Home and Visiting
Teaching (Plainview Branch)
Good morning,
Brothers and Sisters. What a blessing it
is for me to be here with you in the Plainview Branch. This is actually the first time for me to be
attending your services, although I believe my wife has been here several times
in calling as Stake Young Women’s President, and I am grateful for this
opportunity. I appreciate the wonderful
talk by Bro. Tombs. I have known him and
his brothers since we moved here 8 years ago, and I was blessed to be one of
his Priesthood leaders until about a year ago when I was called to the High
Council.
I must admit that
there are many of you here today that I do not know, but I hope that will soon change
soon as we serve together as a Stake to bring about the work here in this part
of the Lord’s vineyard. I know it
probably feels at times, like you are out of touch in the Stake, being so far
from Lubbock, but it is my testimony, that most of the growth of the Stake is going
to come and is coming from outside of Lubbock, within our branches. I grew up in several small branches, one in
upstate NY and the other while living in Philippines many years ago. I also served in many very small branches
while on my mission, and I know that when the members work together, and do all
they can in their callings and in obeying our Heavenly Father, that each branch
will become a ward, for that is how the Lord blesses us. I am excited that part of my responsibilities
as a High Councilor is my assignment to the Quaker Heights Spanish-Speaking
Branch, and watch their growth as the Lord blesses them.
With that, I also bring
you the love of our Stake Presidency, and remind you of their great concern for
you and your families. As members of the
Stake High Council we are continually encouraged to strengthen our testimonies
of the Lord’s vision for this stake. In
addition, we are also asked gain a personal vision of our own callings and
assignments while called to serve. I
would encourage each and every one of you, as members of this Stake and Branch to
gain your own personal vision for you and your families, and especially to
gather your families together and develop a Family Mission Plan so that you can
share your testimonies with those you love and associate with. As you do, blessings will be poured out from
Heaven upon you and those around you, and this branch will grow. May I also echo the words of President
Shumway that every one of “you belongs here; that you belong in this church, in
this ward, and with these saints”. If
there is anything holding you back from all the blessings of our Heavenly
Father, I would encourage you to look inside yourself and commit to do better,
to utilize your strengths in overcoming your weaknesses. I can personally testify that while it is not
always be easy, it will be worth it, and Heavenly Father will pour His
blessings upon you and upon your families. I support our Stake Presidency and their
sacred callings, and know that through Priesthood authority that our Stake will
grow, especially as we collectively put forth our hands, and love and serve
others.
Our message this
month, as assigned by the Stake Presidency is on The Blessings of Home and
Visiting Teaching, and perhaps how we as individual members can gain a
testimony of this inspired program. Now,
I’m not going to stand here and tell you that we all need to do our home and
visiting teaching. Well, maybe I am,
because that’s the message that our Stake Presidency wants us to give, and it
is something I need encouragement with as well!
I think that what President Harold B. Lee said in 1964 is very fitting
to what our Stake Presidency envisions for the growth of our stake, especially in
relation to the vines. Pres. Lee stated
that “Missionary work is but home
teaching to those who are not now members of the Church, and home teaching is
nothing more or less than missionary work to Church members.” That’s pretty simple. As home and visiting teachers, we are as missionaries
to the members, bringing our families the Word of God.
Growing up in the
church, I have been a home teacher since the time I turned 14, when I was assigned
as a junior companion to Bro. Sharp, a High Priest. It was during those days that I learned a lot
about preparing gospel lessons, making phone calls to set up appointments, and
I have great memories of traveling to the furthest borders of our ward
(approximately 40 miles), to a small, old farmhouse where a very old couple
lived. I remember home teaching Bro. and
Sis. Paige even during snow blizzards, when the snow was piled along the road
side so high it was like traveling through a tunnel. I also remember warm and tasty pies and cake
that Sis. Paige would serve us. Often,
following that visit we would travel another 30 miles in another direction to
visit the Bradley family that lived on the eastern shore of one of the Finger
Lakes. Our total round trip was well
over 100 miles, and embarrassingly, I often fell asleep on the final leg home.
