Right around the time I turned fourteen, I started home teaching; at least in the loosest sense of the word. For the most part, I usually tagged along, sitting quietly in a corner, as shy Aaronic Priesthood holders are apt to do. It wasn’t until I became a part of the elders quorum, however, when I really started to understand what home teaching was all about.
I was ordained an elder about a month before I left on my mission, but for a few months before that I attended the elders quorum meetings on Sundays. I, of course, have been a home teaching companion before this (in fact, I was companion to former BTO guitarist Tim Bachman), but I still had that young man tendency to sit in the corner and hope I didn’t have to read anything.
After I began attending the elders quorum, my home teaching route was changed and my new companion was Eden Engen, the elders quorum president. Little did I know how he would not only help me prepare for my mission, but how he would prepare me for home teaching. Having an elders quorum president as a companion can be like having President Hinckley as a travelling companion; you are always on the go and there is always lots to do.
The first night, everything seemed to go quite normal. Eden did most of the talking at our appointment and gave the lesson. Nothing seemed different. As part of his lesson, he wanted to share a related scripture. That is when the normalcy began to fade away. He asked me to read the scripture – something I do not remember ever doing in the five years previous. To top it off, he asked me to expound on the scripture I had just read and how I felt it related to the message.
When we returned to the car after our visit, he handed me a sheet of paper on which he had written down the five birthdays of each member of that family. I was now responsible for remembering their birthdays. He also handed me the Ensign with instructions to prepare the message for our visit with the next family later in the month.
What a responsibility. Eden understood what a companionship is all about. It is not all about one person dominating every visit. It is not about one person sitting in the corner dreaming about girls and his upcoming mission. It is about teamwork and co-operation; and he was making me a part of the team.
However, that was not it for the night. Eden was going to show me what elders quorum president work was. After we left our visit, we stopped by a few homes where the occupants were no longer active in the Church or whose spouses were not members of the Church. We visited with each of them; we talked, shared stories, offered encouragement, and left commitments. I went home feeling like I had magnified a calling for the first time in my life. Each day we went out was similar.
It never ended there though. Eden offered me uplifting and inspiring experiences from his own mission less than ten years previous. He spent time with me outside of our visits to get to know me and strengthen our companionship. We watched movies together, and played computer games together.
Little did I know that just four years later I would be taking all these things he had taught me and applying them to a similar situation.
It was I now who was the elders quorum president; it was I now who had an 18-year-old home teaching companion. He was a companion who really needed some direction and support. He was already unsure if he should serve a mission and the added pressure he received from his parents and young men president did not change his mind any.
I never did get a chance to talk to Joe before I moved to see if the job I was doing positively affected him. I never had the chance to ask him if his feelings toward home teaching had changed. I never had the chance to ask him how he viewed me as a companion.
I guess I will never know if I was like Eden that year, but I know I tried.
Posted by John in Feature Articles