The best missionary I know told me to read this book
I have a dear friend, Dr. Alex Styles, from Monroe, Washington. He is the greatest living missionary I personally know. He has been instrumental in helping hundreds of people join the church.
He was the Stake Mission Leader in Spartanburg, South Carolina over 27 years ago when I was a missionary there. He would go on splits with the missionaries and did a wonderful job teaching us all how to be powerful missionaries. Our mission president would cycle the missionaries into Alex’s ward so he could work with them. They became the leadership of the mission.
We have kept in touch and stayed friends over the years.
He just came to my home this past week and told me about this wonderful book. I absolutely love the business books written by Clayton M. Christensen like The Innovator’s Dilemma.
Alex sat in our living room and told us that the single most powerful thing he has done over the years to be a great missionary is to host a Lasagna Dinner every Sunday afternoon in the ward. Over the last five years when he did this they averaged 25 baptisms a year.
He encouraged my family to set a date. We decided to pray to find someone to teach by Thanksgiving of 2013. I needed a framework to get back into the swing of being a member missionary.
This morning, I started reading this book as I was preparing to meet my Bishop at 10:30 am.
He called me to me to be the Ward Mission Leader. The spirit was strong. My family just had Sunday dinner together and made a list of everyone we know that we can start talking to.
I am ready to begin with help from Brother Christensen and the Lord.
-Ken K. Mapleton, Utah
September 8, 2013 Uncategorized
Thanks, Ken!
Any principles Dr. Alex used that we haven’t included anywhere?
And could a portion of his service and impact be turned into a miracle narrative?
Hi – being in the Seattle area, I thought I would try to find Bro. Styles. It appears that he is no longer in Monroe, Washington; I just spoke to the Bishop there. Do you know where he is now, and could you email me that information? I am Bro Daniel Baker in the Renton, WA stake.
Hi Daniel. I’ll send you a message about getting you connected to Dr. Styles.
I should add that I attended your (Bro Christensen’s) talk at Seattle North — we talked momentarily about B’nai Shalom (Jewish Mormons).
And I have two copies of the book. I read most of it on a trip to and from SLC at General Conference time and have underlines in most paragraphs. Great insights, great ideas, great practice. I particularly like the parts that talk to someone’s interest instead of just dumping on them.
Also, as a writer (technical and family history), I am fully aware of how writing and massaging one’s feelings — about anything — helps structure and refine those thoughts that are otherwise bouncing around in the gray matter without so much structure, thus we can talk about our feelings more coherently.
I share this book as a really great resource and couple it, as something else for everyone who would hope to share the gospel, with Michael Otterson’s Conversations.
Cool! I’ve never seen this piece from Michael Otterson. Excited to take a look. I have enjoyed all my interactions with him before and the things he’s published in WaPo. Thanks for sharing!
Do you know if he hosted this Lasagna Dinner as an entire ward or on a smaller scale? I think it would be great to invite investigators we meet in sacrament into our homes with the promise of a Lasagna Dinner and maybe a lesson with the missionaries. . I just texted the Sisters in my ward to see if they are available this Sunday. Thank you for adding that tip.
That’s a good question! I will ping Ken about that and let you know.
Micaela,
He invited anyone from the ward to come and bring non-member friends. He said the Bishop called a family to host the lasagna dinners at a home for roughly 6 months then they rotated to other homes. Dr. Styles would get with the missionaries on Saturday evening to make the lasagna so nobody had to work on Sunday and they would have it ready to warm up.
They would have 30-40 people come, the most they ever had was 80 people. The missionaries were there but there was never any pressure, things just naturally happened, friendships began, and opportunities were presented for gospel discussions. Alex would take extra lasagna to the homes of people who couldn’t make it afterwards. The wonderful relationships and fellowship have lasted many years since then. They did it for 5 straight years every Sunday.
I recently flew up to Seattle and got to spend some time with Alex and his wife and got to hear the stories of lasagna dinners. We were at a restaurant and in walked a couple that had been part of those dinners many years ago.
The missionaries here in my home ward in Mapleton Utah are very excited to begin getting together on Sunday afternoons once a month to start getting more time together just to get to know people in our area. If it goes well we will do it more often. There is nothing like sitting down and having dinner together, and yes, we are even having lasagna!
Ken Krogue
Ward Mission Leader
Mapleton 6th Ward