The full title of this extraordinary 176 page book (which LDS missionaries called to German-speaking areas in the 1960's were required to memorize verbatim, nearly in its entirety!)is "Missonary handbook : a guide for the baptism of people : containing six lesson group teaching plan : for direct tracting door appraoch message : with manner of conversion lesson, with arranged dialogue for use with the group teaching lesson plan." This is the 1961 German language version. As I consider this in retrospect it is not surprising that converts were few and far between. Memorizing these extensive dialogs did, however, provide a good foundation in the language, a solid theological vocabulary and helped the missionaries develop a "sprachgefühl" -- or feel for the language, and an intuitive sense of what was linguistically appropriate. This was important in the pre-MTC (Missionary Training Center) era, because there was no other language instruction. The 6-hole, loose-leaf pages measure 3 ¼ by 4 ¾ inches. The pages fit in a slightly larger, ½ inch thick, leather grained, plastic binder, 3 ¾ by 5 ⅜ inches, designed to fit in one's breast pocket.

The "white Bible" of LDS mission rules.