Visiting Teaching Message
The Divine Mission
Prayerfully study this material and seek to know what
to share. How will understanding the life
and Mission
Him and bless those you watch over through visiting
teaching? For more information, go to
reliefsociety.lds.org.
Faith, Family, Relief
This is part of a series of
Visiting Teaching Messages featuring aspects of the mission of the Savior.
As we minster to others, we
become true followers of Jesus Christ, who set the example for us. President Thomas S. Monson said: “We are
surrounded by those in need. … We are the Lord’s hands here upon the earth,
with the mandate to serve and to lift His children.”¹
Linda K. Burton, Relief
Society general president, taught: “With
practice, each of us can become more like the Savior as we serve God’s children
to help us better [minster to] one another, I would like to suggest four words
to remember: “First observe, then
serve.’ … As we do so, we are keeping covenants, and our service, like
President Monson’s, will be evidence of our discipleship.”²
We can pray each morning to
recognize opportunities to serve others.
“Heavenly Father will guide you, and angels will assist you,” said David
L. Beck, Young Men general president.
“You will be given power to bless lives and rescue souls.”³
From the Scriptures
Mathew 20:25-28; 1 Nephi
11:27-28;
3 Nephi 28:18
From Our History
At the October 1856 general
conference, President Brigham Young (1801-77) announced that handcart pioneers
were still crossing the plains and that everyone was to help gather supplies
for them immediately. Lucy Meserve Smith
wrote that women “stripped off their petticoats [large underskirts], stockings
and everything they could spare, right there in the Tabernacle, and piled
[them] into the wagons.”
As the rescued pioneers began
to arrive in Salt Lake City
President George Albert Smith
(1870-1951) said of ministering to others:
“Our eternal happiness will be in proportion to the way that we devote ourselves
to help others.”5
Consider This
1. How
can prayer lead us to be instruments in the Lord’s hands?
2. How can ministering to others help us
keep our covenants?
Notes
1.
Thomas S. Monson, “What Have I Done for Someone Today?” Ensign, Nov. 2009, 86.
2.
Linda K. Burton, “First Observe, Then Serve,” Ensign, Nov. 2012, 78,80.
3.
David L. Beck, “Your Sacred Duty to Minster,’ Ensign, May 2013,56
4.
Lucy Meserve Smith, in Daughters
in My Kingdom: The History and Work of Relief Society (2011), 36-37.
5.
George Albert Smith, in Daughters
in My Kingdom, 77
