Need alittle Motivation.... read on.....

From time to time, I get comments or hear true experiences that I like to add to my posts.  Today there are a couple I would like to share with you. 

I have Visiting Teachers who almost never come.  They drop some little thing by and say that it will have to count as their visit for the month because it is too late in the month or they are too busy.  They have called me to set up an appointment and if I am not available the time they want to go, they don't give me an option of other dates or say they can't come another day.  If I am not available, or they get to the end of the month then I just get something dropped by my doorstep.  What kind of a visit is that?  It takes all the fun out of the cute little thing that they drop by, because I feel like the little goodie is suppose to apease me. I don't feel cared about, and I feel like I am a obligation that they don't want to have.  I guess they feel passified to think that they have made their contact by what they drop by.  I don't feel that way, I want a visit from my Visiting Teachers.  I want to get to know them, and maybe even form a friendship with them. 

This month they did the very same thing, and said they were coming by to Visit Teach me on a particular day, which I told them I would not be home, because I had a preieviously made appointment.  I asked if they could come the next week any day, and they said, "No, and that they would drop by something at my door, and asked me if it was fine that they count this as my visit."  This time, I got up my courage and said, "No, it isn't fine that you count this as a visit, because I want a visit from my Visiting Teachers."  I then asked what they had going next week and offered several days and times that I could have them over.  She said, " I have to play tennis some time next week, and you know there is shopping."  I knew that my visiting teachers had much better things to do than to come visit me.  I knew that I was just an unfulfilled assignment, a monthly obligation that they wished they didn't have. 

Do you think I should call my Relief Society President and ask her to reassign Visiting Teachers to me who will actually come and visit me?  Do you think my Relief Society President will think I am the problem and just a whiner?  Do you think all the past 6+ months of no visits, but only a little goodie on my door have been recorded as Visits, even when I never saw my Visiting Teachers? 

(Name Withheld)

All I can say to this is I am so sorry, and I feel very sad for both you and your Visiting Teachers.  There are so many women who really don't want to be bothered with Visiting Teachers dropping by, but you actually want them to come for Visits, and they don't come! I feel sad for  women who don't take the opportunity to reach out and bless the lives of others, and also receive the blessings that come to those who serve.  I feel sad that friendships that could be so wonderful have not been made.  I feel badly that you feel like you are, as you said, "a monthly obligation or  unfulfilled assignment." 

I think this is a wake up call.... there are people out there who need you.  How hard is it to take a little time out of your busy life to lift and bless the lives of someone else?  How hard is it is adjust your schedules a bit to accomodate someone who really wants a visit from you?  How hard is it to open your heart and make another friend?  Whenever service is rendered, not only will the person whose life you served be blessed, but as a natural result of service .....you will feel happy and lifted too!

I want you to know that you are worth a real visit, and worth the time, and effort!  Some people are really missing out on a wonderful opportunity to get to know you. 

By the way, if you have had them for 6 months and no in home visits, perhaps your idea about consulting your Relief Society President about giving you a new set of Visiting Teachers is justified. She won't know your needs unless you tell her.   Please write me back and let me know what happens.

Sincerely, Katie G.

HERE IS ANOTHER TRUE STORY......

" I called my Visiting Teaching companion today to try to schedule a time for us to go out and get our Visiting Teaching done.  She infomed me that the new sister we were just assigned to teach was her neighbor and that she refused to be her Visiting Teacher."  My first reaction was that she didn't like this neighbor, but when I asked her why she didn't want to Visit Teach her, she told me that she has lived accross the street from her for several years, and that she didn't know her well but waved from time to time.  She said that she didn't want to make her feel like she was an assignment to befriend her."  She adamently refused to Visit Teach her and said that I didn't need to understand."

Once again, another lost opportunity to get to know someone who could turn out to be a wonderful friend.  I could read between the lines and think that it isn't as much of not wanting to be her Visiting Teaching assignment, as it is alittle embarassment of not having taken the time to reach out sooner? 

The reason I decided to share these two sad stories, is that there are so many good reasons to do your Visiting Teaching...why work so hard to avoid it?  Visiting Teaching is a friendshipping opportunity, and maybe wouldn't need to even be an assigment if we all took the time to watch over each other more readilyinfact I believe that there is a commandment to love our neighbor! There is a real purpose for Visiting Teaching, and it is my prayer that we all look alittle deaper and remember the saying...  "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you".  ...... And for those of you who have not had it done unto you (Visiting teaching visits).... make sure that you do unto others. Now go out and get your Visiting Teaching done, as you only have a few days left this month.

Katie G.