Visiting Teaching Treasures

Hints for Helping

Here are three 'Hints for Helping':

To teach Gospel Principles, you need to have the guidance of the Spirit.

14. And the Spirit shall be given unto you by the prayer of faith; and if ye receive not the Spirit ye shall not teach.Doctrine & Covenants 42:14

To ensure the Spirit is with you, remember just two little points:

Listen actively to the whole message.
Use eye contact when communicating and face the sister with whom you are speaking.
Be aware of personal space and maintain an open posture, eg. try not to fold your arms.
Be still, ie. don't fiddle or become distracted.
Be enthusiastic and/or encouraging, and use an appropriate tone of voice.
Make brief minimal responses such as, "Yes", "I see", "And then?", non-verbal encouragers like, "Mmmm" or "Uh huh", are also helpful. Nodding your head or using raised eyebrows can also prompt the sister to carry on talking.
Asking questions can be encouraging: "What happened next?" "Who was involved?".
Respond to what your sister says in one of these ways:
- Paraphrasing: try to put what she's said into your own words.
- Clarify by asking questions which give details about the content and what the issues seem to be.
- Reflect her feelings; sometimes you can even repeat what she's said, if done in an appropriate manner, or you can try and find a word to sum up what you think she feels: "I imagine you must be feeling...".
- Summarise what she's said.

Links to reader's suggestions will appear here.

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