HelamansArmy

Everyone faces challenges. Some challenges can be tough to overcome. While the Spirit of Zion can be built on any hill or in any valley, the true mission of the Church can not be fully realized without resting on a firm Home Teaching foundation... not only do I believe that... it is supported by HT data. Home Teaching efforts strengthen a ward in every possible way. A lack of Home Teaching efforts degrade a ward in every possible way.

 
Home teaching is a priesthood responsibility of teachers, priests, and Melchizedek Priesthood holders.
 
Home teachers “visit the house of each member, exhorting them to pray vocally and in secret and attend to all family duties” (D&C 20:51). 

They are assigned to families and individuals to “watch over … and be with and strengthen them” (D&C 20:53).

They “warn, expound, exhort, and teach, and invite all to come unto Christ” (D&C 20:59). 

Where possible, home teachers visit members in their homes at least monthly. 

Home teachers may also find other meaningful ways to watch over and strengthen the families they are assigned...they may render service to the families or contact family members by mail or telephone. 

Home teachers represent the Lord, the bishop, and quorum or group leaders.

HT'ers consult with the head of the household about the family’s needs and about ways to be most helpful. 

Home teachers become acquainted with family members’ interests and needs and recognize special events in their lives.
 
... home teachers help parents ensure that their children are blessed, baptized, and confirmed. They help parents ensure their sons have the Aaronic Priesthood and Melchizedek Priesthood conferred upon them and are ordained to priesthood at the appropriate ages.

Home teachers help members strengthen their faith in Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ and encourage them to make and keep sacred covenants. 

This service is especially important to new members and less-active members.

.

Everyone faces challenges. Some challenges can be tough to overcome. While the Spirit of Zion can be built on any hill or in any valley, the true mission of the Church can not be fully realized without resting on a firm Home Teaching foundation... not only do I believe that... it is supported by HT data. Home Teaching efforts strengthen a ward in every possible way. A lack of Home Teaching efforts degrade a ward in every possible way.

 
Home teaching is a priesthood responsibility of teachers, priests, and Melchizedek Priesthood holders.
 
Home teachers “visit the house of each member, exhorting them to pray vocally and in secret and attend to all family duties” (D&C 20:51). 

They are assigned to families and individuals to “watch over … and be with and strengthen them” (D&C 20:53).

They “warn, expound, exhort, and teach, and invite all to come unto Christ” (D&C 20:59). 

Where possible, home teachers visit members in their homes at least monthly. 

Home teachers may also find other meaningful ways to watch over and strengthen the families they are assigned...they may render service to the families or contact family members by mail or telephone. 

Home teachers represent the Lord, the bishop, and quorum or group leaders.

HT'ers consult with the head of the household about the family’s needs and about ways to be most helpful. 

Home teachers become acquainted with family members’ interests and needs and recognize special events in their lives.
 
... home teachers help parents ensure that their children are blessed, baptized, and confirmed. They help parents ensure their sons have the Aaronic Priesthood and Melchizedek Priesthood conferred upon them and are ordained to priesthood at the appropriate ages.

Home teachers help members strengthen their faith in Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ and encourage them to make and keep sacred covenants. 

This service is especially important to new members and less-active members.

.

Welcome, @Springtrapped!  Congratulations on your new calling.  Be sure to go and get set apart after you're sustained - many don't, but it makes a big difference!
I think the best things you can do are to keep your own faith strong, follow promptings of the Spirit, and help others come to Christ.

I spend most of my time trying to remind people that I even exist. 

Two things I did not know about lds public affairs!
You can serve a public affairs mission!
You can get some help with local public affairs needs. I wonder what this might entail? Publicizing a local lds event?
https://publicaffairs.lds.org/

As my Wards Elders Quorum President, I often consult the Handbook and General Conference talks for guidance and clarification. I believe there are some very strong written suggestions that home teaching is to be completed as a companionship. I would encourage you to prayerfully consider the following information and then act on it. Let the Spirit guide you as to how.

Handbook:

5.1.4 Ward Missionaries (I know you are referring to your calling as a Home Teacher, but its worth mentioning)... "They need not have assigned companions, but they should not go alone when visiting in homes."

7.4.1 "Before visiting a home, companions pray together." 

