Visiting Teaching - January 2016

Happy New Year, Sisters!

Bloggers have been very bust putting together fantastic ideas for Visiting Teaching for the month of January, which focuses on The Family - A Proclamation to the World.

LDS.org is always the first website I visit to prepare this blog post and to prepare myself for visiting teaching each month.  This month there are three videos that you could send links to for the sisters you teach.  Here is one of those videos:

Marci Coombs has become one of my favorite visiting teaching bloggers.  She creates beautiful handouts that are filled with vibrant colors.  She also comes up with great ideas for delivering the handouts to the sisters we teach.  This month her handout includes a quote from Neal A. Maxwell that focuses on the idea that families are our 'jewels'...those most precious to us.  Then she attaches the quote to a Ring Pop or candy necklace...so fun!

She also created a beautiful recopied edition of the Proclamation, which she suggests framing in an inexpensive frame from the dollar store to give your sisters.

Here is the link to her direct site...Marci Coombs Blog

The Idea Door has a great blog post this month.  It includes many, many links with information relation to the proclamation.  Here is the link to this site...The Idea Door.  There is also a cute handout you can download:

Here is one more cute handout that I will have copied and available in the Relief Society binders this month:

Happy Visiting!

Love,
Sister Byrnes

Visiting Teaching Ideas - December

Happy December, Sisters!

Through out the year we have been focusing on the attributes of Christ.  How fitting is it that for December we are focusing on Christ's compassion and kindness?  This is a perfect time of year to reach out to others to show compassion and kindness to others.  There so many ways that we can reach out to others...through our visiting teaching, through the giving tree, through random acts of kindness.  We can serve others in our ward community and beyond.  This blog contains just a few of the many ways that you can reach out to your sisters.

Send your sisters a Christmas Card
A quick note is always appreciated and receiving something in the regular mail in this age of digital communication is a real treat.  Here is a little handout you can include in the card.  You can print it out yourself or grab one in the Relief Society binder.

My Happy Tribe Handout
This link will take you to a PDF of this handout that you can print at home.















Send an email
You can check in with your sisters through a quick email to let them know you're thinking of them. You can include a digital picture of the handout above.  You can also send them a link to this video:
What Shall We Give? - Mormon Tabernacle Choir
This is a wonderful music video from the Mormon Tabernacle Choir.

Here is another video you can include in a link in your email.  You can preview the video below. Here is the link to the website.

Take them a treat or a small gift
Marci Cooms has a beautiful tag/handout that you can include with the gift.  You can access her blog for the handout here.  There are also copies of this tag in the relief society binder.

Stop by for a visit
This is the handout from LDS.org.  You can print the PDF here.

Provide service for your sisters
Here is the handout that was in the Relief Society binder for ideas:

Happy Visiting and Merry Christmas!

Love,
Sister Byrnes

Wreath Making Activity

Visiting Teaching - October

Happy October!

I'm so excited because this is one of my favorite times of the year here in Cleveland!  Okay, so summer really is my favorite time of year because it is so much more relaxed around my house.  Autumn gets CRAZY!!  My kids are all back in school, so we have nightly homework routines.  We have soccer most days each week and the leaves are starting to fall...so bring on the raking!  My dining room table is perpetually covered with homework assignments, permission slips, and the occasional shin guard.  We are BUSY!  However, it is also the time of Patterson's apple cider donuts, long hikes on chilly days out by Brandywine Falls, and SOUP!  Hooray for fall!  

Despite all of the craziness at my house, I hope to get out soon to see the sisters I visit teach...and there are SO many ideas for visiting teaching in October.  I think Heavenly Father created Pinterest just for mormons...so many ideas for cub scouts, teaching the youth, FHE ideas, provident living, food storage recipes, and...VISITING TEACHING IDEAS!  

Here we go...

