Maybe I'm strange, but I really enjoy home teaching. I like going to visit people I wouldn't ordinarily visit, I like chatting with them, and I like sharing a spiritual message and saying a prayer with the people that I home teach.
Right now I home teach a lady with a lot of problems. I won't use her real name. I'll just call her Sister Crazy. She's a convert, she's got 4 children from 4 different men, she recently got knee replacement surgery, she used to be addicted to cocaine, and her kids have pretty bad emotional and psychological problems. Last time I was there, her 7 year old son said to her, "I hate you, Mom."
It's a bad situation, but I'm there to help, in whatever small way I can. I think just showing up once a month and showing that she's loved by her church community makes a difference. And Sister Crazy is better off with the Church in her life than without it.
Usually, on my drive home from home teaching, as I think about what I've done, I feel the Spirit. And when I get home, I'm usually do a little bit better as a husband and as a father. I'm a little more kind and compassionate and helpful and happy.
My home teaching companion and I treat Sister Crazy with respect and show her the love of Jesus Christ, and I read the message from the First Presidency out of the Ensign magazine. And the messages are always wonderful. They're about love, prayer, faith, charity, service, and other righteous principles.
Our visits with her usually last an hour, and most of the time she's telling us about her problems, and most of the time she ends up crying. She's the type of person who most people would want to get away from and forget about.
But Jesus has not forgotten about her. In a mysterious way that we can't comprehend, Jesus understands her problems. In fact, she's probably the type of person that Jesus would have hung out with. Remember when the hyper-religous Jews criticized Jesus for hanging out with publicans and sinners? And remember what Jesus said? Jesus said, "the whole need not a physician, but them that are sick."
I'm not doing as good of a job as a home teacher as Jesus would have. I wish Jesus himself could be this lady's home teacher. I wish Jesus could be my home teacher. But God has set up this life to be the way it is, and we can only catch glimmers of God here and there.
It is our privilege and our responsibility as home teachers to stand in the place of Jesus when we go visit people. I hope that we act like Jesus, and treat people the way that Jesus would.
Who cares if Joseph Smith wrote the Book of Mormon and married the 14 year old Helen Mar Kimball? It's really not that big of a deal.
I commend you for this blog. I am a young father and I too struggle with some church doctrine but have not lost my core testimony. Earlier this year Bill Nye and Ken Ham had a debate of creationism vs evolution. One of the sticking points that I thought was awesome was Ken Hams argument that you can claim the earth is so old or that dinosaurs lived millions of years ago because of evidence but how can you absolutely prove it. No one alive today was there. In your last paragraph I had never heard about JS marriage and I wasn't there. How do I know that marriage wasn't distorted, made up, or if was actually there we would have more understanding of why it was performed. I liked your post on the devil I too got chills reading it. I too have had experiences but I don't believe to that degree. If the devil is real he knows Jesus is the Christ and he would know if there was a true church there's not a doubt in my mind that he would do whatever he could to destroy that church including distorting or lying to destroy sacred teachings. I don't know I wasn't there.
ReplyDeleteKeep writing you have at least one person who is gaining strength through your experiences.
I'm glad you like my blog! It's nice to get feedback. Just like you can't absolutely "prove" anything in science, I suppose you can't absolutely "prove" anything in history. Nietzche said, "there are no facts, only interpretations." See you later.
DeleteLike the good gentleman above, I just wanted to thank you for this blog as well. I'm an active member but in the last three months my testimony of the "One True Church" has certainly been damaged. I still love so many things that the church teaches. However, I've read too many things to just blindly believe now. I briefly spoke to my Stake President about some questions (I'm currently the stake exec sec) and phrased it as "one of my close friends had some difficult questions." He didn't know about the issues I brought up so I just told him that I would tell "my friend" to have more faith in what we do know. I served as an EQP for five years and would never consider leaving altogether since all of my friends and family are firm believers (and extremely judgmental)! On a positive note, I now find myself being WAY more accepting and loving of everyone, regardless of belief.
ReplyDeleteYou're welcome! Writing this blog is a labor of love. I guess it has to be, since I'm not getting paid for it. And I don't want to put ads up here, because I don't want to start practicing preistcraft, you know what I mean? I'm glad you found this blog. You're exactly the type of person I'm trying to reach. Good luck to you.
DeleteIt would be a big deal if a 30-something man wanted to marry a 14 year old daughter of mine.
ReplyDeleteYes, it would be a big deal if that happened, but... it didn't happen to you. Nobody is trying to marry your 14 year old daughter. Why leave the Church over something that happened a long long time ago, to total strangers, that the vast vast majority of Mormons have never heard about? There are all sorts of atrocities going on, many in the name of religion. Should all the Catholics in the world stop being Catholic because some boys got molested by priests? Should all born-again Christians stop being Christians because their pastor stole the tithing money and lived like a king? No, of course not.
DeleteI left the church in 2010. Born, raised, married in the temple. I wish I would have found more people like you when I was "researching". Sure I don't believe it all, but I was a better person with it. I lack the spiritual side now. Last few months I've been going back. I've talked to the bishop and on my way. I enjoy that spirit and helping others. Thanks :)
ReplyDeleteGreat. I'm curious. Did you resign, or just go inactive? I don't know what it's like to actually step away from the church, but if I did, I would be afraid that I would lose some spirituality, unless I found another faith community to really be a part of. I'm glad you're back. I wish you were in my ward.
DeleteI resigned :) that in itself wasn't easy. That took courage to tell family and friends. But, coming back is going to be more work. I'm in mesa az and I'm 30 years old with a 5 year old girl. Having a daughter has made me want to be more spiritual. So i could give her some sense of direction and hope. Being a single dad, she'll need support else where. I wish I knew this when I was 25. Thanks for responding :)
ReplyDeleteHey can you email me at telemonfa @ hotmail.com except add an extra "o" next to the other "o" in "telemonfa" and get rid of the spaces so it's like a regular email address, you know?
ReplyDelete