Giving Service Can Be Amazing!

There is a less active member in the word I’m serving in who has many challenges. She is from Taiwan, and does not have an expert mastery of the English language. She is a single mother who battles with depression. She has two children, and they are living off of alimony and child support. The oldest child is a boy with Asperger’s or high functioning autism. He also has Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, Oppositional Defiance Disorder, Attention Deficit Disorder, and about everything else you can think of, but he has an enormous I.Q. This makes things more difficult because it makes him more capable of finding ways out of doing his homework. She also has a daughter that started talking when she was one.

Over the past few months we have stopped by, and mostly just listened. Our understanding and love for her grew, as well as her trust for us. She eventually answered our phone calls and the front door more consistently, which is a privilege not all are granted. It came to a point when I felt prompted to extend service to clean up her overgrown yard. After insisting, and rescheduling a couple times, the day finally came. My companion and I, along with her home teacher, went to serve. We pruned, and picked up scores and scores of seed pods that had fallen from her magnolia trees. Halfway through the yard clean up she invited us inside, and showed us her rather large rock collection. As she picked up a small unimpressive stone she said, "I am rock." She dipped it in water, washing off the dust, revealing a beautiful display of color. She then said, "The world only sees rock. Heavenly Father sees beauty."

She asked for help putting some boxes in the attic, so we formed a relay. I stood at the bottom, my companion stood on the middle of the ladder leading to the attic, and her home teacher was at the top. In a matter of seconds all of her boxes of Christmas decorations were neatly stacked in her attic. Tears came to her eyes as she said, "It took me four hours to get it all down." Her home teacher pointed to the smile on my face and said, "See how much we love to serve."Then she said something that I will never forget, "He’s a little cute cupcake." She said in her thick accent. I couldn't help laughing a little, but her thanks was touching just the same. It’s amazing the affect service can bring.

Elder Larsen-Email Excerpt

I’ve biked hills way harder then El Camino Real, but I don't do a whole lot of biking in this area mostly because my headlight and rear reflector broke. I also have another reason not to bike. I didn't mention it earlier because I didn't want to worry y’all. A couple of weeks ago I passed out, and woke up on the ground with a sore nose. I have been getting headaches, and I have been really tired. I was worried I had a brain tumor, but nope I have asthma. Well the doctor thinks it is asthma. I don't get enough air when I breathe. I went to the doctor, and he had me breathe into a machine that calculated things like air volume, muscle strength, and how much air I get in, as opposed to how much air I get out. On Thursday I’ll do the Methacholine bronchial provocation test which goes as follows: There is a chemical that will give anyone an asthma attack. They will dilute it with saline solution, and give me different doses. If I react at a lower does than a normal person would, then it is official, I have asthma. As of right now, I just have a respiratory problem.

Oh, and I also have an intestinal parasite that I most likely got in my last area because the doctor who was treating me got the same parasite. Don't drink well water in the hills. LOL…ha, ha, ha, good times! Currently, I also caught a virus that’s going around, and I can't talk without a stabbing, horrible pain in my throat, which is probably not good for my already reduced respiratory function. LOL…I’m loving life. =] It’s not every day you get a friend that hangs out in your intestine. I think I’ll name him Steve. That’s short for Stevie Wonder because I wonder whose well I got it from. LOL.