Today at church I searched for my visiting teaching companion who was supposed to make the appointments this month. I couldn't find her. We just got rearranged so I don't know her at all. At the ward potluck on Friday I saw one of our teachees and asked if Nicole had made an appointment yet. Yep, it's set for Tuesday at 6:30. I still haven't heard from Nicole though and we have 3 other girls to visit this week. I really want to be a good visiting teacher but it's a tough calling for me. And I found out today that the girl we're visiting on Tuesday is moving in October. She's new on my list and is 8 1/2 months pregnant. Sigh. This all feels a bit haphazard to me so I really want to get it together. I like visiting teaching. But it's still very difficult for me.
A couple of hours ago our home teacher came over. Apparently his companion is inactive and his usual substitute was out of town so it was just him. He had made the appointment during priesthood I think because him showing up was the first I heard about it.
Anyway, this brother sat down and asked us some good questions about ourselves (I think this is only his second month with us). And while it was a concerted effort (meaning that it was pretty obvious he was just "getting to know us"), he was sincere in his desire to learn who we are. He made notes about our birthdays and reminded us of some service we had suggested he could help us with. We talked easily for probably an hour or so and he left us with a great spiritual thought. It was heart-felt and didn't feel forced. It wasn't awkward at all. At the end he apologized for taking so long (he usually tries to keep it at half an hour) and then he left.
Now, while we don't have much in common with this good brother from our ward, and it's obvious that he's really trying to fulfill his calling as a home teacher, he showed a sincere interest in us as people and he seems honestly to care about us. It was refreshing to have someone come who wanted to learn about us and stuff.
This is in contrast to my well-meaning but off-the-mark visiting teachers. Two old ladies that I really have nothing in common with, who come, ask some typical questions, share the message from the Ensign exactly as it's written, and then leave immediately after asking if there's anything they can do for me. Sigh.
I want to be like that home teaching brother and really show that I care, because honestly I love people and visiting teaching is a great excuse for me to make friends with more people. I've made some life-long friends through visiting teaching.
Anyway, Sunday is almost over and I think I'm going to make the effort really quick to organize some visiting teaching. I figure that if I at least put forth some effort it will be better than nothing and apologizing at church that I was "sorry I couldn't make it last month but this month is going to be better." Right?
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3 comments:
I don't even HAVE HTs.
Visting Teaching is difficult for me, too. I love doing it, but I get super shy.
I was just assigned a new companion and new sisters to visit. I'm determined to keep up with it, and like you said: be the sincere, caring sister who genuinely wants to know and help her visiting teachees.
That was a run-on sentence. Sorry. ;)
You did a great job of expressing how I feel about HT/VT. It's very difficult for me to find the energy to make that first appointment and get through it, but I know it is worth the effort. I have also made some *wonderful* friends through VT, and I do appreciate sincere visits, even if I feel more like an obligation at first.
While my current VT's are just like yours, I'm hoping for some I can bond with a little more when we move to Utah.
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