Teaching People, Not Lessons

So I went to institute tonight and we had a really great lesson. It was on teaching people, not lessons.

The teachers told us we would be teaching each other about repentance, showed us who we would be teaching, and gave us 5 minutes to think of what we wanted to teach them.

It was the first time that I had ever taught anyone! And to my surprise it actually went pretty well!

After we taught the teachers asked us what was wrong about we had just done?

IDK!!! I can't read your mind, so please, enlighten me!

Well apparently they didn't give us a scenario of who we were teaching. They asked us why this was wrong....

Well they had me stumped there too...

Luckily some other guy knew that it was because we are supposed to teach people, not lessons. Our teacher said that he wish he had a giant gold star three times the size of the guy so he could wrap it around him like a blanket and send him home. Ha ha I literally laughed out loud at the mental image that gave me.

So there it was, the real lesson. We need to teach people, not lessons. Why you may be asking yourself...

Well this is what came to my mind:
The gospel is a very personal thing. Yes we do have guidelines that can help us to be better, but many things up for our own interpretation. If you teach a cookie cutter lesson then the investigator may not feel like they fit the cookie cutter, or like they don't fit in. If they feel like they don't fit in then it will be hard for them to feel the spirit. If you teach to the person then you can create the lesson to mold around them, and of course they will feel like they fit in, BECAUSE THEY DO! Then, and there the spirit can and will testify that what we are teaching as missionaries is true!

Hope this helps!
Love,
Afton Michelle