Elder Gerrit W. Gong (Oct. '21): "Trust Again"

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 Just the title of this talk sounds like a message that is so desperately needed in our times.  Also, this talk is filled with "sound bites," if you will.  There are a myriad of one liners in this talk that are great and that provide ample opportunities to discuss important gospel truths.  So, there could be a number of activities that will help class members dig in and work with the talk.  The activity I have created is just one of them.

The Activity:

  1. Read par. 37-38 "Do you remember . . . in both roles?"
  2. Divide the class into two groups.  Ask everyone to review the parable in Luke 15:11-32.
  3. Ask one side of the room to consider this story from the perspective of the prodigal son and the other half to consider it from the perspective of the faithful son.
  4. After reviewing the parable silently, ask all of the class members to discuss their thoughts and impressions with 1 or 2 other people sitting near them.
  5. You might ask them to consider questions such as the following:
    1. In what, specifically, does this brother need to trust more?  
    2. What is helping this brother trust more?
    3. What would the blessings be to this brother for trusting more?
    4. What counsel from Elder Gong's talk might help this brother trust more?
    5. How are we like this brother at times?
  6. Give these groups a couple of minutes to talk about these things.
  7. Come back together as a class and discuss what the groups talked about.

Using the Activity:

Personally, I find that often what I get from the counsel of a leader is simply a new way of seeing something familiar.  That is what happened to me here.  I am familiar with the parable of the prodigal son and have been for quite some time.  I have even thought of it from both perspectives (as has anyone of us who were around in the 80's or 90's when the Church made the video of this parable), but I have never thought of this parable through the lens of trust.  This insight really enhanced my understanding and made it possible for me to receive some personal revelation about my own life and my relationship with Father and Christ.  

This activity is designed to create a space where the class members can think for a longer period of time (at least a few minutes) about trust and what is taught about that through this parable.  Too often in our times today, we don't spend time with an idea (or at least I don't).  Yet we are shown repeatedly in the scriptures that pondering a specific gospel point leads to revelation.  Hopefully, that is time well spent.

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