Learning through Understanding

Nick couldn't send pictures again and said to just wait the 5 weeks.   We got his itinerary today and he'll be home around 5:30 on July 22nd.  5 more weeks and Elder Arvanitas will be stateside again.  

5 weeks. I'm gonna miss this place to be honest. 

Thursday,we went to my last leader´s meeting. (Consejo de lideres?)

We talked a lot about being self reliant, and how to become more eficaz. (I don't remember English anymore...) Our President also talked about how we learn when we are taught and we ponder the things... 

To make it more simple 

Teaching + Meditation = Learning

For example... I've spent a whole lot of time writing these letters every week for the past 97 weeks but what have you learned? Is there any certain letter that sticks out? 

All teaching is, is the transmission of information. The big problem with teachers these days is that most of the time they teach to remember the things, and not to understand them. They just try to skip past the whole meditation process and move through the lessons.

Lots of time this happens with missionaries too. 

So the big question... how can we help people think about what we tell them? How can we make them think about what we say? 

Through questions. 

If we don't ask the right questions, we'll never get the right answers though. 

And also, you have to avoid the whole manipulatism thing (there's no spell check okay... give me a break)

It's like if we go up to someone and ask them "if God has ever answered their prayers" it doesn't work! What happens to the people that see God as a big ball of gas, or as a tree, or that he's in everyone of us? 

And by asking that type of question were already assuming a bunch of things. That God has ears, that he understands our language, that he can speak. etc. etc. 

It makes a lot more sense in my head. It's the whole thinking it in Spanish, and then translating it part that makes everything confusing. 

Think about it though. Honestly. 

I gotta go though, love you guys,

-Nick