Visiting Teaching Message: April

April's visiting teaching message is "The Purpose of Relief Society" by Julie Beck, Relief Society general president.  Go HERE for details.

**It's the end of the month.  Be sure to report your visiting teaching activities to your VT Supervisor if you haven't done so already.

From the handbook

Dear Visiting Teachers:

I thank you for accepting the call to be a Visiting Teacher and commend you for your hard work in fulfilling this call. It is a calling that asks you to be aware of each of your sister's temporal and spiritual needs in your stewardship. Help them in these needs as best you can. Report any concerns, questions, or such to your Supervisor first ...and certainly you may report to me or Bonnie if you feel it is appropriate (or not appropriate, we can discuss that individually).

So to get you started, the following is an excerpt from the Church handbook in regards to visiting teaching.  Please take the time to read it and be aware of what the Church expects of you.

Thank you and enjoy your calling!

Visiting Teaching
Visiting teaching gives women the opportunity to watch over, strengthen, and teach one another. Through visiting teaching, the Relief Society president helps the bishop identify and resolve short-term and long-term needs of sisters and their families.

Members of the Relief Society presidency instruct visiting teachers on ways to care for, watch over, remember, and strengthen one another. Presidency members can give this instruction in a lesson on the first Sunday of the month or in another Relief Society meeting.

Visiting teachers are not sustained or set apart.

Responsibilities of Visiting Teachers
Visiting teachers sincerely come to know and love each sister, help her strengthen her faith, and give service. They seek personal inspiration to know how to respond to the spiritual and temporal needs of each sister they are assigned to visit.

Taking into account each sister’s individual needs and circumstances, visiting teachers have regular contact (monthly if possible) with those they are assigned. When a personal visit is not possible, visiting teachers may use phone calls, letters, e-mail, or other means to watch over and strengthen sisters.

When appropriate, visiting teachers share a gospel message. These messages may be from the monthly visiting teaching message printed in the Ensign or Liahona magazine and the scriptures.

Visiting teachers give compassionate service during times of illness, death, and other special circumstances. They assist the Relief Society president in coordinating short-term and long-term assistance when invited.

Reporting Visiting Teaching
The Relief Society presidency or those who are called to assist them receive monthly reports from visiting teachers. The visiting teachers report any special needs of the sisters they visit and any service rendered. In addition, presidency members meet with visiting teachers regularly to discuss sisters’ spiritual and temporal welfare and to make plans to help those in need. Confidential information should be reported only to the Relief Society president, who reports it to the bishop.

The Relief Society president gives the bishop a monthly visiting teaching report. Each report includes a list of those who were not contacted. If a sister and her family have urgent needs, the Relief Society president reports this information to the bishop immediately.

Welcome to Our VT Blog

Hello R5 Sisters!  I have set up this blog as a resource for visiting teachers.  A place to find all things Visiting Teaching.  Please follow/subscribe to this site so that you will get updates (not on sidebar for privacy) ... or visit often and check out what we're up to. 

The following are some things that you will find here:

• Monthly Visiting Teaching messages
• Instructions
• Information
• Ideas
• Monthly Visiting Teaching Moments
• Useful links
• Fun stuff

Because this is in the world wide web, I will maintain as much privacy as possible.  No specific addresses, full names, or other highly sensitive personal information will be shared here.  Please comment in such matter as well.

This is a work in progress so please bear with me.  Also, this is interactive so feel free to make comments, suggestions, or inquiries.

Happy Visiting Teaching my dear sisters!

Much love,
Jinky
Your Visiting Teaching Coordinator  :)