Charmaine Lounders, of the Chattahoochee Ward in the Roswell Georgia Stake, wanted to have a ministering assignment but has a difficult time walking. Physically going to minister to sisters in her ward was a challenge.
She spoke to her ward Relief Society president, Candy Haynes, about it, telling her how she felt useless but wanted to do something.
Haynes asked her if she would be willing to minister to women who are inactive by sending them letters.
“I said, ‘Oh yes, that I can do. I can definitely write,’” Lounders said.
Her assignment started with five women who are inactive; now she writes regularly to 11 of her Relief Society sisters, both less active and active members of the ward. Each month she prayerfully searches the Liahona magazine and general conference talks for a message to include in her handwritten letters or cards to each woman.
“The last thing I write is, ‘Always remember how much you are loved,’” Lounders said.
Lounders has been ministering through letter writing for a few years now. Last year, she got a card back in the mail. It was a man who said he was the son of one of the women to whom Lounders had been writing. He told Lounders that his mother had died. While going through her home, he found the pile of cards and letters Lounders had sent and told her how much he appreciated what she had done for his mother.
Recently, Lounders met one of her other ministering sisters at a funeral. The woman told her how much she appreciated her monthly message.
This meant a lot to Lounders, because she never really knew whether what she was sending was making a difference.
“I feel like I’m able to grow from this, and I’m hoping that I’m touching these sisters to let them know that they’re being thought of every month and that they’re loved — by the Relief Society presidency, by our bishopric, by our Heavenly Father,” she said.
Ministering assignments in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints are made so that all members of the Church are remembered and cared for in ways similar to how Jesus Christ blessed those around Him.
Ministering is learning of and attending to others’ needs. It is the Lord’s work, explains ministering.ChurchofJesusChrist.org.
Relief Society General President Camille N. Johnson has explained that members of the Church have the privilege to “represent the Lord” through ministering.
“I hope you’ll consider what the Savior would do to address the needs of the sister to whom you have been assigned,” she said. President Johnson explained that visits to the home, telephone calls and text messages are all appropriate so long as they aim to make the person feel loved.
“This is His work,” she said. “He wants it to be in our hearts that we love and care for others in a way the Savior would. Ministering is that opportunity to practice being disciples of Jesus Christ.”
Lounders knows how important ministering is because she has been blessed by faithful ministering sisters, once called visiting teachers. For example, there was a time in her life when she had been working so much that she wasn’t attending church on Sunday. Her visiting teacher never gave up on her and brought her back to full activity.
She said sometimes people may feel lost or forgotten. But they are never lost or forgotten to Heavenly Father. “That’s how I want these sisters to feel, that they are loved and they are all being thought of. And if anytime they want to come back, there are open arms waiting for them.”
Lounders is grateful for a Relief Society president who gave her the assignment — and the opportunity — to minister, even with her physical limitations.
“She came up with this, and it’s been a blessing ever since.”
