This has been bugging me. In most journal entries, titles are not an important aspect of that, so this is foreign to me. Once I'm done rambling, I suppose I could come up with a title. I don't know if I have that option or not.
Anyway, today was an interesting day. We are trying to prepare for our presentation tomorrow night in Lake City. I started two trays of alfalfa sprouts which I should have started earlier. Some of them have little sprouts on them already, so maybe they will be sufficient for tomorrow. Then I made 2 gallons of yogurt in my pickle crock. This will be drained for yogurt cheese which will be made into cheesecakes. Very yummy. I decided to make it in the dehydrator since it was more than my little Stanleys could hold, but I think the crock plus 2 gallons of milk might be too heavy for the plastic dehydrator shelves. I think it could handle 1 gallon though easily enough.
Well, we didn't get to breakfast until I had finished these tasks, and the missionaries called while we were eating and told us one of their investigators didn't have any food. It was a young sister who has come a few times with her 18 month old baby and novio, but they aren't married for some paperwork reason that has to do with immigration.
The way the church usually works in this situation is for the missionaries to contact the bishop (or branch president), so I wondered why they didn't contact him first. The church does not normally help non-members, but there are exceptions to that as well. There is nothing to stop individual members from assisting those whom they perceive to be in need, so that is how we decided to proceed. We simply went through our food storage and pulled some things we thought they could use.
I don't give away my home bottled goods, so we went to the store to buy some meat, masa harina, fresh milk (cause they probably aren't used to drinking storage milk), and diapers. I didn't know how the new numbering system works on the diapers (weight, not age), so I asked a women who had a baby about that age what size her baby wore, and that turned out to be the right size for this baby. I was kind of proud of myself as she spoke only Spanish, and I was able to communicate with her. I had to call diapers "pantalones por la bebe", but she knew what I meant. She came back with the correct word, but I couldn't catch it. That was very satisfying. Roger is always so amazed when he hears me having conversations with Spanish people.
We picked up our groceries there and delivered them. We forgot to get a can opener, so had to go back to Winn Dixie for that. The missionaries had said she probably didn't have one, but they didn't have them at Sav-A-Lot, and I forgot to stop elsewhere. Besides, it seemed improbable to me that *anyone* anywhere wouldn't have a can opener. But when we got there, I asked her, and she said, "No, I have never cooked anything out of a can." And of course, she had never purchased bulk commodities in a can either. What a lesson! Darius said that in Mexico the people there think that is all that we eat: canned food.
My point in recording this is two fold: Isn't is hard to imagine being in the position that all you have to eat is eggs and beans (as told to the missionaries)? I can remember though, that when I was first married, there were many times that all we had in the house was popcorn. We figured that would be something cheap to live on that was also a little nutritious. If we got any extra money, we'd buy hotdogs or tuna fish and some bread. So I guess it isn't that hard to imagine someone being that down on their luck. We really didn't think we were starving; we just thought we were poor. And that's how it is when you're poor, right?
Of course, when we joined the church we were able to learn a better way of living in many different aspects of our lives. I suppose it takes experiences like this today for me to remember that. Now I know that we can live without luxuries without suffering nutritionally or emotionally. I knew how to bake bread back then, but for some reason it never occurred to me to do that. I have a lot more skills now then I did then, and I never really had anyone to help or counsel me. We didn't talk to our parents about our situation; we just assumed everyone went through this. We have definitely come full circle: not only do we have what we need, but we have enough to share. What a blessing that is!
Which brings me to my second point. It has always bothered me when I hear people say that they get such a good feeling when they help others. I have never felt this way! What is wrong with me?
It is not that I have a *bad* feeling when I serve; I don't. I look at service as something that needs to be done, and when it is done, then I have the feeling like the satisfaction I get when a job or task is finished. I definitely feel that people are here to serve others, and I love to serve. I just don't get the warm fuzzy thing going. What is up with that? I asked Roger what he thought, and he thinks it is because most people don't have as many opportunities as I have. When they do, there is the warm, glowy thing. I'm not sure that is it. Maybe some people need the warm glowy thing to motivate them the next time. I don't know. It just bugs me, that's all.
2 of our best students are moving to Pennsylvania. They are going to get the rest of their work for the year when they meet with us in February, but I am so disappointed they are leaving. It seems like we lose the good ones all too often, but the mean ones just hang around forever. Such is life, right? We have an amazingly diverse student body. I sometimes wish they could get to know each other as I know them, but I guess this is just a special blessing I am enjoying at this time in my life.
I guess I should share my goals with Roger...last night he brought home a bag of donuts!
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4 comments:
I usually don't have good feelings when I help others either, but I learned from my psychology class that this is normal for many people. Many people who are altruistic do so with the attitude that they will one day be blessed for their actions, which is selfish in and of itself!
*Looking up the word altruistic on dictionary.reference.com* --stop laughing at me, it happens!
Never really thought about the warm fuzzy feeling thing. I think I too, think of service as something that just needs to be done sometimes. I'll have to pay closer attention next time.
Speaking of looking up words in the dictionary, have any of you ever checked out wikipedia yet? Maybe I'm the last one on the bus with this one, but it is amazing. I seem to remember MSN offering something like this a few years ago when I tried to install their dial-up software, but it wasn't all that impressive. This is kind of an off-the-subject post (maybe I should start my own blog, huh?), but wikipedia is awesome. It's like having a 4,000 volume (when the numbers are big, does it really even matter which number you pick out of the air?) encyclopedia at your fingertips. Try looking up a sports team, and you will get more history than you even knew about (even you, Franchise... maybe). I learned that the Buffalo Bills had three fight songs and have retired three jersey numbers. Waaaaay off topic, but you're welcome for the link (in case you are even later than me at getting on this bus):
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page
Oh yeah, I meant to tell you. I am still laughing at the thought of you with your "computer" friends and apologizing to them for not finding each other sooner. Can any of us imagine you being without a computer now?
Darius, sometimes you truly are on the slow boat. Actually, I have never gone to wikipedia to find anything out on purpose, but it does come up on my google searches a lot.
I don't think I serve to get blessings. I really think I do it out of desire to do what I think Heavenly Father wants me to do. I use the phrase, "If not me, who?" a lot, especially in the branch, but I think it applies to a lot of things. Even with Deseret Academy, there is something there we do that is not done by anyone else to my knowledge. It truly is a service, even if it is not appreciated as such. I don't think people can relate to how hard home schooling can be unless they have done it on their own like we did all those years. Our most appreciative parents are those who home schooled on their own (Grommels, Bohannan) before finding us.
Anyway, back to the topic of why we serve, it bears thinking about because we should do it for the right reasons, don't you think?
Personally, I for one do not serve others because I want a reward. I just do it. I sometimes have fuzzies and sometimes I do not. I sometimes think I am God's helper to help my brothers and sisters. I think all of us are different and have different feelings about certain things. I think that is what makes us unique in this family. Just think how it would be if we all had fuzzies helping everyone we come in contact with?
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