Please find attached below a précis of this training which was based around the subject of Visiting teaching:
Sister Michaela Nelson: Visiting Teaching is a pattern to help sisters follow the Saviour's example of ministering to others.
Michi shared with us a beautifully knitted baby matinee jacket and discussed how this could only have been made with the use of a pattern. The same goes for us - our lives must be patterned on something and we have been taught that pattern must be the Saviour. And this is particularly true when considering our efforts in Visiting Teaching.What is the purpose of Ministering? It is to enable our sisters to become true disciples of Christ.
How do we minister? The handbook suggests 1) Get to know our sisters 2) Love them but don't judge them. Elder Leimer at our most recent Stake Conference petitioned us to stop looking at a sisters past, be positive and help them move forward to a bright future free of judgement from us. 3) Watch over our sisters and strengthen their faith. 4) Establish sincere friendships and include visiting them in their homes and elsewhere.
This quote from our Prophet gave us all much to consider: "After our family, the most important people in our lives should be those we home and visit teach."
A discussion was held on the need to ensure ALL sisters are included and counsel was given specifically with regards to sisters who have long term or chronic illnesses, but need to be given opportunities to serve. These sisters have so much to offer and can make an enormous difference.
Michi shared a story about a sister who felt the need to buy her VT sister some flowers. At the shop they had beautiful tulips and she automatically reached out for her favourite colour, pink. Suddenly she stopped as she felt, no I should take yellow...pausing for a few moments, she picked up the yellow and continued to her visit. What a wonderful blessing it was when she arrived with the yellow flowers as the sister she VT exclaimed oh they are beautiful and my very favourite colours. To minister takes just small moments, but when done in conjunction with the Lord and his promptings they can become momentous to others.
Sister Shirley Allan: When we minister with charity, the pure love of Jesus Christ, we recognize needs and respond in loving ways.
Lucy Mack Smith said: We must cherish one another, watch over one another, comfort one another and gain instruction that we may all sit down in heaven together.
As I came home and was admiring a bunch of flowers I had on my table I was reflecting on the beauty the simple colours bring into our homes and realized how similar this is to our simple acts as VT as we enter one another's' homes. I was reminded that in visiting and teaching our sisters, although we do have guidelines in how this is to be done, it is just as important to remember that each sister we visit is unique - just as each flower is - and so must our visit and ministering to them be in order to care and meet their needs. And with that uniqueness we can bring unity, just as those flowers together with their different styles, shades and shapes together bring a greater, yet simple beauty. Questions we considered: What are some of the small and simple ways sisters can minister to one another? How can we render Christlike service to sisters of all ages? How can the Atonement help us to minister with greater charity?
Some wonderful and extremely touching examples were shared of times sisters had helped us and we began to realise the difference we truly can make to each others lives when we minister as Christ would - there truly "is no age barrier when it comes to Christlike service" (Bonnie Oscarson).
We have been blessed with tender and charitable natures which enable us to render Christlike love and service to those around us. As we look beyond our differences in age, culture and circumstance to nurture and serve one another, we will be filled with the pure love of Christ and the inspiration which leads us to know when and whom to serve.
"I invite you to not only love each more but love each other better".
Sister Sara McCullum: We demonstrate our love for the Lord as we keep our covenants and help others do the same.
Sister Jean A Stephens at the last Womens Conference asked us to do one thing....think back and remember your baptism. What do you remember? What you wore, who was there, what songs were sung, who gave the talks, how you felt?
She continued: "Think back and picture your own baptismal day. Whether you can remember many details or just a few, try to feel now the significance of the covenant you individually made. Having been called by your own name, you were immersed I water and came forth as God's daughter - a covenant daughter, one willing to be called by the name of His Son and promising to follow Him and keep His commandments."
Our baptisms were special as we made our first covenants with the Lord and now as sisters in the gospel by being good VT it enables us to continue to keep those covenants. We do this by taking the Three Bears with us:
1. Bear the name of Jesus Christ - "Between now and the day the Lord comes again He needs women in every family, in every ward, in every community, in every nation who will step forward in righteousness and say by their words and their actions, Here am I, send me." Elder Boyd K Packer. Will YOU be that woman as you VT your sisters?2. Bear one another's burdens - President Uchtdorf recently shared an example of a single mother whose children and then herself were all unwell, the burdens were too big for this poor mother. While she was caring for these sisters and wanting to cry herself, her VT arrived. "They could see her distress, they could see her house, they could hear the cries of the children...Now if these sisters had been concerned only with completing their assigned monthly visits they might have handed the mother a plate of cookies, mentioned they had missed her at RS last week and said something like, 'let us know if there is anything we can do!' Then they would have cheerfully been on their way, thankful they they had 100% for another month!" Is that what we would do? Or would we take this particular 'bear' with us instead and share those burdens.
3. Bear your testimony - "There are many sisters who are living on rags - spiritual rags. They are entitled to gorgeous robes, spiritual robes...It is your privilege to go into homes and exchange rags for robes...You are going to save souls and you are not only saving these sisters, but perhaps also their husbands and homes." President Spencer W. Kimball
Do you take the Three Bears with you when you go VT?
Sister Beverly Roddie also spent some time with the Secretaries of the units where the following was covered:
The handbook and details of the secretary role as per the Handbook which can be accessed HERE
Agendas - The secretary can assist the president with preparing the agenda for meetings. These written agendas can serve as guides for leaders as they discuss ways to serve others allowing them to be more prepared for discussions held.
Records & Recording - Secretaries assist leaders to maintain a written record of plans and to keep track of progress in completing assignments. This then assists in future planning. Secretaries can provide leaders with reports that show progress of individuals or groups. Keeping Church records is a spiritual mandate (see D&C 20:81-83).
Importance of Accurate Record Keeping - In the first meeting of the Female RS of Nauvoo, Sister Eliza R Snow was appointed to be the secretary of the organization. In that capacity she took careful and detailed notes, at each RS meeting she attended. Joseph Smith told the sisters that these minutes would become the constitution and law of the society. In most RS meetings, the sisters devoted time to receiving instruction. The sisters were blessed to be taught by the Prophet Joseph Smith I six of their meetings. As he taught, they felt rich outpourings of the spirit. At the end of one of these meetings, Sister Snow recorded, "The Spirit of the Lord was poured out in a very powerful manner, never to be forgotten by those present on that interesting occasion." Of all the minutes Sister Snow recorded, her notes of the Prophet's discourses were the most influential. The Prophet's teachings in this setting guided the work of the Relief Society sisters and the priesthood leaders who served with them. Those teachings continue to influence the work of the Church today.On the trek from Nauvoo to the Salt Lake Valley she had carefully safeguarded her minute book. She understood the importance of what had been taught to the sisters in those meetings. She knew how the society should be structured and she remembered the principles upon which it was established...'It is no ordinary thing' she explained 'to meet in an organization of this nature. This organizations belongs to the organization of the Church of Christ, in all dispensations when it is in perfection.' Now as she travelled from ward to ward she taught from the minutes again and again.
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