Monday, August 25, 2014

August 25, 2014 The Power of a Community's Kindness

we got soaked in a monsoon of a rain storm walking around haha

Mariposas! 
This week has been filled with a myriad of fun, exciting, interesting things!
So we had zone P-day and we played Quiddich! (I'm not sure if I spelt that right, sorry Harry Potter fans.) Haha that was the funniest sport activity I've ever gotten the opportunity to participate in. And you thought missionaries couldn't get any dorkier... we spoke in english accents throughout the whole game as well. We even got the Senior couple to come and play for a bit haha! It's actually really really fun. I recommend it to anyone (:
We did a lot of fun service projects this week, we had a zone service project at a place called second harvest where we packed thousands of tortillas and tons of rice! we even got some new fashion accessories such as hair nets and arm gloves (: we all wore bright yellow helping hands shirts so we joked with the Senior couple missionaries that we all looked like minions from despicable me haha

We also got to help out with "gifts of the heart". 





Sister Jones from our ward and other ward members came up with the idea of having a yearly free giant garage sale which consisted of donated clothing, books, bikes, and household items that those who had children going back to school or just those in need could come and get items that they've really needed. We got to talk to those who came in and find out a little about each of them and where they came from. They shared many stories of how they had been desperate for clothing and they just didn't know how they were going to afford it. One had come from being devastated from the hurricane in Louisiana and had nothing, another her husband was in the hospital after returning from the military and the bills where becoming overwhelming, and this was an answer to her prayers. The way that we can help our community out can be impactful. If we put our effort in and some creativity, we can help others in need. The members in this ward who put this together I have great respect for and I really look up to their example, they are truly amazing people!! 

While we were at the church helping out with this, Sister Jones had brought with her a stick in a pink vase with 3 crystalist cocoons of soon to be hatched monarch butterflies for the children to keep an eye on.





 A sister in our ward was explaining to us the migration pattern of these monarch butterflies as we sat and watched the cocoons in anticipation. she told us that generations of Monarch butterflies fly all the way from Canada to Mexico each and every year. The butterflies from Canada fly to Minnesota, lay their eggs and die. The next generation of butterflies hatch and fly down to the southern states and do the same and the next generation make it to Mexico where they all gather by the thousands and just cover the trees in a certain area of the mountains where they stay throughout the winter until they lay their eggs and they migrate back up into Canada. It's so amazing because they are not lead by "older butterflies" back to where they are supposed to migrate, they just know.

Nature is amazing. I feel like that is an analogy for us as human beings as well. Truth of who we are is all around us. We are all genetically coded to fly back to where we came from. That is, back our Heavenly Father. We all go through dramatic transformations in life just as butterflies do and we all take our journey through the unknown. But we all have a natural pull to go in a certain direction. I wonder what would happen to a butterfly if it didn't have this natural migration pattern and it just flew about with no direction. I do know that we have our guides as human beings and it is all around us. We have the Holy Ghost within us to keep us heading in the right direction and our natural affinity to make it back home with those we love.

This world is so awesome!! I love it! 

Despite all of the turmoil in our lives, we will always have our natural affinity to be our guides to true happiness and if we listen to it, the results are eternally satisfying.

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