Visiting Teaching the Right Way

This week I got a reminder of what visiting teaching is really about. I’m sure that in your mind you’re thinking about the typical visit where you sit for a while, give a brief message, and then leave while issuing the standard “Let me know if you need anything.” While this phrase is often sincere and almost always well-intended, I know I’ve never called my visiting teachers when I had a need. Whether you’re being visited or are the visiting teacher, there are ways to make visiting teaching a better experience all the way around. My learning moments came about … Continue reading

Things I Love About Visiting Teaching

Visiting teaching is such a blessing in so many different ways. Although it can be difficult to set up the appointments or to schedule a time to receive your visits, there are so many benefits when you do make the time. Here are my five favorite aspects of visiting teaching. First I love the friendships that happen as a result of visiting teaching. I have made friends with those who visit me, and the sisters that I visit. The great thing about this is that often I would not reach out to these sisters on my own, because they are … Continue reading

Visiting Teaching Interviews

As a newly called Relief Society Presidency in our branch, we were told that one of the responsibilities we had was to hold visiting teaching interviews. This was somewhat startling to most of us, as I don’t think any of the four of us had actually ever been interviewed regarding our visiting teaching. This leads me to believe that this is a somewhat neglected activity. Yet I would encourage any of you responsible for visiting teaching to consider taking the steps necessary to ensure such interviews are performed. Although we were told that these interviews could be done over the … Continue reading

Relief Society: Three Tips for Visiting Teaching in the Summer

Summer can be a tricky time to get visiting teaching done. Well really it can be difficult at any time, but summer throws extra obstacles into the works. You have more children at home, and people tend to go on vacation in the summer. So it can seem difficult to get it done. Here are three tips to help you do your visiting teaching in the summer. 1) Call at the beginning of the month to set up your appointments. This way you have a longer period of time to work it out with everyone’s schedules. For example this month … Continue reading

Home & Visiting Teaching Lessons

You know you’ve been guilty of it – picking out a talk that stuck in your mind and teaching it to all of your families. But just because it resonated with you doesn’t mean it was what the folks you teach needed to hear. Since the May home and visiting teaching messages come from April General Conference talks, how can you best select and teach the lesson suited to your families? If you are really on the ball, you were able to attend all four (or five) sessions of Conference. You may even have been able to hear them all! … Continue reading

Visiting Teaching By Inspiration

At a recent stake Relief Society training session, I learned something about home and visiting teaching that I had never heard before. In my ten years of visiting sisters in the ward, I generally followed the message published in the Ensign. However, I learned that in various cases – particularly including new and inactive members – the home and visiting teachers have the opportunity to teach outside of the proscribed lessons. In short, as home and visiting teachers (hereafter referred to as visiting teachers because, well, that’s what I do), we have the right to receive revelation pertaining to the … Continue reading

Visiting Teaching: Strengthening Your Personal Testimony of Jesus Christ

The visiting teaching message for February urges us to strengthen our personal testimonies of the Savior. As we do so, we can become tools in the hands of our Heavenly Father, acting out His will on this Earth and serving Him as He would have us do. The message first addresses the question of how to strengthen ones testimony. As members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, we should already have a testimony of our Savior. If we do not, it is imperative that we seek to cultivate and develop one. Without a firm, strong testimony, staying … Continue reading

Teaching, No Greater Call

Although I’m filing this blog under ‘callings’, I hope that everyone will take a few minutes to read it. Though we might not be officially called to teach in the church, every member plays a teaching role to some degree, and I hope that my thoughts will help readers to recognize the importance of that role. Because of the lay nature of our church, teaching is a distinct possibility for pretty much everyone who shows up. We may be called to the Primary, or to teach the youth. Perhaps the bishopric has asked us to teach long-standing members in Gospel … Continue reading

Five Tips for Successful Visiting Teaching

You may have made a New Year’s Resolution to be one hundred percent for visiting teaching this year. This is a great goal, and it is important that you plan well in order to achieve it. Here are five things you can do to help make your visiting teaching successful this year. 1) Take the time to get to know the sisters you visit. It would be great if you could be friends with all the sisters you visit. Go out of your way to say hello to them at church. You can call to chat during the month, just … Continue reading

Relief Society: “Feed My Sheep”

In her talk “Feed My Sheep” Sister Silvia H. Allred speaks about visiting teaching. She opens her talk by sharing her testimony. Sister Allred then goes on to explain that as a presidency they have spent time together studying and fasting to understand the purposes of Relief Society. She explains that one way that we can offer relief is through visiting teaching. She says: “One of the ways Relief Society sisters can feed His sheep is through visiting teaching. ‘The purposes of visiting teaching are to build caring relationships with each sister and to offer support, comfort, and friendship.’ To … Continue reading