This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2015, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.

I got my home teaching done and it isn't even close to the last day of the month. That's some kind of record for me.

Home teaching, of course, is the Mormon practice of being assigned members of the ward to check up on once a month.

A couple of guys from the ward drop by for a short visit. Formally, there's supposed to be a gospel message involved and an inquiry about needed assistance, ending with a short prayer.

More often — and more sensibly — home teaching involves shoveling driveways, loaning tools, mowing lawns, fixing stuff, feeding pets and keeping an eye on someone's house while they're on vacation.

There's a female version of home teaching. "Visiting teaching" is basically the same thing, but any help involves female stuff such as pregnancies, actual babies, homemaking assistance, meals, etc.

There is one notable difference. If the sister being visited needs a piano made of lead moved out of her basement, up a circular staircase, and into a small attic, the sister doing the visiting will go get her husband and some other priesthood donkeys.

It's not all fun and hernias. Home/visiting teaching can be logistically problematic. Generally speaking, you have to make an appointment, dress well and try to guess how long before you've overstayed your welcome.

Without dire need — it being the last day of the month — it's considered polite to at least let the family know that you're coming so they can pick up, get dressed and maybe even make treats.

Back to my 100 percent home teaching for the month. It was the easiest visit I've ever made. I home teach Junior, who normally lives a few doors up the street from me. But right now Junior is in jail. He got locked up for any number of things, none of them violent.

On Saturday, Ron and I visited Junior at the Salt Lake County Metro Jail's Oxbow facility. Trapper came along in the event that a getaway driver was needed. Since I also home teach Trapper, this also counted as a visit.

Home teaching someone in jail is enormously convenient. You don't really have to make an appointment. You know he's always going to be home, you're never interrupting anything, and invariably he's happy to see a new face.

We had to wait while Junior was brought from his cell to the visiting area, a narrow open booth with a speaker for communication. He looked a little green but that may have just been the color of the bulletproof glass between us.

We talked about his release date (from jail, not a calling) and inquired whether there was anything we could do to help him.

He asked us to check on his house, which has been sealed by the County Health Department, and money for a phone card so he could call us if he needed anything else.

Then it was time to go. We bumped knuckles through the glass and told him we'd take care of things. We skipped the prayer part because the lady in the next booth was cussing out her son.

I wish all my home teaching was this easy. Chances are I'd get it done more often.

Robert Kirby can be reached at rkirby@sltrib.com or facebook.com/stillnotpatbagley.