Top Ten Ways TO Visit Teach
By: Debra Coe
1. Care more about the sister than a check mark by your name.
2. Find all the good qualities that you can in each sister you visit and compliment them often.
3. Sincerely get to know the sisters well enough to become their friend.
4. Learn her children’s names and say hello to them too.
5. Be more concerned about bringing a God’s spirit and message than about bringing something that only looks cute and clever.
6. When personal problems are shared be sure to try and understand how your sister is feeling and find ways to help— even just a sympathetic ear is a huge help and often all that is needed.
7. Remember that there are many things about each sister that you do not know so stay clear of judging and concentrate instead on lifting and helping.
8. Become friends with your companion.
9. Never forget that you are God’s representative and should be looking for ways to serve as He would if He were there – be sure to ask for His help!
10. Always strive for unconditional love both for the sisters you visit and for your companion.
Top Ten Ways NOT to Visit Teach
By Debra Coe
1. Have NO contact at all – don’t call even once, that way the sisters on your route won’t even know who their visiting teachers are and won’t know that you are the ones that don’t care about them.
2. When you do visit a sister, be sure to keep one eye on the clock and when ten minutes are up LEAVE IMMEDIATELY – DO NOT care what topics were being discussed and DO NOT ask if there is anything you can do to help. You have now achieved your goal of being able to count this sister as visited so RUN!
3. Instead of asking, “is there anything we can do to help you?” Say, “If you need anything be sure to call your home teachers; we’re sure they would be glad to help you!”
4. Decide that you will be better than anyone else will by finishing your visiting teaching the first week of every month. Brag about this fact in public as often as possible. To accomplish this you must not ask any sister when is a good time to visit. Instead you tell each sister the exact day and time you will be visiting each month. If she cannot make it, don’t worry about it- her loss! Leave a little card to let her know that you were thinking of her, call and report your visiting teaching as 100% in the first week!
5. When asked to take in a meal to a sister you visit teach who has just had surgery and cannot get out of bed, all and say, “I don’t want to offend you by bringing a meal because I know how independent you are.” If they tell you that you would not be offensive and please being a meal, INSIST on helping them stay independent and INSIST on not bringing a meal.
6. Be sure to say, “If there is anything that we can do to help, give us a call.” However, DO NOT mean it! If the person you visit teach does call and ask for help, say okay so you sound nice, but then just don’t do it.
7. Do not become friends with the person you teach! This means you need to go out of your way to avoid then a church!
8. As often as possible, go visiting teaching without calling ahead and go when you KNOW the sister will NOT be home. Leave a card or a note so the sister will “know” that she has been visit taught that month.
9. No matter what the topic of conversation, be sure to always wither find a way to talk only about YOUR personal problems or find a way to put down the sister you are visiting. Don’t forget to put down your companion too.
