November 2017 Visiting Teaching and First Presidency Message

For this month's visiting and home teaching messages, focus on ministering to those you teach. Pick a message from April general conference to share. You may even consider bringing a copy of the general conference issue of the Ensign or Liahona to share with them. Here are a few talks that stood out to us to help you get started.

We need to continually deepen our knowledge of and obedience to Heavenly Father. Our relationship with Him is eternal. We are His beloved children, and that will not change. How are we going to wholeheartedly accept His invitation to draw near to Him and thus enjoy the blessings He longs to give us in this life and in the world to come?

The Lord said to ancient Israel, and He says to us, “Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love: therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn thee.” Speaking as would the Father, He also says to us, “Thou shalt abide in me, and I in you; therefore walk with me.” Do we trust Him enough to abide in Him and walk with Him?

Read the whole talk on lds.org

One of the great challenges each of us faces every day is to not allow the concerns of this world to so dominate our time and energy that we neglect the eternal things that matter most. We can be too easily diverted from remembering and focusing upon essential spiritual priorities because of our many responsibilities and busy schedules. Sometimes we try to run so fast that we may forget where we are going and why we are running.

The Apostle Peter reminds us that for disciples of Jesus Christ, “his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue:

“Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.”

Read the whole talk on lds.org

Brothers and sisters, it is a joy to be with you. And that’s what I would like to talk with you about this morning—having a fulness of joy.

A recent news headline reads, “Disasters rock the nation [and] world.” From hurricanes and floods to heat waves and droughts, from wildfires and earthquakes to wars and devastating diseases, it seems “the whole earth [is] in commotion.”

Millions of people have been displaced, and countless lives have been disrupted by these challenges. Contention in families and communities as well as inner struggles with fear, doubt, and unfulfilled expectations also leave us in turmoil. It can be difficult to feel the joy that Lehi taught is the purpose of life. We have all asked at times: “Where can I turn for peace? Where is my solace … ?” We wonder, how do I find joy despite the difficulties of mortal life?

Read the whole talk on lds.org

When I was about seven years old, I asked my mother, “When you and I die and go to heaven, will you still be my mother?” She was not expecting such a question. But answering to the best of her knowledge, she said, “No, in heaven we are going to be brothers and sisters. I will not be your mother.” That was not the answer I was hoping for.

Sometime after that short interaction, two young men arrived at the gate of our home. By some miracle, my father allowed them to come in. They said they were missionaries from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

These elders, as we learned to call them, started to teach our family. I vividly remember our feelings of happiness and excitement every time they came to our home. They told us that a young man had gone to a grove to ask God which church was true and that he saw God and Jesus Christ. The elders showed us an illustration of that vision, and when I saw it, I knew that Joseph Smith had indeed seen God the Father and Jesus Christ. The missionaries said that because of this vision, the true Church of Jesus Christ was again upon the earth.

Read the whole talk on lds.org

View all the talks from the October 2017 general conference on lds.org