Tag: service

Ministering

Rise and Walk by Simon Dewey

President George Albert Smith (1870–1951) said of ministering to others: “Our eternal happiness will be in proportion to the way that we devote ourselves to helping others.” The Divine Mission of Jesus Christ: Minister https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/ensign/2014/06/the-divine-mission-of-jesus-christ-minister?id=p7&lang=eng#p7

I have been studying from a work book called Learn of Me by Stephanie Dibb Sorensen. She put together scriptures talks and articles about the life and attributes of the Savior based off Topical Guide references on Jesus Christ. I started this study in Septmeber, 2021.

In January 2017, President Russell M. Nelson of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints gave this advice: “Commence tonight to consecrate a portion of your time each week to studying everything Jesus said and did.” He suggested using the Topical Guide to do this. President Nelson in General Conference April 2017 related that he had done this challenge and he had become, “a different man,” as a result of his intensive study.

At first, I only did the study on Sundays but more recently I have tried to do it every day even if just for a few minutes. I am currently studying the attributes of Jesus Christ from a series in 2014 printed for Relief Society Visiting Teaching lessons.

This particular attribute of ministering is one that I have struggled to do consistently in my life. I tell myself that I am here to serve others but far to often my daily actions are selfish and focused on my needs.

Even at work where it is my job to minister to the needs of the sick, I have to make a conscious effort to focus on the needs of the patient and their families versus my need to get ‘my work’ done.

I really love the verse quoted above by President Smith and know that my life has been most rewarding when I am immersed in the ministering to others such as during my mission working in a refugee camp in Thailand, during the time my children were young and sporadically since then when doing intensive service for my Church callings. The other times I truly feel like I am ministering are the nights my family and I make and serve dinner to homeless youth in Salt Lake City.

Navajo Taco and Scone Night at Homeless Youth Resource Center

The effort to serve and the feeling of being of service are worth the ‘sacrifce’ of self, time and resources. I will keep working on developing this attribute in my life every day.

Rootstech Aftermath March 7, 2022

I have been so moved by the scope of the Rootstech experience. I am at over 67,000 relatives and the technology allows me to contact each of those people directly by email. It also allows me to see my relationship with them. I just learned today that one of my friends in school, Clair Jackson, is my second cousin on the Dance/Watt side of the family. I never knew all those years of elementary and secondary school.

My goal with Rootstech this year is to take action! I can’t just be moved and influenced those three days! I need to learn, explore and do FH the other 362 days of the year. I need and want to Choose Connection; Discover, Connect and Share. Therefore, my goal is to watch at least 3 of the sessions on my playlist each week and put them into action. I can’t just watch and say that is cool, I should...and then nothing happens because of the fateful word, should. I should is going to become I am!

I actually put this concept into action last night. I finally called my parents and talked to them. I asked them about which U.S. presidents were most influential. Here is my Mom’s list: George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, Ronald Reagan, Donald Trump (she asked if it was okay if she included this one, I told her that it was okay), Thomas Jefferson (because he helped write the Constitution). My Dad’s list: George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, Ulysses Grant, Ronald Reagan, Harry Truman, Dwight Eisenhower and Donald Trump. We figured out that my father probably had his first opportunity to vote in a presidential election in 1956 when Dwight Eisenhower won re-election over Adlai Stevenson. That will go in their Storyworth book.

I was reading a short article on my Church of Jesus Christ home page from Sis. Eubanks about the Ukrainian Refugee Crisis. She said this:

Sister Eubank said voluntary service is not being used to its full potential. She pointed to JustServe, a free app that helps communities come together in service.

“People are the heart of the solution,” she said. “[Cooperative activities] remind us that we’re all children of the same God. Faith communities are perfectly positioned to do this because we’re very good at trying to make humanity come together and achieve a larger goal.”

Voluntary service is not being used to its full potential. I agree with Sis. Eubanks and I am feeling inspired and motivated to do more to help organize the desire and talents of people in my ward and community to serve and lift our brothers and sisters here and around the world.

Day #42 My Family History Journey

While this is technically day #42 of my journey, I haven’t posted but once in the last week. I have done FH on most of those days, but it has been late at night and consisted of watching a video on BYU Family History YouTube about Christmas Memories from Around the World or talking to my mother or father-in-law. I haven’t really done any searching this last week on Family Search. I did go to the Jordan River Temple and do an endowment session on Saturday afternoon for a distant cousin’s wife.

Today, I was planning on getting up early but ended up sleeping in until 7 am. My FH today consisted of watching George C. Scott in the The Christmas Carol. This is a family tradition for us and has been for years. Gil loves watching this movie, it is really the only one he insists on watching. Samantha was home tonight and watched with us. Nicole is at Owen’s doing a Lord of the Rings movie marathon. Re-watching the Lord of the Rings trilogy is also a family holiday tradition, so Samantha was a little put out that Nicole was not watching with all of us.

Today is Jessica’s 27th birthday! She is working tonight at the hospital in St. George. She will be home on Wednesday, and we will celebrate her birthday then. We have a family tradition of breakfast of your choice in bed..so I will do that for her on Thursday morning.

Today I participated in the ward choir’s annual Christmas Program. There were several times during the songs that I was tearful enough that I couldn’t sing my notes. I was so glad that Samantha, Nicole and Owen and Gil were there to listen to the songs and hopefully, they felt the Spirit there also.

My favorite line in The Christmas Carol is uttered in despair by Jacob Marley..”Mankind was my business. The common welfare was my business; charity, mercy, forbearance, and benevolence, were all my business. The dealings of my trade were but a drop of water in the comprehensive ocean of my business!”  Marley is talking about perspective, about priority, and sadly about regrets. I don’t want to forge a chain in life because I have lost sight of “my business.”

To that end and with a sure knowledge of how blessed I am in so many ways.. I recommit to “my business.” “My business” is being a true disciple of Jesus Christ. That means opening my mouth and sharing my testimony of my Savior Jesus Christ. It means being an active witness of Jesus Christ and His restored church on this earth in all things, at all times and in all places. It means learning to live with faith, not fear, in my everyday choices and actions. It means gathering scattered Israel through FH, family activities, service and more SERVICE. It means coming to know my Savior through prayer, scripture study, personal revelation, and service to everyone in my sphere of influence.

When I die, I want it said of me, “Mankind was her business. The common welfare was her business; charity, mercy, forbearance, and benevolence, were all her business.”