One of my callings in church is to help out with home teaching. While, on the whole, our quorum is tight and headed in the right direction we still have an issue with making our visits. Our stats for August were atrotious and the responses that I received on the phone were apathetic at best. So today I had the uneviable task of trying to stir up some response regarding this important and overlooked calling.
The response we received was slightly warmer then the tepidness I have been getting over the phone. One of the brothers went as far as to dispute one of the scriptures that we read, D&C 20:52, on the grounds that the responsibility to watch over the members belonged to the teachers and not elders. We were blunt with the assessment of our performance and I sensed some people were defensive. I have never understood the "my life is too busy and my families too unreachable" mentality that prevails in some quoroms. Hometeaching is a simple gesture that goes along way in helping members, less active or otherwise, feel fellowship and a little spirit. I apreciated the strong and heartfelt endorsement from the quorum president, I feel it validated our message and offered another testimony.
Anyways, we do love our new ward. We do a good job of being inclusive with everyone who attends. There is much to be proud of, but also, much that still needs to be done. We are in a good position to contribute.