Spiritual Sunday: A Visiting Teaching Message

I am currently serving as my ward's Relief Society President. Today we hosted a Visiting Teaching Conference Luncheon and I was the concluding speaker. This is the message I gave.

Ministering to the Individual

What is the purpose of visiting teaching? How did it begin? What is its relevance to our lives today?

In Nauvoo, Illinois, in 1834, the saints were organized into four different wards. In each ward, the Relief Society sisters appointed four sisters to visit the sisters in the ward, assess their needs and collect donations. These sisters would report the needs and then using the donations, the Relief Society would organize service to assist those in need. This pattern continued in the 1900s. For the most part, donations collected were used for local needs. After World War II, the sisters expanded their outreach and gathered, sorted, mended, and packed over 500,000 articles of clothing that was distributed to the people in Europe.

Sisters who served as visiting teachers also looked after the spiritual needs of the sisters in their wards. “Sarah M. Kimball, who served as a ward Relief Society president in the late 1860s, shared this counsel with the sisters in her ward: “It is the duty of teachers to visit their [assigned sisters] once a month, to inquire after the prosperity and happiness of the members. It is their duty to speak words of wisdom, of consolation and peace.”9 Relief Society leaders emphasized that visiting teachers were “not only to gather means but to teach and expound the principles of the gospel.”

In 1944, Sister Amy Brown Lyman, who was the 8th General Relief Society President, began to question the practice of visiting teachers gathering donations. After much study, prayer, and thought, she and her counselors recommended to the Presiding Bishopric that this practice cease. So visiting teaching was reorganized. It became a program of visiting to assess the physical and spiritual needs of women and to serve in a personal, individual way.

As I see it, visiting teaching is a way to personally minister to the women I visit. To minister means to give service, care, or aid; attend, as to wants or necessities.

The four gospels in the New Testament record story after story of Jesus Christ personally ministering to the physical, emotional, and spiritual needs of individuals. He taught Mary and Martha. He fed the crowds who flocked to see him with a miracle. He healed a woman who had suffered from an issue of blood for 14 years. He restored hearing to the deaf, sight to the blind, movement and strength to the paralyzed. To those who were trapped in the web of sin, he offered encouragement, love, and forgiveness. Story after story is told of the Savior, on the way to help someone else, stopping and ministering to a need on his way.

The Savior has shown us the pattern of how we ought to minister to one another in our service as visiting teachers. I hope that you take the opportunity to serve as a visiting teacher very personally and seriously.

I realize that we all lead extremely busy lives as we work, raise families, and care for sick or old relatives. I know many of you carry heavy burdens as you struggle with health challenges, depression or anxiety, financial worries, and worries over your family. I am aware that visiting teaching requires precious time and effort and is a sacrifice.  

Because visiting teaching is a sacrifice I ask you to carefully consider how you serve as a visiting teacher and why. Carefully consider the physical, emotional, and spiritual needs of the sisters you visit. Pray for guidance as you map out a plan of service. Listen to the promptings of the Holy Ghost throughout the day. Take time to prepare a spiritual message that is meaningful and individual to the sister you teach. Reach out with love and compassion. Contact your district supervision and report your service, needs and challenges, and any insights you have. These reports become a valuable resource to the Bishop and I as we consider the needs of the ward.

My testimony of visiting teaching has grown immensely over this year. I have seen the power that good visiting teachers have to lift and comfort others. I have witnessed your efforts to minister to one another. I know God lives. I know his son, Jesus Christ, is our Savior. In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

© 2007-2016 TIFFANY WACASER ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

Scrapbooking Saturday: On Being Prolific

Back in 1999, I wore overalls, had a chunky haircut and chunky shoes, and was pregnant with my first child. My sister, a newly minted Creative Memories consultant, asked me if I would have a party. From that time on, I was hooked. My hobby became a full-blown obsession when we moved to Sweden. I wanted to record all the details of that adventure in a way my children would remember. I am quite prolific. I have 22 completed 12x12 albums, at least 10 photobooks, 20-30 mini-books, and two albums in process.

Scrapbooking is a creative outlet for me. I get a happy boost from making pages. I am preserving our family history. Scrapbooking feeds my desire to learn. I can take classes and improve my storytelling, photography, and design skills.

I am prolific because I don't care about creating too many books. I am prolific because I budget time and money for my hobby. I am prolific because I spend time almost everyday working on pictures, creating layouts, and learning about design. I am also prolific because I take a "good enough" approach about my layouts. The truth is, I will never be on a design team or be a featured scrapbooker. I don't have the patience, the level of detail, or the skill of a design team member. I am totally okay with that. I scrap for myself and my own joy and pleasure.

I am willing to try different methods of scrapbooking. I have made photobooks using sites like Shutterfly and Snapfish. I have created blog books from Blurb and Blog2Print. I have tried different types of mini-albums. I also purchased the Becky Higgins Project Life App and use that on a daily basis. I use pocket pages for different types of stories and pictures.

