“Testify: Express your feelings about—
The Restoration: Discussion 3, pg. 3_12, under “Teaching Helps”
– The President of the Church and the twelve apostles.
– Your assurance that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the only true Church of Jesus Christ.
– The need to belong to the only true Church.”
Beloved, must we shrug and patter? Feints
won’t help restore our smiles or bring back May.
We landed here because of wise complaints.
Perhaps we need two paths, so both can say,
“I’ve found my truth, my one and only way.”
No, you will lead us broken and contrite
toward your sole-sourced homestead, there to lay
all my hopes on your altar—your delight
to walk this world exclusive, clean—proclaimed as right.
Poet’s Notes:
This stanza draws from the the Uniform System for Teaching the Gospel, published by the Church. I taught these discussions to investigators on my mission in the mid-1990s. The featured image is of my personal copy.
Follow this link to read Stanza: The First Discussion.
Follow this link to read Stanza: The Second Discussion.
Reactions to the poem are welcome in the Comments section below, along with thoughts about the discussion from those who taught or received it.
Wheat & Tares 
Wow, really good. I’m surprised you still have an old tattered copy of the Third Discussion. I have vivid memories of being required to memorize those verbatim in Portuguese and basically recite them verbatim, with maybe a little variation, before investigators.
“there to lay all my hopes on your altar—your delight walk this world exclusive, clean—proclaimed as right”
Very profound.
Thanks, John W. I appreciate the feedback. Interesting that your mission’s approach was to memorize the discussions. In my mission we were instructed to learn the discussions “concept perfect,” if I’m remembering the way the president at the time said it–not memorized, but pretty close, so we could quickly summarize some of the principles and be more thorough on others. Once we had the material down, it was probably similar to what you’re describing with a little variation mixed in.