OCTOBER Visiting Teaching Handout - lds.org
LDS.org - VT Link

Here are two of the many videos included as suggested additions to the monthly message:
Charity-An Example of the Believers
Love One Another


Here are a couple of handouts you could print and send by mail or attach to an email:

And here was a really cute Visiting Teaching poem for October:

But here was my absolute favorite idea which comes from Marci Coombs BLOG:

Here is my AMAZING recipe for Pumpkin Bread with Chocolate Chips that you can make to go with the tag:

Mix together the following for 10 minutes (in mixer):

1 large can of pumpkin (Libby brand)

          1 cup of oil

          3 cups of sugar

Add:

          4 eggs

          3 and 1/3 cups of presifted flour (do not sift)

          1 1/2 teaspoons of salt

          2 teaspoons of cinnamon

          1 teaspoon of cloves

          1 teaspoon of nutmeg

          2 heaping teaspoons of baking soda

Mix for 5 or 10 more minutes. Then, use a spoon to mix in any or all of these ingredients: light or dark raisins, chopped nuts, chocolate chips. (Amount is up to you, but probably no more than 2 cups of extra stuff altogether.)

Grease loaf pans (Pyrex, foil, or metal) – 3 large size, or about 6 mini-loaf pans. Lightly flour the bottoms.

Fill batter halfway full in each pan. (The batter rises.)

Bake at 350 degrees for about 50-60 minutes for the large loaves and about 45-50 minutes for the smaller loaves. You can check if they are done with the toothpick test.

If all else fails...drop off a pumpkin!

Happy Visiting!

Sister Byrnes

Service Auction

If you have never been to a service auction...it's awesome! And you aren't going to want to miss this one! 

-There will be no money involved in this auction. That night you will fill out a survey of a random assortment of questions that will give you points. You can use these points to "buy" services at the auction. 

-Be thinking now of goods or services that you can give to other sisters in the ward. You DO NOT have to bring any of these things or do any of these things that night! You simply promise to do them for whoever has the highest bid at the auction! Here are some ideas of things you can auction off. ANY thing you can do, teach, or give! 

Lessons in knitting or crochet

Baby blankets

Computer lessons

Quilting lessons

Dance lessons

Dinner

Scrapbook kits or premade pages

1 hour of cleaning

Snow shoveling

Massage

Cinnamon rolls

Cleaning the house

Babysitting

Yard Work

Car Wash or Detail

Sew a Halloween Costume

Bathroom Cleaning

Carpet Cleaning

Birthday Cake

Homemade Jewelry

Sewing lesson

Voice/piano lesson

Christmas present wrapping

Set of homemade candles

Professional family photo

Handmade scripture case

Hair cut & style

Already made crochet or knitted baby items

2hrs genealogy work

"Clean out your fridge" service

Baseboard cleaning

Substituting in their primary class

Homemade ice cream

Blog design

Can't wait!!!

Also, remember that we are starting a "give and take" table after some of our RS activities. Bring any old items you are ready to get rid of and enjoy shopping through the discards of others!

Daddy Daughter Campout!

September 11th at the John Johnson Farm
Bring your own camping supplies and dinner. Dessert and breakfast will be provided.

More details to follow, contact Brother Belcher if you have questions.

Visiting Teaching - August

Happy August, sisters!

We have a little over a week to reach out to the sisters we visit.  Here are some resources for you:

Here is the PDF of the visiting teaching message from lds.org.  You can email this to your sisters as an attachment if you click on the "download" button in the top right corner and save it to your computer.  There are also copies printed out and available in the Relief Society binder which you could mail to your sisters or bring with you as you visit them.
VT Message from LDS.org
(Click the link above to download)









Here are images of the handouts that are available in the binders and some others as well:

There are several videos that relate to the August theme of being meek and humble like Christ...grab your Kleenex box!

Our Hands, His Hands; Our Heart, His Heart
Suffer the Little Children to Come Unto Me
The Will of God
Can We Learn Obedience? - Arabian Horse

Please reach out to the sisters you visit this week if you haven't already contacted them in August.  And don't forget to let your VT supervisor know when you have made contact.

Love,
Sister Byrnes