ON HOME TEACHING A Lesson for the Sterling Park Ward Home Teaching Conference

1. ON HOME TEACHINGA Lesson for the Sterling Park WardHome Teaching Conference Bishop D. Calvin Andrus 08 January 2006

2. Setting a Context • As an introduction, I would like to present some trend data which describes our ward.

3. Membership Trends

4. Temple Recommend Holders

5. Sacrament Meeting Attendance

6. Percentage Paying Tithing

7. Sheparding Ratio

8. Home and Visiting Teaching

9. The Value of Home Teaching

10. Who Should Be Home Taught? 1 of 2 • Historically, we have home taught just under 50 percent of the families. • So, which 50 percent SHOULD those be? The 50 percent for whomhome teaching makesthe most differencein their lives!

11. Who Should Be Home Taught? 2 of 2 • Luke 6:32-35 • For if ye love them which love you, what thank have ye? for sinners also love those that love them. And if ye do good to them which do good to you, what thank have ye? for sinners also do even the same. And if ye lend [to them] of whom ye hope to receive, what thank have ye? for sinners also lend to sinners, to receive as much again. But love ye your enemies, and do good, and lend, hoping for nothing again; and your reward shall be great, and ye shall be the children of the Highest: for he is kind unto the unthankful and [to] the evil. • If ye home teach those that home teach you, what thank have ye? But home teach, hoping for no home teacher, and your reward shall be great. • Unfortunately it is not as easy as leaving the 99 for the 1 • It is the much more difficult leaving the one half for the other half • Some families will be in the group we leave • This is a sacrifice they make so those who need home teaching more will be home taught

12. Who are the half we need to seek? • Widows • Fatherless • New Converts • Recently reactivatedmembers • Those working towardthe Temple • Partially active • Others with special needs

13. Need to Make some Changes • The High Priests and the Elders Quorum are going to review their home teaching assignments and make revisions as needed to adjust to this paradigm. Now that we understand who to home teach, let’s talk about how we home teach.

14. Get Ready for a Quiz • There are 20 items on the quiz, in three sets. • Please number your answer sheets as follows: 1-1. 1-2. 1-3. 1-4. 1-5. 2-1. 2-2. 2-3. 2-4. 2-5. 3-1. 3-2. 3-3. 3-4. 3-5. 3-6. 3-7. 3-8. 3-9. 3-10.

15. When a home teacher can’t sync calendars with his companion, so he just takes his wife. When both companions visit the family together, but don’t give a spiritual thought and don’t have a prayer. When both companions stand at the doorstep and give a spiritual message. When one companion leaves a plate of cookies his wife made on the doorstep at Christmas time. When the companionship gives a blessing to one of the children in the hospital. Yes-No Quiz, Part 1 Which of these can we count as Home Teaching?

16. When a companion and his wife go to dinner with the mother and father of the family. When one companion goes to watch one child’s sports event. When one companion lets all the kids stay at his house for three days, while the mother and father attend an out-of-town funeral. When the two companions do yard work for the family, but don’t leave a spiritual message. When one companion goes by himself and gives a spiritual message and has a prayer. Yes-No Quiz, Part 2 Which of these can we count as Home Teaching?

17. Watch a football game? Read the newspaper? Pick corn? Kindle fire? Heal the sick? Camp at the National Jamboree? Camp at a district camp-o-ree? Cook meals? Write two or more letters? Erase two or more letters? Yes-No Quiz, Part 3 Which of these can we do and still keep the Sabbath Day Holy? ?

18. Jewish law prohibits doing any form of melachah ("work", plural "melachot") on Shabbat. Melachah does not closely correspond to the English definition of the term "work", nor does it correspond to the definition of the term as used in physics. Rather, it refers to the 39 categories of activity that the Talmud prohibits Jews from engaging in on Shabbat 1. Sowing; 2. Plowing; 3. Reaping; 4. Binding sheaves; 5. Threshing; 6. Winnowing; 7. Selecting; 8. Grinding; 9. Sifting; 10. Kneading; 11. Baking; 12. Shearing wool; 13. Washing wool; 14. Beating wool; 15. Dyeing wool; 16. Spinning; 17. Weaving; 18. Making two loops; 19. Weaving two threads; 20. Separating two threads; 21. Tying; 22. Untying; Jewish Sabbath Observance 23. Sewing stitches; 24. Tearing; 25. Trapping; 26. Slaughtering; 27. Flaying; 28. Tanning; 29. Scraping hide; 30. Marking hides; 31. Cutting hide to shape; 32. Writing two or more letters; 33. Erasing two or more letters; 34. Building; 35. Demolishing; 36. Extinguishing a fire; 37. Kindling a fire; 38. Putting the finishing touch on an object; 39. Transporting an object between a private domain and the public domain, or for a distance of 4 cubits within the public domain; Reference: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shabbat

