It happenrd

[bluebell]

1 minute ago, Tacenda said:

I tried when I visit taught to be that. But some ladies in just don't want visits or interactions. It's like they have to put up with us.

I know this sounds or is cynical to say but I think it will stay the same but they'll have to report in an interview every three months instead of once a month. I hope I'm wrong though and it will wonderful.

From my experience, for a lot of women, it's not about not wanting interaction but about not wanting one more thing to do in their month (and no matter the intention, finding time to have your VT over once a month can feel like just one more obligation).  That's why I think this new system will be a lot better.  It allows interaction (texting, phone calls, and chats at church) to count so that women won't feel obligated to actually have the VT in their homes when they would rather not deal with that (and VT won't feel obligated to get into someone's home even if doing so adds more stress to the sisters they are trying to serve).

[Rivers]

I now have a clean slate after bring a terrible home teacher.

[Tacenda]

6 minutes ago, bluebell said:

From my experience, for a lot of women, it's not about not wanting interaction but about not wanting one more thing to do in their month (and no matter the intention, finding time to have your VT over once a month can feel like just one more obligation).  That's why I think this new system will be a lot better.  It allows interaction (texting, phone calls, and chats at church) to count so that women won't feel obligated to actually have the VT in their homes when they would rather not deal with that (and VT won't feel obligated to get into someone's home even if doing so adds more stress to the sisters they are trying to serve).

You know you're right!! Some women probably feel they have to impress their VT'rs in their homes. I do like the new system then. It'd be nice to just go grab lunch or shop or even get together as families. I'm sure in need of some friends in the neighborhood I'm in, hope this works. I haven't had VT'rs for a very long time out of choice because I thought I was a doubt germ when I was just starting the faith crisis. 

I'd love to meet people as friends without the church ties exactly, but at this point I'll take anything. 

[Duncan]

Just now, Tacenda said:

You know you're right!! Some women probably feel they have to impress their VT'rs in their homes. I do like the new system then. It'd be nice to just go grab lunch or shop or even get together as families. I'm sure in need of some friends in the neighborhood I'm in, hope this works. I haven't had VT'rs for a very long time out of choice because I thought I was a doubt germ when I was just starting the faith crisis. 

I'd love to meet people as friends without the church ties exactly, but at this point I'll take anything. 

You should have my Mum as your ministering sister! She even watched "The Bachelor" show with a lady once, she didn't care for it any but she enjoyed doing something important with this lady. As long as you drive, she'll go wherever! lunch, hospital, help clean, etc.

[Tacenda]

1 minute ago, Duncan said:

You should have my Mum as your ministering sister! She even watched "The Bachelor" show with a lady once, she didn't care for it any but she enjoyed doing something important with this lady. As long as you drive, she'll go wherever! lunch, hospital, help clean, etc.

Oh I would love that! But aren't all Canadians this way, haha! I know exactly two Canadians, you being one of them, and they are pretty awesome!

When you mentioned The Bachelor, I immediately thought of a sister I visit taught a few years ago, she was our bishop's wife, he's the stake president now, and she told us that she watched The Bachelor and her and her daughter would throw rolled up socks at the TV when they didn't like someone, or something like that. I just remember being surprised that she even watched it, haha. But it was a good surprise, like hey I'm not so bad!

[Duncan]

5 minutes ago, Tacenda said:

Oh I would love that! But aren't all Canadians this way, haha! I know exactly two Canadians, you being one of them, and they are pretty awesome!

When you mentioned The Bachelor, I immediately thought of a sister I visit taught a few years ago, she was our bishop's wife, he's the stake president now, and she told us that she watched The Bachelor and her and her daughter would throw rolled up socks at the TV when they didn't like someone, or something like that. I just remember being surprised that she even watched it, haha. But it was a good surprise, like hey I'm not so bad!

Yeah! hahahahhahahahahaha! that's funny! I thinkour stake president is into goat yoga or something !

[clarkgoble]

20 hours ago, Broker said:

Consistent home teaching interviews by quorum leaders were always the key to better home teaching. I think this new direction recognizes that key step.

