Better Visiting Teaching

How To Be Better Visiting Teaching Companions:

• Become friends
• Keep in touch
• Remember each other’s birthdays
• Socialize together at church and at activities
• Support each other
• Get along
• Encourage each other (especially those who are new to visiting teaching)
• Be a motivator, even if it means doing most or all of the work
• Decide in advance who will make the assignments and who will plan the lesson (one sister can do everything one month and the other can do it the next month or you can split the assignments and switch them each month)
• Help arrange baby sitting if needed

How To Be Better Visiting Teachers:

• "Just Do It"
• Plan early
• Listen to your sisters and get to know them
• Pray for your sisters and pray for inspiration to help them
• Be aware of their needs (look beneath the surface) including health concerns
• Don't make them a statistic, love them
• Don't give up or be discouraged, have faith
• Respect them, don't judge them
• Have a message prepared but be open for spiritually inspired messages or teaching opportunities
• Read the full message with your sisters
• Remember their birthdays
• Socialize with your visiting teaching sisters at church and at activities
• One monthly visit/contact should be the minimum not the maximum

How to Have Better Visits:

• Teach with love
• Pray with your companion before the visit
• Begin and end each visit with a prayer
• Leave your own troubles at the door
• Learn to listen, don't just talk
• Cultivate Christ-like attributes
• Have one companion play with disruptive children while the other visits with the sister (when necessary)
• Don't gossip during or after your visits (center conversations around those present)
• Keep your visits confidential (unless something important should be reported to the Relief Society President or Bishop)
• Be positive and uplifting

How to Visit Less Active Sisters:
Including many of the ideas above here are some additional ideas to help you visit those sisters who are less active or who don't want to be visit taught:

• Make an effort to contact them more than once a month
• Invite them to activities/church
• Serve them
• Try all kinds of ways to contact them (notes, cards, treats, phone calls, flowers, small gifts, etc.)
• Leave a copy of the monthly message or other inspired thoughts/scriptures (it might be their only spiritual contact for the month)
• Pray for inspiration for other types of approaches you could use, such as humor or other special type of service
• Talk to their family or friends (if available) to see if they have any special concerns (such as health/allergies)
• Talk to their home teachers to see if they have had contact with them and if so see if you can accompany them on their next visit so the sister can get to know you
• Always pray for them

When we do our best the Lord will do the rest. Remember this is his work and if you are willing he will use you as a tool to accomplish his work.

Exciting announcement!

Ogden Temple to Get
Architectural Facelift

OGDEN, Utah 17 February 2010 The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints announced plans today to remodel and architecturally change the appearance of the Ogden Utah Temple and its grounds. Elder William R. Walker made the announcement in downtown Ogden with Mayor Matthew R. Godfrey. “The Ogden Utah Temple has been a beacon of faith in downtown Ogden for nearly forty years and has blessed those who have served and worshipped within its walls,” Elder Walker said. “We hope these improvements will not only better serve Church members but also add to the beauty of downtown Ogden for all to enjoy.”

Elder Walker went on to explain that the temple’s entire exterior will be reshaped with new stone and art glass. The entrance to the temple will also be moved from the west side to the east side, where it will face Washington Boulevard.

Inside the temple, some rooms will be reconfigured, but the core building design will remain the same. As has been the case in renovations of other temples, old electrical, heating and plumbing systems will be replaced with modern, energy-saving equipment. Other notable improvements include underground parking and a complete re-landscaping of the temple block with a major water feature.

“We are excited with the announcement today of improvements to both the building and the grounds,” said Bishop Keith B. McMullin of the Presiding Bishopric. “These improvements will not only help us meet the increased needs at a busy temple but will also be part of the enhancement and beautification of downtown Ogden.”

Mayor Matthew Godfrey praised today’s announcement as a major step forward in the city’s downtown revitalization plan. “I am thrilled with the announcement today,” he said. “The improvements to the temple and the grounds will be a beautiful addition to our city.”

The Ogden Utah Temple currently serves approximately 76 stakes and is comprised of approximately 261,928 Church members. During the construction project, members are encouraged to attend the Logan Utah and Bountiful Utah temples.

The Ogden Utah Temple was originally dedicated in 1972 as the 14th operating temple for the Church and the fifth in Utah. There are now 152 temples announced or under construction worldwide.

Latter-day Saint temples provide a place where Church members make formal promises and commitments to God and where the highest sacraments of the faith occur, such as the marriage of couples for eternity. Temples differ from the tens of thousands of local meetinghouses where members typically meet for Sunday worship services and midweek social activities.

The first Utah temple was completed in St. George in 1877, followed by Logan in 1884, Manti in 1888, Salt Lake City in 1893 and Ogden in 1972.

Visiting Teaching Idea

Avoiding Debt

The Visiting Teaching Message for February is "Managing Resources Wisely and Staying Out of Debt". I was really drawn to the last paragraph of the message, where it talks about how we need to exercise faith in the Savior to be better in sacrificing our wants in order to meet our own and others' needs.

In order to demonstrate the need we have to tighten our purse strings, I made a little purse with the quote printed on the inside flap, and filled it with coins that have the five key steps to financial freedom printed on them.

All you really need to make your own purses to share with the sisters you visit teach is some adhesive (I used double-sided tape) and 1 sheet 8 1/2 x 11 paper. I used scrapbook paper, but you could use whatever you have on hand - you could stamp or embellish copy paper or cardstock and get a similar result.

Everything else is extra - you could get by without it, and still have a cute handout to share.

I used a green flower brad as an accent on the purse flap, and a piece of adhesive velcro to close it up (you could just use tape or a sticker). I found some chocolate coins that I glued the "five keys" onto, but they also looked really cute going solo, with the same pattern as the purse on the back.

Begin by downloading the purse and coin pattern here. Cut out the purse and fold on the dotted lines. Make creases where the bottom of the purse meets the front and back. Apply adhesive on the flaps sticking out from the base and the back of the purse.

Press the base flaps to the back flaps, then do the same with the front to the back.

Apply adhesive to the handle edges and press to the inner sides of the purse.

I then punched a hole and added the green flower brad.

I pressed the velcro on top of the brad's legs and carefully placed the other side of the velcro to the front of the purse so it would be positioned to close correctly.

As you share the message, you can begin by emptying the purse of its coins, then dropping them back in one at a time as you discuss the "five keys".

Enjoy!