Visiting Teaching

There is a fabulous program in my church called visiting teaching. Under the organization of the Relief Society (or the women's organization of the church) we are put into companionships and assigned three or four other ladies to visit monthly. Our responsibility is both temporal and spiritual. A typical visit lasts between 30-60 minutes and includes catching up to make sure all is going well or to find out if there are any needs then we share a spiritual message which often leads to a good gospel discussion. If that woman needs help, she should first turn to her visiting teachers and hopefully they are good friends who are happy and willing to help.

I love this program. When I turned 18 and started visiting, it was a bit funny to be at college and visiting other girls my age, but I made good friends and had the opportunity to care for others at a very selfish time of life. When we first moved here I was assigned to visit a woman that is a great grandmother. I'm pretty sure she didn't know my name the first few months my companion and I went to visit but over time, we got to know each other and after almost six years now she and I are very close. She treats me as another daughter and is like a grandmother to my kids. While I may have seen her regularly at church, we never could have developed this kind of relationship had I not been in her home visiting her every month.

It is tough sometimes to visit with people who are maybe not very active in the church at the time and aren't always polite or welcoming. It can be exhausting for me to make small talk and feel so socially awkward a lot of the time. But more than not, I develop and feel a great love for these women as I visit with them, get to know them and their families for real and help and serve them whenever needed. It makes Sundays feel more like getting together with family because we spend time in each other's homes and not just passing each other in the hallway or sitting next to each other on the pew. It gives us the chance to put our beliefs into practice by caring for one another, as Jesus would.

I am very grateful for the experiences I've had as a visiting teacher. I've taken dinners, packed, cleaned, watched children, talked through difficult circumstances, listened, made unlikely friends, shared testimony and food and all the love in my heart. I know this is an inspired program designed to bless each one of God's daughters. It has certainly blessed mine.