Visiting Teaching

I was assigned to speak for the ward Relief Society Visiting Teaching convention today, where they had the brothers take over for Primary in the last hour, and the Young Women join us, so that all the sisters could be in one place.  I wrestled over this assignment because when the request came, it struck me with guilt.  This was something I had a strong conviction of, but I had fallen down on it. I am committed that this will change.

Visiting Teaching

I was feeling  good about my spiritual preparation in my life, in service for my callings to teach, and with peace in my daily walk in the Spirit.  I was grateful to be doing well. Then Sister Meehan called.  Sisters, with this assignment I have the opportunity, the obligation, to confess and repent.

I have been very blessed in teaching my stake class, in preparation and in the time we spend on Wednesday mornings—I have felt the Lord’s presence and help, and expressed my thanks to Him often.  I love teaching the temple lessons with my husband, and the bishop did not have us released when Bill was called as ward clerk.  It is such a gift to be a part of that experience of seeing lives opened up as they receive those blessings and covenants.

But in the back of my mind, at stray moments, there was visiting teaching.  I had gone out of town, I had been ill, I had had car trouble, another trip, and then I was injured in June and the whole summer was used up in therapy and everything was down the drain.  I hadn’t seen a list, my companion hadn’t called on me to ask for my attention, and I would think, am I still assigned to the same sisters?  I need to check with somebody, I should be doing something.  But I let it slide.  Before I could embark on this talk, I had to track down my companion and confess and repent to her, and we will work out our schedules—she had been simply going forward alone.

Sister Julie Beck as general Relief Society president, said that:

We know that the purpose of Relief Society as established by the Lord is to prepare women for the blessings of eternal life by helping them:.

1. Increase their faith and personal righteousness.
   
2. Strengthen their families and homes.
   
3. Serve the Lord and His children.
   

 Relief Society is unique because it was organized after the “pattern of the priesthood”  and we operate on a general and local level under the direction of priesthood leaders. We work in partnership with priesthood leaders, who hold keys which give them authority to preside in the name of the Lord. We operate in the manner of the priesthood—which means that we seek, receive, and act on revelation; make decisions in councils; and concern ourselves with caring for individuals one by one. Ours is the priesthood purpose to prepare ourselves for the blessings of eternal life by making and keeping covenants. Therefore, like our brethren who hold the priesthood, ours is a work of salvation, service, and becoming a holy people. (October 2009 Ensign)

I read the touching account from Boyd K. Packer of his visit to a small group of sisters in Eastern Europe.  He told of them in a talk in General Conference in 1980.  He then said:

Service in the Relief Society magnifies and sanctifies each individual sister. Your membership in Relief Society should be ever with you. When you devote yourself to the Relief Society and organize it and operate it and participate in it, you sustain the cause that will bless every woman who comes within its influence. You are organized, I remind you again, after the pattern of and under the authority of the priesthood. 

The Lord told Joseph Smith,  "Remember the worth of souls is great in the sight of God;  For, behold, the Lord your Redeemer suffered death in the flesh; wherefore he suffered the pain of all men, that all men might repent and come unto him."  (Doctrine & Covenants 18:10-11)  Many years ago I came upon a quote from Ellen White, who was part of the same area of religious upheaval that Joseph Smith and his family were, that says, "The relationship between God and each soul should be as distinct and as full as if that soul were the only one to share His watchcare, the only one for whom He gave His beloved Son."  That is true for each one of us, and it is true for each sister who is a name on your list.  We should ponder that as we reach out to them, how much He loves and cares about them.

The motto for today is, "Visiting teaching is the heart of Relief Society."

Sometimes that’s hard for us.  Sometimes we aren’t sure how we will be received; sometimes we don’t know these sisters at all, whose names are on our lists.  I was reading Orson Scott Card’s column this week in the Nauvoo Times, and he was talking about the difference between those who are natural extroverts or introverts, and the various ways in which Church service is perceived, and that everyone has something that doesn't come naturally but which we are nonetheless asked to do.  [I read the last four paragraphs, but the format won't mesh here to copy.]  We trust the Spirit of God to take us the rest of the way.  We may not know what our sisters need, but our Father in Heaven does.

However it works for us, there is something we can give.  The hymn says, “the errand of angels is given to women.”  Bro. Packer says, "... this great circle of sisters will be a protection for each of you and for your families. The Relief Society might be likened to a refuge—the place of safety and protection—the sanctuary of ancient times. You will be safe within it. It encircles each sister like a protecting wall." (ibid.) The circle of sisters, imagine them all around the world—they are part of us in that wall of safety.  Visiting teaching is at the heart of that service.

Some of our sisters have moved outside that wall.  Some are still within, but they flinch at the assaults they hear and see hitting that wall, being launched to try to bring down those walls of safety—they fear cracks and breaks.  They may feel besieged; they may feel safe, but alone.

We all need to feel valued; we all need to feel known and noticed.

[ I talked briefly about connections forged:  Companions.  Sisters we visit.  The sisters who visit us.  That these connections can become lifelong.]

Relief Society is not just a Sunday meeting—it is a stewardship.  It is part of the baptismal covenant Alma described for his people in Mosiah 18:7-9. 

7 .... And he [Alma] did teach them, and did preach unto them repentance, and redemption, and faith on the Lord.

8 And it came to pass that he said unto them: Behold, here are the waters of Mormon (for thus were they called) and now, as ye are desirous to come into the fold of God, and to be called his people, and are willing to bear one another's burdens, that they may be light;

9 Yea, and are willing to mourn with those that mourn; yea, and comfort those that stand in need of comfort, and to stand as witnesses of God at all times and in all things, and in all places that ye may be in, even until death, that ye may be redeemed of God, and be numbered with those of the first resurrection, that ye may have eternal life—

 It is our measure, our portion of discipleship as sisters.  To mourn with, to comfort, and to rejoice together too.

With those who have lost the spark of light they once felt, it is a hope to draw them back close.  It’s about their blessings, not our numbers.  If they’re not ready, at least they can know that they have a friend.  For those who are still in the right place, who are active, it is reinforcement, a chance to bring relief and support in their struggles—because we all have troubles and challenges.  It is a chance to remember together that we have more than struggles, we have blessings and gifts.  We are called to bring those gifts of love, faith, and hope to each other, and take strength.

If our sisters, our fellow Saints, are with us, it’s easier to remember that our Heavenly Father is too.  Visiting teaching puts a human face, a human connection, on that truth, that we are never left alone.  Pres. Kimball said that God is always mindful of us, but it is usually through another person that he meets our needs.  Visiting teaching helps those needs to be discovered, and answered.  It is truly the “errand of angels.”  Angels will go with us, lives will be blessed, as we love and minister to our sisters in the gospel.