Visiting Teaching

I think that I gained a testimony of visiting teaching today. I mean, on my mission, I really recognized the importance of it since no one did it and they didn't care when their home or visiting teachees were completely inactive, but at BYU it's a little bit different. Today, my VT comp and I went to visit one of our sisters, and it was just amazing to see how each of us have had experiences that we could share to help each other. I just don't think it's by coincidence that we were all put together. We are here to bear each other up, and especially to help one another endure to the end, and I think that is what home and visiting teaching is all about. I am so relieved to know that there are other people who have gone through the same kind of trials as me, and to know that it worked out for them, so it'll probably work out for me. And also, another thought... I always think that I'm not going to be the best visiting teacher, because I will probably never bring cookies or treats or anything, but that's really not what's important. So, I feel okay in continuing to not know how to bake anything.

It made me think of a scripture in D&C (thanks, D&C class, love it)108:7-8, "Therefore, strengthen your brethren in all your conversation, in all your prayers, in all your exhortations, and in all your doings. And behold, and lo, I am with you to bless you and deliver you forever. Amen."

And then after I got home, I was reading a talk by President Hinckley, and this paragraph just stuck out to me as applying perfectly to this also:

"Brothers and sisters, look above your trials. Try to forget your own pain as you work to alleviate the pain of others. Mingle together as opportunity affords. It is important that we do so. We need others to talk with and to share our feelings and faith with. Cultivate friends. Begin by being a good friend to others."--President Hinckley, Ensign, March 1997

And one more..."No matter what circumstances you sisters experience, your influence can be marvelously far-reaching. I believe some of you have a tendency to underestimate your profound capacity for blessing the lives of others. More often than not, it is not on the stage with some public pronouncement but in your example of righteousness and the countless gentle acts of love and kindness done so willingly, so often on a one-to-one basis." --James E. Faust, "You Are All Heaven Sent," Ensign, Nov. 2002, 110

So, the moral of the story is: do your visiting and home teaching. You won't just be helping them.