Service, we're doing it wrong

So I’ve been noticing little things on Facebook and just in life about service, more importantly the lack thereof. Now I’m not saying I’m the best at this, I have room for improvement also, lots of room. What I want to talk about is not setting up big service projects that are at a convenient time and doing a relatively easy task but about the service that needs to happen when you happen to see a need for it. Now my parents are possibly the best examples of this I have seen. I can’t tell you how many times my mom has said well our plans changed now we’re helping this person do this, or how many times my dad has said lets go get some lunch after we’ve been working all morning but then sees someone else in need and we don’t end up eating lunch until 10 at night.

Recently when I was home I was weeding the ditches and the lawn and the window wells and the garden and someone that I know pretty well came over and was like hey Brittney is there anything we can make you guys for dinner? I replied no we don’t need any dinner and they continued on with chit-chat and I nicely told them that I needed to get back to weeding before it got too hot. That was their opportunity! Right there for service that someone NEEDED, the ditches needed to be clean for water and I was just one person trying to do it all.  

Recently we went on a hike and my friend was like' I feel like I should throw some extra water bottles in my pack' so he did and we went on our way. Well while we were on our hike we met some people from out of state who weren’t used to the dryness of Utah and they were completely out of water. Luckily we had a few extra water bottles and we discussed how far we were going and if we would be alright if we didn’t have that water and decided to give most of our water to these people, deciding that we would be fine for the duration of our trip without as much water. Yes it was hard to give water up in the middle of the desert, yes they should have been more prepared, and yes something could have happened and we could have needed that water but we gave it away anyway. Not because we wanted to, or because it was a convenient time for us but because we saw a need. Maybe that is what the extra water in our packs was for, but maybe it wasn’t. We did decide to turn back sooner than originally planed, maybe the water was for them, maybe it was for some unforeseen thing on the trail farther down. I don’t know, but I didn’t lose anything by turning around a little sooner than planned.

I’m guilty of not doing service because it wasn’t convenient for me, like the other week I saw someone walking that I’ve seen around my apartment complex but I didn’t want to take the time out of my day to ask if they needed a ride somewhere and chances are we were going to the same place! One day I was driving up the canyon and saw a family with a car that was overheating and I decided not to stop. I keep coolant in my car, and could have given them the rest of it, but I was being selfish, I wanted the coolant for me, I paid for it why should I give it away? They should have planned for their road trip right? Maybe so but it wouldn’t have hurt to stop and give them the coolant. I was almost home and I was going downhill, the chances that I was going to need it were slim, and I made it home without needing it!

Why do we pass up easy service? Why didn’t I want to stop and help these people? Simply I was being selfish, I had a plan and I didn’t want it to be interrupted. Boy am I glad that God is nicer than me, He is always there to help. He will ALWAYS stop to see if you are okay, He doesn’t plan big service projects on a convenient day at a convenient time, He is always there to serve you.

So here is my goal, go ahead and join me in it, next time I see that simple act of service, even if I know I’ll  

get turned down, I’m going to take the time out of my busy day and help the person in need in the way they need to be helped. 

Iron county museum

Today I went to the Iron county museum with a co-worker to decide what the girls are going to do when they visit on Friday. It was a pretty cool museum as far as museums where you can’t touch anything go. (Oops I forgot there were a few things you could touch, like pan for gold, learn how to rope sheep, how they got minerals from stones, and a few other things you were allowed to touch, but for the most part no tochey)   (let’s be honest the children’s museum in Indiana is pretty much the coolest museum of all time!) The Iron count museum has QR codes throughout it where you can listen to a historian talk about the things you are looking at, and a few stories from people who lived it. It was really really fun to play the sound clips, although I think the group of old people thought we were being disrespectful and playing random things but really we were just learning about how they used to sheer sheep.  I learned a lot about Iron county today and came up with some awesome lesson ideas.  

Now for the pictures

This is a fire engine used in the late 1890's and early 1900's.

They had a 75 foot long hose and held 30-65 gallons of water.

They worked by a mechanism that held bi-carbonate soda and the firemen

would add sulphuric acid to the tank to make the water flow out.

It really only worked when the fire was small. 

This is the sawmill that built Branch Normal School, or SUU

as we now know it. 

This is a snow tank. I don't remember what it's purpose was

but it has a really cool name!

License plate to the above car

This carriage is huge! I tried to get me in it but it didn't turn out very good

I'm standing pretty far away to get the whole carriage in the picture

This was a replica so you could get inside it.

It was very wobbly, I am glad I live with cars.

This is an outside jail, there are 4 beds in this cell.

the top bed is folded out and the bottom one is hooked up right now

Deseret School with a really loud bell outside it. 

Like really loud, remember that group of old people? Well 

the liked me even less after I rang the bell super loud.

The chalkboard has the Deseret alphabet on it. Google it.

Also notice the paddle board next to the chalkboard. 

The dunce cap 

The stairs lead up to the teachers quarters. Man life was simpler

then, I think I would be o.k. with living above where I work.

A train caboose

This is a refrigerator type thing. There was also a bathroom but it

had a Plexiglas type thing but very flimsy covering it and it

didn't allow for very good pictures 

The sign says "Bureau of explosives binder located in desk drawer" 

This had something to do with mining iron

lets call it the 'scooper'

The inside of the scooper

more inside of the scooper

what you can see while operating the scooper

I don't know what cable they handle but they used tongs to do it

These next pictures have nothing to do with the post but those who don't follow me on facebook can now see them.

I spent a day at Brian Head jumping off of a man lift onto a 

giant air bag. It was awesome! 

The map in our geography classroom has the weirdest cities on it.

Like who needs to know where Monticello is? I guess they do have a temple

so they are better than Cedar in that. Wait, Cedar will have a temple! 

(Construction hasn't started, they haven't even said where it's going to be, but there will be a temple)

One of the students at work took my phone off my desk and discovered it was locked

but then she discovered that she could still take pictures, so I got this. 

I did tell her that she couldn't take pictures of people because my phone automatically backs up all pictures to my Google+ so they're easier to share on my blog with you!

Miracles of the Temple

This week I ran out of acne medicine and called around to see the prices at different pharmacies and Costco ended up being the cheapest. So we planned a trip for Saturday to go to St. George to go to the temple and get the medicine. There was a service project that morning and I wasn’t a very willing participant, because I figured by the end of the day if I go to the service project I would have to take 3 showers. But I went anyway and it was actually a really good service project. We went to a co-op garden where all the food goes to the local food bank and helped harvest the plants, pick up trash from the lot and weed. When we were walking around the lot picking up trash I must have rubbed against a plant that I’m allergic to because by the end of the service project my leg was covered in hives and very very itchy. I was once again mad that I went to the service project. I went home, showered and got ready for the temple. I was not excited to go to the temple, I already had a rash and, since I usually get a rash from the temple clothes, was not excited to get a bigger rash.

We went to the temple and as soon as we started the confirmations I heard someone tell me it would be worth it, not a voice out loud just a small voice within said this is where you should be, doing what you should be doing. I felt excited to be there, excited that I could help my sisters get that much closer to the kingdom of heaven. After finishing the baptisms and changing back into my clothes I noticed that the rash on my leg was gone and that the rash I get every time on my tummy wasn’t there!!!!  This is where I am supposed to be and what I am supposed to be doing.  I am glad that although I wasn’t super willing or excited that I got to go to the temple and be reminded of how miraculous temple work is. I don’t know how long those sisters had been waiting for someone to do their work but I am glad that I was the one who got to do it. I know this is the true church of God.