Before continuing, I first must
make a confession. And that is, that I
have not always been the best home teacher, and even today, I still struggle
with this responsibility. With our fast-paced
lives, it is difficult to find the time, especially with all our family
responsibilities, with school activities and work; and even our church callings
many times get in the way. When do we
have time to relax? At our house, often
our home teachers want to visit us at times that are inconvenient. At times, I feel as if I am bothering those that
I home teach. I know them well enough,
and talk with them often, especially at church, so, isn’t that enough? Why do I need to go visit their homes monthly? And well, sometimes, I feel that we are doing
it just for the numbers. Well, Brothers
and Sisters, those are my excuses, so what are yours?
These thoughts
remind me of an experience I had many years ago, which occurred before Sis.
Wallace and I married, and blended our two families together, and it was one
that taught me a great principle. At the
time I was a single father, living in Upstate New York trying eagerly to complete
a Ph.D. at Cornell University all, while raising my two young sons. I was living on the second floor of a tiny
apartment located in a small village about 15 miles from the campus. The apartment was old, but had a small
balcony with an old iron railing just outside the living room. Being a poor student and single father, I was
pretty stressed out and needed as much sleep as I could get.
Early one spring morning,
however, around 5:00 a.m., I was awakened by a loud rattle coming from outside
my apartment. The noise that I heard startled
me enough that I was concerned that there may be construction or something else
going on outside on my balcony. As I lay
there in an early morning daze, I also thought that perhaps I had been dreaming
and being tired, I tried to drift back asleep.
Almost immediately, the rattling startled me again. This time, with my heart racing, I jumped up from
my bed and walked to the sliding glass door, and peered outside in time to see only
the passing of a tiny bird. Not noticing
anything out of the ordinary, I wandered sleepily back to my bed. About 5 minutes later, when I had almost drifted
back to sleep, the rattling shook the house again. Confused and annoyed, I walked back out to my
living room to see what the noise was.
Again I saw nothing except a little bird flying away.
Now I was getting frustrated
and being too lazy to walk back to my bedroom, I just laid myself down on the nearby
couch. As I lay there in an
early-morning daze, I was startled a third time by the rattling. This time, however, I was prepared to catch whoever
was disturbing my early morning sleep. Without
moving, I slowly and carefully opened my eyes and was surprised to see only a
tiny little woodpecker sitting on the balcony’s old iron railing. I thought to myself, could he be making that loud
racket?
As quickly as I
asked myself that question, the answer came with a resounding boom and rattle
of the railing. I watched in amazement
as this little woodpecker quite rapidly and uselessly pecked at the iron
railing. Once my amazement subsided, I
started to get irritated, so I jumped up and opened the sliding glass door and
scared him off into the nearby woods.
This effort of mine would have been sufficient had this happened for
just one morning, but this foolish little woodpecker came back and repeated his
merciless rattling every morning for the next 2 weeks.
I knew that my patience
was being tested, but this foolish little woodpecker also got me thinking about
my role and effort as a member of the Church of Jesus Christ. I have often pondered to myself, why did this
crazy little bird peck tirelessly at an old iron railing instead of a nice soft
tree? Am I like this little woodpecker, foolishly
pounding my head against the “old iron railings” in my own life? Am I doing all I can to increase my faith, to
serve others, to be obedient and to keep my covenants? Am I doing the best at my church
callings? Am I a good home teacher? Or, am I making poor choices like this
woodpecker by choosing “old iron railings” instead seeking out the softer wood
of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and doing all I can to assist in bringing about
the “immortality and eternal life of man”?
As earthly members
of Heavenly Father’s kingdom, and especially as home and visiting teachers, we are
asked to be instruments in God’s hands. Elder Dallin H. Oaks of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles
states: “It is not … enough for us
to be convinced of the gospel; we must act and
think so that we are converted by it… This is achieved not just by doing what is
right, but by doing it for the right reason—for the pure love of Christ … Charity,
‘the pure love of Christ is not an act but a condition or state of being. Charity is attained through a succession of
acts that result in a conversion. Charity
is something one becomes”. How then,
Brothers and Sisters, do we become “charitable” home or visiting teachers? Does it make it harder to be charitable
because we do it out of assignment? Are
we fearful to teach the Word of God?
