Meaning in Home and Visiting Teaching

My father was diagnosed with terminal brain cancer when he was only 44. Our family was devastated. The tumor in his brain made simple tasks and abilities, like using silverware and buttoning up his shirts, very difficult for him. I remember trying to hold back the tears one morning as I watched him struggle to spoon cereal into his mouth.
One rainy weekday afternoon I discovered Dad having difficulty dressing himself in his Sunday suit. He couldn’t communicate very well, but I could see he was agitated. Finally I realized he was preparing to go home teaching. I worried that Dad would lose his balance and fall while out in such a condition, so I tried to discourage him from going. The family he was supposed to visit would surely understand, I told him. But he was determined, and go he did.

When Dad returned, his smile was radiant. His arms were full of fresh, homegrown plums—a gift from the family he had visited.

My father died soon after he made that visit. Whenever I don’t feel like going visiting teaching, I think of my dad—in pain and unable to even speak coherently—still trying hard to fulfill his calling and show others how much he cared about them. That reminds me of the real purpose of visiting teaching. And I think to myself, “If Dad could do it, so can I.”
Title: Lessons Learned from Fathers
Where: Ensign, Apr 2009, 36–39

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They Cannot Lift the Weight of Sin from Their Own Shoulders

But there is one need even hardened and proud people cannot believe they can meet for themselves. They cannot lift the weight of sin from their own shoulders. And even the most hardened may at times feel the prick of conscience and thus the need for forgiveness from God.

Author: Henry B. Eyring
Title: That He May Write upon Our Hearts
Where: Ensign, Aug 2009, 4–9
Why I Like It: Priesthood Holders (HT) hold the keys to the ministering of angels and the gospel of repentance. They are sent to the down trodden to lift the weight of sin from their shoulders."

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If Everything in Life Counted on It, Because in Fact Everything in Life Does Count on It

Let us work a little harder at the responsibility we have as parents. The home is the basic unit of society. The family is the basic organization of the Church.

There is too much of criticism and faultfinding with anger and raised voices. The pressures we feel each day are tremendous. Husbands come home from their employment each day tired and short-tempered. Unfortunately, most of the wives work. They too face a serious challenge that may be more costly than it is worth. Children are left to seek their own entertainment, and much of it is not good.

My brothers and sisters, we must work at our responsibility as parents as if everything in life counted on it, because in fact everything in life does count on it.

If we fail in our homes, we fail in our lives. No man is truly successful who has failed in his home.

Author: Gordon B. Hinckley
Title: Each a Better Person
Where: Ensign, Nov 2002, 99

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If You Don't Pay the Price That Is Needed for Success, You Will Pay the Price of Failure

If you don’t pay the price that is needed for success, you will pay the price of failure. Preparation, work, study, and service are required to achieve and find happiness. Disobedience and lack of preparation carry a terrible price tag. As priesthood holders of this Church...we are the possessors and custodians of these commanding powers which can and do roll back the power of Satan on the earth.

Author: James E. Faust
Title: The Devil’s Throat
Where: Ensign, May 2003, 51

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