7.4.2 ... "leaders assign a companionship of two home teachers to each household where possible"... I stress the phrases "assign a companionship" and "two home teachers" and "where possible"... Unless it is not possible to assign a companionship, I think that is a strong suggestion that Home Teaching efforts are best administered as a companionship.

General Conference Talks:

“Home teaching, properly functioning, brings to ‘the house of each member’ two priesthood bearers divinely commissioned and authoritatively called into the service by their priesthood leader and bishop." Your home teaching calling is not functioning properly. Something should be done about it.. sooner rather than later.

https://www.lds.org/general-conference/1987/04/to-the-home-teachers-of-the-church?lang=eng


I wish the Elders in my stewardship would come to me more often and ask me to find a solution to their Home Teaching challenges. There is always a solution. I would also suggest you speak to your EQP and inform him of your circumstance right away. Ask him to go with you when you have an appointment to home teach or ask him to give you an active companion. If you do not receive a favorable response to your request, speak to your Bishop. He will facilitate the solution. I would not suggest you simply accept the situation as "the way it is" and keep doing your Home Teaching as an individual. Your current companion might be less active for a variety of reasons. He may have personal issues he does not want to talk to the Bishop about, but should. His testimony might be thin at present. He might resent the fact he was not being home taught so he stopped home teaching as often as he should. He might need you to be his Home Teacher rather than his companion. There is a solution to be found if you bring the problem to the surface. There will be no solution found of you bury the problem.

I wish you well.. 







 

I've never been too upset when I have a "less active" companion. Put the strong with the weak, That is typically how the Lord works. ( I'm pretty sure there is a D+C scripture that teaches that)
What really breaks my heart is hearing from every one of my new home teaching families that I am the first HT they have had in a long time.

My oldest son started home teaching when he was about 12.  My companion was often not able to come with me because of his work schedule, so I just took my son.  I would have gone alone, I had families, no single sisters, but decided to start teaching my son about HT early.

My home teaching companion is MIA. And has been for a while. I just moved into the Ward and was immediately paired with this MIA member. 
In the past I have always just gone alone if my companion wouldn't come (which my last one was less active and I got him to about half the lessons).
Besides with single sisters, Is there anything written that suggests we shouldn't go alone? 

Compassionate Service doesn't have to be administered in pairs.  Teaching, on the other hand, is to be done with a companionship.  This way, truth can be better supported.

THANK YOU ALL FOR YOUR INPUT... THIS FORUM WAS INCREDIBLY HELPFUL... MORESO THAN I IMAGINED... MUCH OBLIGED...
 

UPDATE..03/28/2017 

It has been about a month since the "grand daddy" of all quorum meeting agendas has been implemented. Things are going well.

This meeting agenda was met with fair amount of resistance.. "what is this?"... "Its too detailed"... "its too much to do" ... "how can we do all this" ... were the responses from my Presidency.. I assured them I understood their reservations and that I valued their counsel. Indeed, it is a daunting task to attempt to implement such a drastic change. Especially since the previous Presidency had no agenda at all... 

I pressed forward. It must have seemed like going from a dead stop to warp speed. I can almost hear Scotty calling out "Captain, we need more POWER!" Resistance to change is part of being human. We are creatures of habit.. sometimes change is difficult... 

And still.. I pressed forward.. reassuring them it is a "catch all" agenda.. it is supposed to be very detailed.. we CAN phase this in slowly based on the needs and priorities of our Quorum. It is, by design, a means to work towards an end goal.. it was place to begin.. The resistance began to fade as they learned my goals and expectations were not going to be compromised just because they seemed difficult..

I began by assigning ONE monthly agenda item to each member of the Presidency. Just one item per member of the EQ Presidency seemed like a good way to kick off this initiative. I asked my counselors and secretary to have ownership over that item, and focus their efforts on that one item... I assured them I would be here to help and support them in their efforts, all I asked for in return was to have some efforts to support.

And... guess what... we made some progress.. its not as hard as they first thought it would be.. 

One of my counselors has taken over "Perfecting the Saints" ... and has made good efforts in doing so...

One of my counselors has taken over "Proclaiming the Gospel" ... he too has made good efforts on that item...

My Secretary has also stepped up his game and has assumed more responsibility for the reporting and administration functions... as well as supporting myself and the counselors in their efforts... I am working on calling an assistant secretary for him..

It turns out there is a light at the end of the tunnel.... it is not a train coming at us... to run us down... after all...

