Called to serve Him...

Kelley spoke in church yesterday about his trip to Haiti. He did a good job...not an easy thing to do especially when they sing Called to Serve right before he gets up there.
It was a really good meeting though. Nate spoke first about his testimony of the Book of Mormon. So sincere. He is a great young man.
Then Larry talked about gaining and strengthening your own testimony. Also a great message.
Then we sang the rest song "Called to Serve" It was pretty emotional for Kelley and I both...can't ever sing that song without bawling. It was very fitting for the meeting though and reaffirmed the thoughts that were expressed. We are each called to serve, to lighten a burden, to give comfort and hope...in our own little space here on earth, to as many of our brothers and sisters that we can. That's what we are here for.

I was so glad Candice was there. She is also a great example to me of loving and serving. When she was helping out at the food bank the other night with Meg, she became aware of the need of taking food to Elderly people who are housebound. So she signed up to be a helper. They gave her the name and phone number of a lady and she was supposed to call and tell her she was going to come visit her. When she called, Candice said the lady was kind of scary! She sounded gruff and ornery and impatient. Candice told her she would come over on Saturday morning. She text me that morning that she was kind of nervous to go, but was on her way. (Had to make two trips because all the roads by the food bank were closed off because of the marathon that was going on)
She told me that when she got there the lady was quite nice and grateful to her. She said she had a handicapped daughter there with her too. When she got there they were sitting on the couch together, surrounded by a bunch of dolls, all watching tv. She told me after that it was pretty scary to go into someones home that you don't know, but she was glad that she did it!
Candice has always been good with older people and has a real tender heart. She isn't afraid to just jump in and do what she can see needs to be done. She is great with little kids too. (Even if she says she doesn't want any, she certainly has something about her that attracts them to her.) Yesterday at church, Karen was sitting next to us with her grand kids. Within a few minutes the little girl (probably about 2) had scooted over right next to Candice. She sat there for a few minutes, then crawled right up on her lap where she stayed for most of the meeting.

Anyway, Kelley gave a great talk on service. It was pretty emotional for him as he told about the kids in the orphanage there and the circumstances they are living in. He could have easily gone on for another hour...had to skip a lot of his experiences because of time. I hope he will be able to show his pictures and tell more stories another time...possibly a fireside.
Kelley was aprehensive about talking about what he did. He didn't even want to tell anyone that he had gone. He is very humble like that...kind of like the complete opposite of "Look at me...look at what I've done!" But I think after thinking about what he had been through and had learned from the experience, he knew that it was a good message...a message of love and charity and service that he should share with everyone.