[pam]

Originally Posted by Dravin

It never hurts to ask (brace yourself) on my mission we were encouraged to teach the discussions to the members and would have jumped at the opportunity to teach somebody who was struggling and would have done so with the approval of the local and mission leadership.

Things are probably a little different in Utah with the missionaries spread out the way they are but Soul_Searcher isn't in Utah and the statistics I hear from actually teaching in the UK was pretty low, so the missionaries can probably give up a little finding time and teach a member in need (and ask for referals, thus its both teaching and finding time), if nothing else its effective practice, if you can't practice your teaching you start to suck at it. Also Ward missionaries can teach the discussions if the missionaries are simply to busy, for much the same reasons, its good practice and it'll help somebody who needs it.

As far as Gospel Principles I'd recommend that in conjunction with the lessons. Also, get your hands on a copy of Preach My Gospel, it's a useful book even if missionaries (full time or ward) come by or not.

Actually my experience with this was in So. California. The missionaries there were encouraged to use ward mission leaders etc for those that were already baptized and let the full time missionaries teach those investigating.