A Wonderful Sunday!

We had the best testimony meeting on Sunday. There were no pauses between testimonies, and members even went up front to wait for their turn to share. I think it was because this was our last meeting in the Offenbach Ward, as we are moving our meetings to the Frankfurt Stake Center. Monika Lippert told us that she wanted to bear her testimony. We told her that when she felt ready to give Bob a nod, and he would push her wheelchair up on the stand. As the meeting neared the end, and more and more members went up to bear their testimonies, the parable of the infirm man waiting to be helped into the pool in Bethesda to be healed, came into my mind. The man explained to the Lord, "While I am coming, another steppeth down before me." With just minutes left, Monika took courage, nodded to Bob, and he wheeled her chair up on the stand. She bore such a touching testimony, so real and full of the Spirit. It brought tears to our eyes.

Following testimony meeting, I gave a talk on visiting teaching in our joint meeting:

Baskets

August 5, 2012

Dear Sisters and Brothers,

I would like to share with you today three stories about Visiting Teaching from three different time periods. They all address the “where” of Visiting Teaching.

The first story takes place in Nauvoo, Illinois, in 1843, shortly after the Relief Society was organized. Four Relief Society sisters in each ward could be seen carrying baskets into homes that they visited. The brought with them necessary items, visited, and asked about their sister’s needs. Then before they left, they also asked for donations to put into the basket, included money, food, and clothing, that could be used to provide aid to other families. This practice continued well into the twentieth century to give relief to the needy at home and abroad. So baskets brought things into the home, received items for welfare to take out of the home, and from there, took needed items into less fortunate homes. It was a basket of love.

The second story was told by President Joseph F. Smith, the sixth President of the Church. About a hundred years ago, in a settlement in an outlying Stake of Zion, in Utah, a poor sister lay in bed in critical condition. Her husband sat by her bedside feeling helpless against the dreadful illness of his wife, who was the mother of a number of little children. There came a knock on the door, and a matronly woman entered carrying a basket. In the basket was nourishing food and even some delicacies for the family.

This sister had been asked to watch over the sick woman through the night, to look after the little children and see that they were properly washed, fed, and put to bed, and to tidy up the house and make everything as comfortable as possible for the sick sister. Another good sister would be detailed to relieve her the following day; and so on until the woman was recovered. Other families in the settlement were also afflicted with illness. The Relief Society was so organized that all the sick were receiving similar attention and ministrations for their comfort and relief.

President Henry B. Eyring tells us:

“In the early years of the Church, membership was small and centralized. Members could respond quickly when someone was in need. Today our membership is over 14 million and is spread throughout the world. Visiting teaching is part of the Lord’s plan to provide help for all His children.”

The third story is about a woman in Africa in more recent times. This story was told by Sister Parmley, whose husband was serving in the Africa Southeast Area Presidency.

  

About a four hour drive from Nairobi, Sister Parmley passed by chickens tied on bicycles going to market, a giraffe on the side of the road, and women carrying water, sticks, and bundles on top of their heads. Then she came upon the LDS church standing in grand splendor. She had come to  train the auxiliary leaders, all new converts--all first generation members.

At that time, there was an intense drought. The distances were very far, and there was no transportation. Still Sister Parmley felt impressed to teach the principles of Home Visits and Visiting Teaching. Not a soul was doing it. After the training, Sister Parmley left.

Two years later she returned anxious to hear how Visiting Teaching was going.” She asked if she could talk to someone who faithfully did her Visiting Teaching.  A beautiful, rather short Kenyan woman shyly came up to her and said that she had just visited two sisters--one that lived very close and was a friend and the other who lived far away and was becoming her friend. Sister Parmley asked her how far she had to walk to get to the second sister’s home. “45 minutes,” she said.

The Visiting Teacher explained that while there, she had given the lesson and had a prayer. Then she said that as she started to leave, she remembered that she was supposed to ask her sister how she was doing. The sister replied that they didn’t have any food. So the visiting teacher walked 45 minutes back home through the heat.

She had no basket, so she cupped her hands, scooped up some rice, and using her hands as a basket, carried the rice back to her sister. She had walked three hours that day to do her visiting teaching with just this one sister, and another hour with the other sister. She truly understood the commandment: “Feed my sheep.”

When Sister Parmley asked her how she felt about her home visits, this Visiting Teacher sweetly replied: “I was so happy. For a minute I forgot that I was hungry too!”

Think about these three different stories. Where might be the best place to visit teach? What would have happened if any of these devoted Visiting Teachers hadn’t chosen to make a home visit?

President Spencer W. Kimball said: “God does notice us, and he watches over us. But it is usually through another person that he meets our needs.”

There has been a change of focus for Visiting Teaching since last April . Our messages now focus on teaching about ministering as Jesus would.

When Jesus walked on the Earth, he reached out to the one. Sister Eliza R. Snow wrote: “He showed us how to minister—how to watch over and strengthen one another. His was a ministry to individuals, one by one. He taught that we should leave the ninety and nine to save the straying one. He healed and taught individuals . . .”

So how do we reach out to the one as Christ did? We know, we understand, we teach, we serve, we love, and we minister in His behalf.

A “visit” means when a sister goes to see another sister. The best case scenario is in the sister’s home, where she welcomes her Visiting Teacher into her home. Her Visiting teacher is there to learn her needs and leave a message of hope. She serves her with a willing heart. This is the ideal, but we don’t live in an ideal world.

But if a home visit is just not possible, another place might be arranged. If it is at church, please try to make your visit as private as possible. You can set aside some time for your visit and find a quiet place or a separate room, if possible.

It may be at a sister’s workplace or in a park

If a personal visit cannot be made, a phone call, a letter, or an email is better than nothing at all.

If you want to be a great visiting teacher, get creative.

If your sister is working in her garden, help her plant or weed.

If she needs to walk her dog, go on the walk with her.

If she’s making dinner, get in the kitchen and help or watch the children.

Friendship is a doing thing and a caring thing. As Sister Eliza R. Snow said: “If you find a sister feeling cold, take her to your heart as you would a child. . ., and warm her up.”

It is the goal of our Relief Society that every sister in our ward is watched over each and every month. And that brings a double blessing. When we stretch ourselves and go into our sisters’ homes, and serve them, we not only bless their lives, but we develop charity, the pure love of Christ.

Think now about your metaphorical basket. What will you carry into the homes of those you teach this month, this year, and every year?—food, encouraging words, comfort, service, your love?

May we follow the greatest commandments: to love the Lord they God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all they mind . . . and love thy neighbor as thyself.

As our Prophet Thomas S. Monson said, “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.”

I have a strong testimony of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and the organization of the Relief Society. May we serve the Lord by tending His sheep by loving and serving one another. I leave these thoughts with you in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.