Nourish those they teach with the Spirit
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What teachers in the Church can do to nourish those they teach was the instruction offered by Brother Daniel K. Judd, first counselor in the Sunday School General Presidency, during the Sunday afternoon session.
He recalled his days working on a ranch as a young man. To catch a horse to ride, he was taught to put a handful of grain in a bucket and shake it. He said sometimes rather than go to the barn for grain, he would put a handful of dirt in the bucket and shake it to attract the horses. Discovering the deception, some horses would run away.
"We learned," he said, "that taking the time to consistently feed our horses grain made them much easier to work with and provided them with increased nourishment and greater strength."
He compared that with the need for Church members to be nourished with the word of God and gave two keys to accomplishing that.
The first key is to teach the Savior's gospel. "As teachers and leaders it is vital that we nourish those we teach and lead by focusing on the fundamental doctrines, principles, and applications emphasized in the scriptures and the words of Latter-day prophets instead of spending precious time on subjects and sources of lesser importance."
The second key, Brother Judd said, is "to follow the guidance of the Spirit as we prepare and as we teach," because "it is the Spirit that is the most effective teacher in any given situation."
He also quoted an inspired standard in evaluating the effectiveness of teaching, leading and learning: "Wherefore, he that preacheth and he that receiveth, understand one another, and both are edified and rejoice together" (Doctrine and Covenants 50:22).