It gets rid of easy ways of fulfilling the letter of the law while avoiding the spirit. However I really do worry that in practice it'll mean people don't get to know their families as well. That building of trust so that when there is a problem the family called their home teachers means socializing. With no structure to the socializing that'll make it very hard. I'll be honest I have no idea what I'll do. Structure helps a great deal. 

 

[Amulek]

30 minutes ago, bluebell said:

From my experience, for a lot of women, it's not about not wanting interaction but about not wanting one more thing to do in their month (and no matter the intention, finding time to have your VT over once a month can feel like just one more obligation).  That's why I think this new system will be a lot better.  It allows interaction (texting, phone calls, and chats at church) to count so that women won't feel obligated to actually have the VT in their homes when they would rather not deal with that (and VT won't feel obligated to get into someone's home even if doing so adds more stress to the sisters they are trying to serve).

Hopefully, the expanded set of interactions counting as contact will be one way of addressing it. However, I think the better way to address it - though I know this won't always be possible - would be to simply make the assignments based on who people are friends with already.

For example, my wife and I are good friends with a few couples in our ward who we visit with at least once a month already, yet she has never been assigned to VT any of them (nor have any of them ever been assigned to VT her). I'm not saying you should have them each be assigned to each other, but it just seems like an obvious fit under the new system to have at least one of them be assigned to minister to the other. 

 

[bluebell]

3 minutes ago, Amulek said:

Hopefully, the expanded set of interactions counting as contact will be one way of addressing it. However, I think the better way to address it - though I know this won't always be possible - would be to simply make the assignments based on who people are friends with already.

For example, my wife and I are good friends with a few couples in our ward who we visit with at least once a month already, yet she has never been assigned to VT any of them (nor have any of them ever been assigned to VT her). I'm not saying you should have them each be assigned to each other, but it just seems like an obvious fit under the new system to have at least one of them be assigned to minister to the other. 

I get what you are saying, but that doesn't really solve the issue of home visits for those women that Tacenda was talking about-the women who make it hard to visit teach them.  

I am friend (outside of VTing) with one woman i visit teach, and she lets us come once a month (she's wonderful) but she's got a lot on her plate and she already has a stressful life and trying to fit in one more thing was making her life worse, not better.  She wanted interaction.  She didn't necessarily want us in her home every single month.  Having us come once a month was a burden.

I feel the same way. I want interaction with the women at church but I don't want to always have to schedule a visit with them in my home.  It's a pain in the rear and I don't get anything out of it.  I feel like me scheduling a time for my VT to come over is me doing a service for them (so they can count me as being VT) rather than them doing a service for me.  

[Bernard Gui]

29 minutes ago, clarkgoble said:

It gets rid of easy ways of fulfilling the letter of the law while avoiding the spirit. However I really do worry that in practice it'll mean people don't get to know their families as well. That building of trust so that when there is a problem the family called their home teachers means socializing. With no structure to the socializing that'll make it very hard. I'll be honest I have no idea what I'll do. Structure helps a great deal. 

 

What if active ministers (male and female) were assigned to each other...for example, if I have 5 families and you have another 5, then we are trying to establish closer relationships with a larger number of people, which can be daunting especially for shy people like me. But if you and your partner were my ministers and I and my companion were yours, our contacts could be more frequent and meaningful. We could also be asked to minister to a certain number of inactive members.

Edited April 2, 2018 by Bernard Gui

[Tacenda]

3 minutes ago, Bernard Gui said:

What if active ministers (male and female) were assigned to each other...for example, if I have 5 families and you have another 5, then we are trying to establish closer relationships with a larger number of people, which can be daunting especially for shy people like me. But if you and your partner were my ministers and I and my companion were yours, our contacts could be more frequent and meaningful. We could also be asked to minister to a certain number of inactive members.

My husband and I are not that active, for instance we've been maybe four times in our new ward that we've lived in since late January. My RS president contacted me but then cancelled and then I had to cancel once because of something and since then no contact. I was hoping to meet the presidency and feel like they would accept the situation we're in. 

