'Preach My Gospel' not a one-time resource
PROVO, UTAH
As stated in its introduction penned by the First Presidency, the Preach My Gospel missionary manual is to help missionaries become better prepared, more spiritually mature and more persuasive in teaching.
However, a challenge is getting young missionaries to translate a purpose into an action and getting them not only reading and studying in Preach My Gospel but returning there, said Elder Dennis B. Neuenschwander of the Seventy during a training seminar session for new missionary training center presidents and visitors center directors and their wives.
"From their first MTC experience, [the missionaries] read it once and think they are done. This is a complex book — it cannot be understood in just one reading," he said. "Every word, every phrase has meaning."
Teaching by the Spirit is not merely opening one's mouth and speaking. "When a missionary teaches the things to which the Holy Ghost may bear witness, the missionary is teaching by the Spirit — that's when the miracles take place," he said. "That's a very powerful thing, and it takes a lot of preparation to get there."
Elder Neuenschwander highlighted the chapter titles — all questions to foster learning — in addition to the questions in "Consider This" boxes and references in "Scripture Study" boxes throughout each chapter.
"Don't shy away from these scripture boxes — they will help them understand the scriptures and will continually come back to the questions that they are designed to answer," he said. "You will help missionaries in developing their educational pursuit as well as understanding the scriptures."
A danger is missionaries may focus on and memorize Preach My Gospel rather than have it direct them to the scriptures, Elder Neuenschwander said.
"If Preach My Gospel doesn't get missionaries into the scriptures, then it has failed," he said.
Elder Neuenschwander also underscored the importance of keeping a study journal, as stated in the manual.
Added Elder Lynn G. Robbins of the Seventy: "Take notes – it forces you into a territory, a deeper realm of revelation."
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