Home Teaching is a good thing.

[Shaka]

I have my issues with it but tonight I had the opportunity to have a positive impact on a struggling family and it feels good.

[The_Tick]

That is awesome Shaka.

Some things I struggle with at Church. Home Teaching isn't one of them. I love doing it, and I love having ours over.

I too had a powerful experience last month that built my faith of it even stronger.

I have a family that is struggling and I was able to help them out. Last week they brought a card over to me that says... "Family are the people that you can count on when you are down. Thanks for being family."

I am keeping that card for life.

[Shaka]

I wasn't going to write what I did but let's just say that after the appointment I stopped off at the store and then dropped off some things. The husband wasn't around when we came back and just got wind of the help and left a heartfelt message on my voicemail. This was my first time visiting them and it turns out I've know they guy since I was a kid. Unfortunately he turned into a burnout in high school and has had it rough ever since. To compound things he ended up getting a girl far younger than him prego and they have a newborn. Hopefully we can get them turned around.

[hostile]

I was just thinking about this today, after talking with one of my patients. She is a young woman (32) who seems to have had recurring episodes of bad luck:

- her husband divorced her
- she is left with 2 young boys, one of whom is disabled
- she developed some form of increased pressure in her brain, requiring multiple surgeries and rendered her wheelchair bound for over a year.\
- as she began walking again, she was diagnosed with degenerative hips.
- she underwent hip replacement, and while recovering fell out of her wheelchair and broke both of her femurs.
- after having both femurs fixed, she developed post operative wound infections requiring long term IV abx.
- during this treatment she had adverse reactions to her medications resulting in nausea, vomiting, diarrhea. She required daily assistance for the most routine care.

Today her mother ( who has got to have a special place in heaven for all she has done) told me that for several months, this patient's home teacher and wife would come over, every night and assist with feeding, bathing, and helping put her to sleep. That is a lot of work and is, I believe, the essence of home teaching.

After hearing that I am going to try and be a better home teacher.

[pellegrino]

yall inspire me. I haven't been that good of a HT for the past year or so. It's been hard to connect with my new families and my companion and I have nothing in common. I haven't had a good HT experience in a long while.

[MarkGrace]

Good work, Shaka.

I have to admit that since moving to Seattle I've been a slacker as a home teacher. Our ward boundaries are so big that it's a pretty big time commitment to do visits on a Sunday, and that has made me very inconsistent. About a year ago I got a new companion that is really on top of it, and we've done our visits pretty consistently over that time. I've had a good experience doing it. We have one lady that is really difficult to visit (talks forever, cries, and basically has issues that we aren't equipped to deal with), but I feel like I've reached a better spot mentally about making visits to her home.

[Surfah]

I just got called to be EQ 1st Counselor. I am going to have to step up my home teaching game. Which sadly, aside from treats at Christmas and a few phone calls during the winter storms here has been lacking. You guys are an inspiration.

[DrumNFeather]

A few wards ago I went home teaching and knocked on the wrong apartment door. A girl answered the door and I knew I was probably at the wrong place but I went with it anyways. I said, "Hi, I'm your home teacher..." and handed her a plate of cookies. She looked at me and my wife for a minute and then said..."how did you know I was here? Did my mother send you over here?"

As it turns out, she lived one floor below the apartment i was supposed to go home teaching at. She had grown up in the church, but wasn't active and I don't think her records were even in our ward. We visited her a few more times and she wasn't interested in coming back, but I'd never had one of those experiences before and I thought it was kind of cool. Perhaps a "plant the seed" moment or something.

[Sleeping in EQ]

My new home teachee is a member of the stake presidency and the king mullah of the stake.

My 16 year-old companion is going to be giving most of the lessons.

[pellegrino]

My new home teachee is a member of the stake presidency and the king mullah of the stake.

My 16 year-old companion is going to be giving most of the lessons.

Just think of it as an opportunity to educate someone on the delicacies that are available at the buffet of Mormonism.

[Fiyero]

Home teaching is like a box of chocolates. Sometimes I get an inactive family where the dad is high priest age but still an elder and all the children are grown, and I find it hard to relate to them. Other times I get singles who love the visits; some just enjoy talking, others ask for a blessing *every* *single* *month* (and are essentially seeking a monthly addendum to their patriarchal blessing).

It helps so much when I have an active companion, like currently. It had been seven years since my last active companion, five wards ago, and I really hated doing it alone.

[smokymountainrain]

I think HTing is a good thing, but I really struggle with the "one size fits all" aspect of it.

I have three families...one younger family - twins on the way and a 2 year old -that sincerely enjoys our visits...one older couple - he's the grumpy old financial clerk who I work with weekly and has flat out told me that when HTers come, it's a "pain in my ass"...and the former Bishop in his 60s who I get the feeling feels about the same way as the financial clerk. And for the record, I feel the same as the financial clerk in terms of having my HTers come.

We're told we need to have sit down, in home, visits and that is my problem. If 2 of my 3 families hate it when I come, why should I have to burden them? It seems like the point is to let your families know you care and that you are available to help if they need it. Instead, against those 2 families best wishes (I've flat out told the financial clerk, "I'm sorry, but deal with it") and in an effort to be the good soldier, we visit them anyway. If I didn't have my 15 year old companion, I doubt I'd be so diligent, however.

[kccougar]

I think HTing is a good thing, but I really struggle with the "one size fits all" aspect of it.

I have three families...one younger family - twins on the way and a 2 year old -that sincerely enjoys our visits...one older couple - he's the grumpy old financial clerk who I work with weekly and has flat out told me that when HTers come, it's a "pain in my ass"...and the former Bishop in his 60s who I get the feeling feels about the same way as the financial clerk. And for the record, I feel the same as the financial clerk in terms of having my HTers come.

We're told we need to have sit down, in home, visits and that is my problem. If 2 of my 3 families hate it when I come, why should I have to burden them? It seems like the point is to let your families know you care and that you are available to help if they need it. Instead, against those 2 families best wishes (I've flat out told the financial clerk, "I'm sorry, but deal with it") and in an effort to be the good soldier, we visit them anyway. If I didn't have my 15 year old companion, I doubt I'd be so diligent, however.

There is certainly room for creativity and flexibility in being a good home teacher. In fact, it's pretty much necessary if you want to really meet their needs.

[The_Tick]

There is certainly room for creativity and flexibility in being a good home teacher. In fact, it's pretty much necessary if you want to really meet their needs.

I agree with KC here.

I have 1 family that doesn't want in home visits. So I bake something and take it by every few months. I call them and check in on them every month. I offer to help with any projects that they have. They have never taken me up on it once.

They aren't active, but they know that I care. They also told me that they are appreciative that I respect their wishes, which is something that doesn't normally happen.

MY EQP is a good dude and has good intentions. I have told him exactly how I handle this family and how I "visit" them. I have told him that I count them as visited every month. I don't care about what the EQP, Bishop or CHOI says is a "visit". I listen to the family, because I am doing it for them.

[byu71]

It is really a good thing when you do something over and over again and you don't see where it is doing any good and then all of sudden, you get to see what all the effort was for.

I agree with those who talk about the flexibility though. My home teacher calls once a month. I aboslutely know without any doubt that if I needed something, I could call him and he would be there to help.

For my situation he is an awersome home teacher.