When you come home at night, the first thing you should do is plan. Before, we'd come home and I'd be hungry. I would get in my pajamas and waste that sacred time. Heavenly Father, we thank thee for this evening and for this day we've had to share thy Gospel. We thank thee for the lessons that we had with Shondra. We pray that she will have the desire to read the Book of Mormon. We pray that thou will also bless Laura, we thank thee for the wonderful lesson we had with her, and for her ability to recognize that the Book of Mormon is true. Please bless and strengthen her and her husband as they read the Book of Mormon together. Please bless our bishops and the ward mission leaders in their callings. We say this in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen. When we take time to plan, we show our accountability to the Lord. We show how much we value this opportunity to serve Him. Let's review our day.
-This afternoon we had Laura. -Yes. -That was a great lesson. -Yeah. She's really progressing, and her faith is growing rapidly. Let's call Sister Stevens tomorrow and ask if she can pick her up and be with her at church. After, we need to update her teaching record. Yes. Planners and planning sessions are the tools the Lord has given us to help fulfill our purpose. We're not just filling time, saying, We have three hours, let's go tract. It helps us see what we need to do to meet our goals. One lesson with member present. We had one... Unfortunately we didn't meet that goal. We tried our best, but tomorrow we'll do better to get members to the lessons. Planning and setting goals is an act of faith. Planning should be a spiritual experience where we feel the Lord giving us inspiration and guidance on what we need to do. Let's look at the planning guidelines. Set goals and make plans for investigators to be baptized and confirmed in the coming week. We don't have anybody right now. No one for set goals and make plans for investigators to set a baptismal date, but soon, we're almost there. Set goals and make plans to help investigators attend sacrament meetings. Those are for today and tomorrow. I really want her husband to come this Sunday. What can we do to help him come? Last Sunday we mentioned to Brandy that there's a church tour this Friday, and she got excited about that. We set realistic goals for specific people. Laura's doing well and we'll update her record. She is exercising faith and repenting. We'll have the Stevens come so that they can -testify. -Testify. They can do it. That will be great. Setting goals help us to stay focused on our purpose. It helps us help these people be converted to the Gospel by having members at lessons, and getting them to church. These things are given to us so we can help them to have faith, repent, be baptized, and receive the Holy Ghost. People that we need to see tomorrow are we didn't call Patricia today, so we'll call her tomorrow.
We'll try to set up an appointment for Friday with her. and bring Sister Adams. Set goals and make plans to contact and teach referrals. Should we see the Bishop's referral tomorrow? Bishop Miller's referral. Yes, the McManus family. Effective planning means you have a meaningful activity for every hour of the day. You will be busy and successful. Let's talk about goals for recent converts and less-active members. We need to talk to Katie, also. She lives right by the McManus family, -by Fabiola and Jennifer. -Great. We can see if her car is there. -If it is, then we'll stop by. -Around 3:30? Let's talk about our plans to find new investigators. Our goal is to use family history. We have these plans and backup plans. We need a backup plan for Gary. We should do some contacting by Sister Brown's home. That would be great. We always need to be finding and praying for opportunities to find people, because we need new investigators. Teaching doesn't start until you find someone. We have to find by the Spirit. We can find through many ways and then ask the Lord to help us to know where to go, and what to say. We should do more than just tract. I would like to look at that list of temple referrals. Several of them were in that area. I would like to talk with all of them. We're working with the ward council. We'll talk to the ward mission leaders tomorrow, and prepare for the activity on Friday night. We also set several personal and companion goals about what we want to work on during the day and week. They can be principles of the Gospel, Christlike attributes or teaching skills. We can do an activity in the morning during companion study from Preach My Gospel. Let's set goals for tomorrow. Members present: two.
How are we doing this week? We only have two so far, -and our goal is nine. -Is nine. The question is, where do we start? What do we do, what's most important? If it's not adding to the key indicators, then we shouldn't be doing it. If you focus on key indicators, which focus on your purpose, then you will have success. We need to find new investigators. -We need to find a family. -Yes, we do. -Three? -Let's do three. A family will be a new investigator. (Phone rings) Okay. Are there any other referrals? -We'll get that after we plan. -Alright. You focus on what you did today, and what you'll do tomorrow to help your investigators progress. Don't even let phone calls interrupt you. This time is sacred. Use it to learn from the Lord what your investigators need to know and what to prepare for them. Great. Shall we pray? Yeah. As we plan, we update our Area Book each night. When we pray, we report to the Lord how we've done each day. Please bless us to know if we should change any of these plans, or if we have forgotten anyone, then please let us know what we should change. Please bless us with the faith that we need to find those families who you have prepared for us, that they may be placed in our path, and we will recognize them. We're grateful to be able to serve you and to represent Jesus Christ. We're grateful for Him. Please forgive us of our weaknesses. Help us overcome and become better missionaries. We pray for these things, in the name of Jesus Christ, amen. Let's update the Area Book. Preach My Gospel says to update your records daily. We usually update them right after planning. It takes a lot of energy to plan, but we know that this is the only way that the work can progress, and that the Lord will bless us.