January 2018 Visiting Teaching

VISITING TEACHING PRINCIPLES

Keep in Touch with Her

 Anytime, Anywhere, Any Way!                                                       Visiting teaching is about ministering. Jesus ministered anytime and anywhere. We can do the same.

·        To “minister” is to give service, care, or aid that contributes to the comfort or happiness of another. Visiting teaching is about discovering ways to minister to those we visit. Jesus Christ ministered to all—anytime and anywhere. He fed the 5,000, comforted Mary and Martha at the death of their brother, and taught His gospel to the woman at the well. He did it because of His sincere love.

·        Following His example, as visiting teachers we can come to know and love each sister we visit, remembering that love is the foundation of all we do. When we pray for inspiration to know how to serve her and help her strengthen her faith, “the angels cannot be restrained from being [our] associates.”

·        From the organization of Relief Society in 1842 to today, the ministering of women has blessed lives. For example, Joan Johnson, an 82-year-old widow, and her visiting teaching companion visit their neighbor who is 89 and has pneumonia. They could see that their neighbor didn’t just need them once a month, so they began checking in on her every week in person or by phone.

·        For other visiting teachers, sending a text or email giving encouragement might be the best thing to do for a sister that month. Making personal connections and listening with an attitude of love is the essence of visiting teaching. Modern technology and time-honored face-to-face visits help us do it anytime, anywhere, and in many ways. That is ministering as Jesus did.

"Be Strong"  Music video

"My Sister's Hands"  Music video

"Miracles"  music video

"Because You prayed for me" music video

December 2017 VT Bookmark

I made the gold bookmark first and didn't think it looked like Christmas so I made the red one. Print the one you like best for the ladies you Visit Teach.                                          Merry Christmas!

Willing to Bear One Another’s Burdens                                       

                                                                                                "We are surrounded by those in need of our attention, our encouragement, our support, our comfort, our kindness,” said President Thomas S. Monson. “We are the Lord’s hands here upon the earth, with the mandate to serve and to lift His children. He is dependent upon each of us.”                                                                                              

President Henry B. Eyring, First Counselor in the First Presidency, said: “A great change began in your heart when you came into the Church. You made a covenant, and you received a promise that began changing your very nature. … You promised that you would help the Lord make [others’] burdens light and be comforted. You were given the power to help lighten those loads when you received the gift of the Holy Ghost.”         

“We want to use the light of the gospel to see others as the Savior does—with compassion, hope, and charity,” said Jean B. Bingham, Relief Society General President. “The day will come when we will have a complete understanding of others’ hearts and will be grateful to have mercy extended to us—just as we extend charitable thoughts and words to others. … Our obligation and privilege is to embrace improvement in everyoneas we strive to become more like our Savior.”                       

As we bear one another’s burdens and keep our covenants, we are more aware of Jesus Christ’s healing power. Elder Jeffrey R. Holland of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles taught: “Considering the incomprehensible cost of the Crucifixion and Atonement, I promise you He is not going to turn His back on us now. When He says to the poor in spirit, ‘Come unto me,’ He means He knows the way out and He knows the way up. He knows it because He has walked it. He knows the way because He is the way.”                                                                                                                                      

Additional Scriptures: Matthew 25:40; Galatians 6:2; Mosiah 2:17; 18:8–9                      

Consider This:   How does helping bear the burdens of others and keeping our covenants open the way for Jesus Christ to heal those in need?                                        

Enrichment Videos:                                                                                                                  

Lifting Others                       Love Knows No Borders Music Video                              

The Old Shoemaker             My All Is thine Music Video            

October 2017 Visiting Teaching Bookmark

Enfolding with Love Those Who Stray

“The reality is that there are no perfect families … ,” said President Dieter F. Uchtdorf, Second Counselor in the First Presidency. “Whatever problems your family is facing, whatever you must do to solve them, the beginning and the end of the solution is charity, the pure love of Christ.”1

Of those who are not participating fully in the gospel, Linda K. Burton, former General President of the Relief Society, said: “Heavenly Father loves all His children. … No matter where they are—on or off the path—He wants them back home.”2

“However wayward [your children] might be, … when you speak or talk to them, do it not in anger, do it not harshly, in a condemning spirit,” taught President Joseph F. Smith (1838–1918). “Speak to them kindly.”3

Elder Brent H. Nielson of the Seventy reiterated the Savior’s instruction to those who have 10 pieces of silver and lose one: “Search until you find it. When the lost one is your son or your daughter, your brother or your sister, … after all we can do, we love that person with all of our hearts. …

“May you and I receive the revelation to know how to best approach those in our lives who are lost and, when necessary, to have the patience and love of our Father in Heaven and His Son, Jesus Christ, as we love, watch, and wait for the prodigal.”4

President Henry B. Eyring, First Counselor in the First Presidency, said: “I have prayed with faith that someone I loved would seek and feel the power of the Atonement. I have prayed with faith that human angels would come to their aid, and they came.

“God has devised means to save each of His children.”5

Additional scriptures: Matthew 18:12; Alma 31:35; 3 Nephi 13:32; D&C 121:41–42

Music video:  Only Love

Additional video: Love Grows at Home

September 2017 Visiting Teaching Bookmark

 

“And the Lord called his people Zion, because they were of one heart and one mind, and dwelt in righteousness; and there was no poor among them” (Moses 7:18). How can we become one?

