Service from a Stranger

Isn't it your dream to kick off your weekend with an out of the blue service project that involves cleaning a perfect stranger's house? It's not mine either.

This past week, as we were getting ready to move into the house in Fruit Heights, we encountered one BIG problem. It wasn't clean. It was a disaster zone. Everything that the Landlord had promised would be done, wasn't. I could go on forever telling you about all of the things that hadn't been done, but I won't. I'll put up one picture of what we walked into, and let you imagine it yourself.

Now that that is taken care of, you can feel our pain. We were supposed to have taken the house on the 18th, but here it was, the 25th, and we still couldn't move in. We couldn't wait any longer either. The boys had given their notice to the current Landlord, and had to be out by the 30th. All of the storage units, that the rest of the family was using from their move had to be emptied by the 28th, and we couldn't move anything.

When we realized that we couldn't start our long weekend of moving until the house was clean, we made the obvious choice... We set out to do it ourselves. We were not at all thrilled, but we had no other options. We bought the cleaning supplies and prayed for the best as we started out.

With everyone working, and going to school, it was left to John, Jared and me to get started by ourselves. After four hours of unsuccessfully trying to clean the kitchen, we felt defeated. There was no way we would be able to get it done on time. We took a break to get some lunch, and then we headed back to it along with John's mom who was now off of work.

Minute after precious minute raced by, and it seemed like we were still hardly denting the dirt. Only a miracle would help us now.

Then we heard it... A knock at the door... Who could it be? We didn't know anyone in the area, and yet there it was, a knock on the door. We opened the door to find a pleasant looking woman with a smile who said, "Hi, I'm from next door. Are you guys moving in?"

We so didn't have the time for this, but we continued the conversation with smiles, "We are. We're working on cleaning some things before we can move in though, and we have to finish it tonight," desperately trying to hint, subtly that she needed to leave.

"You shouldn't have to clean to move into a house. It should be cleaned for you."

Of course we realized this, and knowing what a predicament we were in, again tried to hint to the nice woman that she leave, "We know, but here we are. We've really got to get back to it."

Peering from around the door, the woman asked, "Would you like a hand or two? I'd be glad to come over and help."

Embarrassed by a mess that wasn't ours, we calmly declined her offer, and added that she didn't need to help us. This was not what she wanted to hear. After a few moments of debating back and forth, it was agreed that the woman could help us if she really wanted to. She came in and quickly surveyed the situation. "Let me run to my house and grab a few things. I'll be back in just a few minutes."

Moments later, she returned, and with her she brought a bucket and some more cleaning supplies. "where should I start?" she asked. "I called some of the other women from the Relief Society as well. They should be here soon." She added.

We were blown away. Within thirty minutes, over twenty new smiling faces were in our house, and were working away at cleaning the mess that was neither our nor their's. It was amazing! A couple of hours later, and most of the work was done. Bathrooms had been cleaned, the laundry room had been vaccuumed out, and scrubbed. Walls had been washed, cupboards had been scrubbed and disinfected, and all of the windows had been washed, inside and out. There were only a few smaller tasks left, and we could finish them ourselves.

With smiles and welcoming words, they each left a few at a time. All we were left with was a much better outlook on the job at hand, and an overwhelming feeling of love.

This act of love exemplifies a quote from Spencer W. Kimball, which says, ""Service to others deepens and sweetens this life while we are preparing to live in a better world. It is by serving that we learn to serve. When we are engaged in the service of our fellowmen, not only do our deeds assist them, but we put our own problems in a fresher perspective. When we concern ourselves more with others, there is less time to be concerned with ourselves! In the midst of the miracle of serving, there is the promise of Jesus that by losing ourselves, we find ourselves!" -Speaks Out on Service to Others, New Era, Mar. 1981, 47.

I don't even have the names of these wonderful women, but I know that they each understand the meaning of service. These women are righteous examples of losing oneself in service. I am so grateful that they are the kind of women that we are surrounding ourselves with, and I hope that I can have the opportunity to serve each of them in return.

