Getting a shower chair reminded me what a blessing Visiting Teaching has been in my life!!!

As most of you know or maybe don't know, I belong to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints aka The Mormons.

I started learning about the church when I was in junior high thanks to my dad.  I didn't join until many years later. 

One of the programs the church has is called Visiting Teaching, which is part of the women's organization commonly knows as the Relief Society.

Visiting teaching is an organized means whereby the women of the Church receive regular instructional and compassionate service visits-usually by personal contact in the home-from other female members of the Church. The purpose is to promote sisterhood, present inspirational messages, and note instances of need wherein the temporal and spiritual resources of the Church might be helpful.
The need for such visitors was recognized soon after the founding of the Relief Society in 1842. At the second meeting of the society on March 24, Emma Smith, wife of the Prophet Joseph Smith, suggested appointing persons to wait upon the poor. On July 28, 1843, a Necessity Committee of sixteen was named "to search out the poor and suffering, to call upon the rich for aid, and thus as far as possible, relieve the wants of all." The original functions of this committee were twofold: "to ascertain the condition of the families visited, and to accept contributions for charitable purposes" (General Board, 1942, pp. 43-44; 1966, p. 68).

I will be the first to admit Relief Society was not my favorite part of church but it certainly has become one of my favorite meetings because of great teachers like DAF, LJS, AW, SH, SW, JT, JFB, JAB, DAS, HWH, CW, ASH and oh so many more (I try not to use peoples name's on my blogs and often refer to them by initials so if you have been in a ward with me you are probably guessing away and you probably know some of them if you are reading this).  The picture on the top are some of the ladies who have known me since 1989 and are a few of the RS women that have taught me and hold a special place in my heart and the only reason I posted is because this pic has been on FB.

Last night I wont lie I was a bit sad as I realized how painful my PT was going to be - my inability to drive for a while.  So I reached out to my current visiting teacher DP.  She willingly offered to help me run errands to find a shower chair, Trader Joe's and give me a ride to church.  I met her gosh over 5 years ago when we both went to Girls Camp and her youngest daughter was in my cabin.  She has always been kind and I have watched her serve and be a great role model.  I now get to be a recipient of her willing spirit to serve and show me what we should really be like.  Most important these days - because of her service tonight I now get to take my first real shower in a little over two weeks.  THANK YOU DP!!

I don't know that I have always been the best at visiting teaching but I have tried my best.  I do know one thing some of my closest friends or individuals I look up to are because I have served them or they me and I think the quote below expresses my feelings about visiting teaching even better than this post.

“Visiting teachers sincerely come to know and love each sister, help her strengthen her faith, and give service. They seek personal inspiration to know how to respond to the spiritual and temporal needs of each sister they are assigned to visit. …

"The purposes of visiting teaching are to build caring relationships with each sister and to offer support, comfort, and friendship. In visiting teaching, both the giver and receiver are blessed and strengthened in their church activity by their caring concern for one another."  - Relief Society Handbook, 202.