June Visiting Teaching Message

Our visiting teaching message from Brooke M.:

When I was 22 and just graduating from college, my mom was very unexpectedly diagnosed with a very aggressive form of lymphoma. She was diagnosed with cancer in July and died in October. I felt alone and didn’t know other young women who had lost their mothers.  And yet, while I was going through this terrible time, I felt distinctly that while I was experiencing this loss younger than most, everyone would eventually experience the loss of a parent and I would know how that felt. 

 

In DC 122:7 the Lord says to Joseph Smith the following: “Know thou, my son, that all these things shall give thee experience and shall be for thy good. “

 

I believe that one of the tender mercies of the Lord is that while we cannot always pinpoint at the time a reason for our difficult and trying experiences, we are often placed into circumstances where we can draw upon those memories to mourn with those who mourn, comfort others and help bear burdens. One of the clear ways this happens is through visiting teaching. Through inspiration we can be assigned to visit someone who on the surface may seem to have had very different life experiences, but to whom we can become tethered to as we learn about their struggles and share compassion and understanding.  It is truly mutually beneficial!

 

I have seen this pattern of the Lord work so intricately and mysteriously in my own life.  I had a visiting teaching companion who had lost her father at an early age and we visited a sister who experienced a sudden and devastating loss of a family member. I have prayed with sisters who were struggling with infertility, and have been able to draw upon their experiences to help me in my own life. I have experienced returning to work full-time after having a baby and have been able to support another sister trying to handle that same difficult balance.  Think about your own experiences with education, professional trials, family health or financial difficulties. Our experiences can be for our good and the good of others.

 

Sister Elaine L. Jack, the twelfth Relief Society General President taught: “In visiting teaching we reach out to each other. Hands often speak as voices can’t. A warm embrace conveys volumes. A laugh together unites us. A moment of sharing refreshes our souls. We cannot always lift the burden of one who is troubled, but we can lift her so she can bear it well.”

 

Please reach out to your sisters, try to get to know them, think of ways to serve them and pray for them. Opportunities will come for you to serve and for you to be greatly blessed for your service and find meanings in your own trials. I bear you this testimony in the name of Jesus Christ.