November - Serve Your Neighbors #davidsmission

A little over 15 years ago we had sold the home we built and were looking for a new home in Northern Utah County. We did so with many  prayers in our hearts: Help us find a home that's comfortably within our budget; help us find a place where our kids can grow up with good friends; a place close to my husbands work; a place with friends for us, the adults; a place where we would find great happiness. Looking back on 15+ years in this home, I'm overcome with how abundantly these prayers have been answered.

One of the greatest blessings has been the opportunity to be surrounded with extraordinary neighbors and friends. I've heard it shared many times, from new move-ins to visitors: there is something unique and beautiful about the people in this area. It is almost palpable, when you open your heart to see it, the feeling of unity and love in this corner of our little world.  This is not just a select small group of individuals; it really is a majority of the area.

This is why my heart swells this month as our family approaches our service theme: Serve your Neighbors. We want to introduce you to  an idea with a little talisman that will help us remember to move this service around.

Meet our Kindness Trains. In the next week these trains will be visiting some of our neighbors as we perform a secret act of service on their behalf. Once done, we will leave the train with a card of instructions attached, directing how the neighbors can jump aboard the train and move the kindness along. We encourage anyone who get visited to snap a picture of the service given to you and either post on social media with the hashtag #davidsmission or email me at marissa@allens.net.

I would love to see the Kindness Trains move throughout the state and continue into the new year. Or, start your own movement out of state. I found these wooden trains at Hobby Lobby and gave them a coat of paint. I will include a copy of the card you can save and attach. 

Hope you all jump on the Kindness train and Spread kindness throughout your neighborhood. Can't wait to see what service ideas you come up with. 💕

List of service ideas:

~Make them dinner or a freezer meal
~Clean part of their house
~Do some of their yard work
~Take garbage to roadside and return after they are empty
~Take them baked goods
~Visit someone lonely
~Drive Carpool for a week
~Babysit for them, for free
~Wash car windows
~Send someone flowers
~Send a care package
~Gift card to go out to eat
~Anonymous thank you note
~Take someone to lunch
~Holiday treat bags

October - Serve the Missionaries #davidsmission

When we become baptized members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints we make covenants to take upon ourselves the name of Christ.  Each Sunday thereafter we partake of a sacrament, renewing that covenant, and promising that we will always remember Him and always have His name with us.  One way that members of the Church can do that is by becoming missionaries, to go out into the world and testify of Christ. Our youth, ages 18 or 19, can be called on Missions where they set aside their worldly ambitions and give 18 months to 2 years of their lives to serve the Lord, testifying of Christ, and preaching the gospel that He taught when He lived on this earth.  It is these young men and women that we want to honor this month.

Even though it is a sacrifice to be away from family and friends for 2 years of their lives, I know that they do so willingly because of their great love for their Savior, for all the blessings that He has brought into their lives.  As members of the church we strive to help them in their efforts by telling our friends and neighbors all the goodness that Christ has brought into our lives. 

This month we will be 'adopting' our missionaries from our neighborhood.  Currently our congregation has 9 young adults serving in the mission field, from California to Hong Kong and many places in between.  It is our goal to make care packages for each one, including treats and letters from home, honoring and thanking them for their service, hoping to help them feel we are supporting them from back home.  We would also like to include Books of Mormon with our testimonies in the front so that our belief in the Savior can spread around the globe. 

How would you like to help?  What ways can you think to honor a missionary this month?