Lets begin with a fun, random note: I just found out my companion also was raised with the "Standing Tall" tapes!! Last week, she was teaching a lesson about Thanksgiving and mentioned how we needed to have an attitude of gratitude. As soon as she said that, I got a song stuck in my head! Unfortunately, I only know one sentence..."when you have a gratitude attitude!" As soon as we got into the car, I started singing that line over and over again. Sis. Moore was so confused, so I told her about the "Standing Tall" tapes: Gratitude, Obedience, Happiness, Work, Honesty, etc. The more I sang tidbits of songs, the more she started to connect them in her head and she realized she knew them too! Yay for childhood memories! It's amazing what we carry throughout our lives that we had learned as a child.
This week we really did focus a lot about gratitude, especially as we help teach others about how a family can be together forever and expressing our gratitude through sharing the gospel. It was so much fun. Sis. Moore and I had a lot of fun thinking up cute ways to share these teachings. My, did we get creative! Our first idea was to create "turkey pass-a-longs" for the members that was a turkey body with pass-a-long cards for its feathers. So cute! All the members we give it to put it somewhere so others will be able to see it. The turkeys had two meanings we hope all the members remember. First, that gratitude is best shown by sharing it so we must all be willing to share the gospel with others for there is nothing to be more grateful for than to have the knowledge of the true, restored gospel. Second, we asked each member to dedicate one of their prayers each day to express only what we are thankful for. Usually, we do thank God for what we have been given, but then we ask a lot from Him. We need a time to really look inside ourselves, see what it is the Lord has done for us this day, and only express these feelings of gratitude to Him. I think a lot about how this goes along with noticing the tender mercies in our lives. When we write them down or vocalize them, we better understand how much the hand of the Lord is in our lives.
Our next idea: sharing our gratitude for our families and knowing we will be together forever, we decided to go caroling on Thanksgiving. Isn't that so cute! I mean, who would say no to a song? Even if we are interrupting their family Thanksgiving dinner? So, we wrote up handouts of "I am a Child of God" and "Families can be Together Forever" and stapled them to the mormon.org pass-a-long card with the Salt Lake Temple. We spent the day contacting people and knocking on doors to share a song with them and give them the words to remember them. It was so much fun! We are hoping to do it again when it gets closer to Christmas. Music has always meant so much to me, so to be able to sing a song we have known since Primary, and so see people willing to stop and listen to us was a great experience.
I truly am grateful for everything that the Lord has given me. I know life is not easy. I myself get discouraged constantly, wondering if I can really make a difference. But it's about working towards pushing away doubts and discouragements and keep looking for the tender mercies of God and noticing all the things we are truly grateful for. This earth was created for us. We are here to learn and to grow. Our Father will not abandon us. His arms are always open to us. We just have to remember that and not turn away from His opened arms.
TENDER MERCY: THE GREATEST COMFORT I CAN FEEL IN THIS LIFE IS KNOWING I HAVE PEOPLE WHO CARE ABOUT ME. I GET FRUSTRATED WITH MYSELF, I LOSE ALL SELF CONFIDENCE IN MY ABILITIES, AND I DOUBT THAT I CAN REALLY ACCOMPLISH WHAT I WHICH I COULD, BUT WHEN SOMEONE CONTINUES TO STAND BY ME AND HAS PATIENCE WHILE I STRUGGLE INTERNALLY, IT BRINGS ME SO MUCH COMFORT AND PEACE. I'M ABLE TO SNAP OUT OF MY FOOLISH DEPRESSION. I FORGET ABOUT MYSELF AND LOOK TO WHAT I CAN DO TO HELP THEM. THERE IS SO MUCH JOY IN THIS WORLD THAT CAN BE MISSED IF WE DWELL ON OURSELVES. I LEARN TIME AND TIME AGAIN TO PUSH PAST MYSELF AND FORCE MYSELF TO JOIN IN WITH MY FRIENDS AND WHEN THAT HAPPENS, I FIND JOY. THEY LIFT MY BURDENS, MAKING ME FORGET WHAT I WAS WORRIED ABOUT. I FIND MYSELF THROUGH OTHERS. THAT TRULY IS HOW THE LORD TOUCHES OUR LIVES. THAT IS WHY FAMILY IS SO IMPORTANT IN THIS LIFE. WE NEED SUPPORT FROM OTHERS. WE NEED FELLOWSHIP AND COMPANIONSHIP. I AM THANKFUL EVERYDAY FOR MY FAMILY, MY FRIENDS, MY COMPANION. I WOULD NOT BE ABLE TO SURVIVE IN THIS LIFE ALONE. THANK GOODNESS THE LORD GAVE US SUCH AMAZING PEOPLE IN OUR LIVES TO LIFT US UP AND THAT WE OURSELVES CAN UPLIFT OTHERS. CHARITY NEVER FAITHETH. HOW TRUE THE WORDS ARE THAT OUR LEGACY IS PASSED FROM HEART TO HEART.
‘Make no small plans: They have no magic to stir man’s souls.’ This is the vision I have for the South. I believe that one day the South will baptize more people into the church than all other English speaking missions in the world together. There are great hosts of marvelous Baptists, and members of the church of Christ, Methodists and Catholics who are honorable people, and have faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and love him. As they see their church veering off to the right or to the left of these basic teachings, they will begin to search for the truth. And as pivotal teachers come into the church and have influence, we will see the time when we baptize hundreds and thousands, tens of thousands. In your day you will see a million members of the church in the South. There will be Temples plural in the Southern States. What a great call you have to serve with these marvelous people. ~Spencer W Kimball (1974)
