. Now, every Saturday and Tuesday we do an hour and a half of service at the Senior Center, but tomorrow we might have to shorten it to an hour so we can get home, change our clothes and be ready to go when Brother B. comes to pick us up.
Brother B should arrive around 11:45 to pick us up. Then we go to get J and Y, and be on the road about noon. We should get to the temple about 1:00. The movie lasts about an hour. We will have some time to look at the exhibits. Then about 3:00 we will leave the Visitor’s Center and go to “This is the Place” bookstore and look around for a while. We will leave about 4:00 so we can get back in time for J to get to work on time.
That is the plan for tomorrow, but right now I need to focus on today. Today we taught J at the N’s house. We taught him the third lesson, The Gospel of Jesus Christ. It went pretty good. We talked about the Gift of the Holy Ghost and how it is a comforter, but it also acts as a protector against the world. My companion, Elder Pierce did something neat. He gave a visual aid to show how the Holy Ghost protects us. To do this, he used:
2 bowls of water, a pepper shaker, and some liquid soap. First, you take the pepper and vigorously shake it over one of the bowls. This represents the world. Next, get a volunteer to dip their finger into the bowl of pepper-water. When they take their finger out, it should be covered with pepper. This represents sin. Have the volunteer wash their finger in the other bowl of water; the clean one. That represents repentance and baptism. (Am I going too fast? No. Okay, good) Now, after they dry their finger, put some liquid dish soap on it. This represents the receiving of the Gift of the Holy Ghost. Put the finger back into the pepper-water and watch what happens.
Did you see that? The pepper retreats to the edge of the bowl and doesn’t even come close to the finger. That’s what the Gift of the Holy Ghost can do for us in our lives. Now, if we choose to take our finger and run it along the edge of the bowl, what’s gonna happen? We’re gonna get it covered in pepper again. Just because we receive the Gift of the Holy Ghost, does not mean we never have to worry about sin anymore.
“And now, my beloved brethren, after ye have gotten into this straight and narrow path, I would ask if all is done? Behold, I say unto you, Nay; for ye have not come thus far save it were by the Word of Christ with unshaken faith in Him, relying wholly upon the merits of Him who is mighty to save. (That is one of my favorite descriptions of the Jesus Christ-“Him who is mighty to save.”) “Wherefore, ye must press forward with a steadfastness in Christ, having a perfect brightness of hope, and a love of God and of all men. Wherefore, if ye shall press forward feasting upon the word of Christ and endure to the end, behold, thus saith the Father: ye shall have eternal life.(2 Nephi 31: 19-20)
Aw, how I love visual aids. When my good friend Elder Spencer Poyner left for his mission last summer, I told him, “Never underestimate the power of visual aids.” Now I have a better appreciation of visual aids because of examples like this one with the pepper, and the “cups” lesson (see Day 100).
We also stopped by and saw A today. I haven’t mentioned him before. Today was my second meeting with him. The first time I met him was when I was tracting with Elder Davis back on {Day 102}. A is in his late 20’s. He’s married, with a wife, T, expecting their first child. A is having some problems, though. He is currently unemployed and has been for a year. This is causing a lot of contention between he and his wife.
Some background: A’s wife, T is Catholic. So is her whole family. A definitely believes in God, but doesn’t really have a church that he believes in. We’re beginning to work with him on that. Today we talked with him about temples and temple work. ( A great ice-breaker in starting up a gospel conversation. Temple work is really something that sets us apart from other Christian denominations, and most people are curious as to why we build temples in the first place.
A seemed really interested. We gave him a Book of Mormon and committed him to read it. The next time we meet with him, we’ll share the message of the restoration. We plan to keep working with him.
Wow! Today sure was exciting, huh?! And tomorrow’s gonna’ only get better! Temple trip! (Yes, I’m well aware that this is the same thing I said on {Day 122}. This time it’s gonna work though!)
posted by Garden Anywhere Box | 9:17 AM
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