Elder Ciro Schmeil (Oct. '21): "Faith to Act and Become"

 To me this is an interesting talk in that it represents the thinking of one man that grew out of prophetic counsel given to him and to us all.  

The Activity:

1. Create a handout for class members that is a 4x4 table.  Label three of the rows "Asking," "Acting," and "Studying."
2. Label three of the columns "Me," "Elder Schmeil," and "the Spirit."
3. Pass out the papers along with something to write with.
4. Read par. 3 "Pres. Nelson is . . . among other things."
5. Ask the class members to consider what their personal experiences teach them about increasing their discipleship through "Asking," "Acting," and "Studying."  
6. Allow a couple of moments to ponder these ideas and then ask them to record their thoughts on the paper in the appropriate box.  They could mention strategies for these that are especially meaningful for them, connections between each and discipleship, or anything else that seems relevant to them.  There really is no wrong answer as long as it is on topic.
7. Then, ask them to look over the talk by Elder Schmeil and jot down those things he says that strike them as important in the appropriate boxes.
8. Take a few minutes to discuss what the class members wrote in all of the boxes.  Try to make connections between as many ideas as possible.
9. After a bit, tell the class members that they may have had some ideas come into their minds about these topics as the class discussed them.  Ask them to record these in the appropriate boxes in the column labeled "the Spirit."

Using the Activity:

On more than one occasion, Elder Richard G. Scott taught us that one powerful way to increase the flow of revelation in our lives is to write down the revelation we receive.  By doing so, we are showing Father that we value and treasure His words to us.  Another benefit that I believe comes from writing down the inspiration and revelation we receive is that Father often works ahead of our need-- that is, He will often give us revelation today that is designed to help us next week.  We don't often think about this, but we readily admit that He does this with His Church.  Why should His interactions with His children change?  So, when we write down what we are taught, we increase the likelihood that we will remember it in the future and we also create a record we can return to time and again as needed.  

Another important aspect of setting up this handout like this is that it signals to the class members and to our Heavenly Father that we are expecting to receive revelation.  In this case, another word for expecting is have faith.  We are demonstrating faith in the fact that Heavenly Father will fulfill His promise to be in our midst whenever two or three are gathered in His name and His promise to speak to us in our need.  

God bless you in your efforts to teach the gospel with power and authority.  There is no greater calling or endeavor.