Elder Bednar, Family History, and Agency! October 23, 2016

Hey Fam!

Just like in Allie's mission, we had Elder Bednar come! It was so special. I learned so much from how he taught, asked questions, and responded to answers.  Before the meeting, we were assigned to read 4 or 5 of his talks, and they were awesome.  He really is a master teacher. We had like a 3 hour meeting with him! The first hour and a half was him asking what we learned from the talks we read. A missionary would point out something, he would often respond with a question, and the missionary would respond, and then Elder Bednar would elaborate. After that, he asked us what we had learned from this pattern of teaching, and we talked about that for a while. I was super impressed--he talked about how we have to learn to listen to investigators. We must ask questions that are not "guess what is in my head" questions, but questions that help them use their agency to answer.

Our mission with Elder and Sister Bednar. I am on the left side, a quarter of the way back.

And lastly, people asked him questions. He called on me during the part about what we learned from the pre-studied talks. I talked about agency--I never realized why agency was so important. In some of the talks he gave, he talked about learning by faith. Without using agency, we can hardly learn. I thought about my life, and how, through asking questions, working, and acting, I have learned so much more than just lectures or presentations others have given. Elder Bednar said, "When men speak by the power of the Holy Ghost, the Holy Ghost carries it TO the hearts of the children of men, but it does not carry it INTO. They must use their agency for that. I especially learned that, as teachers and missionaries, we must help others to use their agency to learn; that is our role. As soon as we treat someone like an object to be acted upon, rather than an agent to choose, the Spirit stops testifying.

So when I responded, I said something like this, "As I read these talks, I noticed how often you referenced scriptures (he honestly at least used a scripture phrase or example each paragraph).  And I was thinking about why that is so important, and I also read in here about helping our investigators to act, to use their agency to learn.  I think that as we help our investigators to use their agency to act, to read the scripture and use their agency, they can better learn and gain a testimony."  or something like that. And he said, "Yes, so how have you noticed this make a difference in your teaching?" and I said, "I have noticed that our investigator's hearts seem more open, and they can understand better."  Or something along those lines... He asked why their hearts would be more open, and I talked about the spirit (my answers were pretty simple--it is pretty intimidating to talk to an apostle, albeit wonderful) and then he elaborated on agency, the spirit, etc.

It was a neat experience! He really does just glow. I have noticed frequently how BRIGHT the apostles'eyes are--Elder Bednar especially. After the meeting, we all had the opportunity to shake his hand. I prayed that as I did it, I would feel the spirit testify to me that he is an apostle. And I felt it, I really did. I shook his hand, looked him right in the eye, and he looked at me. I smiled, and I could feel his spiritual power--I am not sure how to describe it. It was awesome. I wasn't nervous really, but I could feel the Savior's love.

Some other things from our area:

We have continued doing family history with two recent converts who are preparing for the temple! They are awesome! Family history is SO different here.  Each Korean family has a big family history book, but it is written in Korean Chinese characters. So most of the family history work is the actual inputting of the information, not finding people who haven't had work done yet. So we have put in a few generations of his family, and printed them out! Pretty neat.

Well, I sure love you all. Thanks for being the best family ever! I think about you all a lot! I hope things are going well. I pray for each of you, and I know you pray for me.  :)

Love
Elder Beckett