Our training day was Leadership Training where we had 14 Elders and sisters made up of Zone Leaders (2 sets), District Leaders, and trainers. My messages were similar to those I mentioned previously for the two earlier Leadership Training sessions in Fiji and New Caledonia. I spoke about Riding Time, the importance of being a trustworthy leader, the new training program for new missionaries, and how to work with District and Branch leaders. The training from the missionary leaders had the same topics as previous sessions which were:
- 1) Revelation through prayer
2) Revelation through attending Church Meetings
3) The Role of the Holy Ghost in conversion
Although each of these training sessions was done in Bislama, I listened carefully and I believe that I was able to follow the discussions fairly closely. They read all referenced scriptures in English with the exception of a few passages from the Book of Mormon where those asked to read spoke Bislama as their first language. There were also a number of citations from Preach My Gospel and about half of those were read from English copies of PMG and the rest from the Bislama version. I was particular impressed by Elder Fuller’s discussion regarding Revelation through attending Church. We discussed the following important points:
- · We need to come each week to be able to partake of the sacrament and feel the spirit during that sacred ordinance
· We are commanded to attend Church each Sunday and offer up our sacrifices to God. The way we now offer up those sacrifices in general is to come with a broken heart and a contrite spirit to seek the Lord’s approval for our efforts of that week and to seek His forgiveness for our shortcomings of that week.
· We can receive revelation through listening to talks
· We can receive revelation through participating in classes (lessons and discussion)
· We can receive revelation through hearing other’s testimony
· We can receive revelation through bearing our testimony
· We can receive revelation through meditation in the chapel and elsewhere in the building
I think it is important to recognize that the First Presidency and the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles have endorsed teaching 8 Fundamental Principles of the Gospel to all new missionaries. These principles are found in PMG but are not necessarily as obvious as they are when taught directly. Of those lessons, the three key ways our investigators will be able to feel the Spirit and obtain a testimony is through Prayers, Studying the Book of Mormon, and Attendance at Church.
I told my missionaries during the meeting that I believed that the best proselyting hours of the week would be Church meetings with investigators in attendance. I feel more and more the great importance of Church attendance to help each of us maintain a firm testimony of the principles of the restored gospel. Activity in the Church not only is a way to serve others but, is indeed an excellent means of receiving revelation for our personal efforts from day to day.
After our training, I met with President Mahit who is the district president of the Luganville District. After that 2 hours meeting where we discussed needs of the district and questions he had, the district presidency of the Malakula District came and met with us for another 1 and ½ hours. The same agenda was followed and I came out of those two meetings with quite a “to do” list. We walked back to the hotel, spent about ½ hour catching up on e-mail with the slow internet service before we went to bed. It was definitely another full day!
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