Falling Into Friendship Through Visiting Teaching

Sister Silvia Allred of our General Relief Society Presidency has said,

" One of the ways Relief Society sisters can feed His sheep is through visiting teaching. “The purposes of visiting teaching are to build caring relationships with each sister and to offer support, comfort, and friendship.” To accomplish those purposes, visiting teachers should: 1. Through our regular monthly visits to our sisters, we can create bonds of love, friendship, and trust."

An article about friendship found in the Sept. 2009 Ensign:

Most of the time, I felt Cami was merely tolerating our visits. Would we ever be friends?

The two and a half years that Cami (name has been changed) was on my visiting teaching route were a challenge. She didn’t return our phone calls. Sometimes she stood us up when we were able to make an appointment, or she often called at the last minute to cancel. She and her husband both came from solid Latter-day Saint families, but they had not been active in the Church for several years.

When I got discouraged about her lack of interest in having visiting teachers, I would reflect on how I would feel if I had a daughter or sister who had placed herself outside the warm embrace of the gospel. I would want her visiting teachers to be loving and persistent. Cami even told me once that her mother had prayed she would have good visiting teachers. That encouraged me, even if Cami thought she didn’t need us.

Click on the link below to read the rest of the article of what true love and friendship through VTing teaches us:

http://lds.org/ldsorg/v/index.jsp?hideNav=1&locale=0&sourceId=da7d1a01e8d43210VgnVCM100000176f620a____&vgnextoid=2354fccf2b7db010VgnVCM1000004d82620aRCRD