Y Serve

Our discussion in class today was centered on Leadership and Change. I learned that change is the most fundamental goal of leadership, and in fact, it is the whole reason for leadership! In order for us to help change others for the better, we must first take care to change ourselves. This is so true because if we are struggling ourselves, how can we expect to help others with their struggles. As Jesus said in his Sermon on the Mount, "First cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother's eye." What it really comes down to is we, our "natural man" selves, are in opposition to God. But by changing our carnal man ways(ie: Repentance) and striving to love/put God first above all else in our lives, we put ourselves in a position to be led by God's hand to hopefully be a tool for good in his hands. And as we strive to love God above all else, we can be comforted by the promise found in Mark 8:35 that, "whosoever shall lose his life for my sake and the gospel's, the same shall save it." I know this is true and I'm so grateful to have learned about these awesome things in class today!

Tonight I finally got to go to Y Serve again as one of my leadership roles! It was AWESOMENESS hahaha! We walked to the Riviera Apartments and offered to do peoples dishes, take out their trash, talked with them, and more crazy cool acts of service! Tonight was really fun and kinda unique because my friend Jessica and I only got to go to 3 different places compared to our normal 10-20 places. The reason we only got to help out 3 different people was because at our 3rd stop, the 2 boys in that apartment, Steve and Jeremy, kindly offered to make us blueberry pancakes and we couldn't refuse haha! They were delicious! But what was even cooler was we got to know well and talk to these two awesome kids for a while and made new friends. Lots of the time that is all people need is simply someone to be their friend and to sincerely listen to what they have to say. I'm grateful for this opportunity I had to experience this and also to be the recipient of service as well-who doesn't love free food!?! Especially home cooked, warm blueberry pancakes ha! :D

Thanksgiving

I know I often say this about our lectures ha, but I can't help saying it because it is so often true!!! So here it goes, I absolutely loved the lecture today given by BYUSA President Elise May. Wow, it is nearly impossible to hear her speak and not feel of the great and real love that she has not only for service, buy also for the entire populous (the people!) of byu campus! I emphasize the people part because that is really what life is all about. As President Monson said in this past General Conference (and as is sung in highschool musical ha!) "We're all in this together!" How True that is and yet so many people do not realize it or else they get so busy caught up in their own lives that they loose sight of this important Truth.(Myself included I regret to say:( ) However, today I am grateful that I was reminded of this eternal principle and with the upcoming Thanksgiving Holiday I am looking forward to expanding my leadership role to further apply this principle of showing sincere Love and appreciation for the amazing people in my life, chiefest among them being my wonderful Family! I hope that the same sincere love and enthusiastic care that I felt from today's lecture can be felt by those around me as I strive to be a better Christlike individual and servant leader.

As for my traditional leadership role(s) that I've been working on, today I made a special effort to be a Good Campus "Cheerer Upper" :D by saying hi, making eye contact and smiling at random strangers as I passed them by on my way around campus! It was great ha! I forgot how fun it was to consciously and consistently do this throughout my day and it ended up making my day so much better seeing the smiles I was able to get from simply being friendly and saying "hello!" It's amazing how simple service can be and yet the results it produces are so much greater! I Love it!

Firstly, I absolutly L-o-v-e-d the lecture given by Dr. Erickson about Home and Community Life. I thought a lot of the statements made about actively making a difference in both Family and community life were such powerful truths. One of the quotes that impressed me the most was the quote of President Kimball which stated, "The time will come when only those who believe deeply and actively in the family will be able to preserve their families in the midst of the gathering evil around us." As we get deeper and deeper into the last days, this becomes truer and truer. Families are the most important units in God's Eternal plan of Hapiness. I am so grateful for my awesome loving family and I'm so grateful for the Atonement of Jesus Christ that provides a way for me to be able to live with them and all those I love forever.

As for my leadership role this week, I focused on trying to be a better friend, sister, daughter and roomate. I had the opportunity to strive to focus on all of these roles this week by spending time with individuals in all of these groups at various times throughout the week. In particular, I did such things as trying to be a good listener, encourager, comforter, and friend. As I had the opportunity to serve these people whom I love, my love and appreciation grew even more for them.

(Random and cool little fact I noticed, even though it has nothing to do with my leadership role, today's entry is my 13th one and it is Friday November 13th!:D Oooooo!)

Unfortunately, I came down very sick this week so I was not able to attend the lecture Monday or class Wednesday or my Y Service Squad group:(.......However! That does not mean I didn't have the opportunity to both take on as well as be the recipient of other Leadership roles.

Firstly, I would like to share the leadership of some of those close around me who served me this past week. My Family is most prominent among these. When they discovered I was sick, they came down and took me home so that I wouldn't be alone sick in my apartment. They did so many kind favors for me and took care of me while I was home with them as well. Also my roomates once they found out I was sick, they checked to make sure I was alright and encouraged me to get better. I had many kind friends who called to see how I was doing and offered to help by doing such things as making me soup and helping me study for a test. There were many other aquaintances and teachers who were very understanding and helpful as well. I can't help but feel grattitude for these Awesome people in my life who I feel sincerely care about me. I see why it is so important that we as leaders (and just as human beings in general) all serve and genuinely care for one another.

Secondly, as for my "leadership role" this week, I took on the responsibility of being a good recipient of service. :) What that means is rather than try and solve all my problems by myself, I let my needs be known and allowed others to serve me. Sometimes that is one of the hardest things for a leader/person to do because naturally we want to feel independent and capable of handling our own situations in life. However, it is humbling and extremely comforting to be able to let others help you out.(of course without abusing that service by requesting it beyond your practical needs.)

