First Zone Training!

I was very nervous to be a lead in planning and giving zone training for the first time on my mission, which is weird because I've done many district meetings and it's pretty similar to that. We were really concerned about making the training meeting an uplifting and instructive experience for all the missionaries. As we thought and prayed about what would be taught and how we would run the meeting, impressions came to our minds that felt like really good ideas. One of those ideas was to demonstrate teaching in common terms by giving an example of me trying to explain my gymnastics routine to someone who doesn't really know much about gymnastics. It was also a good learning experience for me. We got a volunteer to come up and I explained my old high bar routine to him, and I was surprised by how confused he looked when I used names for skills like 'kip,' 'giant,' and 'endo.' Those are the inward expressions that people make when we teach with words like 'atonement,' 'resurrection,' and 'ordinances.' Then I went back and taught the routine again in simpler terms like 'swing' and 'handstand' and used a video to show exactly what it looks like. Sometimes it's hard to remember that everyone doesn't have the same understanding of words that we do. As teachers, we need to put a lot of time into understanding our material so that we can relate them in a way that is understandable to people with different backgrounds than ourselves. We studied the atonement in Preach My Gospel as a zone, having everyone read a sentence at a time. The simple act of studying the principle together brought a powerful spirit, and the comments that were made were amazing. We talked about the atonement in terms of 'mistakes,' 'suffering,' 'forgiveness,' and 'healing.' I learned that I still have a lot of studying to do of basic gospel principles to be a fully effective teacher. I love how simply the resurrection is taught. 

We will all suffer physical death, but Jesus Christ overcame the obstacle of physical death for us. When He died on the cross, His spirit became separated from His body. On the third day, His spirit and His body were reunited eternally, never to be separated again. He appeared to many people, showing them that He had an immortal body of flesh and bone. The reuniting of body and spirit is called resurrection and is a gift promised to each of us. Because of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ, we will all be resurrected regardless of whether we have done good or evil in this life. We will have a perfect, immortal body of flesh and bones that will never again be subject to disease, pain, or death. The resurrection makes it possible to return to God’s presence to be judged but does not guarantee that we will be able to live in His presence. To receive that blessing, we must also be cleansed from sin. (PMG Pg 53)

Christ's body and spirit was separated when He died, and then they came back together when He was resurrected. The same thing will one day happen with you and me, we know that is true because we know that Christ lives. We don't have to say goodbye to those we love forever. This week's challenge is to study the atonement and share it with someone who doesn't know what it is!