46. Teaching the Investigator to Feel the Spirit 

Problem or situation. In working with the "Ensign" teams and discussing barriers and problems we had to overcome, I began to understand more clearly and apply more specifically something I had known all along. I felt it was the central key: teaching the investigators to recognize and feel the spirit. President Kimball, speaking of investigators and new converts, had said: 

 "We must do a better work in convincing them of the truths of the gospel enough to change their lives" (Kikuchi, 1981, p. 109). 

I wondered how we could better convince our contacts of the truth of the message we were teaching. I concluded that there were many reasons why contacts did not join the Church, but most of the reasons fell by the wayside if just one thing happened: if the contact felt the spirit. If the contacts knew from sources beyond the missionaries that what they were hearing was true, they would open their hearts, listen, and receive it. If they didn’t, all of the explaining, persuading, encouragement in the world was meaningless.

I had known this all along. So had the missionaries. But even though we knew it, we had not applied it specifically and systematically in our teaching. We just expected it to either happen or not happen and the investigator to recognize and respond to it or not. We concluded that this was one of the areas where we could do much more. We had had great success in preparing the investigator to listen through the concepts of Open-Heart Teaching. In a similar way, we felt we could prepare investigators much earlier and much better to open their hearts to, and feel and recognize, the workings of the spirit. 

Action taken. (2-81) DEVELOP NEW INTRODUCTION LESSON FOCUSING ON TEACHING THE INVESTIGATOR TO HOW TO FEEL THE SPIRIT. (Productivity label: Training.) 

Some background on the conversion process is necessary here. It is the Spirit of the Lord that converts people. Missionaries facilitate conversion by finding people and teaching them about the gospel, but in order for the conversion process to take place, the investigator himself must take certain actions. The Book of Mormon promise gives us the key to what he must do: (1) read and hear the word of God, (2) ponder (think about it deeply), and (3) pray and -ask God if it  is true. Anyone who sincerely takes these three steps is promised that he will gain a testimony for himself.

Therefore, the real variable was whether or not the investigator took these steps, and the role of the missionary--his central focus and objective and purpose of teaching--was to help influence the investigator to take the steps so he will gain his own witness of its truthfulness.

I felt the missionaries needed to explain why all three steps were important. I encouraged them to promise the investigators that they would receive answers. I encouraged them to describe to the investigators what they would feel. I encouraged them to give personal experience and testimony, to show the investigator how to take the steps, and to influence him to want to take them. I suggested that missionaries could even assign specific things for their investigators to read as well as specific times for them to read them and specific times for them to take the other steps. I encouraged my missionaries to commit their investigators to take the steps and to do what they could to assure that their investigators did: i.e., call them, remind them, do them together during lessons, and-so forth.

Together with my mission leaders, I developed a new introduction lesson to teach to new contacts. The intent was to prepare the investigator to listen to the message with the purpose of seeking inspiration beyond the missionary to know that the message was true. (See Figure 19.) 

New introduction lesson. The new introduction lesson was intended to help the investigator do the things that would result in his gaining a personal testimony. It was meant to be taught at the very first meeting. It gave a brief overview of the main concepts taught in the regular lessons and brought the "benefits" and blessings of the gospel down to each person individually. It gave enough information so that almost anyone would find some points of interest but was also brief enough to leave them wanting to know more. It was meant to be taught within 10 to 15 minutes. 

            Before teaching, the missionary would: 

            1.         Develop a genuinely warm, friendly relationship with the investigator.

            2.         Introduce himself (where from, what he used to do, family, interests, etc.) and give some personal goals. 

3.         Find out a little about the investigator, including a few of his personal goals (be an accountant, be a good father, etc.) and confirm his general goals (grow and progress, be happy, etc.); also get his schedule so he would know when he had   time to meet next. 

Following is an outline of what was taught in the new introductory lesson. The actual teaching was, of course, a little more involved than what is stated in the outline: 

COMMITMENT TO LISTEN: Now that we're friends, would you like to hear a little about why we are here (in Japan)? (Explain) Even though I'm spending my own time and money I'm very happy to be a missionary among the great (Japanese) people. You teach me a lot, and I hope I can teach you some things, too.

