Part 19 

30. Opening the Hearts of the Investigators/Individualizing the Teaching

Problem or situation. Because of the increased number of lessons they were teaching, many of the missionaries were becoming quite proficient at teaching. They were able to speak the language well, they understood the message they were to teach, and they were having much greater success in convert baptisms than before. Yet I felt that something was still missing. While teaching with one of the office staff, I began to sense what was wrong: the teaching was too general, too "canned," too impersonal. While the lessons were well presented, it seemed to me the focus was more on the lessons rather than on the investigators. It was often as though the investigators were interchangeable--as though during the lesson, if the investigators got up and left, others could come in and take their places, and the missionaries could just continue the lesson, hardly missing a beat in the presentation.

Even though such presentations were often successful, they missed the hearts of many people. When this happened, the missionaries assumed the people were "not ready" for the gospel message. I felt that, more likely it was the presentations that were not ready for the investigators. President Kimball had said there were millions of people who were ready to listen and learn (Kikuchi, 1981): 

            Millions of people are anxious and willing to learn, if only they can hear the "sound" in their own tongue and in a manner that they can grasp and understand. And we must find a way! (p. 233).

            President Benson (1976) also emphasized that baptisms were related to the quality of the teaching and that mission presidents should help their missionaries become master teachers, teaching from their hearts:  

            Help your missionaries to become successful in the area of teaching. As missionaries learn to teach with power and conviction, they will have many opportunities to see converted souls enter the waters of baptism.

To help your missionaries become master teachers, encourage them to study and learn their discussions so well that when they teach, they teach from the heart (p. 4).

            I felt these admonitions were meant for us. I felt we (my missionaries and I) must find a way to teach the people in our mission the message of the gospel in such a way that they could easily grasp and understand it. I felt their teaching must not only be from their hearts but must also be directed to the hearts of their investigators.

In seeking ways to accomplish this, I tried to look at it from the point of view of the people we were teaching. I asked myself such questions as, "Why should they listen?" and "Why should it be important to them?" or "What problems or concerns would our message solve for them?" Besides asking myself these questions, I also asked recent converts, old members, and nonmember friends. With the insights I thus gained, I began to try different ways of teaching. The result was a new but simple method of approaching and teaching.

            Together, the missionaries and I developed this approach, tried it, refined it, and eventually used it in all of our teaching. It proved to be very effective. I feel it was one of the major influences affecting our future increases in converts baptisms. I called the approach "Open-heart Teaching." 

Action taken. (1-80) INTRODUCE "OPEN-HEART TEACHING" WHEREBY THE MISSIONARIES TAUGHT EACH INVESTIGATOR, PERSONALLY AND INDIVIDUALLY, ACCORDING TO HIS OR HER SITUATION. (Productivity label: Training.) 

Because I feel the concepts of open-heart teaching were so significant in our success from this point, I have explained them in some detail. In order to do so, I first put the teaching of investigators in its perspective within the conversion process.

There are four basic parts to the conversion process (General Missionary Handbook, 1978): 

            FINDING people to teach,

            TEACHING them in such a way that they understand,

            BAPTIZING them after they accept and commit, and

            FELLOWSHIPPING them into the Mormon culture.

Teaching is at the center of this process.

We had made considerable progress in the previous step of finding people to teach. We had done this, first, by targeting a lower-aged investigator, then through the free English classes, the street contacting with its related activities, and so forth. I felt that our improved numbers of converts thus far was largely due to an increase in the number of people we were teaching. The numbers bore this out: a year earlier, during December of 1978, my 145 missionaries had taught 935 regular lessons (not including introduction lessons) and baptized 52 people. That was a ratio of about one baptism for every 18 lessons taught. A year later, December 1979, my 166 missionaries taught 3,926 regular lessons and baptized 252 people. That was a ratio of about 1 baptism for every 16 lessons, not much better than a year earlier. Most of our increase was due to the fact that we were teaching four times as many lessons. Now we needed to learn how to teach them better. We needed to make progress in teaching similar to that we had made in finding people to teach. As President Kimball had counseled, we needed to find a way.

In order to help the missionaries teach more effectively I felt I needed to understand what barriers they were encountering in their teaching. That is, once they had contacted someone and the teaching had begun, what went wrong? Why didn't the investigators grasp and understand and accept more often? Where did the process break down?