Once again, I'm grateful for the wonderful people in my life and for their awesome examples to me! I wouldn't be who I am today without their love, friendship, encouragement, examples and service.

First off, I loved the presentation on Divine Centered Leadership on Monday as well as the reading that went along with it. It is so true that giving selfless service and striving to be Christlike individuals can help us to be great leaders. Also I learned that it's important not only to give service, but to accept it when it is offered to you and when you are in need of it to let that need(s) be made known.

Secondly, I would like to share a cool experience I had this past week in being the recipient of Divine centered-Christ-like Service. On Halloween I ran a half marathon with my awesome Mom and our amazing friend Gail. I ran non-stop at a descent steady pace throughout the entire run until I got to about the 10th mile, when I had to stop because my calf muscles stiffened up so bad. I continued to walk/run(more like a "turtle Jog";) on my own until I yet again got to the point that even walking seemed almost too strenuous. With about a mile and a half left, I was walking pretty slow and feeling pretty down about myself for not being able to continue running. When I was in the point of feeling my deepest despair and could sense the disapointment begin to work its way into tears, I was suddenly and miraculously visited by what I like to call my "Angel" in yellow & spandex!:D A man in spandex and a bright yellow shirt came running up behing me and boomed with a loud, encouraging voice, "Come on PJam0-rama!" (since I was running in footsie pjs:) "Let's do this thing girl! C'mon, I know you can run to the end! It's just as if you were going on a breezy mile and a half jog in the morning!" His words were like magic! He slowed down long enough to get me running, and then we continued onward to the end together! But the magic continued! He didn't stop at me! From then on out he continued encouraging and motivating people to start running till the end! Pretty soon there was a group of us all running together and I found myself encouraging the other people to keep running as well! It was a miraculous chain effect! I felt within me a burst of untapped energy and enthusiasm that I previously didn't think possible. Because of this one man, I and many others were able to brighten up, gain enthusiasm and ultimately finish the race running strong! It truly was amazing and I am so thankful to Heavenly Father for blessing me with this Angel in spandex and yellow who taught me the importance of helping others along the race, and not just in the running races, but in the ultimate Journey of Life. We are all brothers and sisters of a loving and wonderful Heavenly Father who loves us so much. It is so important that we remember this, to keep this Eternal Perspective in mind, and to let this truth be the driving force of all of our actions so that we may be full of the perfect love of Christ and help each other make it back to live with him and each other for eternity!

Conflict

Something really cool that I learned from the lecture and in class this week is that conflict is not only present in all of our lives, which I already knew ha, but that it is Necessary. Whenever I have thought or been taught about conflict, it has usually been focused on how to eliminate it from my life. But as I learned, a little conflict, when used in the right way, can actually be beneficial. Now I'm not talking about the "contentious" type of conflict here, because that is bad, but I am talking about the type of conflict that encourages perfection, creativity and improvement. For example, I learned that in a business situation, conflict between employees can encourage competition which in turn stimulates those "creative-juices" for new ideas which can result in success and improvement within the company. Also, ironically, conflict within the Family can be and is an excellent way for the family to grow closer together. However, again it has to be the right kind of conflict. As I learned in class, the pattern to find this "right" or beneficial kind of conflict is found in D&C 121 (specifically verses 41-46) I won't go into the specifics of these verses (Although I Highly recommend studying them!:) but I will say that if we follow this pattern of constructive criticism within our families and marriages, it can prove to strengthen us and bring us closer together, not only with each other, but with the Lord. And ultimately I learned that in order to have righteous conflict, one must be full of "unfeigned" or unfailing (charity) Love with whomever the person is that they are in conflict with, because that way when the conflict is solved rather than having bitter and harsh feelings towards one another, you will be filled with a greater love, trust, and respect for them and in consequence be closer friends/loved ones with each other. I'm so grateful for this Awesome lesson! It taught me to look at conflict in a whole different light and it makes me excited to try and apply the Right kind of conflict solving into my life.

This week I continued with my leadership role by going to Service Squad on Wednesday night with Y Serve. We went to the Campus Plaza Apartments where we offered to do a variety of acts of service for people such as sweep the floors, take out the trash and do the dishes. It was so fun and we got to meet lots of really cool people! Probably my favorite incident was the first door we knocked on. As we walked by the glass screen door that peered into the kitchen, we saw a big sign above the sink that read, "Everyone make sure to do your dishes PLEASE!" We laughed as we saw the big pile of dishes below the sign because we knew these girls had no excuse not to let us offer our service to them. :) As expected, when the girl, her name was Hillary, answered the door and we told her what we were doing, she was initially shocked and then in the hasty, natural response said, " oh no, you don't have to do anything for us, but that is so nice though..." We gently asked a second time, "Are you sure??? Because we'd L-O-V-E to do it!" I think she thought we were nutty for being so Eager to serve her ha! But to our satisfaction, she graciously consented and let us in to do her dishes for her! As we did so, we had the opportunity to talk to her, to get to know how her day was, and eventually to even get to know a lot more about her personally. As we sincerely chatted with her, it was awesome to see how she opened up to us and eventually we were all talking and joking around as if we were good friends. Before we left, she sincerely thanked us and told us that we had just made her whole night! WOW! I cannot tell ya how GOOD that felt to hear her say that! I am so grateful to have been a tool in the Lord's hands by serving his children-no matter how simple of a way, and specifically one of his precious daughters, Hillary. This is what life is all about! As it says in Moses 1:39, "Behold, this is my work and my glory, to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man." It is my sincere desire, goal, hope and prayer that I can be a worthy servant of the Lord in helping to fulfill this his mission and helping to serve his children throughout my entire Life. I am so grateful for this testimony building experience and the wonderful lessons about the purpose of life that it has taught to me.