The pairing of full-time missionaries with home teachers to visit members on a weekly basis here is reaping a crop of baptisms and dramatically increasing Church attendance, according to local mission leaders.
Pres. Gordon W. Romney of the Guatemala City Guatemala Mission reported that missionaries made an average of 10,000 visits to nearly 5,000 families during July and August. During these months, 100 percent of the missionaries reported at least one baptism, and Church attendance increased up to 40 percent in some areas."The members here are really getting excited about home teaching," said Pres. Romney. "When they see the results, they realize what an impact someone's testimony and love can have."
The program is built around Sunday night visits by missionaries and members to both active and less-active families, and daily morning visits by missionaries who use time in between scheduled appointments to visit families for about 15 minutes each.
During these visits, explained Pres. Romney, the missionaries and members "show love, invite the families to Church, detect their critical needs, leave their blessings, and seek referrals."
Later they report the families' needs to the bishop or branch president, and follow up on the referrals, often accompanied by the members who gave them.
"We're merely following the Area Presidency's directives to include the members at the beginning of the conversion process," Pres. Romney reported. "None of this is new or original - we're just being obedient to the Brethren."
In many cases, baptisms have resulted from visits to part-member families. Earlier this year, missionaries attempted to contact a less-active couple living with the wife's parents. The elders came to the house five times, and each time the wife's father refused to let them in. When they returned yet another time, the father's curiousity got the best of him, and he asked the elders why they persisted in visiting.
"We love your daughter and son-in-law," they told the father. "And we have a message of love for you, too." The man softened, hesitated a brief moment, then said, "Oh, come on in." He and five other members of his family were later baptized, and the daughter and her husband came back to the Church.
Pres. Romney credits the growth of the Church stemming from these visits to "persistance, love, and retention."
Of the program, Elder Reyes C. Velasquez of San Marcos, Guatemala, said, "I'm so excited about seeing families return to activity! When I return home from my mission, I'll be the best home teacher ever. I make this commitment to the Lord."