Elder M. Russell Ballard of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles said: “At the heart of the English word atonement is the word one. If all mankind understood this, there would never be anyone with whom we would not be concerned, regardless of age, race, gender, religion, or social or economic standing. We would strive to emulate the Savior and would never be unkind, indifferent, disrespectful, or insensitive to others.”1

President Henry B. Eyring, First Counselor in the First Presidency, taught: “Where people have [the] Spirit with them, [they] may expect harmony. … The Spirit of God never generates contention (see 3 Nephi 11:29). … It leads to personal peace and a feeling of union with others.”2

Speaking of family challenges, Carole M. Stephens, who served as First Counselor in the Relief Society General Presidency, said: “I’ve never had to live through divorce, the pain and insecurity that comes from abandonment, or the responsibility associated with being a single mother. I haven’t experienced the death of a child, infertility, or same-gender attraction. I haven’t had to endure abuse, chronic illness, or addiction. These have not been my stretching opportunities.

“… But through my personal tests and trials … I have become well acquainted with the One who does understand. … And in addition, I have experienced all of the mortal tests that I just mentioned through the lens of a daughter, mother, grandmother, sister, aunt, and friend.

“Our opportunity as covenant-keeping daughters of God is not just to learn from our own challenges; it is to unite in empathy and compassion as we support other members of the family of God in their struggles.”

Additional scriptures:John 17:20–23; Ephesians 4:15; Mosiah 18:21–22; 4 Nephi 1:15;

"Make Us One" Music by Sally Deford Published on Mar 24, 2012

How shall we stand amid uncertainty? Where is our comfort in travail?

How shall we walk amid infirmity, when feeble limbs are worn and frail?

And as we pass through mortal sorrow, how shall our hearts abide the day?

Where is the strength the soul may borrow? Teach us thy way.

Make us one, that our burdens may be light

Make us one as we seek eternal life

Unite our hands to serve thy children well

Unite us in obedience to thy will.

Make us one! teach us, Lord, to be of one faith, of one heart

One in thee.

Then shall our souls be filled with charity, then shall all hate and anger cease

And though we strive amid adversity, yet shall we find thy perfect peace

So shall we stand despite our weakness, so shall our strength be strength enough

We bring our hearts to thee in meekness; Lord, wilt thou bind them in thy love?

Take from me this heart of stone, and make it flesh even as thine own

Take from me unfeeling pride; teach me compassion; cast my fear aside.

Give us one heart, give us one mind

Lord, make us thine

Oh, make us thine!

August 2017 Visiting Teaching Bookmark

Living a Consecrated Life

“To consecrate is to set apart or dedicate something as sacred, devoted to holy purposes,” said Elder D. Todd Christofferson of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. “True success in this life comes in consecrating our lives—that is, our time and choices—to God’s purposes.”1

Elder Neal A. Maxwell (1926–2004) of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles said: “We tend to think of consecration only as yielding up, when divinely directed, our material possessions. But ultimate consecration is the yielding up of oneself to God.”2

As we consecrate ourselves to the purposes of God, our faith in Jesus Christ and in His Atonement will increase. As we live a consecrated life, we can be made holy through those actions.

Carole M. Stephens, former First Counselor in the Relief Society General Presidency, said:

“Elder Robert D. Hales taught, ‘When we make and keep covenants, we are coming out of the world and into the kingdom of God.’

“We are changed. We look different, and we act different. The things we listen to and read and say are different, and what we wear is different because we become daughters of God bound to Him by covenant.”3

Consecration is the covenant God makes “with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the Lord, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people” (Jeremiah 31:33). Living a consecrated life is in harmony with God’s plan for us.

Additional Scriptures and Information

1 Thessalonians 1:3, Doctrine and Covenants 105:5  

1. 

D. Todd Christofferson, “Reflections on a Consecrated Life,” Ensign, Nov. 2010, 16.

2. 

Neal A. Maxwell, “Consecrate Thy Performance,”Ensign, May 2002, 36.

3. 

Carole M. Stephens, “Wide Awake to Our Duties,”Ensign, Nov. 2012, 115–16.

                                

Consider This

How does consecrating our lives to the Lord help us become more like Him?

Listen to Children sing the song: "My Covenant Path"

July 2017 Visiting Teaching Bookmark

“Jesus achieved perfect unity with the Father by submitting Himself, both flesh and spirit, to the will of the Father,” taught Elder D. Todd Christofferson of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles.

“… Surely we will not be one with God and Christ until we make Their will and interest our greatest desire. Such submissiveness is not reached in a day, but through the Holy Spirit, the Lord will tutor us if we are willing until, in process of time, it may accurately be said that He is in us as the Father is in Him.”

Linda K. Burton, former Relief Society General President, taught how to work toward this unity: “Making and keeping our covenants is an expression of our commitment to become like the Savior. The ideal is to strive for the attitude best expressed in a few phrases of a favorite hymn: ‘I’ll go where you want me to go. … I’ll say what you want me to say. … I’ll be what you want me to be.’”

Elder Christofferson also reminded us that “as we endeavor day by day and week by week to follow the path of Christ, our spirit asserts its preeminence, the battle within subsides, and temptations cease to trouble.”

Neill F. Marriott, Second Counselor in the Young Women General Presidency, bears testimony of the blessings of striving to align our will with God’s will: “I have struggled to banish the mortal desire to have things my way, eventually realizing that my way is oh so lacking, limited, and inferior to the way of Jesus Christ. ‘His way is the path that leads to happiness in this life and eternal life in the world to come’ [“The Living Christ”; emphasis added].” Let us strive humbly to become one with our Heavenly Father and His Son, Jesus Christ.

Additional Scriptures and Information                                                                                    John 17:20–21 Ephesians 4:13                                                  Doctrine and Covenants 38:27

Click the image of Jesus Christ & God Our Father to Here the Song:  "I will" by Hillary Weeks

For More inspiration listen to this Conference Talk:

That They May Be One in Us - D. Todd Christofferson