PLAN OF SALVATION: I can teach you about your relationship with God and the answers to three questions that everyone would like to know: (1) where did we come from, (2) why are we here, (3) where do we go after we die? I came to (Japan) to tell people like you so you can receive more blessings. (Give answers in order 1, 3, 2.) 

JOSEPH SMITH: Here's how I know these things: through a prophet (a man who speaks with God), whom God chose in these days. (Prepares the investigator for the importance of the message by saying "I want you to know how much this means to me," or "What I am going to tell you is one of the most important events in history," etc. (Gives brief Joseph Smith story, testifying that that's how you know these things are true and what it is that we need to do in this life.)

RESTORATION: God gave Joseph Smith authority to establish God's Church so that everyone who is willing can receive the blessings God wants to give them.  

BOOK OF MORMON: To help us understand better, and as additional evidence of the visit to Joseph Smith, the Lord gave him His word in a new scripture called the Book of Mormon. 

COMMANDMENTS: The Book of Mormon tells us the things God asks us to do to be happy in this life and to qualify for eternal life. The things He asks us to do are called commandments. (Elicit some commandments from the investigator.) Breaking these commandments is called sin and makes us unhappy and unqualified to return to God's presence. 

CHRIST'S ATONEMENT AND BAPTISM: All people sin during their lives, so God provided a way that we can be washed clean from our sins: baptism. When we repent and get baptized, Christ pays for our sins and we become clean. Have you ever been baptized? If you were going to, you would want it to be recognized by God, wouldn't you? 

GAINING OWN TESTIMONY: Before you got baptized, you'd want to know for sure these things were true, wouldn't you? So, how could you find out for sure? (Read Book of Mormon) Right. Let's read a promise from the Book of Mormon. (Moroni 10:3-5) What else does it say you need to do? (Pray)

(Loan Book of Mormon--you are assured of meeting with them again when they have your book--and commit to do three steps.)

In order to help you understand the Book of Mormon better, we have prepared six short lessons to give you (30 to 45 minutes each. (Give choice of times to meet, then schedule all the lessons. Explain prayer at the end and pray together.) 

We developed a model lesson around this outline, but each missionary taught it in his own words, using his own examples, and relating it to his investigators' needs and values. 

Results of the action. With the vision of what could be accomplished (given by the "ensign" teams) and armed with the spirit of the new introductory lesson, the missionaries became even more productive in their proselyting efforts. As explained in the previous section, several companion sets did break through the 25-baptism level, and the mission broke through the 1,000 mark.       

In addition, the missionaries limited their teaching more and more to those things which mattered most. Central among them was teaching by the Spirit. Certainly the content of the lessons was taught, but it was taught more so the investigator could feel its importance in his own life. It was taught in such a way that investigators wanted to read, ponder, pray, and gain their own testimonies. Helping the investigators want to read, ponder, and pray became the main focus of not only the new introductory lesson but of all the discussions.

            Missionaries received the new introductory lesson with enthusiasm as indicated in their letters to me (Missionary Letters, 1978-1981): 

            This last week was great! I learned so much in the relatively snort time I was at conference, that I should be able to completely change my mission for the better. Especially the new intro lesson. It's great, and there is no one who can say no to it. It has really helped me out.

            I really enjoyed the conference this past week! That new intro lesson really works great! I've been using the ideas in it, and it really sparks an interest in them that I hadn't seen before. Most of the Japanese people really do want to grow spiritually, and when that's pointed out to them, there is interest in them. 

47. Expanding Motivational Methods 

Problem or situation. There were at least two separate problems associated with this action. I was searching for ways to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of the missionaries. President Kimball (Kikuchi, 1981) had said that was the mission president's responsibility:

            We hope you mission presidents will organize carefully and well. You are responsible for [your missionaries'] time and for their efforts. You must see that their time is so carefully monitored that they will not have time nor opportunity to become casual (p. 145). 