It is the light of Christ... and it shines bright...



 

GREAT IDEAS! I am in close contact with the Ward Mission Leader and our full time missionaries. I agree with your suggestions. I will make sure to include them in my efforts and utilize the resources they can bring to the table. THANKS A LOT!

That's quite an agenda you've got there. I'm glad you've found a way to make it work with your presidency meetings. A couple of things stuck out to me as I was reading your thoughts.
Firstly, regarding meeting frequency. I'm obviously not familiar with your ward, but I would suggest that you be open to meeting more often than monthly. Nobody likes long meetings, but a 20-30 minute mid-month meeting could let all of you follow-up and touch bases on those agenda items. Might help with productivity. Partway into my time as EQ pres I had weekly meetings that I scheduled immediately preceding sacrament meeting, so we had a fixed end time. But things went much better all around when we had shorter, more frequent meetings. Just a thought.
Second is regular PPIs. (Or home teaching interviews, or one-on-ones, or whatever you want to call them.) Your activity and home teaching levels make me think this would help. It's not a time to just check on home teaching, or to chastise, but it's an opportunity to get a sense of how they are personally, learn of challenges or sucesses, provide encouragement and training, and show love. *You can delegate some of these to your counselors. You have keys that give you that right.* Seek training from the bishop or your high councilor if you need to. Train your counselors if you need to.
Maybe you already know all this and you can just ignore me. I just wish I'd had this pounded into my head a bit more when I started the calling. I can tell you're making a valiant effort with your service, keep it up!

Prior to being baptized I considered myself an agnostic, dyslexic insomniac.. I stayed up nights wondering if there really was a Dog. 

Im not Pioneer stock from Utah, Im northern european old world colonial stock from the sixteen hundreds.

I didn't go to BYU. I didn't serve a mission when I was young. I don't have a big family. I have never been to Temple Square during Christmas.

Im a convert that didn't really need to convert FROM anything to get here, am Im less a convert than saint, or less a saint than convert. Im imperfect.

I have a testimony of Christ Jesus as the savior and redeemer of man, faith in his atoning sacrifice, his resurrection and his return.
I go to Church. I serve others in a calling. I support my leaders.  I strive to keep all my covenants and His commandments at all times in all things... 
I believe Thomas S. Monson is a prophet, seer and revelator. 

Im not "Mormon" either.. Mormon was.. I am a lost sheep.. who found his flock.. or.. did the flock find me..

 

Prior to being baptized I considered myself an agnostic, dyslexic insomniac.. I stayed up nights wondering if there really was a Dog. 

Im not Pioneer stock from Utah, Im northern european old world colonial stock from the sixteen hundreds.

I didn't go to BYU. I didn't serve a mission when I was young. I don't have a big family. I have never been to Temple Square during Christmas.

Im a convert that didn't really need to convert FROM anything to get here, am Im less a convert than saint, or less a saint than convert. Im imperfect.

I have a testimony of Christ Jesus as the savior and redeemer of man, faith in his atoning sacrifice, his resurrection and his return.
I go to Church. I serve others in a calling. I support my leaders.  I strive to keep all my covenants and His commandments at all times in all things... 
I believe Thomas S. Monson is a prophet, seer and revelator. 

Im not "Mormon" either.. Mormon was.. I am a lost sheep.. who found his flock.. or.. did the flock find me..

 

Prior to being baptized I considered myself an agnostic, dyslexic insomniac.. I stayed up nights wondering if there really was a Dog. 

Im not Pioneer stock from Utah, Im northern european old world colonial stock from the sixteen hundreds.

I didn't go to BYU. I didn't serve a mission when I was young. I don't have a big family. I have never been to Temple Square during Christmas.

Im a convert that didn't really need to convert FROM anything to get here, am Im less a convert than saint, or less a saint than convert. Im imperfect.

I have a testimony of Christ Jesus as the savior and redeemer of man, faith in his atoning sacrifice, his resurrection and his return.
I go to Church. I serve others in a calling. I support my leaders.  I strive to keep all my covenants and His commandments at all times in all things... 
I believe Thomas S. Monson is a prophet, seer and revelator. 

Im not "Mormon" either.. Mormon was.. I am a lost sheep.. who found his flock.. or.. did the flock find me..

