When my mom was in high school, my grandma and grandpa were in charge of the youth conference in Kirkland, Washington. They decided to do something completely different for their conference. Instead of choosing the usual flashy and entertaining route, which might have involved white river rafting and other exciting activities, they decided to do a huge service project. They gathered together 180 kids and built two barns in 3 days. The first barn was a half barn, half shed, built for an older man in the community. His old shed blew down in a bad storm, and the insurance wouldn’t pay to replace it. The second was more of a house, built for a family of 8 who had lost all of their money and were living in a small trailer. Their conference theme was, “You Love Who You Serve.” While at first none of the kids were very excited about working in a construction site for 3 days, as they began the project and worked together, they realized just exactly the importance of what they were doing. Their attitudes began to change as they found how much they loved what they were doing. Not so much because any of them really enjoyed construction or building barns, but because they loved putting the work into something that would benefit someone else. It was completely unselfish time spent, but it benefited the kids who were working the most. As one boy said in an article written in the New Era, “Mr. Roney (the man they were building the shed for) told us the quality of our work was A-1, top-notch. The look on his face as this place went up taught me I’m happiest when making someone else happy.” He continues on, saying, “I remembered working along with my friends and feeling something. I glanced around. It wasn’t just my friends; the Savior was there too.”
Service can
be an overwhelming thing. We are provided with plenty of opportunities at
mutual, youth conferences, and camps, but trying to do things with a willing
heart and on our own time can be a hard thing. A lot of times when I think of
service, I think of huge projects, and it feels like a lot. But service doesn’t
always have to be something as greatly big as building 2 barns in 3 days - in
fact, as awesome as that is, it rarely has to be of that size. Service can be found
in the way we treat others. Smiling at people in the hall at school, saying hi
to someone you usually wouldn’t. A lot of times, service can be found in the
kind of person you are. I really like this quote that says, “Fill yourself up
with so much love that it spills into the lives of others.” When you reach out
to people in the little ways and let them know that you’re there for them, even
if you aren’t best friends, that’s one of the purest forms of service you could
give to someone.
So how do
you become that kind of person? It always bothers me when I ask my mom how to
do something and she tells me to “just make the choice to do it!” but in this
case, it’s kind of true. Once we become aware of the people around us and the
difference we could make for them, we can look for ways to reach out to them.
Make the choice every day to look around you and find opportunities to serve,
large and small.
Another
thing that would help us in our efforts to serve and be kind would be to make
sure that we are sure of ourselves, and I think a good way to do that is to be
rooted in the gospel. Like President Uchtdorf said, “We would do well to slow
down a little, focus on the significant, and truly see the things that matter
most.” If we understand God’s love for those around us, and we have Christ’s
example to follow every day, it will be so much easier to be willing to serve.
We are all capable of amazing things on our own, but I know from experience
that if we have God’s power behind us it will hugely amplify what we’re doing
by ourselves.
So why
should we do service? Why should we really worry about the people around us
when we already have plenty of our own things to worry about? First of all is
what I think is a pretty clear reason, and that is that the people around us
matter. A lot of people that we have the opportunity to interact with everyday
don’t have a lot of support in their lives. If we can recognize that and become
the support and friend they need, we’ll be helping shape a part of their
future. If everyone were to reach out to just one person every day, can you
imagine the effect that would have on the kind of world we live in? Another
reason would be that service affects each of us and the kind of person we’re
becoming. When we look outside of ourselves, we can find the kind of joy and
peace that we should find in this life. Like President Monson said, “To find
real happiness, we must seek for it in a focus outside ourselves.” By becoming
more like the Savior through service, we can become happier, better people. And
I don’t know about you, but I kind of prefer joy over misery.
I would like
to bear my testimony that I know that service is a truly great thing. There are
so many opportunities around us to help others. Whether it’s a huge project
like building a barn or two, or just helping someone pick up papers they
dropped in the hall, it matters, and it makes a difference. I know that if we
each strive to become better and be better to those around us, we will become
closer to the Savior and become more secure in the gospel and in our testimony
of it. I hope we will all look for more opportunities to serve and be willing
to take part in them. And I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.
(Do you write out your testimony in talks?? I always do! Personally it gives me more direction towards what I want to say. Sometimes I follow it exactly when speaking, sometimes not, but it helps me stay on topic! Do you have any talk tips or things you do to help when speaking?)
*New Era article credit - written by Tracy H. Barrand in the June 1987 edition of the New Era, called "Hair-raising, Care-raising, Barn-raising." Read the whole article here!
XOXO,
Savannah
