There were few notable events here in the California Riverside Mission, but of such I will freely share!
We had Multi-zones this week. Elder Hallsted and I gave training on how to utilize Family History work alongside social media work. It is incredibly easy to find people to teach, because most everyone has an interest in their family history, and our church just happens to have the largest database of genealogical names in the world!
So... yeah!
We gave a live-demo on how to login on behalf of someone else, and find their ancestors.
I think this helped everyone in attendance.
We have been mostly teaching friends who find us on facebook through one of our videos. We have had a lot of success sharing messages and answering questions. Any sometimes finding new friends to teach.
We have been mostly teaching friends who find us on facebook through one of our videos. We have had a lot of success sharing messages and answering questions. Any sometimes finding new friends to teach.
To explain a little bit of what our teaching experience is like, I'll expound on 1 of our friends
President Watson gave a very inspired training on "deep doctrine theories" and also (my favorite) "Answering the question they should have asked".
Lz lives in Brazil, she doesn't know ASL, but knows Portuguese Sign Language. Unfortunately neither of us share the same written language, and so we have been using a strange system of translation as follows:
When we don't know a sign in Portuguese, we ask the sisters who speak Portuguese what a word is in Portuguese.
(These sister missionaries are serving in Boston, the same mission as my cousin Elder Ryder Vance, they had remembered seen one of our videos and contacted us through facebook)
They spell it out to us, we spell it to Lz, then she shows us what the sign is.
We write it down in the best way we can describe it so we don't forget it. We have taught all but the last lesson this way, using the 60 ish signs we know, we share the Gospel!
ASL is the only Sign Language mission that the church sends missionaries for.
In fact the ASL program is less than 50 years old! (I'll fact check later)
When it comes to Lz, we are literally the only missionaries in the world she can talk with.
To explain the latter, many people ask us questions about very particular principles in the restored church.
For example:
"Why did the church practice polygamy?"
"Why did the church practice polygamy?"
To the honest seekers of truth, a reply such as this can help them find answers,
"That is an excellent question! That was a revelation given to us to use at a specific time, and under specific circumstances. Revelation comes through a Prophet. Why do you think it would be important to have a Prophet today?"
(Response may vary)
"That is an excellent question! That was a revelation given to us to use at a specific time, and under specific circumstances. Revelation comes through a Prophet. Why do you think it would be important to have a Prophet today?"
(Response may vary)
The reasoning behind such an answer is to help our friends understand the core doctrine, rather than worrying about all the extremities. If you find yourself asking such questions, do not worry! It is normal to do so, however I would encourage you to answer the question based on the "branch" leading back to Christ. The most common "Branches" of questions are:
1. Is there a Prophet today?
2. Was Joseph Smith a Prophet?
3. Is the Book of Mormon True?
etc.
1. Is there a Prophet today?
2. Was Joseph Smith a Prophet?
3. Is the Book of Mormon True?
etc.
Answering the core questions is ESSENTIAL to resolving concerns. If you simply focus on the superficial questions, you will always find more questions that have no value, other than to satisfy a quick concern, and more will arise.
John 15:1,4
"I am the true vine"
"Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me"
Christ should be our foundation, not random sticks and twigs of theories that claim to be shoot offs from Christ. Be careful where you climb on this metaphorical tree.
Hopefully nobody got lost in the metaphor. I hope that was more entertaining than Jacob
John 15:1,4
"I am the true vine"
"Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me"
Christ should be our foundation, not random sticks and twigs of theories that claim to be shoot offs from Christ. Be careful where you climb on this metaphorical tree.
Hopefully nobody got lost in the metaphor. I hope that was more entertaining than Jacob
-Elder Vance
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