Virtual Visting Teacher

   It is well known that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints have many customs that differ from other Christian faiths. The LDS have Home teachers and Visiting teachers.
  Men in the ward (congregation) are home teachers. They are assigned two or three families in the ward that they are to visit once a month. It is the job of the home teacher to watch over the families he is assigned to. He teaches the family, encourages them and also helps them when needed or helps them to find needed resources. This isn't a complete job description I know, any LDS out there who wishes to correct me on this are welcome to do so.
  Women are not left out of this. Women are assigned to visit other women once a month. The job is the same to help, teach, encourage and to assist in finding resources if a woman seems to be struggling.
  I've always liked this custom. I was heavily influenced by my mother's family of Italian heritage. The family members take care of each other. As a Christian, I try to follow the example of Jesus who showed love and compassion to all. This is a way to put that belief in practice.
  I was assigned to visit teach a woman who lived part time in Minnesota and part time in Florida. I wondered how I was going to do this. I knew that my available free time was going to be minimal. This was going to be a challenge.
  I caught up with Barbara (not her real name) at church on Sunday. I told her that I was her Visiting teacher. I also asked her preferred form of contact. We decided that the easiest thing to do would be to use email. I would email her once a month.
  I was well aware that this was not how visiting teaching should be done. Email and letters are permitted, but an actual face to face visit is strongly preferred. I understand the reason for this, but to me this was the type of situation where an exception should be made.
  I decided that every month I would send her a spiritual thought or lesson of some sort just as I would do if I were visiting her in her home. I wanted something catchy to put in the subject line. I decided to send my emails with the subject "A message from your Virtual Visiting teacher."
  Every month I would spend some time listening to talks or thinking about what I might write to her. I wanted my messages to be meaningful. I would pray to Heavenly Father and ask for help in crafting something that she may need to hear. Sometimes the messages came easy, like the one I wrote about everyday miracles. Other times I struggled to find something to say.
  She never wrote back. I never knew if she read what I wrote or if those messages were languishing in her spam folder. I kept writing anyway. The fact that she may not be reading my messages was irrelevant. Plants may or may not grow if the seed is sown, they will not grow if the seeds are not sown.
   This past summer I got word that Barbara and her husband were going to sell their house and move to Florida full time. Their house sold quickly, much faster than they expected. I caught up with her again on her last Sunday in the ward. She thanked me for my messages. Then she asked if I would continue to send them. I was shocked. She is extremely well read and very intelligent. She was one of the best teachers in the ward and I think had something to do with public relations of the LDS church once upon a time. She wanted me to continue sending messages to her because she liked them. I was flattered. She had been reading them. That in and of itself was enough for me. The fact that she also wanted me to continue to send them was amazing. I agreed.
  One thing I've discovered is that I'm getting as much benefit out of writing to her as she is. It's making me think about my faith, listen to more sermons from church leaders and think of practical applications for what I'm learning from reading the Scriptures.
  I know that it isn't the way visiting teaching is supposed to be done, but I'm grateful to be a virtual visiting teacher.