There would be few times on this earth more obvious for prayer than a large body of people desiring with all their heart to repeat the experience of the previous day. Undoubtedly, this is the desire of their prayer as they begin (v. 6). What they received was the teachings of the previous day, leading to a shift in the focus of their prayer. They begin to pray for the Holy Ghost (v. 9).
The twelve obviously taught the Lord’s Prayer to their respective groups, along with at least portions of the sermon they had heard the previous day. The fact that the twelve ministered to the people in combination with repeating Jesus’s exact words suggests an ordinance. Because “they desired that the Holy Ghost should be given unto them,” the particular ministration seems to have been conferring the gift of the Holy Ghost, as Jesus had done for the twelve the previous day (3 Ne. 18:36–37).