The Power of Service!

Dear Family,

Happy Birthday Bryson!


This week has been awesome! Elder Fullmer and I got to do some service on Saturday. This was a little different than I am used to. Usually, when we would be asked to do service, it would just be us and the people who asked us. This time, it included a lot more people.

Brother Daines lives on a short dirt road off of a highway. There are about 5 or 6 houses on this road and they all have large properties. He asked us to come and do service for his neighbor. Brother Daines's neighbor has been going through some tough health challenges and so he has not been in any shape to take care of his large yard.

When we got there, to our surprise, almost everyone living on this street came together to help out. We had people bring weed wackers, their riding lawn mowers, rakes, and other things. As a group, we worked together for just over 2 hours to move away the things on top or over grown from the grass and we mowed it all. Elder Fullmer and I aren't allowed to use a riding lawn mower, so we usually had rakes to gather up all of the grass shavings and put them in the yard waste can. It was really fun service!

I don't even know the name of this person that we served, but when it was all done, his yard looked amazing. He said thank you to everyone. As we were walking away, we saw tears in his eyes. I am so grateful that we were able to make a difference in this man's life. Service is a powerful thing. It brought everyone on this little road together in an unified effort to help one another. I believe that everyone on this block has grown closer together. It has also opened up windows for missionary work.

Jesus Christ, the perfect example, always went about doing service for others. He always turned outward and gave of Himself. He expects every one of us to do the same. As we go out every single day, I hope that we would all have a prayer in our heart that we can have opportunities to serve that day. If you always seek to serve, you will be happy. All of your problems will no longer seem important.

That is one of the truths of missionary work that I have learned on my mission. If I turn outward, thinking only of others and their welfare, I will be happy. It's that simple. And I will be a great instrument in God's hands.

I love you all! I hope you have a great week!

Love,
Elder Bretton Steiner.

My last moments with my bike. I have just sent it off to be boxed and sent home.

The sunset yesterday night while we were returning from the Enumclaw Mission Devotional.