For Dax Castro of West Sacramento, California, there seem to be countless obstacles to fulfilling an important responsibility he has in his LDS ward: home teaching.

That's why Castro, a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, designed an app that he hopes will help eliminate excuses, and make home and visit teaching more effective.

"Every month we sit in priesthood and they ask, 'Who's done his home teaching?' " Castro said. "And every month I have an excuse. ... I have seven boys and a girl, so there's always an excuse. There's always something that I can use as a way to justify why I haven't done my home teaching."

That's why Castro, a graphic designer, put his skill set to use creating an app that might make the experience of home and visiting teaching in the LDS Church easier.

After scrolling through current apps with a similar purpose, Castro found that they often had many complaints or didn't work well. That's when he decided that if he was going to make his own app, it had to be worth people's time to use.

"One of the features that I'm really excited about is the smart date appointments," Castro said.

This feature will improve the process of setting up appointments between companions and the families they visit by sending out an email asking each party to detail their availability.

"The app picks up the email and figures out (a schedule) based on who replied and says here is the best schedule for you," Castro said.

"It gives you a little pre-made appointment list, and you just have to approve it. And once you approve it, it sends an email back to everyone on that list saying here is your date and time, we'll see you then."

The app also includes a link to the First Presidency message and a video message that could be used for the lesson each month.

"I wanted to make sure that this was not the gospel according to Dax, but help people use the tools that the church is providing. It's just amazing how much information is out there," Castro said.

Once home or visit teaching is done, the app allows the user to select a report form that can be sent directly to supervisors.

Home teaching has become even more important to Castro as he has realized that when he has his priorities straight, he is the happiest.

"I fell away from the church at one point, and early on my parents divorced and they fell away, and I kind of moved on, joined the army and fell away. And it wasn't until a divorce in my life that I realized that I was missing something. ... I looked back on my life and thought, 'When was the last time that I was most happy and joyful in my life?' and it was the time I was going to church," Castro said.

"I just know if more people put the church, put their family as the center of their life, there would be a lot less struggles in their families. And I think home teaching and visiting teaching is a great way to reach out and refocus, to help remember that the priority is the family. ... There is no better place for your family and no better calling than to be a home teacher or visiting teacher."

While Castro has designed the layout and logic of the app, it has yet to be created. Castro has a Kickstarter program to raise money for the cost of programming the app.

"Although I could do it on a shoestring, that's what everyone else does, and that's why they're all not really good and don't really work," Castro said. "I want this app to really be something that can be useful for people."

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