Missionary Leadership Council September 1

From "The Washington Yakima Mission" Blog
Today we had our second Yakima Mission MLC here at the mission home.  People often ask me how I like mission life, imagining it must be so hard.  I don’t want to make anyone feel bad, but the thought that always goes through my mind is “this is like being on the best vacation EVER!”  It’s like being on a Church Vacation.  Imagine associating with the best people you know every single day in a beautiful place, with excellent people and excellent conversations and gatherings.  We spend our time being happy with others who are happy.  We plan events and prepare food and we try hard to be nice to everyone.  What isn’t to love about this life we are living here in Yakima?? Today was another fabulous day.  We met with our 26 Zone Leaders and Sister Training Leaders, who traveled here from all over the mission.  They arrived this morning at about 9:30 and by 10:00 we got started.  I love it when the mission home is filled with love and goodness and excited happy missionaries.  I wish everyone could just be here to feel it.

 Then Elders Smith and Archibald did a really fun training on using simple, clear messages. They started by teaching us a very technical something about speakers and woofers and sound equipment that none of us understood.  (I think Elder Smith was a DJ in a previous life.)   We talked about Alma 13:23 and Jacob 4:13, and teaching in plain terms.  They explained, “confusion hinders conversion.”  So then we practiced teaching the Restoration lesson very simply and clearly in 30 seconds, then in 2 minutes to practice being clear and concise. Then they brought in a 10-year-old boy named Robert and had companionships practice teaching him in a way that he could understand it.  It was a wonderful training. They concluded with these points:
1.  Use simple statements of truth
2.  Adapt to their level of understanding
3. Teach doctrine, not opinion
4. Use scripture
5. Ask simple questions
6. Leave on a spiritually high note