 

Prior to being baptized I considered myself an agnostic, dyslexic insomniac.. I stayed up nights wondering if there really was a Dog. 

Im not Pioneer stock from Utah, Im northern european old world colonial stock from the sixteen hundreds.

I didn't go to BYU. I didn't serve a mission when I was young. I don't have a big family. I have never been to Temple Square during Christmas.

Im a convert that didn't really need to convert FROM anything to get here, am Im less a convert than saint, or less a saint than convert. Im imperfect.

I have a testimony of Christ Jesus as the savior and redeemer of man, faith in his atoning sacrifice, his resurrection and his return.
I go to Church. I serve others in a calling. I support my leaders.  I strive to keep all my covenants and His commandments at all times in all things... 
I believe Thomas S. Monson is a prophet, seer and revelator. 

Im not "Mormon" either.. Mormon was.. I am a lost sheep.. who found his flock.. or.. did the flock find me..

 

Prior to being baptized I considered myself an agnostic, dyslexic insomniac.. I stayed up nights wondering if there really was a Dog. 

Im not Pioneer stock from Utah, Im northern european old world colonial stock from the sixteen hundreds.

I didn't go to BYU. I didn't serve a mission when I was young. I don't have a big family. I have never been to Temple Square during Christmas.

Im a convert that didn't really need to convert FROM anything to get here, am Im less a convert than saint, or less a saint than convert. Im imperfect.

I have a testimony of Christ Jesus as the savior and redeemer of man, faith in his atoning sacrifice, his resurrection and his return.
I go to Church. I serve others in a calling. I support my leaders.  I strive to keep all my covenants and His commandments at all times in all things... 
I believe Thomas S. Monson is a prophet, seer and revelator. 

Im not "Mormon" either.. Mormon was.. I am a lost sheep.. who found his flock.. or.. did the flock find me..

 

I'm not a Mormon. At best, I'm a struggling non-denominational Christian. I'm also a person who has done something many non-Mormons won't do.
I have always heard so many negative things about Mormons and the LDS. Horrible things that made want to stay clear of Mormons. All my life, childhood, adulthood, in and out church, from everyone including fellow Christian's. Horrible things said about Mormons.
One day, servings at my now old church, I had a fellow Christian make a negative remark about Mormons. One remark too many for me to accept. So I asked him, what proof do you have to back up your remark? He struggled, but failed to give any proof. His remarks was based on ignorance and social impressed impression/social acceptence. That was not okay. Facts from learning he failed to have.
So this got me thinking that day about what the truth was about Mormons and the howdo I find out. Well, it was days after that some missionaries came to my door. I saw opportunity and it just knocked on my front door. It was this moment where I knew a journey for me was starting.
I talked to the missionaries and invested time to learn about Mormons and the LDS. Without any judgement, I gave my desires to learn the truth. Want to know what I learned? ...
First, there are endless lies constantly being told about Mormons and the LDS Church. Out of ignorance and other motivated reasons, people tell lies about Mormons. Oh my goodness, the lies I always heard. Misinformed andmisundertood because it is easier to tell a lie than to take out the time to learn the truth.
Mormons are good hearted people has a strong sense of family. A sense of family that is stronger than any I've seen from any other faith. A sense of family that can not be compared or equal to any other faith. I was super amaze.
I've learned alot about Mormons and the LDS Church. I have more learning to do and I'm not a Mormon, but find myself defending the Mormon faith with an open mind against the lies and insults I hear constantly.
No, I'm not a Mormon but I will defend thier faith when I hear lies and insults others say. Why? Cause I have learned the truth about Mormons and the LDS Church and I will not accept anything but the truth.
Mormons are good people and always welcome in my life and home.
I have more to learn, but I am getting with missionaries. We'll see where my journey goes from hear.
Don't need to be a Mormon to like them.
 

THANK YOU ALL FOR YOUR INPUT... THIS FORUM WAS INCREDIBLY HELPFUL... MORESO THAN I IMAGINED... MUCH OBLIGED...
 

UPDATE..03/28/2017 

It has been about a month since the "grand daddy" of all quorum meeting agendas has been implemented. Things are going well.

This meeting agenda was met with fair amount of resistance.. "what is this?"... "Its too detailed"... "its too much to do" ... "how can we do all this" ... were the responses from my Presidency.. I assured them I understood their reservations and that I valued their counsel. Indeed, it is a daunting task to attempt to implement such a drastic change. Especially since the previous Presidency had no agenda at all... 

