READ THE ADDRESS BY ELDER NEWMAN

From the resource Teaching in the Savior's Way, it is quite apparent that the actual teaching of the lesson is very small part. So many things must take place beforehand to ensure a meaningful and spirit-filled lesson or teaching moment. Things like, loving those you teach, knowing those you teach, inviting the spirit first into your life, prayerful preparation, and creating an environment that is welcoming to the spirit. Perhaps as we keep these things in mind, we will allow there to be more focus on not just the content of the lesson, but the love, listening, and preparing that precedes it.

Conversion cannot be forced. But it can be facilitated with love, patience, and truth. Elder Newman posed a question that seemed to stand-out from the rest, what were [the Savior's] expectations of those He taught? Immediately I thought, He likely didn't expect them to learn it all at once, understand it the first time, or show forth a burning desire for more right away. But perhaps sometimes we expect this of those we teach. Conversion takes time, time we can't control. Conversion takes desire, desire that comes only from within. What we can offer is patience. What we can create is a loving environment filled with truth. What we can  be is welcoming to  all types and timetables of learning.

Conversion cannot be borrowed. The truths and practices that our children and students may be gathering by observing us, is not the same as conversion. Conversion is something that is born only when those truths are internalized and made personal, when those practices are done by sincere desire and choice, not by chore. I think of conversion as a foundation—they may borrow materials and supplies, but they cannot borrow the whole of another's foundation and call it their own. Conversion is found in the building process, through trial and error, faith and agency. They must go there themselves.

Quotes

"Children inherit many things from their parents, but a testimony is not one of them. We can’t give our children a testimony any more than we can make a seed grow."

"We can teach it, we can preach it, we can explain it. We can talk about it, we can describe it, we can even testify of it. But until a person feels the sacred word of God distill upon his or her soul like the dews from heaven through the power of the Spirit, it will be like looking at a postcard or someone else’s vacation photos. You have to go there yourself."

Affirmation

I am teaching in the Savior’s way when I foster an environment of learning and love—inviting the spirit to personally tutor myself and those around me.