After teaching with the missionaries, observing their teaching, and talking with them, with new converts and with others about the teaching process, I concluded that the primary cause of the breakdown in the teaching process was that too often the investigators were not listening with real intent. They were not seriously considering the message. Missionaries tended to attribute this failure to understand to the investigator and often expressed their feelings in a rhetorical complaint such as "Why won't they listen?" or "What more, can I do?" and then concluded, "Oh, well, I've done my part," and moved on to someone else.

Instead of asking complaining question such as "Why won't they listen," it seemed more productive to me to ask the same real question, "Why won't they listen?" and look for and find real answers to it. I felt that if we honestly asked that question and came up with some answers, then we could also ask the question, "What could we do differently to help them listen with real intent? We would then be starting to "find a way," as the Prophet had asked.    

             If the barrier I had identified was as significant as I anticipated, then the question I needed to focus on was "What can a missionary do to help his contact listen with real intent?" In teaching with the missionaries and listening to them teach, I discovered many things they could do to help "open the hearts" of their investigators. To illustrate, following is an example of how the missionaries had been teaching. Even though this is not an authentic dialogue, it is representative of how I observed the missionaries teaching their new contacts.

            After explaining that they were missionaries, they might begin with. . .

MISSIONARY: May I introduce myself, Mr. Tanaka? I am Elder Smith, and my companion here is Elder Jones. 

MR. TANAKA : I'm Junichi Tanaka. Pleased to meet you. 

MISSIONARY: Thank you for taking the time to listen to our message, Mr. Tanaka. We know you are very busy so we will only take a few minutes of your time. 

MR. TANAKA: All right. What is your message?  

MISSIONARY: Mr. Tanaka, our message is important to everyone. It is so important that it changes people's lives. You see, Mr. Tanaka, God has spoken to a prophet in these modern days and has restored His true Church again upon the earth. 

MR. TANAKA: Uh huh. What else? 

MISSIONARY: Well, weld like to schedule some time with you to teach you about this Prophet that God has called in these latter days, and about His Church which has been restored. 

MR. TANAKA: Uh, as you know, I'm pretty busy 

MISSIONARY: If we could just have 30 minutes of your time. . . 

MR. TANAKA: Well, I don't know. . . 

Compare that to an example of what I called "Open Heart teaching" where the missionaries focused on the investigator rather than the lesson and taught each investigator differently, depending upon the situation:

MISSIONARY: May I introduce myself, Mr. Tanaka? I am Elder Smith, and my companion here is Elder Jones. 

MR. TANAKA: I'm Junichi Tanaka. Pleased to meet you.

MISSIONARY: First, we'd like to tell you a little about ourselves. I grew up in a little town in Idaho. I have five brothers and sisters. My family is very important to me, and I hope to have a wife and family of my own someday. I also hope to be a doctor someday because I enjoy helping people. Right now I'm taking a two-year break from my collage program to be here. . . etc., etc. Could you tell us a little about yourself, Mr. Tanaka? 

MR. TANAKA: Yes. I grew up in a little town not far from here called. . .. I have a brother and sister, both married, and I'm married myself and have one daughter. I'm a school teacher by profession. . . , etc., etc. . 

MISSIONARY: That's interesting. What grade do you teach?

MR. TANAKA: I teach junior high--usually eighth graders. 

MISSIONARY: I admire you for that. By talking with you, I'll bet you're a good teacher. But isn't it frustrating when you prepare a good lesson and the students won't listen to you? 

MR. TANAKA: Sometimes they can be a little inconsiderate. But there're always a few who listen, and that makes it all worthwhile.

MISSIONARY: I know just what you mean. Why did you decide to be a school teacher?

MR. TANAKA: Probably for the same reason you want to be doctor: I like the people, especially young people. It's fun to help them learn and grow. Plus I get the summers off. 

MISSIONARY: What do you do in the summers? 

MR. TANAKA: I do some part-time work, but it also gives me more time to do things with my wife and daughter.

MISSIONARY: I know what you mean. I sure enjoyed the summer vacations with my family when I was growing up. And I like to help people learn and grow, too. In fact, that's why I'm taking these two years off from school. We have a message that is the most effective means of helping people learn and grow that I know of. And we want to share it with people like you. Would you be interested in hearing about it, Mr. Tanaka? 

