Changes For visiting Teaching
The focus of
visiting teaching is changing. We are no
longer measuring monthly visits/phone calls or letters. We are now measuring and counting "caring". The duty of our visiting teachers is to
report to their supervisor the wellbeing of the sisters they visit, any special
needs they have and the service rendered to them. I am attaching the September 2012 visiting
teaching message for you to review as visiting teachers.
To help move
you into the mode "caring" I have asked the supervisors to no longer
ask the question "Did you do your visiting teaching?", but instead
ask "Did you watch over and care for _____?", "Are there any confidential needs the Relief Society
President needs to be aware of?" (if so report it directly to me), "Is
there any service that you rendered there that we need to report?". "Is there anything the Relief Society
Presidency can do to assist you with caring for the needs of your sisters and
their family?"
I know that
you are often hesitant to report visiting teaching feeling that you haven't
done your job. However, many times you have
been very aware of the sisters on your route, performing small acts of service
for them, yet because it didn't meet the traditional model of visiting teaching
didn't feel that it "counted".
Our sisters
and their needs are so varied. Some need
personal visits and spiritual uplifting.
Others need friends, some need a listening ear and encouragement. Some are so busy with family obligation that
a personal visit takes from their family and they just need to have someone
aware of them and their needs--but not someone who takes personal time away
from those needs. As a visiting teacher
you have the right to inspiration for what your sisters need. As you get on your knees and pray for them
daily you will be inspired to know how to assist and care for your
sisters.
Remember,
that the visiting teaching supervisors were called to help move the Lord's work
forward in the reporting of how sisters are doing--not to make your feel
guilty. They are trying so hard to
fullfill their calling. We are begging
and pleading with you to report to them and return their phone calls so that
they are able to do what is asked of them.
We know that your load is busy and that you are doing your best every
month.
Thank you
for all you do, your tremendous service and support. Visiting Teaching is truly the heart of how
the Lord blesses the lives of others.
Love, Sister
Weaver
Special Needs and Service Rendered
Prayerfully study this material and, as
appropriate, discuss it with the sisters you visit. Use the questions to help
you strengthen your sisters and to make Relief Society an active part of your
own life.
Special Needs and
Service Rendered
“The needs of others are ever present,” said President Thomas S. Monson, “and each of us can do something to help someone. … Unless we
lose ourselves in service to others, there is little purpose to our own lives.”1
As visiting teachers we can sincerely come to know and love each
sister we visit. Service to those we visit will flow naturally out of our love
for them (see John 13:34–35).
How can we know the spiritual and temporal needs of our sisters
so we can render service when it is needed? As visiting teachers, we are
entitled to receive inspiration when we pray about those we visit.
Maintaining regular contact with our sisters is also important.
Personal visits, telephone calls, a note of encouragement, e-mails, sitting
with her, a sincere compliment, reaching out to her at church, helping her in
time of illness or need, and other acts of service all help us watch over and
strengthen each other.2
Visiting teachers are asked to report the well-being of sisters,
any special needs they have, and the service rendered to them. These kinds of
reports and our service to our sisters help us demonstrate our discipleship.3
From
Our History Serving one another
has always been at the heart of visiting teaching. Through ongoing service we
bring kindness and friendship that go beyond monthly visits. It is our caring
that counts.
“My desire is to plead with our sisters to stop worrying about a
phone call or a quarterly or monthly visit,” said Mary Ellen Smoot, the 13th
Relief Society general president. She asked us to “concentrate instead on
nurturing tender souls.”4
President Spencer W. Kimball (1895–1985) taught, “It is vital
that we serve each other in the kingdom.” Yet he recognized that not all
service need be heroic. “So often, our acts of service consist of simple
encouragement or of giving … help with mundane tasks,” he said, “but what
glorious consequences can flow … from small but deliberate deeds!”5
What
Can I Do?
1.
1.
Am I seeking personal
inspiration to know how to respond to the spiritual and temporal needs of each
sister I’m assigned to watch over?
2.
2.
How do the sisters I watch over know that I care about them and
their families?
