{
  "lessonDate": "2026-10-05",
  "lessonNumber": 199,
  "lessonTitle": "The Role of the Holy Ghost in Missionary Work",
  "semester": "fall-2026-ot",
  "source": "Seminary manual, Lesson 199 — Missionary Preparation (Life Preparation)",
  "scriptureBlock": "Moses 6:32, 34; 2 Nephi 33:1; Alma 17:3; 3 Nephi 28:11; Doctrine and Covenants 31:11; 42:14",
  "bookName": "MISSIONARY PREPARATION",
  "deckType": "lifeprep",

  "lessonObjective": "Let students find out with their own hands that they can throw the ball but cannot aim it — and leave naming the noise in their own week and the one voice it is drowning out.",

  "doctrinePrinciple": "We are not sent to do the Lord's work alone. The Holy Ghost tells us what to say and where to go, and He is heard only by those who quiet the room enough to hear Him.",

  "personalScriptureStudy": {
    "chapters": "Moses 6:31–34; Doctrine and Covenants 31:11",
    "questions": "Enoch's first answer was that he was slow of speech and everybody hated him. Read what the Lord said back in verse 32, and notice He never argued that Enoch was wrong about himself. What did He promise instead?"
  },

  "teacherNote": "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.",

  "cards": [
    {
      "card": 0,
      "layout": "lifeprep-activity",
      "sectionName": "THE ACTIVITY",
      "tagline": "Eyes Closed. One Voice.",
      "title": "MISSIONARY PREPARATION — EYES CLOSED",
      "subtitle": "You Can Still Throw It. You Just Cannot Aim It.",
      "challengeHead": "THE CHALLENGE",
      "challengeText": "Everybody says the same thing about sharing the gospel: I would not know what to say. This morning we find out what that actually feels like, and what fixes it.",
      "activityHead": "THE ACTIVITY",
      "steps": [
        { "title": "EYES CLOSED", "text": "Pairs at every hoop. Three shots, eyes shut, no help. Keep the hall quiet." },
        { "title": "ONE VOICE", "text": "Eyes still shut. Your partner may speak, low. Find their voice among the others." },
        { "title": "FULL GYM", "text": "Same shooter, same partner. Now everybody shouts at once." },
        { "title": "NAME YOURS", "text": "Who opened their eyes? Write the noise in your own week." }
      ],
      "bandHeading": "TALK ABOUT IT",
      "bandQuestions": [
        "Which round scored most?",
        "Why did the noise win?",
        "Did you obey the voice?",
        "Who opened their eyes?",
        "What is my noise?"
      ],
      "scrollQuote": {
        "text": "Open thy mouth, and it shall be filled.",
        "attribution": "Moses 6:32"
      },
      "artPrompt": "A natural photograph of teenagers in a church cultural hall at early morning, one shooting a basketball with eyes closed at a free-throw line while a friend stands on the baseline speaking to them, bright gym lighting."
    },

    {
      "card": 1,
      "layout": "lifeprep-apply",
      "sectionName": "MAKE IT REAL",
      "tagline": "Quiet the gym.",
      "title": "MISSIONARY PREPARATION — HE FILLS THE MOUTH YOU OPEN",
      "subtitle": "Nothing Changed In Round Three Except The Noise.",
      "scripturesHead": "WHAT THE SCRIPTURES SHOW",
      "scriptureList": [
        "Moses 6:32, 34  —  open thy mouth, it shall be filled",
        "2 Nephi 33:1  —  carried unto the hearts of men",
        "Alma 17:3  —  they taught with power and authority",
        "3 Nephi 28:11  —  He beareth record of the Father",
        "Doctrine and Covenants 31:11  —  what to do and where to go"
      ],
      "planHead": "MAKE YOUR PLAN",
      "planQuestion": "Who is the one person, and when will you be near them?",
      "plan": [
        "Which of those five do you most need Him to do?",
        "What is the noise that makes you go quiet?",
        "What will you say first, and what day?"
      ],
      "ideasHead": "IDEAS: HOW COULD I ...?",
      "ideas": [
        "Pray for one name.",
        "Ask a real question.",
        "Say one true thing.",
        "Invite them to something.",
        "Send them one verse.",
        "Act on the nudge."
      ],
      "challengeHead": "CHALLENGE THIS WEEK",
      "challengeText": "Act on the first prompting you get this week before you talk yourself out of it, however small and however awkward — then write down what actually happened.",
      "rememberHead": "REMEMBER",
      "rememberText": "Elder Rasband said he did something he had never done before and has never done since. It was not his personality. It was a prompting, and he had about two seconds to obey it.",
      "scrollQuote": {
        "text": "If ye receive not the Spirit ye shall not teach.",
        "attribution": "Doctrine and Covenants 42:14"
      },
      "artPrompt": ""
    }
  ],

  "journalPrompt": "Write down the three scores from the gym this morning, and which round you were in most of last week. Then name the noise — the actual thing that is loudest in your life right now — and the one voice it is drowning out. Finish with one person's name, one thing you will say to them, and the day you will say it."
}