19. Exodus 20:8-11 Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work: But the seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates: For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it. 39 Prohibitions 1. Sowing; 2. Plowing; 3. Reaping; 4. Binding sheaves; 5. Threshing; 6. Winnowing; 7. Selecting; 8. Grinding; 9. Sifting; 10. Kneading; 11. Baking; . . . 39. . . . How and Why did it come to this? ➙ ➙ Commandment Talmud Explanations 11 Baking a. cooking, b. baking, c. roasting and d. poaching e. (frying) f. (microwaving)

20. Smart men, thinking long and hard about the commandment came up with what seemed to be reasonable interpretations. These seemed useful for those who did not have The Spirit to guide them. Over time, using the wisdom and logic of the earth, the interpretations were nit-picked to death. The spiritual life had been reasoned and debated out of the commandment. What Happened

21. Mark 2:23, 24, 27 And it came to pass, that he went through the corn fields on the sabbath day; and his disciples began, as they went, to pluck the ears of corn.And the Pharisees said unto him, Behold, why do they on the sabbath day that which is not lawful? And he said unto them, The sabbath was made for man, and not man for the sabbath: What Christ Thought • Matthew 12:10-12 • And, behold, there was a man which had his hand withered. And they asked him, saying, Is it lawful to heal on the sabbath days? that they might accuse him. And he said unto them, What man shall there be among you, that shall have one sheep, and if it fall into a pit on the sabbath day, will he not lay hold on it, and lift it out? How much then is a man better than a sheep? Wherefore it is lawful to do well on the sabbath days.

22. So when we ask ourselves questions like: “Is it ok to read the newspaper on the sabbath?” We have already fallen into the Pharisaic trap of reasoning the life out of the Sabbath, before we even get to the answer. Such questions evidence a Telestial understanding of the Sabbath. Telestial Sabbath Keeping

23. So when we ask ourselves questions like: “Does it count as home teaching if I go by myself without my companion?” We have already fallen into the Pharisaic trap of reasoning the life out of the Home Teaching, before we even get to the answer. Such questions evidence a Telestial understanding of the Home Teaching. Telestial Home Teaching

24. Asking such questions is a great temptation for Elder’s QuorumPresidents or High Priest GroupLeaders or Bishops to becomemodern-day Pharisees. They would love nothing more than to split the hairs and issue a myriad of conditional definitions of when a particular behavior counts or doesn’t count as home teaching. Tempting Priesthood Leaders

25. D&C 20:42-54 teach, expound, exhort, baptize, and watch over the church…and visit the house of each member, and exhort them to pray vocally and in secret and attend to all family duties,…to watch over the church always,and be with and strengthen them; and see that there is no iniquity in the church, neither hardness with each other, neither lying, backbiting, nor evil speaking Wondering if I can count it as home teaching if I attend a sports event in which one of the children of one of my families participates? How did we get here? To From

26. In being pharisaical about what things count as home teaching, we have forgotten that probably the most important calling of a home teacher is to “be with and strengthen” the family. What does it mean to be with? Hmmm, maybe, BE WITH? Even the most pharisaical among us would probably agree that 10 minutes a month does not constitute “being with.” Be With and Strengthen

27. I ask that each home teacher, several times this year, take advantage of pre-existing opportunities or create opportunities to “be with” the families they home teach. The Spirit will guide you and help make it happen. In doing so, will you fulfill your true role as home teacher In addition, you and your families will be blessed in the specific ways you need blessings. A Plea . . .

28. So what can we do and keep the Sabbath day holy? What ever The Spirit tells you to do, after you have prayed and asked. That is the Celestial view of Sabbath So what counts as home teaching? What ever The Spirit says counts, after you have prayed and asked. That is the Celestial view of Home Teaching. The Answers to the Quiz

29. The End