MR. TANAKA: Sure, if it really works. 

MISSIONARY: Oh, I promise you it works, if you understand it and use it. But like any- thing of value, it does take some time to learn it and a willingness to try it. If we take the time to explain it to you, will you take the time and make the effort to learn it and try it?

MR. TANAKA: Sure. How long does it take?

MISSIONARY: We can teach it to you in six lessons of about 45 minutes each. We can

schedule the lessons twice a week, every day, or however you would like. . .

Rationale and description of Open-heart teaching. Open-heart teaching consisted of opening the person's heart to the missionary and his message before trying to teach him. It was like taking the lid off the cooking kettle before trying to pour the soup in. I found that the brief time and effort missionaries took to do this was usually their most effective time spent. The basics of our open-heart teaching method were as follow:

            GOAL:           To help the investigator accept the missionary as a friend, as someone he could trust, on his side, with                                     something of worth to him; to get the investigator to listen to the missionary and his message with an open                                     heart.

             HOW TO:     The missionary must look beyond the "obvious realities" and see the investigator as he really was (a                                     child of God) and as he could become (good friend, Church member, leader, etc.). The missionary should                                     talk with the investigator, using his name often; he should learn about him. Then the missionary should                                     relate the message specifically to the investigator, personally and individually.

The rationale of Open-heart teaching can best be understood by looking at the purpose of each part and the method of accomplishing it.

Before beginning to teach, the missionaries should have opened up the investigator's heart to a willingness--even a keen desire--to listen. In order to do this they must have accomplished two things: 

            1.         Get the contact to accept and be willing to listen to themselves as messengers, and  

            2.         Get the contact to see the possibility of the value of the message in his own life, and for his current concerns.  

If the missionaries accomplished the above, the contacts would usually open their hearts and listen with real intent. If they didn't, the contacts probably wouldn't open their hearts. In order to accomplish these two things, the missionaries had to do the following:

            1.         Build personal rapport and mutual respect through identifying some common values, and 

            2.         Relate what they had to tell him to things the contact already valued and saw immediate applications for.

One way of accomplishing the above, was for the missionaries to first  

            1.         Share some of their core values and aspirations with the contact; 

            2.         Ask something about the contact, what he's interested in, what he values most, his future aspirations, etc.; and

             3.         Do all of this at a dignified level, bringing out the highest and most noble ideals, values, and aspirations. 

One way missionaries could learn about the investigator's interests, values, etc., was simply to ask. Just to bluntly ask sometimes seemed rude, intrusive, or offensive, and did not always build rapport. Therefore, they had to first share with the contact some of their own interests, values, ideals, and aspirations. Then the whole process usually unfolded smoothly.

If put into steps, the basic process of open-heart teaching was: 

            1.         Missionaries told a little about themselves, emphasizing their families,their interests, their values, and their future                 aspirations, all at a high and noble level.  

            2.         Missionaries asked the investigators to tell a little about themselves. The investigator usually commented on the same things the missionaries did, but if he didn't, the missionary could ask the investigator questions about himself.  

            3.         Missionaries commented on what the investigators said and asked "Why?" about the items that brought out their values, always aiming for high and noble thoughts and aspirations. For example: "Why do you want to be a doctor?" "Why do you want to make a lot of money?" "What would you do with it?" etc. This would bring out their values at a deeper level.

            4.         Missionaries related the gospel message to the investigator's highest and most noble values and aspirations. This relating had to be done both in preparing the investigator to hear the message, and in the teaching of it.  For example, in teaching the commandments, the benefits of living each commandment were related personally and individually to each investigator. 

            5.         Missionaries asked the investigators if they would like to hear what the message was and how it would benefit them before agreeing to teach them. 

            6.         Missionaries committed the investigators to put forth the time and effort needed to listen to the whole message and to try it out before making a commitment and schedule to teach them.            

These steps needed to be taken for each lesson and parts of lessons, not only for first-time contacts or for getting the lessons set up.  

Assumptions upon which Open-heart teaching was based. Open-heart teaching was based upon the following five assumptions: 

1.         People are basically good and friendly. Regardless of how they are acting at the moment, at their deepest level, most people prefer to agree rather than disagree. They want harmony rather than discord. They would rather   do good than bad. They have high and noble values and aspirations within them and enjoy bringing them out, etc. 

