President Spencer W. Kimball
said " God does notice us, and he watches over us. But it is usually
through another person that he meets our needs. Therefore, it is vital that we
serve each other".
I am so very thankful for the
calling I was given to serve as a Women's Auxiliary Specialist in the
Washington DC North Mission. Whenever I talked to people about my mission , everyone
was so excited about this new calling and wishing their wards all had sisters
who were serving a mission like ours in their ward. I have loved my mission and
the hundreds of wonderful sisters that I have gotten to know and serve and
help. It was such an honor to be a part of this pilot program and be one of the
10 sisters who were called to launch this new program for the missionary dept
of the church.
I started out my mission in
the southern third of Maryland, from the Chesapeake Bay to
the Potomac river. Since this
was a brand new calling and had no guidelines yet we met with the leaders of
the Stake and the Bishopric and RS President of the 2 wards we would be serving
in and shared with them what we thought we wanted to accomplish during our
mission and they also shared ideas with us..as we reviewed the ward directories for both wards,
they each highlighted those sisters that they felt could use a little TLC or special
attention for one reason or another.
Our main purpose was to help
re-activate, help with
retention and help
Rescue those who have gone astray.
President Thomas S.
Monson
“I pray that we will have the courage to
extend the hand of fellowship, the tenacity to try and try again, and the humility needed to seek guidance from
our Father as we fulfill our mandate to share the gospel.”
Shirley was a
sister that we would see at church off and on and when we asked the RS
president about her, we found out, she
is a very special sister who is suffering from severe pulmonary hypertension
and was often very sick and not able to come to church. We called her or
dropped by her home every week , most often she was not feeling well
enough for visitors, but we kept coming and calling every week for several
months. Then in March when we called she said she would love for us to visit.
We had a wonderful visit and learned that she was taking the temple prep
classes. . . and but she told us that she wasn't sure she was worthy to go to
the temple.. ( we had talked to the Bishop about her before our visit and he said she was
so ready). We encouraged her during our visit and told her that when she went
through the temple we wanted to be there.
We were transferred to another ward soon after that, but we got a text
about a month later inviting us to join her at the temple.. What a blessing and
a joy it was to see her in the temple and to be able to be a part of such a
special day in her life. She will always
have a special place in my heart. She
was soon called to be the RS secretary and she is so happy.
Sue is a sister
who cannot walk and lives in an assisted living apartment. When we first called
her to see if we could come visit her she was so excited. My companion was ill
that day, so I went to visit Sue alone. When I arrived at her apartment.. she
greeted me at the door in her motorized wheelchair..and promptly told me she
had prepared lunch for us.
She had pizza
all ready.. We talked for over an hour about her past and her family. She had
joined the church many years before and was the only member in her family. She
has one daughter and said that her daughter doesn't call her or send her
pictures of her two grandchildren, but she knew they were very busy. Even so she
hadn't heard from them in over a year.. I felt so sad and vowed to make her a
regular visit. Each time we called she was excited to have us over.. She loved
having the missionaries visit. What a joy she was and so much fun to visit
with. She was a true southern lady and had so many wonderful stories. When we
came around Easter, she was so happy, she had gotten pictures of her
grandchildren and couldn't wait to share them with us.. What a choice daughter of
God.. all alone with only those in the ward to really call her family..
We were asked by
the RS president to go see Ada. She
was a sister who was the primary care giver for her 50 year old son who
suffered with many neurological disorders.
We arrived at her home and she sat very quite and answered our questions
with one word answers never looking at us.. As we stood to leave I asked if I
could give her a hug and she said "I wouldn't have traded this visit for a
million $$$$".. We visited her many times and she was warm and welcoming
and shared so many things with us.. What a joy.. to see such a change, in a
wonderful sister.
