September 2012 Visiting Teaching Message
Contact your sister by
the 5th, make an appointment by
the 10th, visit by the 15th and report by the 20th
the 10th, visit by the 15th and report by the 20th
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 the Scriptures
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
For more information, go to
reliefsociety.lds.org
.
What Can I Do?
-
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.
How do the sisters I watch over know that I care about them and their families?
