Home Teaching

[mom_of_jcchlsm]

Ben and others,

What is the best thing a wife can do to help her husband fulfill his calling as a Home Teacher?

Should I mention it early in the month? What doesn't sound like a nag? Is "Have you contacted any of your families yet this month?" OK? Should I say "Looking at the calendar, I only see three days left this month that you might be free to go Home Teaching. Better set your appointments and put them on the family calendar before those days get filled up!" (in our family, three available days left could happen as early as the 10th of the month! Our calendar is FULL!)

Should I offer to bake something for him to take with him? Should I print out the message and set it on his nightstand? Should I mention it when I have all my Visiting Teaching done for the month and how good it feels to serve? Should I just stand back and let him fail, month after month and year after year, keeping my mouth shut hoping he'll get it right at some point and then I can praise him? Do I praise every attempt or only complete months?

Ben, you mentioned your son going with you. Does that start at age 14? My son just turned 12. My husband is a HP and currently does not have a companion assigned (he teaches other HP families, but no single sisters).

[BenRaines]

For father and son it has always been when they receive the priesthood. If assigned to another brother, if you had more than one son with the priesthood, then it is 14. My son and I have great memories of our home teaching together. Not with just the one family but with many.

Your son could be a good way for several reasons:

Opportunity to teach him how to be a good home teacher by example.

Opportunity to teach a small portion of the lesson. What a great way to learn to teach for your son.

Able to learn more of the duties of a Deacon by home teaching.

My wife would constantly remind me about my home teaching until I set a time each month to get it done and when I leave my visit I have the next months appointment set.

Ben Raines

[the_jason]

For the most part, you're either committed to home teaching or you aren't. Very rarely will you find someone who does no home teaching for many years and then all of a sudden is 100%. If your husband has a history of not making his visits, chances are the trend will not change.

That being said, I've never been thrilled with numbers and stats, even though I do see their value. I've never been a 100% home teacher and probably never will. That doesn't mean I'm not a good home teacher. I believe in quality over quantity. I'm not saying it's not necessary to visit all of your families, because it surely is. I'm just saying it's more important to bring the spirit into the homes and to meet the needs of the families than it is to simply meet a quota.

If I only visit half of my families, yet those half were good quality visits where the Spirit was felt by all, then I consider myself an effective home teacher. I know the Lord does as well, and that's what counts.

[Dr T]

Question: How many families are usually on "the list" to be visited by a home teacher?

[BenRaines]

Dr. T,

Depending on the activity in a ward or branch it can be from as little as two to six or eight. Six would be considered a high number. I think the average would be 3-4 families.

Ben Raines

[the_jason]

Right now my companion and I have 6 families. I've had as many as 9.

[Dr T]

Thank you Gentlemen.

[CrimsonKairos]

I gained a new understanding of hometeaching when I was an Elder's Quorum President.

We simply didn't have enough worthy brethren to visit all the families on the records. Well, not without giving each companionship 12 or more families/individuals each!

What it came down to was me sitting down with the Relief Society President and evaluating all the members on the records. We had to decide who needed hometeaching "the most," as bad as that sounds.

Then, we made sure the neediest were covered and if we had the ability to visit more then that was great.

I'm sure we didn't judge everything perfectly, but in many cases it is a matter of "who needs this most right now?"

[Brother Dorsey]

Ben and others,

What is the best thing a wife can do to help her husband fulfill his calling as a Home Teacher?

Hi....I am in the HP group and have 4 families I home teach....3 are active, 1 inactive...I do not have a companion and haven't had one for over 2 years now....I like it that way because I take my wife with me...she is my eternal companion and it makes for such a closeness with my families...my wife always brings along a baked good and always makes the appointments because she knows my schedule....I do the lesson and she brings warmth and a certian personal touch. You want to help motivate your husband? Tell him you would like to be his HT companion...offer to set up the appointments and make a baked good to bring along....(When my wife makes the appointments she does it with the wife in the family...it seems to lock it all in) Tell him it's his responsibility to do the lesson because he is the Priesthood holder but you'd very much like to help. I tell you what...it's like a date!!! So fun to teach the principles of Gospel with the one you love!!! It really has helped me to relax and be able to have the Spirit there at each visit...wives seem to do that for us men! It works for me....