Our Madrid MTC Fireside Presentation

About every three months, President Sitterud of the Madrid MTC invites us to speak at Sacrament Meeting or to give a special presentation to the young missionaries. We enjoy this opportunity to associate with the young Elders and Sisters and to preach the gospel. Here are summaries of our recent fireside with selected slides from the PowerPoint presentations that we utilized.

"Studying the Scriptures" by Beverly

Beverly began by relating some of her personal experiences in studying the scriptures, especially completing her goal to read all the standard works and to look up every footnote for every scripture. During this project, she discovered the internal consistence of the scriptures and had her testimony of the modern scriptures strengthened. She then explained the benefits of regular scripture study, using the following summary slide:

Her presentation included key quotes from Preach My Gospel and from our modern-day prophets and apostles. For example, one of her slides shows this quote from Elder Bruce R. McConkie on hearing the voice of the Lord through the scriptures:

This quote from President Monson expresses the value of the scriptures and the joy of studying them:

She ended with this quote to show how the prophets love the scriptures and to also express her own love for the scriptures:

"My Biggest Mistakes as a Young Missionary" by Scott

Scott began by listing some of the things he did do right as a young missionary (kept mission rules, studied the scriptures and the language, worked hard, and stayed focused on spiritual things), but then he discussed things he could have done better. For example, he mentioned that he made mistakes in goal setting and he presented this list what constitutes the best kind of goals for missionaries:

For example, one of Scott's biggest mistakes as a young missionary was to focus too much on his own personal improvement and not enough on the needs of his investigators:

Another mistake Scott and other young missionaries make is shown in this slide, with a page from Preach My Gospel on goal setting:

Scott ended by telling how he overcame some of his mistakes, applied proper goal-setting principles, and had success with the baptism of the Álvarez family, shown here in 1965:

The MTC missionaries were receptive and responsive our messages, and we look forward to future opportunities to speak at the MTC.