Alma, that great servant
of the Lord in the Book of Mormon stated, and let me paraphrase him: “O that
I were an angel, and could have the wish of mine heart, that I might go forth
and speak with the trump of God, with a voice to shake the earth…! Yea, I would declare unto every soul, as with
the voice of thunder… that they should repent and come unto our God, that there
might not be more sorrow upon all the face of the earth.”
As instruments and
servants of a loving Heavenly Father, our errand as home and visiting teachers
for today is clear. God sends us an authorized
message, through living Prophets and Apostles and each month they speak to us,
through articles in the Ensign and Liahona; which contain the living and most current messages that we are asked to
bring to those we visit and home teach. When we are thoughtfully and spiritually
prepared, we do speak “with the trump of
God, with a voice to shake the earth”.
Brothers and
Sisters, none of us is perfect; we all have “old iron railings” which may be shortcomings
that impede our path to receiving the full blessings of the gospel. Some of these “old iron railings” come in the
form of excuses we use to avoid strengthening our commitment to the gospel. They come in the form of disobedience to the
commandments, or by not reading our scriptures or praying daily, by not having
regular family home evenings, or by not serving others by doing our home and
visiting teaching.
Perhaps we struggle with our role as a home and visiting teachers, and
don’t think that what we do makes a difference.
Perhaps it doesn’t, but more than likely it will make a difference. We usually never know how what we do impacts
those whom we serve! I remember back to
when I was living in New York, and was assigned to serve as a senior companion
along with my oldest son. Just like in
my youth, again I had to travel over 40 miles to home teach, this time a single
mother living out in the country. I remember
complaining silently to myself that it was a long way out there, but, having
been a single father, I knew somewhat of her needs and felt a particular
responsibility to her. My son and I home
taught her for over a year. We didn’t do
anything really special for her, we helped out on her house or moved a few
things here and there; we gave her a blessing or two, and taught her a few
gospel lessons. But we didn’t know the
impact we had in her life until just before we moved, when she thanked us for
being great home teachers. Did I do
anything out of the ordinary? Did I “go forth and speak with the trump of God, with
a voice [that shook] the earth”?
Probably not, but just my actions of being there was enough to show that
I cared, and that she felt and was loved as a daughter of God.
Am I now perfect in my home teaching?
No, but I should
be. And it shouldn’t be that hard for
me. I am assigned to home teach my
Bishop and his family, and the family of a member of the Stake Presidency, and a
Sister that wants no contact from the church, and to a brother that is also assigned
to visit our family as well. It should
be easy for me then, shouldn’t it? But I
still struggle to be a good home teacher.
In 1998, President
Thomas S. Monson stated the following regarding home teaching: “Let us
review the counsel of the Lord and His prophets concerning this vital endeavor.”
…Priesthood holders [are assigned] as
home teachers to visit the homes of members every month. They go in pairs; often a youth holding the
Aaronic Priesthood accompanies an adult holding the Melchizedek Priesthood. The
home teaching program is a response to modern revelation commissioning those
ordained to the priesthood to “teach, expound, exhort, baptize, and watch over
the church … and visit the house of each member, and exhort them to pray
vocally and in secret and attend to all family duties; … to watch over the
church always, and be with and strengthen them; and see that there is no
iniquity in the church, neither hardness with each other, neither lying,
backbiting, nor evil speaking.”
“President David O. McKay admonished: “Home teaching is one of our most
urgent and most rewarding opportunities to nurture and inspire, to counsel and
direct our Father’s children. … It is a divine service, a divine call. It is
our duty as home teachers to carry the divine spirit into every home and heart.
