Visiting teaching is a 'way of life'

A bishop recently spoke to Sister Julie B. Beck about a problem he had in his ward. The women, he told the Relief Society general president, don't know how to minister. This was obvious, he continued, because only 10 percent of the Relief Society sisters were completing their visiting teaching each month.

Sister Beck agreed to attend a ward Relief Society meeting and see if she could discover the cause of the problem. "When I got there they sent around a sign-up for about 15 expectant mothers who were going to have new babies," she said. "They needed meals brought in, two meals for each mother. That list filled up just like that. It didn't even make it around the room. Everyone wanted to help."

Instantly, Sister Beck recognized what was happening. "You don't have a ministering problem," she told the bishop. "You have an organization problem."