Great teaching

Yesterday I had the opportunity to attend a combined priesthood quorum meeting of deacons, teachers and priests. The instructor was a recently return missionary. The meeting began with one of the young men giving an overview of Alma 36 from the Book of Mormon. He did a great job and I was impressed. The teacher than asked all of us to open our scriptures to Alma 36. We began to read the scriptures together of the account of Alma the younger and his conversion to the gospel.

The instructor then went around the room inviting each of us one by one to read a scripture and then share what we were able to learn from the scripture. He asked questions that helped us discover what was being taught without giving us the answers. He was inviting us to act and put forth effort to learn. As we continued to read, study and learn together, we began to identify the principles of repentance from what Alma was experiencing. The instructor invited each young man to come and write the step of repentance that he had discovered in the particular scripture he read on the board. The instructor continually ask questions that caused us to think and ponder about the meaning of what we were reading. Everyone in the class was participating and engaged in the lesson. This was quite an accomplishment considering the group being taught had quite a ranges of ages.

We continued to learn about repentance from the experiences of Alma. We were able to identify the steps of repentance and gain a great understanding of them. It was a wonderful lesson in which both instructor and students were uplifted and edified (DyC 50:13-22).

It was a wonderful lesson. The instructor asked me to share any comments after ended the lesson. I asked the class about how the lesson was taught. Here are some of their comments:
“He asked us questions.”
“We were able to participate.”
“He taught from the scriptures.”
“We could understand it.”

I turned and asked the teacher where he learned to teach like that and he said, “the mission!” It is my hope and prayer that we can teach simply and powerfully from the scriptures in a way that all whom we teach can understand the doctrine of Christ so that they will exercise faith in Jesus Christ and His Atonement, repent, be baptized, receive the gift of the Holy Ghost, and endure to the end.

We love you,

President May