Service is a gift

This week was good. I got back on my feet and learned some good things. I am so grateful for the gift of service. Yes, doing service is a gift. 

I remember on my mission I sometimes really really wished to be in a leadership position so that I would not focus so much on myself and my stuff. I wanted to be there for others. I wanted to serve. Why? Because I understood the blessings that came from serving others and thinking about them. About half way through my mission though I never really got another chance at a leadership position. 

Or at least that is what I thought. Just because I wasn't in what I thought was a leadership position, didn't mean that I wasn't a leader to those around me. My example, my tag, and my experience automatically labelled me as a leader. People looked up to me just because I was a missionary. I was a leader.

As a leader, I prayed for those I had potential to influence. I prayed for those under my care. I prayed for those around me. I prayed for the members. I prayed to receive inspiration of how to help those I interacted with. I was so focused on others that I truly lost myself in the work. I truly loved. I truly cared. And as a result, I was happy and I was taken care of. I didn't have to worry about my own life. I saw how blessed I was every day as I served others. I forgot my troubles and I trusted that God would take of them either by helping me overcome them, or helping me to realize that they weren't really troubles in the first place.

Those are some of the many blessings that come from service. Service is a gift. And I am so grateful for it.

Book of Mormon-short testimony

On my mission, I served in an area where there was a member that had such a powerful testimony of The Book of Mormon. He changed my outlook on missionary work.

I wanted to hand out the book to everyone that I came in contact with. It had impacted my life so much, and I just wanted to share it. It was awesome. As I concentrated more on the Book of Mormon in my teaching and finding techniques, the work hastened.

The Book of Mormon is a blessing in our lives. It can influence us for good. It can give us peace in times of darkness. It can shed forth light in our pits of despair. It can lift us. Well, the book itself can't do those things, but the message and the spirit that come from reading the book with a open mind and heart can. If one is willing to read The Book of Mormon and read it with the intent to receive an answer from God, they can and will receive that answer.