Service Station

When life gets overwhelming and personal problems seem too much to bear, it's curiously healing to set aside our own difficulties and find ways to lighten the burdens of others. That's what I love about the quote below. Service has a way of putting things into perspective and highlighting the things that are most important. 

 

A Worthy Cause

Do you want to make a world of difference with a small donation? I have just the charity for you. Educate the Kids is a charity out of Scotland that has built an orphanage and schools and changed the lives of thousands of children in a small village in Kenya, Africa. The charity was started by Maureen over 20 years ago. Maureen is the mother of my friend, Yvonne, from Scotland. Yvonne helps run the charity as well. These ladies are as good as they come. I have known them for almost 30 years and I can fully vouch for their integrity and goodness. 

Because Educate the Kids is run by volunteers, they don't withhold any money from donations for administrative fees. Every penny of your donation will go to help the kids. You can donate directly through their website or you can contribute specifically toward food parcels* through Just Giving. The food parcel program was set up when the village lost their main source of income - tourism - during the Covid pandemic. Educate the Kids has literally saved this little community by providing them food and hope. 

The school is finally open once again after the pandemic closed it for several months.

A little goes a long way! Please consider a donation. And tell your friends! 

*The food parcel program says it's for Christmas, but as of today (February 18, 2021), they are still collecting donations and providing the parcels to families in the village. 

These handsome boys live in the orphanage.

Who is in Your Back Room?

Some good food for thought...

An Empty Manger

When I was young, my mom read us a story called "The Last Straw" about a family that drew names and did acts of service for each other. With each act of service, they would lay a piece of straw in a manger. Their goal was to make a soft bed for the baby Jesus by Christmas day.

We've done this in our family a few times over the years, but this year I'm adapting it a little. Instead of drawing names, I want my kids to be aware of the needs around them. Rather than focusing on serving one individual, I want them to learn to see needs that will bless any member of our family or our family as a whole.

I assembled this crude manger this afternoon with popsicle sticks and glue. It sits empty for now, but I'm hoping that it will fill right up as we transform it from an empty manger to the softest bed overflowing with love and service for the baby Jesus.

And I hope this will continue way past December 25!

Service With A Smile

On Sunday, one of the speakers at church gave an excellent talk about service. Rather than tell us what service is, the speaker shared many instances throughout his life where he was served or where he had the opportunity to serve others. Just hearing all of the examples of service motivated me to want to get out and serve! Then I had an idea. If hearing stories of service motivates me, maybe my little family can motivate each other by sharing our service opportunities.

I made a poster that I'm going to hang on the wall so we can write down the ways we serve. I'm hoping we fill it right up and get inspired to do even more by realizing the many opportunities to serve that are all around us!

Toilet Paper Service

Our church building is located between several beautiful homes in Mattoon.  The house immediately next door to the church, and the one we pass in front of each week before turning into the parking lot, was toilet papered last night.  The teenagers responsible did a thorough job and the homeowner was out front attempting to clean up the mess.  As we drove past, I thought, “We should be helping him!”  I mentioned it to Jeff, but I’m not sure he took me seriously since church was starting in 5 minutes.  I couldn’t shake the feeling so I said, “I’m going to help.”  Without another thought, I headed across his yard and was followed by 6 kids and Jeff.  I told the man, “You look like you could use some help!”  We proceeded to help him clean up his yard.  There were little bits of toilet paper that had been torn and scattered all over the sizeable yard.  It wasn’t a hard job, but would have taken quite a while if he’d had to do it alone.  It turns out he has a daughter who is a junior in High School and he said this toilet papering job was probably done in retaliation.  :)  Jeff asked him if this was the first time he’d ever been toilet papered.  He said, “I think this is the first time this year.”  Ha!  We managed to get everything up off the ground and a lot of it out of the trees, except for what we couldn’t reach.  We were there all of 10 minutes and walked into Sacrament meeting during the opening hymn.  I just felt so happy the whole time.  I was so glad the kids were helping.  I mean, isn’t that what we should be doing?  How many times have I thought, “That person looks like they could use some help,” and then continued on my way doing nothing for them?  Sure, it’s important to be at church, but if we aren’t living what we learn there, what’s the point?  We were able to do both today and it was a great experience.