2.         People act to benefit themselves. In order to work effectively with another person, one must look at and present things from the other person's point of view, rather than one's own point of view. This is not saying that people are selfish—their points of view might be quite unselfish. It is just saying that it is more productive to see things from their point of view, whatever it is.

3.        People are often unsure about many things. They are unsure of what they want, their own goals, their methods, etc. Thus they like to follow sure people and processes. 

4.         People often put up false fronts. They do this to protect themselves, to ask for help, and out of habit and imitation. This is not bad, but rather a normal phenomenon of social interaction and relations. 

5.         People want to be part of a group and an individual at the same time. There is a constant quest for balance between conforming to a group and expressing their individuality as a unique person.

In essence, the assumptions upon which open-heart teaching were based on the claim that HOW WE SEE OTHERS HAS A PROFOUND IMPACT ON THEM.

Once the missionaries understood something about the contacts, they almost always saw them in a new light. Then they could relate their message to the needs and concerns of each investigator, personally and individually. I taught the missionaries several techniques for relating the message personally and individually to each investigator. I felt President Benson's (1976) counsel to mission presidents had encouraged the use of such techniques in missionary work, saying they were essential: 

            It is my feeling that effective sales techniques in missionary work, under the inspiration of the Spirit, are not incompatible with effective teaching methods. Both are essential to a sound-proselyting program. There should not be an anti-sales feeling in our approach to missionary work. We should teach our missionaries every sound teaching principle and every honorable sales technique to move the work forward (p. 10).

Some of the techniques I taught my missionaries were:  

Benefits: I taught the missionaries that teaching was analogous to a balance scale: there were benefits to the investigator to not listen (save his time), not open his heart (wouldn't need to disturb his current thinking), not make any changes in his beliefs or lifestyle (stay in his comfortable status quo), etc. But there were also benefits to him to listen, to open his heart, to make changes in his beliefs or lifestyle. The missionary's task was to relate those benefits to investigators in such a way that the investigators felt that the benefits to listen, open their hearts, etc. could outweigh the benefits of not doing it. Until he did this, the missionary was not teaching in a way that investigators could grasp and understand.

I taught the missionaries to think of what they were saying from the investigator's point of view and to ask themselves "So what?" about what they were teaching, then to answer that "So what?" as it related to that investigator, personally and individually. For example, it is one thing to teach an investigator that Joseph Smith translated a new scripture called the Book of Mormon. An investigator might well ask, "So what?" to that. It. is quite a different thing to explain what reading the Book of Mormon can do specifically for that investigator, personally, and individually (depending upon the situation of the individual investigator, those benefits could be such things as finding answers to current problems or questions they have, learning how to be of greater service in their profession, finding ways to teach and help their family more, etc.).

I taught the missionaries to explain not just one or two but numerous benefits of the message to their investigators, relating them personally and individually. I taught them to speak to the. investigators, using their names frequently: not, "The Book of Mormon can help people find answers to problems and concerns they have," but rather, "The Book of Mormon can help you, Mr. Tanaka, in finding answers to . . . (whatever his needs and concerns were). 

            Commitment: I observed that static inertia seemed to be a major barrier to action for many investigators. I taught the missionaries to continuously seek for commitments that were related to the benefits they were presenting. Instead of phrases like "We would like you to read the Book of Mormon," I taught them to use phrases such as "If we could show you how the Book of Mormon will help you in. . . (specific need or concern of investigator) . . . would you (be interested. . . , want to know. . . , be willing to read. . . , etc.?)."

Questioning: I taught the missionaries how to use questions to engage, involve, interest, and commit investigators. This involved such simple things as two choice questions for setting up appointments ("Would scheduling the lessons twice a week or every other day be better for you?") to engaging, involving questions like "Have you ever wondered why. . . ?" or "Mr. Tanaka, can you see how. . . would help you in . . . ?" or "Wouldn't it be (interesting/valuable/wonderful) for you, Mr. Tanaka, (if/when) you. . .?".

I even taught the missionaries a little about the influence of gestures, positive attitudes, and of finding points of common ground and mutual agreement with the investigators as a foundation from which to begin the teaching. In order to help the investigators discover answers to their questions themselves, I taught the missionaries to restate and discuss the questions, rather than just provide the answers. 