ELOQUENT SERMONS MAY BRIGHTEN THE LIFE; TO USE EXPRESSIVE WORDS MAY STIMULATE; BUT THE EVIDENCE OF OUR GREATNESS, THE PROOF OF OUR EFFECTIVENESS IS IN THE AREA OF MOTIVATION, TO GET THEM TO DO SOMETHING (p. 217). 

I believed, or at least learned on my mission, that only positive motivation was effective with missionaries. To me this meant recognizing the good things missionaries were doing. I had used a variety of methods for doing this: congratulatory letters, having them talk in zone conferences about what they had been doing that was bringing them so much success, "Ensign" certificates and special dinners at the mission president's home. All of these had been on a monthly basis. But we continued to have a partial mid-month sag. I felt I still needed to do something to better motivate my missionaries.

At this time I had a second problem concerning transfers. I had changed them from Friday to Monday so missionaries would not be required to leave just before the weekend, but I had decided them by and announced them on Friday. While this helped, it also caused another problem. Many missionaries spent that whole last weekend saying goodbye to members and investigators. I felt I needed to modify our transfer policy again.

Action taken (first). (3-81) MID-MONTH ACCOUNTING, RECOGNITION, DINNERS. "(Productivity label: Motivational.)

            Up to this time almost all our get-togethers for recognition had been at the beginning of the month. While we had established the mid-month zone conference to be held by local Zone Leaders, it had not accomplished all we needed in recognition and motivation. We solved this problem by having a midmonth accounting and a mid-month recognition dinner at the mission president's home. 

Action taken (second). (3-81) DECIDE TRANSFERS ON SUNDAY EVENING AND CALL THEM OUT TO THE MISSIONARIES ON MONDAY MORNING, THE DAY THEY ACTUALLY TRANSFER. (Productivity label: Motivational.)

At first I had tried announcing the transfers on Friday but waiting until the following Monday to implement them. While it helped, it didn't work as I had expected. Once the missionaries knew they were being transferred to a new location, their hearts moved to that new location. In many an interview missionaries confessed, "I knew I was being transferred, so I guess I let up a little." I finally concluded that transfers should not even be decided until the Sunday evening before they were to occur and that the transfer should take place the same day as notification. 

Results of the action (first). The mid-month recognition and dinners added that extra incentive to work hard during the first part of the month. Again, through this small change, we were successful in buoying up the sagging middle of the month. (See Figure 20.) 

Results of the action (second). By waiting until Sunday evening to decide transfers, I had much more information upon which to base the decisions. For example, if certain missionaries had several investigators who were moving toward baptism but didn't make it by the scheduled weekend, I usually didn't transfer them. Sometimes I simply felt they had not yet done what they were sent there to do. They were needed there to work with their investigators.

On the other hand, sometimes the results of the weekend made it clear that certain missionaries needed to be transferred. By having the additional time and information, and by having the missionaries transfer on the same day they were notified, I felt everyone benefited.

Things Learned

            The last six months were exciting and fulfilling to me. On July 2, 1981, I wrote the following in my journal (Groberg, 1978-1981): 

            My work is through. I hope I have done some solid good, for that was my only intention. I am so thankful to the Lord for this great opportunity to serve here and for the great success which, according to his promise, He blessed us with. 

During this last six-month period, the missionaries left the plateau of 500 convert baptisms and twice brought in over 1,000 converts in a month. In order to do so, they greatly increased the number of people they taught and the number of lessons they taught them. The weekly averages for the last month of this period were (Mission Statistics, 1978-1981): 

The missionaries increased the number of new contacts (introduction lessons) slightly but retained a much greater number of them. The number of regular lessons almost doubled. I felt the new introduction lesson greatly facilitated that increase. During this period, the missionaries spent a larger portion of their proselyting time (28 hours a week) in actually teaching investigators.

            The baptismal results for this six-month period (January-June 1981) totaled 4,718 converts, broken down as follows: 

                                                            January             584

                                                            February           622  

                                                            March             1,018

                                                            April                  714

                                                            May                1,015

                                                            June                   765 

The six-month summary (January-June, 1981) for the area showed the following: 

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