Companions, Not Clones

Quiz time!  You've just wandered into Zone Conference and there is a PowerPoint slide on the screen.  By looking at only one slide, tell me who is training--Sister Hall or President Hall?

Isn't that a great slide?  It has the San Fernando Valley on the bottom, it's easily read and professional.  The template is perfect for Zone Conference or Mission Leadership Council.  So whose slide is it? Need another hint? (I know you don't, but stay with me) Instead of that slide, you see this one:

All your doubts have fled, haven't they?  While I might use the first one, the chances of Ken using the second one are next to zero.

      Bad Guy: President use the fluffy tree template or I'm dumping glitter all down the hall.  

      Ken:        I'm thinking, I'm thinking....

      

 To be honest, the second one is a little over the top for even me, but it is indeed my slide.  

So who is the better teacher? Which slide is better?  Which presentation is going to increase the effectiveness of missionaries post-conference? Shouldn't we have figured out our optimal template in companionship study and then presented the one true template?

Sometimes missionaries look at all the rules and schedules and outlines and expectations and come to the conclusion that all we want are robots.  

In fairness, it is not just the missionaries who sometimes think this way.  Members sometimes think that keeping the commandments and "following the handbook" will turn us into robots. 

President Dieter F Uchtdorf said The Atonement is meant to help us all become more like Christ, it is not meant to make us all the same. Sometimes we confuse differences in personality with sin. We can even make the mistake of thinking that because someone is different from us, it must mean they are not pleasing to God.

    This line of thinking leads some to believe that the Church wants to create every member [missionary] from a single mold—that each one should look, feel, think, and behave like every other. 

    This would contradict the genius of God, who created every man different from his brother, every son different from his father. Even identical twins are not identical in their personalities and spiritual identities. It also contradicts the intent and purpose of the Church of Jesus Christ...

The missionary companionship of Alma and Amulek taught that when we die we are still the same people (that same spirit which doth possess your body now, etc).  

Joseph Smith taught that "same sociality which exists among us here will exist among us there, only it will be coupled with eternal glory, which glory we do not now enjoy." That is going to be a pretty good trick if we are all the same.  

The Lord needs YOU.  Not you, generically, you specifically.  He needs your strengths, your weaknesses, your personality, your all.  You are not a surprise to Him.  You were created by Him as an individual.  The Savior atoned for us individually.  You were never meant to be indistinguishable from a collective of robots.  To requote President Uchtdorf, "it would contradict the genius of God."

So, missionaries and members, yes you have to keep the commandments, follow "the handbook" and behave yourselves.  But you aren't the same.  You'll never be "the same."  Play to your strengths, allow the Lord to help your weaknesses become strengths.  But remember to be you.  The best you you can be, but still you.  

When Christ was on the earth he asked us all a question. "What manner of men ought ye to be?"    

What's the answer?  How do we do that?  Why can't we just copy our neighbor?  

Because it is personal.  It has always been personal. 

What manner of person should I be? 

Even as Christ.