What hobby do you enjoy and are you prolific?

© 2007-2016 TIFFANY WACASER ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

Friday Favorites: Productivity, Parenting Memes, Third-Culture Kids, On Writing

As a mother to six kids with a lot of side interests, I am very interested in the subject of productivity and how I can be most productive in my life. Freakonomics aired a recent podcast on this subject.

These 50 parenting memes nail the humorous side of parenting.

I first learned about Third-Culture Kids (TCKs) when I moved to Saudi Arabia. The concept explained a lot of what my children were experiencing and gave me a lot of comfort about how to deal with our globe-trotting, ex-pat lifestyle--that we are not currently living. Finding Home Between Worlds explores this concept and offers excellent advice for global families navigating the complexities of a nomad lifestyle.

And finally, another brilliant piece about writing from the Atlantic, where author Kathryn Harrison discusses writing in "To Write, Stop Thinking".  Harrison deftly analyzes and discusses Joseph Brodsky's poem, "On Love" and also reflects on the power of writing. She says,

"I have to write. It’s not an option. When I write, I am literally building myself a place in which to live. Once I’m firmly established within the narrative I pop awake in the morning and it’s the first thing I think about. Not in an analytical way, as in “Oh, I haven’t really reached the crisis point and it’s already page 200—I’d better work on that.” It’s very much just running towards and into the place I most want to be."

© 2007-2016 TIFFANY WACASER ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

Throwback Thursday: The Pink Dress

Sometimes you find a dress that makes you feel like a princess. It twirls just right when you dance and sing. It is the perfect shade of pink. It is soft and comfortable from being washed so often. You wear it so often that it is stained and torn. Your mother refuses to let you wear it in public, unless it is a special occasion. Then one day, mom hides it from you so you can't wear it anymore and you cry. Eventually you forget about it until your mom shows you some pictures and then you smile. 

© 2007-2016 TIFFANY WACASER ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

Wondering Wednesday: Working the Polls in New York

Yesterday, floods of voters hit the polls to vote in the Presidential Primary Race. In my election district, it really was a trickle with a disappointing number of voters simply refusing to show up. I worked as a chairman and found the experience stressful and challenging unlike previous experiences. I'm working hard to not hold onto emotions and stress so I am going to just dump it here today.

• The stress of getting things prepared for my family the day before, coupled with the anxiety of getting up in time the next morning meant I did not sleep at all.
• The day is long and demanding--starting at 4 a.m. to get ready and ending around 10 p.m.
• My position included extra responsibilities of opening and closing the polls. If I do this again, I may ask to change positions.
• The primary is really the only time you can ask another person whether they are a Democrat or Republican. Such a taboo question normally. It often caught the voters off guard when we asked them, but we had to ask because there are different ballots for each party.
• I really irritated another poll worker who had worked my position several years in a row. I truly did not mean to upset her or step on her toes.
• Many people simply did not know which party they had registered for. 
• Some people refused to vote when they realized which party they were registered for.
• Most people have no clue what to do when voting.
• There were a lot of complications which meant I spent a lot of time making calls to the Board of Elections. 
• We were required to call the BOE frequently to report numbers. Cell service in our polling place was patchy. I wish we could text the numbers.
• The Democrat ballot in my county was really confusing and messed up.
• There were lots of independent voters who thought they were registered Democrats. The BOE keeps records on changes and registration. 
• It actually costs a lot of money to run an election. Our BOE requires two Democrats and two Republicans per voting district or table-sometimes they combine districts depending on the election. They pay a small fee to the polling places they rent. The machines cost money. The ballots cost money. Incidentally, because many people did not vote, all those ballots, and that money was wasted. 
• Very few Democrats in my district voted. It was disappointing. 
• We have to account for every single ballot given out--this includes spoiled ballots, emergency ballots, blank ballots (for the handicapped machine), and cast ballots. 
• Every step of the process requires signatures by the poll workers--all to account for ballots and ensure that voter fraud isn't committed or that ballots aren't mishandled by poll-workers. 
• One couple brought their dog into the polling place in a stroller. He was wearing a ball cap. When asked why he couldn't walk, they said he had cataracts. 
• One bright spot to my day was seeing my oldest son. I was at the high school and he stopped by a few times to say hi. My husband also dropped by with our youngest daughter. Holding her was very soothing. 

I do feel better for writing this down. It was just a really long day that I am glad is over.

© 2007-2016 TIFFANY WACASER ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

Travel Tuesday: Israel Flashbacks, pt. 1

In 2007, my husband was invited to collaborate on a scientific project with some scientists at the Weissman Institute in Rehovot, Israel. We flew to Israel in January with our four children and lived there for six weeks. Our children were 7,5,3, and 4 months. It was a magnificent adventure. At the time, we had very limited internet connection and I was unable to upload our photos. I never attached photos to my blog posts. I'm working on an Israel scrapbook and need to coordinate the blog posts with pictures I took. I am going to copy and paste some of those entries for my Travel Tuesday series.

