November Visiting Teaching Idea/Message

The NovemberVisiting Teaching message is to be selected from talks in our last General Conference. I loved President Monson's talk during the General Relief Society broadcast, and found a fun handout to go with it. President Monson began by sharing the following quote:

A young couple, Lisa and John, moved into a new neighborhood. One morning while they were eating breakfast, Lisa looked out the window and watched her next-door neighbor hanging out her wash.

“That laundry’s not clean!” Lisa exclaimed. “Our neighbor doesn’t know how to get clothes clean!”

John looked on but remained silent.

Every time her neighbor would hang her wash to dry, Lisa would make the same comments.

A few weeks later Lisa was surprised to glance out her window and see a nice, clean wash hanging in her neighbor’s yard. She said to her husband, “Look, John—she’s finally learned how to wash correctly! I wonder how she did it.”

John replied, “Well, dear, I have the answer for you. You’ll be interested to know that I got up early this morning and washed our windows!”

President Monson went on to talk about not judging one another - and the meaning of charity.


Just for fun, I thought I'd share a recipe for homemade window cleaner. It is tied to a bottle of vinegar, which is a main ingredient in this simple concoction, and a great food storage item. I printed the recipe on white copy paper, and on colored cardstock, the following quote:

Charity is having patience with someone who has let us down. It is resisting the impulse to become offended easily. It is accepting weaknesses and shortcomings. It is accepting people as they truly are. It is looking beyond physical appearances to attributes that will not dim through time. It is resisting the impulse to categorize others.

You can download both here.

I cut the recipe out with some freehand scallops, and rubbed the edges on a dark yellow ink pad for a little depth. I glued that to the front of my folded card. I then punched some flower shapes out of newspaper, stacked four together, and attached them to the card with a black brad. I squished up the petals to give the flower some body. Feel free to let your creative juices flow!

I then punched another hole in the corner of the card and tied it to the vinegar with a pretty ribbon. You can view President Monson's talk here.