Hoping this change will get people to accept inactives more and reach out. I know this sounds like I'm cutting members down, but honestly, I was inactive in my old ward for a solid year, and no visits or calls were made, which really bewildered me. So I'm excited for a push to reach out to inactives!

[CMZ]

2 hours ago, Tacenda said:

I tried when I visit taught to be that. But some ladies in just don't want visits or interactions. It's like they have to put up with us.

I know this sounds or is cynical to say but I think it will stay the same but they'll have to report in an interview every three months instead of once a month. I hope I'm wrong though and it will be a wonderful thing.

Yeah, the program as it was before was fine but it could be difficult if you wanted to do your home teaching (not because you're a beatified saint, but because you see it as being important to fulfill your assignments and to minister to those to whom you're assigned) only to then have those you're assigned to not want to be bothered at all.

[Scott Lloyd]

10 hours ago, Bernard Gui said:

That’s fantastic! Do you remember what the message was?

No. And I'm afraid I didn't save it.

[Mormonopolis]

1 hour ago, clarkgoble said:

It gets rid of easy ways of fulfilling the letter of the law while avoiding the spirit. However I really do worry that in practice it'll mean people don't get to know their families as well. That building of trust so that when there is a problem the family called their home teachers means socializing. With no structure to the socializing that'll make it very hard. I'll be honest I have no idea what I'll do. Structure helps a great deal. 

 

There is a culling element here, too, though. There has to be. The kingdom must roll forward. And members must be able to meet the raised bar. As evil gets stronger, so too must good increase. These are natural forces that require allegiance, one way or the other. I don't mean that as a downer, it's just reality.

I think those who study this talk, stay close to the words of the Prophet and his fellow servants, and let the Spirit guide will build the nature that was intended here. The discourse on the Divine Nature found in 2 Peter is one of my faves, and I feel we are being asked to increase in that respect a line and precept, or two. If you're that worried, you'll be fine. It's the one's that see this as a "Alright, no more reporting now! I'm off the hook!" -types that will find this transition most difficult.

[Scott Lloyd]

18 hours ago, Scott Lloyd said:

I remember ward teachers, but the Brigham Young-era "block teachers" were a bit before my time.

 

 

16 hours ago, Bernard Gui said:

Remember the tear-off message tags?

 

14 hours ago, Scott Lloyd said:

Very clearly. 

I inherited our big, upright piano after my parents died. One day in the 1990s, I took the front off the piano to look inside. There, I found one of those old tear-off ward teacher messages that had slipped inside the piano where the strings are, perhaps 30 to 40 years earlier. 

 

11 hours ago, Bernard Gui said:

That’s fantastic! Do you remember what the message was?

 

29 minutes ago, Scott Lloyd said:

No. And I'm afraid I didn't save it.

Here's an image of those things that I found online:

https://www.google.com/search?q="ward+teacher"+tear-off+message&client=firefox-b-1&tbm=isch&source=iu&ictx=1&fir=BPgiR4zFJWiOEM%3A%2CguawfFGrhOjm2M%2C_&usg=__EKACZgLsO4_I27Mcz0B7b2YLAVY%3D&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjI25i1n5zaAhVox1QKHRHMDEEQ9QEIOTAC#imgrc=FLYs-9xkKAHNKM:

[Bernard Gui]

5 minutes ago, Scott Lloyd said:

Thanks! The memories come flooding back!

I remember my dad tearing those off and giving them to the people we visited after his baptism. He was an Adult Aaronic Priesthood holder and I was his WT companion.

 

 

Here's an image of those things that I found online:

https://www.google.com/search?q="ward+teacher"+tear-off+message&client=firefox-b-1&tbm=isch&source=iu&ictx=1&fir=BPgiR4zFJWiOEM%3A%2CguawfFGrhOjm2M%2C_&usg=__EKACZgLsO4_I27Mcz0B7b2YLAVY%3D&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjI25i1n5zaAhVox1QKHRHMDEEQ9QEIOTAC#imgrc=FLYs-9xkKAHNKM:

 

Edited April 2, 2018 by Bernard Gui