Traveling to Jerusalem

Friday began early for us. We finished packing for the weekend and then ate breakfast. By 9:00 we met Josh, our guide for the day. Josh has lived in Israel for a year and a half and has been to Jerusalem many times. I was glad to have him as a guide because, by the end of the day, we realized there is no way we could have found and seen all the sights we saw in such a short period of time.

I realize that many of you will never have an opportunity to go, so I’ll try and describe what it looks like. First, we live near Tel Aviv. Tel Aviv is a fairly new city–built in the late 1800’s and looks much like any modern city. There are high rises all over with businesses, apartment buildings, etc.

We live southeast of Tel Aviv. Rehovot was founded by farmers and is still known for its orchards. When I think of Israel, I typically think of dry, desert, barren land. But neither Tel Aviv nor Rehovot is that barren. Rehovot has palm trees and orange trees all over. Even the road dividers have orange trees. The Weizmann institute campus is positively lush, abounding with trees, flowers, grass, bushes, etc. So I’ve had to revise my original picture of Israel. I realize that when you go east of Jerusalem and south, you are truly in wilderness and desert area. But the part of Israel that has become somewhat familiar to me really has a lot of green.

So we drove east of Rehovot to Jerusalem on the freeway. I was surprised by all the trees I saw. As we came closer to Jerusalem, it became more and more hilly and rocky. We drove through a canyon.  We started to see villages and small towns built on the hills. And quite often, we saw roadside stands. I hear the strawberries are delicious this time of year. At various intersections and bus stops, we saw hitchhikers thumbing their ways to various places. There were quite a few young orthodox men thumbing rides. If you were stopped at a light, you were bound to see these young men walking down the line of cars, asking for a ride.

From what I’ve read in guidebooks, this is common on Fridays as everyone is trying to get home for the weekend before Shabbot begins.

And then we drove into Jerusalem. It is so hard to describe. But from what we saw, Jerusalem is literally built on a mountain or tall hill. And the city is built up from the valley to the top. I know many of you have seen pictures of the beigish-whitish limestone city. And all I can really say is that it really does look like that.

It just really hit me hard that Jerusalem is a city that is 3000 years old. You can feel it and see it as you look at ancient, old, and modern buildings.

Jerusalem is a holy city-sacred to three major religions: Islam, Judaism, and Christianity. Everywhere there are churches built by the Christians from multiple denominations. The Dome of the Rock is very prominent. And then the fact that the city was conquered and established as the city of King David–himself a Jew–just permeates the whole feeling of the city.

I better stop there and start a new post so I don’t overwhelm you.

© 2007-2016 TIFFANY WACASER ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

Mothering Monday: A Round-up of Memorable Moments from Last Week

• My husband gave a talk about service yesterday in church. Last night, my six-year old son tidied up the basement and my bedroom as an act of service to me. He was so proud of himself for doing something so nice. I was so touched by his very meaningful and practical gesture.

• My 9-year old daughter keeps talking about turning ten in August. She wants to plan her party and talks about getting her ears pierced and becoming a pre-teen. I am feeling an acute sense of panic thinking of her approaching her middle years before she turns a teenager. She goes to Middle School in the fall and I am dreading the negative things that await her. I am very anxious that all the sweet things about her personality will morph or will be hardened as she deals with the typical challenges of middle school. 

• We took a couple of ladies home from church yesterday. Both are deaf and use ASL to communicate. I explained to the kids that both women were deaf. The ride to their home was completely silent. My kids did not say a word or make a sound. When the ladies got out of the car at their apartment building, the sound in the car erupted like a volcano. I can't stop laughing about it. 

• My toddler says "thank you" when you change her diaper or help her with something. It is the sweetest thing and melts my heart every time.

•  My oldest son is learning how to drive. It scares me to death but I know that he needs to practice to become skilled. At first he told me how much he hated driving, but now he asks to drive at every opportunity. He is getting a lot better. I'm still scared though. My heart pounds, my palms get sweaty, and my muscles are rigid with tension. I try very hard not to make him anxious. Maybe if I took a valium before we went driving...

• We went to a Buddhist Monastery yesterday and found a very cranky looking statue. I snapped the best picture of my kids right by the statue.

• People have teased me my whole life. My dad teases me. Boys at school teased me mercilessly. My husband teases me. And now my kids tease me. I guess I have the best reactions and they find get an unholy pleasure out of ribbing me. It drives me crazy, but also makes me happy that my kids and I can joke and laugh together.

• My boys and I share funny memes and jokes from the internet. 

• I realized that my oldest son has managed to find a way to speak and present without doing speech and debate. He is doing a Science Research Program and has to prepare presentations all the time. I love he is unknowingly combining parts of his dad's personality and my personality to create something relevant to him. I competed in Speech and Debate competitions in high school and my husband is a scientist.

© 2007-2016 TIFFANY WACASER ALL RIGHTS RESERVED