Creating value: I taught the missionaries that the value of something is determined by a person's perception, and that that perception is often influenced by how people talk about it, how they physically handle it, how available it is, etc. I taught them to help the investigators perceive the value of the message in their own lives by giving examples, explaining the benefits, creating mental pictures and images, etc. I taught them to create and use significant impending events such as births, marriages, graduations, birthdays, etc., as opportunities for demonstrating the value of the things they were teaching. 

Acknowledgment: I taught the missionaries to work with their investigators in a considerate, respectful manner, as friends rather than adversaries. I taught them to look for and recognize areas of mutual agreement, to both agree with and get agreement from them. I taught them to seek to understand their investigator's point of view and offer alternatives rather than ultimatums.

For example, when an investigator said something like, "I don't believe in God," instead of confronting and arguing with responses such as "How can you say that? Everything around us proves there is a God. Only a fool would think this life is just an accident, etc. etc.," I taught the missionaries to agree--not with the fact, but with the investigator's feelings. I taught them to respond with phrases such as, "I think I understand how you feel, Mr. Tanaka. Many of the people we have taught didn't believe in God at first. But now many of them do believe in Him, in fact they know that He exists. And do you know how they came to know this?" When the investigator responded with something like "No, what happened?" I had the missionaries discuss rather than tell and to commit rather than just continue explaining. For example, they could say, "Mr. Tanaka, would you like to know for certain whether there is a God or not? If I show you what these other people did, would you be willing to try the same things yourself?"

In all of this, the way the missionaries saw the investigators was critical. If they saw them as basically good and friendly, somewhat unsure about many things, and thus putting up false fronts to protect themselves, to ask for help, etc., it was easy for the missionaries to show love, friendship, and understanding toward them. 

Obstacles: I taught the missionaries that when obstacles or objections arose, it was especially important for them to treat the investigators with respect and consideration, as friends rather than adversaries. I taught them to see the obstacles, not the investigators, as the problems, and to see themselves as cooperating and working with the investigators to overcome the obstacle I taught them to acknowledge rather than deny obstacles, and even to turn the obstacles into benefits. For example, if the investigators denied the need to rely on God by saying, "I don't want to rely on God. I want to be independent, to do things by myself," rather than confront the obstacle head on, the missionaries could often turn it into a benefit by saying, "I know how you feel. I want to be independent and do things on my own, too. And I have found that that is God's purpose for us, too. God wants to help us become independent and have the power to do many good things of our own free will and choice. In fact, he said that right here in . . ."

I showed them how they could often outweigh obstacles by showing the many benefits on the other side and relating them to the investigators. I showed them how they could even appeal to investigators for answers and solutions to obstacles and objections.

Results of the action. Although it started slowly and took many months to develop in the missionaries, the principles and concepts of open-heart teaching had a profound and lasting impact on the missionaries and the mission. I felt the assumptions required by open-heart teaching had the greatest impact. In order to effectively use open-heart teaching, my missionaries had to look at and see the people differently. They had to look beyond some of the "obvious realities" and always see their investigators as good, friendly, considerate people--not always acting that way at the moment, but

nonetheless, children of God with great worth and potential. Sometimes the missionaries had to look beyond the contact's present condition towards what they could become (good friends, Church members, leaders, etc.). With these assumptions, and with the skills of open-heart teaching, the missionaries began to teach individual people rather than lessons. They spoke to them using their names, and related the gospel message specifically to them.

Open-heart teaching became the central focus of our pass-off conferences. As a few missionaries began to master the principles, concepts, and application of open-heart teaching, they shared them with the other missionaries at the pass-off conferences. Gradually, over a period of many months, the missionaries' overall ability and skill in this new teaching method increased dramatically. Initially, I myself had modeled the techniques of open-heart teaching at the pass-off conferences. Eventually some of the missionaries became so capable at it that I was embarrassed to model in front of them anymore.

Through the use of open-heart teaching, the missionaries' ability to teach--and confidence in their ability--grew in leaps and bounds, and, with it, the number and quality of convert baptisms continued to increase: 

            One thing I've really come to learn here is that the open heart teaching works on all people. No matter what nationality the people are, you can work with them through open heart. It is a great key. I even used it on a man from the Philippines the other day and it really works well. It could be the key to many baptisms allover the world. It sure works in Japan (Missionary Letters, 1978-1981).

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