Friday, May 22, 2009

Learning the Hard Way--Teaching by the Spirit



Look who is sitting up! Isn't he just the cutest. This is Gavin, my son Lane's son.

I want to say Hi to all of you. I don't usually have a lot to say on my blog that I think would interest many people. And I still don't have anything too interesting. But I thought I'd share a thing or two.

About a month or so ago I got a new calling at church. I am the Education Counselor for Relief Society in our ward. So far I think I will really like this calling because I can learn so much from it. A few days ago I had a "Teacher's Breakfast" for the relief society teachers and music leaders. They are all pretty new to their calling too, and it was going to be a while till we had a teacher training class. So I wanted us to have our own little mini class on Teaching by the Spirit during this breakfast. It was very good for me to study on this topic. I am not a very strong teacher by nature. But I am starting to learn that I am not really the teacher anyway. The Spirit needs to be the teacher. And I was trying to learn how to invite the spirit into my teaching.

In preparing for the lesson, I was using the scriptures as much as I could. The scriptures, being the word of God, is one of the best ways to invite the Spirit of God into our learning and teaching. I was also using a book "Teaching by the Spirit" by Gene R. Cook. In the book, Elder Cook helps us to understand how we can invite the spirit into our learning and teaching. He also tells us we should be flexible enough in our lesson to allow the spirit to talk to us. When I do my lessons, I usually have all the things planned out that I want to say, and I write them all down. I feel like I am not a very good communicator. I get tongue tied and can't express what I am feeling. So I try to rely on the Spirit when I am in the planning stage of my lesson. So when Elder Cook said that we shouldn't write down our talks, but rely on the guidance and promptings of the Spirit, I thought, Now Way! I just can't do that.

So the night before the lesson, I was just going to put together all the thoughts and things I wanted to cover into a final copy for me to print off. I had my rough draft on a jump drive. When I went to open the file, it wouldn't open. I tried multiple computers in my home and had the same problem. I called the IT guy at my work and asked him if he could open it if I emailed it to him. He tried to also, but it wouldn't open. The file was corrupt. So about a month and a half of studying and preparing was not accessible. I thought I'd be frantic. I am not a teacher by nature, like I said before. But I guess it was time for me to really practice what I had been studying on. So I looked up the scriptures again, and wrote the scriptures references on a paper. I taught the lesson the next morning with scriptures, and a very basic outline, and tried to rely on the Spirit as best as I could.

I don't believe my lesson was elegant. There were times I stumbled for words. But I do believe the Spirit was there. There was more involvement from the ladies then I usually get. I used my outline a bit, but I was very flexible with it. I didn't cover some of the things I had planned. And I relied heavily on the scriptures. I do believe what was covered, was what my Heavenly Father wanted covered. I, by myself, am not a good teacher. But when I rely on the Spirit to guide me, I can do anything the Lord wants me to do.

7 comments:

Traci said...

so awesome of you katrina! i always love to read your posts! look how big gavin is too! he is a qt!

Deb-t said...

What a wonderful lesson you just gave via your blog! I'm sure you did a great job teaching. You are an inspiration! By the way, CUTE grandbaby!!!

erika said...

I know you can do it!
He is getting so big?

Sondra said...

Kat, I think that you always have good and interesting things to say on your blog. You're always my good and strong example and I look up to you.

I love that picture of Gavin. He's an angel.

val said...

What a wonderful story! Thanks for sharing it. I was the education couseslor a few years ago, and it was one of my favorite callings! I wish I could've read this post back then! I remember how awkward my 1st lesson was that I gave. I was finally getting comfortable with teaching in RS when I got released. Congrats on learning how to teach with the spirit already!!! What a sweet message.

Jen Ross said...

You are awesome and I know your lesson went over very well! Way to go. I too like to have what I plan on an outline. I'm going to try and be better about letting the Spirit guide me. Thanks for your great words! Love you!

Brenda Campbell Hansen said...

This post really touched my heart,
Katrina. Thanks for sharing! I love you to pieces and love to hear your testimony. Thanks for the reminder and the uplifting post!