What a way to meet the Relief Society!

Trials and Testimony

In getting ready for the wedding, I’ve been doing a lot of things to prepare for the Temple. I’ve been meeting with my Bishop, and working on reading my scriptures daily. I’ve been trying to grow closer to my Heavenly Father, and my Savior through prayer, and I have come to realize that on a lot of levels, I fall short of what many expect of me, but as I have tried to better prepare myself for the promises that I will be making, I have come to realize a few things:
1.       I don’t need to be concerned with what the world thinks of me.
2.       I don’t have to be perfect only willing to try.
3.       I won’t fall short of my eternal potential if I just keep pushing forward.
4.       There will be opposition in all things, and that’s good for me.

To expound… At the end of the day, the most important relationship that I can hope to nurture, other than the relationship with my eternal companion, is my relationship with God, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Ghost. I don’t need to worry about whether or not people think that my life is on the right track, or whether or not they accept my decision in my faith. I don’t need the people who would question my friendship, or my goodness as a person because of how I choose to worship. There are many different faiths, and they work for many different people. If they make them better people then, that’s what matters. This is the faith that I choose to make me a better person. I believe with all of my heart that I have made the choice to join the most correct church.

I don’t have to be perfect. Many people would get hung up on the scriptures in Matthew 5:48, and 3 Nephi 12:48 that ask us to be “PERFECT” like our Father.  The perfection being referred to is Man’s potential to become like God. One of the things that I have come to love as I read the scriptures is the fact that my understanding  of what is asked of us in this life has become clearer. Often times we dwell on the words that seem impossible. To ask anyone on this earth to be perfect would be setting them up for failure. An example of this is the sacrament prayer (Doctrine and Covenants 20:77). In the blessing said over the bread many people would say that we are promising to do four things: 1. Take upon themselves the name of the Savior 2. Always remember him 3. Keep the commandments 4. Always have the spirit with them. These are great principles, and principles that we should always be striving to abide by. The most important word in this verse (to me) is the word willing.  We promise to be willing to do the four things mentioned above. I will admit that throughout my life, and my day to day tasks, and errands, I sometimes have things on mind that I allow to come before my remembrance of the Savior. I get angry, and am unable to have His spirit with me at all times. I am human. I break commandments from time to time, BUT I know that because I am willing to try to do all of those things, because I am willing to try again to do them when I fall short, by taking the sacrament, that I will be blessed. I know that it gets easier over time to DO the things that I say I am willing to do.

I also know that there will always be opposition in the things that I do. I know that the closer I get to my Heavenly Father, the harder the Adversary is going to try to stall my progression. I know that that is the way that it starts. It starts with a stall. By definition, stalling is the stopping of a moving force. It is very hard to turn an arrow around 180 degrees when it is traveling on a set course. Something must first slow, and then stop the arrow before it can be fired in the opposite direction. It is much the same when talking about reaching for the potential of man to become like God. A person who has a close relationship with the Lord is much harder to tempt and lead astray than a person with no spiritual driving force. The closer I become to my Heavenly Father, the more persuasion it is going to take to make me falter. The temptations of the adversary are subtle. They are as subtle as being idle. In 2 Nephi 28: 21 we learn that the devil will pacify, and lull spirits into a carnal security, and will make them believe that everything is well. This is how we allow, and enable the adversary to cheat our souls and lead us carefully down to hell.  It’s not a matter of walking to the edge and jumping off. The devil is careful in leading us away from our Father. The closer we get, the more opposition we will find, but on the same note, the closer we become to our Savior, the more careful and thought out the deceit will have to be.

I would like to share my testimony of the potential found in each and every one of us. I know that we are all choice spirit children of our Father in Heaven, and that there is not a trial or pitfall in this life that we cannot overcome. I know that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is the most correct church on this earth, and I know that by striving to be willing to do the things that we are asked by the Lord, we can obtain all of the blessings and rewards of reaching our eternal potential to be like our Father in Heaven.