An additional blessing was
getting to work in the Washington DC temple every Wednesday as an ordinance worker. I
served in the baptistery and also as the initiatory director.. I met so many wonderful people.. One family that
I met in the baptistery was the Rivera family. President Rivera is a branch
president of one of the Spanish branches in DC. He was there with his wife and
three children and his father in law. As I talked to them I learned that his
oldest son had just gotten his mission call to the Mesa Arizona Mission. I said
"that's where I am from". They were originally from Peru and I shared with him that my grandson had just
returned from his mission in Peru. They were at
the temple to do several family names and had waited until their youngest son
turned 12 so he could be a part of this special day. I was so touched as
brother Rivera baptized each of his children and would explain to them quietly
who they were being baptized for.. a great grampa or an aunt.. The spirit was
so strong that we all cried. It was such an honor to be a part of such a
special moment for their family. I had
many special events like this when I was serving in the temple.
After 7 1/2 months of us
serving in only the White
Plains 1st &
2nd wards, President Matsumori our mission president and our Stake President
decided that they wanted us to branch out and serve in all the wards in the
Suitland Stake. So that the sisters could get
a feel for our mission and encourage other senior sisters to see the
wonderful opportunities senior sisters have to serve missions. We
would serve for 2 months in each of the other 5 ward buildings. (some buildings
had one ward and some had 2 wards).
We
fell in love with the sisters we served in each ward and served them in so many
various ways.
Some of the things we did:
·
visit those
sisters who couldn't get out
·
take sisters to
doctors or dentist appointments or run errands with them
·
sit with a sister
who was in the hospital.
·
help pack a
family that was getting ready to move
·
help clean a
house for a moving family
·
encourage sisters
to take those steps necessary to get to the temple
·
be a support to
single moms and to those whose husbands were deployed
·
grocery shop for
those who couldn't get out
·
be a listening
ear to a sister who was struggling with personal issues
·
we helped a
sister decorate her house for Christmas
·
we took sisters
to special events at the church or visitors center
·
we took sisters
with us to the temple
·
we sat and read
the scriptures with sisters
·
we followed the
promptings of the Holy Ghost to visit a sister who we hadn't planned on
visiting that day, and always she asked how we knew that she needed a visit or that
she was hoping that we would come by.
We recommended any
special needs to the bishop or RS president when we found them as we visited
the sisters.
Someone asked me
what my mission was and I told them " We are like full time visiting
teachers on steroids".
Twelve months into my
mission, President Matsumori decided to switch up the
two companionships, so I was transferred from
Southern Maryland up to the DC area.
In the Silver Spring Stake we
were assigned to serve in 3 wards. There were some sisters that we called on
each week and several sisters we called
on every month and many that we are trying to find that were on the rolls of
the wards. We also called on sisters whose names we received from the RS
president or bishop or ward missionaries each week. We spent most of our days
visiting sisters all day, some weeks we called on 85 to 100 sisters.. Hoping to
find some home and those we did find at home were always such choice visits.
We had standing appointments
for visits with several sisters each week.
Two of those we met each week
are:
Barbara who lives
in an assisted living facility and is in a wheelchair and cannot walk or get
out to church. We met with her each Thursday and read the Book of Mormon with
her. We covered 2 chapters each week.
Barbara would read it during the week and then
we read it together and would discuss it when we got there. She always had
wonderful thoughts about the scriptures she has read. She looked forward to our
visits as much as we did. She is such a devoted sister. I loved her conversion
story. She was setting on a bench waiting for the bus and 2 elders were talking
to the lady next to her about the church and that lady was not interested, so
Barbara leaned over and told the elders that she was interested and asked if
they would share what they knew with her.. She is so dedicated to the gospel and
such a joy to visit.
I loved to see the
smile on her face as we would arrive.. She told me, she knew my walk and could
hear me when I walked down the hall.
