“Help All People Come Unto Christ by Following Him and His Teachings”

Just as He organized His church in His day, conferring His authority upon His brethren, commanding them to pursue the salvation of mankind, so has He in these latter days restored His church, and revealed His priesthood, and commissioned those who receive the priesthood to warn, expound, exhort, teach, and invite all to come unto Christ. Then, as members do come into His Church, He also commissions His priesthood to visit the house of each member, exhorting them to pray vocally and in secret and to attend to all family duties. For this is the only way to keep His kingdom strong. His charge to us is to be with and strengthen our brethren.

To those who diligently pursue such a course, miracles come to pass, evidenced by testimonies that declare: “He was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found.”

So wrote one sister. She, having been born and raised in another church, states that she and her Mormon husband lived the first years of their marriage without any religious activity. One evening two pleasant fellows appeared at their door and introduced themselves as home teachers. With little encouragement, they kept coming, month after month. Then the husband began, for the first time, to read such Church books as he had.

The sister said that when they moved to another town she packed the books away where she hoped her husband would never find them again. Sure enough, the couple again forgot about religion until other home teachers arrived at their new home.

After the first visit of these new teachers, her husband searched for his books until he found them. The sister states that the one teacher was so friendly that they couldn’t help liking him, and when he began inviting them to Church affairs, they accepted because he seemed to really want them there and they didn’t want to disappoint him.

“Finally,” said the sister, “after calling for many months, he asked if he could offer a prayer in our home, and we didn’t know how to refuse. So the first prayer ever offered in our home was by this home teacher.

“About this time our teenage son began to complain at being sent to my church while neither his father nor I was attending church ourselves. So we compromised by attending the Mormon Church and my church on alternate Sundays.

“Our home teachers had been calling on us for about two years when they asked if the missionaries might call. (We had had them in our former town, but I had refused to listen to them.) This time I agreed to hear the missionaries, but failed to make any effort to listen or understand, and refused to read any of the material that was given to me. After the fourth call, the missionaries handed me more pamphlets and suggested that I read fifty more pages in the Book of Mormon (I had read none of the book yet); then one of them said good-naturedly, ‘Now you can get further behind.’

“Suddenly I was ashamed of my attitude and determined to read the entire Book of Mormon before his next visit. I carried out this promise, and when the missionaries returned I told them I wanted to be baptized. As a result of these efforts by the priesthood brethren, the family was unified and is now enjoying the true purpose of life in harmony with the principles and teachings of the gospel.” (John H. Vandenberg, CR, October 1970, 11)