The Role of the Holy Ghost in Missionary Work

Teacher notes

Supplies, board work and timing. Never printed on the cards.

SUPPLIES: two or three basketballs and a whistle. Nothing else — no blindfolds, eyes closed on the honour system, which is deliberate. LOCATION: the cultural hall. Project card 0 in the classroom FIRST so they walk over already knowing all three rounds, or you will lose five minutes explaining it over a bouncing ball. TIMING IS TIGHT: lesson block is 6:35–7:05. Two minutes each way, twelve to fourteen in the hall, back in the room for card 1 and the plan, journals at 7:05. If the walk runs long, cut round one to two shots instead of three. THE THREE ROUNDS ARE THE THREE DOCTRINES, in this order, and the scores on the board make the argument so you do not have to: ROUND 1, eyes closed and no help, is Doctrine and Covenants 42:14 and Joseph Smith — 'no man can preach the Gospel without the Holy Ghost' (Teachings of Presidents of the Church: Joseph Smith, 332). Note what this teaches that a screwdriver demonstration cannot: they can still throw the ball. They just cannot aim it. ROUND 2, partner speaking low, is Moses 6:32 and Doctrine and Covenants 31:11 — what to say, and what to do and where to go. Point out that a guide can be exactly right and it still does not score unless the shooter DOES what the voice said; that is hearkening, which is Tuesday's word. ROUND 3, everyone shouting, is the manual's own question about what qualifies us for the companionship of the Spirit (Preach My Gospel, 101). Nothing changed except the noise. ENFORCE THE QUIET IN ROUNDS 1 AND 2 — guides may speak but low, and the point is that each shooter has to pick their own partner's voice out of eight others. That is a better model of the still small voice than one voice in an empty gym, and it is why everybody goes at once instead of two volunteers performing for twenty. THE PEEKING IS THE LESSON, NOT A FLAW. Say before they start that nobody is checking. Opening your eyes is choosing what you can see for yourself over a voice you would have to trust — the panel-eight move, the easier tap, happening in a gym at 6:45 in the morning without you having to preach it. Ask in step four who opened their eyes and let the answer be as honest as it will be. HARD STOP AFTER ROUND 3: whistle, balls on the rack, walk back. It will be loud and you will not recover it by asking nicely. THE THIRTY-SECOND RULE, from the manual and worth stealing: after you ask each of the two experience questions back in the room, wait thirty silent seconds before taking any comment. It is the single reliable way to hear from the quieter half of the class. ELDER RASBAND, if you want the story, is on card 1 in one line — the manual has it in full (Liahona, May 2017, 94), and the video 'Let the Holy Spirit Guide' covers it from 4:43 to 5:59. Teach it as a prompting and not a technique: he says he had never done it before and has never done it since. HANDS TO TUESDAY: Isaiah 51:16 — 'I have put my words in thy mouth' — is sitting in tomorrow's chapter. Point at it Tuesday morning and let them notice it is the same promise they heard today.