I pressed forward. It must have seemed like going from a dead stop to warp speed. I can almost hear Scotty calling out "Captain, we need more POWER!" Resistance to change is part of being human. We are creatures of habit.. sometimes change is difficult... 

And still.. I pressed forward.. reassuring them it is a "catch all" agenda.. it is supposed to be very detailed.. we CAN phase this in slowly based on the needs and priorities of our Quorum. It is, by design, a means to work towards an end goal.. it was place to begin.. The resistance began to fade as they learned my goals and expectations were not going to be compromised just because they seemed difficult..

I began by assigning ONE monthly agenda item to each member of the Presidency. Just one item per member of the EQ Presidency seemed like a good way to kick off this initiative. I asked my counselors and secretary to have ownership over that item, and focus their efforts on that one item... I assured them I would be here to help and support them in their efforts, all I asked for in return was to have some efforts to support.

And... guess what... we made some progress.. its not as hard as they first thought it would be.. 

One of my counselors has taken over "Perfecting the Saints" ... and has made good efforts in doing so...

One of my counselors has taken over "Proclaiming the Gospel" ... he too has made good efforts on that item...

My Secretary has also stepped up his game and has assumed more responsibility for the reporting and administration functions... as well as supporting myself and the counselors in their efforts... I am working on calling an assistant secretary for him..

It turns out there is a light at the end of the tunnel.... it is not a train coming at us... to run us down... after all...

It is the light of Christ... and it shines bright...



 

THANK YOU ALL FOR YOUR INPUT... THIS FORUM WAS INCREDIBLY HELPFUL... MORESO THAN I IMAGINED... MUCH OBLIGED...
 

UPDATE..03/28/2017 

It has been about a month since the "grand daddy" of all quorum meeting agendas has been implemented. Things are going well.

This meeting agenda was met with fair amount of resistance.. "what is this?"... "Its too detailed"... "its too much to do" ... "how can we do all this" ... were the responses from my Presidency.. I assured them I understood their reservations and that I valued their counsel. Indeed, it is a daunting task to attempt to implement such a drastic change. Especially since the previous Presidency had no agenda at all... 

I pressed forward. It must have seemed like going from a dead stop to warp speed. I can almost hear Scotty calling out "Captain, we need more POWER!" Resistance to change is part of being human. We are creatures of habit.. sometimes change is difficult... 

And still.. I pressed forward.. reassuring them it is a "catch all" agenda.. it is supposed to be very detailed.. we CAN phase this in slowly based on the needs and priorities of our Quorum. It is, by design, a means to work towards an end goal.. it was place to begin.. The resistance began to fade as they learned my goals and expectations were not going to be compromised just because they seemed difficult..

I began by assigning ONE monthly agenda item to each member of the Presidency. Just one item per member of the EQ Presidency seemed like a good way to kick off this initiative. I asked my counselors and secretary to have ownership over that item, and focus their efforts on that one item... I assured them I would be here to help and support them in their efforts, all I asked for in return was to have some efforts to support.

And... guess what... we made some progress.. its not as hard as they first thought it would be.. 

One of my counselors has taken over "Perfecting the Saints" ... and has made good efforts in doing so...

One of my counselors has taken over "Proclaiming the Gospel" ... he too has made good efforts on that item...

My Secretary has also stepped up his game and has assumed more responsibility for the reporting and administration functions... as well as supporting myself and the counselors in their efforts... I am working on calling an assistant secretary for him..

It turns out there is a light at the end of the tunnel.... it is not a train coming at us... to run us down... after all...

It is the light of Christ... and it shines bright...



 

How many total Elders on the records?

I got it. Dont "preach" to them, Minister dont administer them. Ya get more bee's with honey. Dont kick over tables and whip folks, keep it relevant..

I have fewer than 5 elders .. including the Presidency... on some sundays. participation is a challenge, so is filling callings.. thanks for chiming in and adding your feedback. I appreciate the straight talk..

 

Less is more (esp. when it comes to meetings). Focus on serving others. Receive council. Got it!

ty for your counsel  =)

Less is more (esp. when it comes to meetings). Focus on serving others. Receive council. Got it!

ty for your counsel  =)