Practicing Explaining Conference

Today, I got an opportunity to explain General Conference to a stranger, and I'm glad to say I took it. While I was riding the bus to school, a guy just barely caught the bus I was riding, and we chatted about how much of a close call that was. He was out of breath because he had ha to run to catch the bus, so I offered him some water, and when he refused that, I offered him some breakfast. The Institute building across the street from campus offers free breakfast on Tuesdays, so I extended that offer to my new friend, and he accepted. We chatted on our way to the Institute, and it turned out that he is in a play at school, and he invited me (and everyone else at Institute) to come and see it. However, opening weekend is this weekend, Conference weekend, and thankfully, when I told him that I already had plans for this weekend, he asked me what they were.

I told him that members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (I used the forbidden nickname because I didn't want to open another can of worms) believe that God still speaks through prophets and that those prophets regularly relay those messages from God. He asked me how new prophets are chosen, and I stumbled a bit over my answer because I don't know the details, but I eventually answered that the remaining Apostles and Prophets pray about it until they get a name. In hindsight, I probably should have phrased that differently, saying that God chooses the new Apostle and then tells the remaining Apostles who the new guy will be. I think I'll do a better job answering that question next time.

I'm glad that I blogged about explaining Conference before meeting the guy from the bus, because that helped me prepare for that conversation, and I'm glad I had that conversation before tomorrow night, because it was good practice for the next Conference explanation I may have to make. Having had one conversation on that topic should make the next one easier, and I'm looking forward to that.

I wonder if all missionary work might be like that. Previously, I felt that, as a missionary, I had switched into Missionary Mode, where it was normal, natural, and easy to try to share the Gospel as often as possible, but now I think it might have just been practice. Talking about the Gospel didn't become harder because I'm not a missionary anymore; it became harder because I stopped doing it and fell out of practice.

As simple as it sounds, the more anyone practices anything, the easier it becomes for them. This morning, I had an opportunity to practice sharing my beliefs and explaining our traditions. I hope that practice pays off for me tomorrow night.