Day 25: Service

I'm thankful for the opportunity to serve. There are so many ways you can serve, it doesn't have to be this grand act each time. It could be as simple as calling your G'Ma, making dinner for your family or for someone in the ward, giving the homeless man on the side of the freeway a few bucks, smiling, VISITING TEACHING ;), or fulfilling your church calling to the best of your ability.

Albert Einstein said: "Only a life lived for others is a life worthwhile." LOVE IT!

Let me tell you how I've been served in the last few months.....

Recently, I've noticed that my Asian neighbors, who live right next door, bring in my black and blue garbage cans each time I set them out on the appropriate days for pick up. Now, I've only said "hi" to them once or twice the whole year and a half I've lived here and I don't even know if they speak English, but we wave and smile. They just started doing this random act of service a few months ago and one time Mike came over and I said, "Did you pull in my garbage can?" And he said, "No," and then I knew it had to be them. I know you're thinking, 'Lindsay, it's just a garbage can...' but it's not just a garbage can. It's the fact that my neighbor thinks of me and pulls my can all the way to the front of my backyard gate so I can just slip it in when I get home. I really appreciate them doing that for me, week after week. I was FINALLY able to return the favor last week and beat them to the punch!! :)

About a month ago I was really sick and took a day off work, which is WAY unusual. I was super congested, I looked like death, and I just wanted to lay on the couch in my jammies, watch some Judge Judy, drink Gatorade, and eat crackers. The Chippa (Jenny Homer) rescued me and came by with a 2 liter of Sprite, a red and blue Gatorade, saltine crackers, and Blistex!! I don't think she knows how much that meant to me. It may not have been a big deal to her, but it was to me and I would return the favor any day.

And finally, I was up late cleaning and doing stuff around the house and I went to take the garbage out and when I turned on the light in my backyard, I noticed there was no dog poop and I even said out loud, "Where's the dog poop?" For whatever reason, I immediately thought it was my boyfriend, Mike, annnnnnnnnd...IT WAS!! He picked up AT LEAST 2 months of dog poop, without my knowledge, and I couldn't believe he did that!!! I didn't even notice until a few days after he did it. I remember I had mentioned that I needed to pick up dog poop but I never got home from work early enough to do it because it was always dark by the time I got home. I definitely was NOT expecting him to do that nor did I mention it for him to do it. There was A LOT of poop, believe me. I had even babysat my co-worker's dog for 2 weeks so I had 2 weeks of DOUBLE dog poop to pick up on top of picking up the norm. Bet you never thought I'd talk about poop on my blog, did you?!? HAHA!! It was such a kind thing to do and he definitely scored points with me!

I've also had the opportunity to serve much with the calling I have in my singles ward, especially this last month. We decided to help 4 families this year for Christmas and it was the best experience for me. I was in charge of finding the families, getting their names, ages, and what their wants and needs were, organizing when to deliver the gifts, etc. It was quite overwhelming and I had help from a few friends in the ward when I had to leave on a last minute trip to Brazil for work. I couldn't have done it without them and I appreciate everything they did while I was away. The spirit I felt while doing this was amazing. I never wanted that feeling to leave. There's something about the spirit of Christmas; everyone is always a little bit kinder. I have to give props to the awesome young single adults in my ward who signed up to buy things for these families without hesitation.

The Family Home Evening right before Christmas, we split up in groups and went to these families homes. The home I went to was so much fun. The Mom saw us through the window before we even knocked and invited us in. Her and her husband called their 4 boys down and we caroled and gave them two huge boxes full of gifts and a basket of food. I wish you could have seen the look on their kid's faces. After we finished caroling, the Mom thanked us, and told the kids to thank us, and then the Dad walked around and shook every single one of our hands and thanked us. There was about 20 of us standing in their living room. They didn't have much furniture and there wasn't one present under the Christmas tree.

I'm writing about this because it was a great experience for me. I am in no way bragging. I was humbled that night and I was so happy that I was a part of it. It was such a good feeling to know that we served these families during one of the best times of the year.

"And behold, I tell you these things that ye may learn wisdom; that ye may learn that when ye are in the service of your fellow beings ye are only in the service of your God." - Mosiah 2:17