This weekend we had a visit from one of the fifteen men in the world whom we sustain as apostles, prophets, seers, and revelators. We were richly instructed. Writing from the large plates, and not the small plates, here is how the meeting went.
Elder Bednar taught us about the teaching pattern described in the one hundred and twenty second section of the Doctrine and Covenants. This is a pattern that we as missionaries and members would do well to learn and follow. After we were instructed, there was an opportunity for missionaries to ask questions. I don't remember all of the questions, but Elder Bednar didn't always answer them personally. When there was another leader who was better able to answer the question, he turned the time over to them.
He also talked about the ongoing restoration of the Gospel. The Gospel has not been fully restored. It is still a work in progress. Joseph Smith laid the foundation for the work that we are working to finish. One of the example of this that he gave was the proper organization of the Quorums of the Seventy, which didn't happen until the late twentieth century. He gave an apostolic warning that in the next decades there would be changes in the traditions of the church that would have nothing to do with the doctrine of the church that would cause some to fall away. He mentioned some of the false traditions of the culture of the church.
His other example of the restoration of the Gospel going forward was West Africa. Africa is Elder Bednar's current area of responsibility. There were twenty thousand baptisms last year. It looks as though this year it will be double. Elder Bednar said that the Navoou and Kirtland of today are in Africa.
The work of the Lord goes on. There are truly prophets on the earth today.
sincerely,
Elder Perez
P.S. Where's Elder Perez?
Elder David A. Bednar
"Teaching is not talking and telling; teaching is observing and listening so that we can discern and then know what to say."
What a great picture!!
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