Service Conference

Last Saturday the Susquehanna Branch (my singles branch) hosted a huge conference focusing on missionary work and service. In the morning we gathered together in the freezing rain with a bunch of other Philadelphians to support Philly Cares. We were assigned to clean up trash in a near by neighborhood, but after determining that it was just too cold, we were asked to clean out an old bowling alley instead. This is where it gets good. We walk into the basement of an old church/ school and find a bowling alley, only it wasn't a typical one. This one happened to be decomposing, swampy, wet, muddy, and purely unsanitary. It was gross.

The sludge behind Hadija is what we initially found.

Elysia and I cleaning.

Because it was so slimy, at first I didn't do much. I held back and whined about how I didn't want to get in it. Then I noticed a chalk board with the words written on it, "Stop crying, and Just Do It." That nice little slap in the face reminded me of the reason I was there at all. I was there to serve, and crying about it was the completely wrong attitude. So I stopped crying, and just did it. I dug in with the others and it wasn't so bad after all. The work went quickly, we cleaned it all out and there was even a lot to laugh about and have fun with.

After showering, it was time to go to the church for our guest speaker, Brother Christensen from the Seventy. His talk was absolutely incredible. He spoke of five different lessons he has learned throughout his life and the experiences he had with each lesson. He is such a humble guy, that listening to him was inspiring. After his talk, we broke out into groups to discuss things that stood out to us. I was a group leader, so I had the opportunity to guide the discussion. I learned a lot from the kids in my group. It was awesome to hear their thoughts and views on what we had just heard.

After the conference, it was time for dinner and a dance. My friend Brittany was in charge of decorating, so for obvious reasons it turned out incredibly. We all helped put everything up the night before, but her vision is what made it look so good.

There were about a million christmas lights to untangle and string up

Heather holding some lights

I wish I had a better picture of the final results, but unfortunately I don't.

There were so many opportunities to serve in this one week/ weekend. And each opportunity struck me with how much good it does to help others. I couldn't help but think that one day in the near future I'd like to use this experience and the lessons learned in a talk. The Lord, with His great humor granted me my wish, and the next day in church I was asked to speak on service my last Sunday here (in other words, tomorrow). I learned a lot and I just hope I remember it, and I use every opportunity to grow and become a better server.