There can be no true happiness without service

It's amazing how often I forget this truth and become selfish and not think of others. But this weekend has been a great reminder!

Yesterday after school I went to Quiltfest. It's super simple (well...unless you get the yarn tangled or get loops on the back and stuff...which happened to me and Kaitlyn multiple times. Yarn is NOT my friend.) and is a lot of fun when you do it with friends. Especially when there's Christmas music on and you start singing along in an obnoxious manner. Ok, that may just be me, but we can pretend otherwise. But, I loved it, because it was super simple, and super fun, and despite the simpleness and funness, I was doing good. I think sometimes people get in the mindset that doing service is time consuming - which it can be, but not always - is boring, and is really difficult. When, in reality, a lot of the time, it isn't. And not only does service make the people you are serving happy, but it makes you happy. If you honestly put forth effort and try to think of others before yourself, you will be filled will a great happiness.

And then, today was my stake's Turkey Round-up. I'm part of the stake youth committee, and were kind of put in charge of it all, so I was at the stake center from 8:30 to about 12:00, helping the people who were bringing turkeys and keeping a tally of all of them. The leaders of the stake really wanted the youth to be involved in this, so in my ward I started a coin jar that I passed around during mutual - actually only for two weeks, because there were lots of times where we weren't all together. We ended up raising $46 dollars. Which is AMAZING considering I passed it around only two times. I was so proud of them! And so, I went to Frys with my mom this morning, with a letter that a member of the bishopric had written for me. We showed him the letter, and he let us buy 10 turkeys - he would have let us buy more, but there was this corporate thing that wouldn't let us. So, we got turkeys at 29 cents a pound, not having to do the whole buying 25 dollars worth of stuff first. There ended up being 10 dollars left. So, I went to the stake center with the turkeys, and gave the ten dollars to one of the leaders and he went to go see if he could get some more turkeys for me.

Here's the amazing thing. He went to like 4 different stores, showed them the letter, explained what we were doing (keep in mind we're gathering turkeys for the Food Bank. A legitimate donation.) and he got laughed at. All four times. He said me and my mom got lucky. My mom called it blessed. It truly was a blessing. The manager of the Frys we went to was so willing. He would have loved to let us get more than just the ten turkeys, but couldn't. As we were leaving, he kept saying that what we're doing was such a good thing. Because of him, 10 families get turkey dinners for Thanksgiving that wouldn't have before. Because of those 4 punk managers, at least two families will not get a turkey dinner for Thanksgiving. We got lucky - we were blessed. It was just eye-opening for me. Because it showed me how the Lord will bless us when we do His work. He'll make it possible for us to help as many people as we are willing.

Service is awesome. I'm grateful for these experiences. Seriously, probably the best weekend I've had in a long time. On a random note, I think Gary, my pet gecko has either run away or died. I haven't seen him in a really long time. I blame my brother Michael. :( And, I miss reading. A lot. Stupid school. :( Oh! and on Monday, I have Vespers auditions! I'll be singing an duet with Johnathan Speakman. We'll be singing What Child is This, and I'll also be accompanying Katie Alston and Taylor Hansen for their duet. Wish us luck! I hope we all make it. :) I lurve Christmas music!