To love the work and do our best will bring unbounded peace, joy, and
satisfaction to a noble, dedicated teacher of God’s children.”
Finally,
I have another personal story that relates to us, as Member’s of Heavenly
Father’s Church, and our need to follow righteous pathways and do what is
right. I was born and raised in upstate
New York, and during my high school years, our LDS ward was blessed with pretty
good athletic young men. One year, we
had a very good Young Men’s softball team.
We beat everyone we played within our Stake and within our Region. As a result, we were blessed to travel to the
Church Area Championships in South Carolina.
What a great adventure for my friends and me! Our leaders, which included my father, loaded
all of us and our equipment into 3 station wagons (which were the precursors to
today’s mini-vans and SUVs), and we made the long journey southwards from
Upstate New York. As luck would have it,
we met our athletic match in South Carolina, and failed to move on at the
tournament. Disappointed in the loss,
but happy with our adventure, we began our long journey home late in the
evening after the tournament. As luck
would have it, our vehicles were soon enveloped by a thick fog that slowed our
journey down to almost a standstill. Concerned
for our safety, our leaders stopped and pulled off to the side of the road to
discuss our predicament (remember, it was the mid 70s and we had no cell phones
in those days). Perhaps somewhat foolishly,
they decided the best course was to continue onward into the foggy night. In making that decision, they all agreed to
follow the lead car’s taillights, thus ensuring each other that this would be
safest in keeping the cars together. We traveled
this way for several hours, and when the thick fog lifted, we discovered that
all three cars had somehow become separated in the fog. Without anyone to follow, our car pursued its
own path and headed towards home. Soon
after our arrival home, the second car drove safely in. But the third car was nowhere to be
seen. After almost 8 hours, the third
car, with a very exhausted driver and youth arrived safely home. But where had they been, we all
wondered? Had they broken down on the
highway somewhere, or had they just pulled to the roadside and slept for a
while? Reluctantly and feeling somewhat
embarrassed, they explained the reason for their lateness. According to the plan, their driver had been following
the taillights of the car in front of him.
Somehow, in the thick of the fog, he had become confused. As soon as the fog lifted, they realized
their mistake when they sheepishly noted that they were completely in the wrong
state, and that what they thought were the taillights of the lead car, had
actually been the taillights of someone heading in the opposite direction.
Brothers and
Sisters, how many times do we follow the wrong taillights? How many times are we led astray, and follow
paths that lead us to a loss of the Spirit?
Only by keeping the correct taillights in front of us, will we be
blessed. There are times when the taillights
are easy to follow, and there are times when Satan tries to confuse us by
laying thick fog between us and the taillights.
Heavenly Father’s joy in this life is that we wade through all the thick
fog, discern the correct taillights to follow, which lights, of course, are the
doctrines and principles found in the True and Everlasting Gospel of Jesus
Christ. Those lights are followed by
being obedient, by keeping our covenants, by reading our scriptures and praying
daily alone, and together as a family, and yes, one of those taillights we need
to follow leads us directly to those that we home and visit teach. The Lord promises us in the Doctrine and
Covenants that He is “bound when ye do what I say; but when ye
do not what I say, ye have no promise.”
I have a firm testimony of home and visiting
teaching. Again, I am not always the
best at doing my home teaching, but I am very thankful to those of you that
are, that emulate the Savior. Our example of what home and visiting teachers
exemplify, as even the Savior himself said: “What man of you, having an hundred sheep, if he lose one of them, doth
not leave the ninety and nine in the wilderness, and go after that which is
lost, until he find it? And: “Either what woman having ten pieces of
silver, if she lose one piece, doth not light a candle, and sweep the house,
and seek diligently till she find it?”
We may be home and visiting teachers to lost souls, but every soul
is in need of nurturing. I am thankful for home teachers that
watched over my mother in her last years while I lived and raised my family
some 2000 miles away.
Bare a strong
testimony of the calling of a home and visiting teacher. Testimony of the love our Savior Jesus
Christ, and the restoration of the Gospel on this earth.
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