One of my very favorite
sisters on my mission was Tigadunka Bangura or Tigi, a 36 year old young woman
from
Sierra
Leone,
Africa. Her family moved to the
US when she was 14. She graduated from BYU with a
nursing degree. Tigi suffers from
diabetes , she has a heart problem and had a stroke 3 years ago, so she has
limited use of her left hand & foot. Her kidneys are failing so she has
dialysis 3 days a week. Her living conditions are extremely poor, so when we
visited we would take her fruit and sometimes cooked rice and hard boiled eggs
and protein bars, so that we knew she had a little something good to eat. She
has such a strong faith in her Father in Heaven and knows that he will heal her
and help her get a kidney transplant. We started taking Tigi to breakfast each
Monday to make sure she had a good start to the week. I loved to visit her, she
has touched my heart and helped me to have greater compassion for those who are
suffering. She is truly an inspiration to me of her strong faith and has helped
my testimony grow.
One of the joys of my mission
has been the interaction with the 28 young sister missionaries, we got to work
with at the Washington DC Temple Visitors Center. They are such strong young
women in the gospel. Each one was an example to me. We got to work at the visitors center for the
Festival of Lights every day 3:00 to 10:00 from Thanksgiving until New Years Day. I loved the
wonderful spirit I felt when I was there.
During the Festival I was put
in charge of getting the meals out and served for the sisters and the senior couples
who work at the VC. Then if there was enough left, I was able to feed the
elders who helped with the parking. Each day the complete meals were provided
by a ward. On one particular day a ward brought all the fixings for sloppy
Joes. I was getting it all heated and
ready to serve and I counted the rolls, there were only 38 and we always served
at least 40 each day, not including the elders.. I was a little concerned and
so I said a quick prayer that it would all work out. As the sisters and the seniors finished I
looked at the basket with the rolls and noticed that there were 4 left, I knew
that every sister had taken a roll, because I had put meat on each one. So I
told Elder Hardy who was in charge of the elders and the parking that I would
only have half a roll for each elder, but that we would make it work, with the
other things I had to go with it. To my surprise, by the time the last 2 elders
came in to eat I still had 4 rolls left.. So it truly was a blessing like the
loves and fishes.
When I moved up to the DC
area, I was assigned to work in the
Family History Center every Weds. morning instead of working in the temple.
I have grown to love family history and
since we got to attend the temple once a week I have been able to do the work
for many of my ancestors that I found while serving at the FHC. Which was a blessing and a wonderful
opportunity to serve those of my ancestors who have passed on and also to
support the temple. We often took
different sisters from the wards to the temple with us, which was an added joy.
M. Russell Ballard:
"The Savior's words are
simple, yet their meaning is profound and deeply significant. We are to love
God and to love and care for our neighbors as ourselves. Imagine what good we
can do in the world if we all join together united as followers of Christ,
anxiously and busily responding to the needs of others and serving those around
us -- our families, our friends, our neighbors, our fellow citizens. As the Epistle of James notes; service is the very definition of pure
religion.
There are so many stories of
the wonderful sisters that I have had the honor to serve and be a part of their
lives and I could go on for hours to share the blessings of serving a mission.
Each day my heart was touched by a visit, or by an event or a tender mercy that
helped my testimony to grow. As we would leave a home after a visit, I always turned to my companion and smiled and
said " isn't she wonderful".
Each sisters story was different and they all lived in different
conditions and under different circumstances but the one thing that was the
same no matter what home or apartment we stepped into & that was the love
we felt from these wonderful sisters. They were warm and welcoming and eager to
share their stories with us and let us share the gospel with them.
President Monson has taught that in many instances
Heavenly Father answers another person's prayer through us... through you and
me...through our kind words and deeds, through our simple acts of service and
love.
One simple practice is in
your morning prayers each day, ask Heavenly Father to guide you to recognize an
opportunity to serve one of his precious children. Then go throughout the day
with your heart filled with love.
At the end of each day, may
we all be able to say yes to the question. "Have I done any good in the
world today?" "Have I helped anyone in need?"
As we come unto our Savior
Jesus Christ, and serve each other we will be blessed, of this I testify in the
name of our beloved savior Jesus Christ ..Amen
