Sunny Sunday

I had a fabulous day today. I woke up feeling happy from a telephone conversation I had with a friend as I was laying in bed, ready to fall asleep. The weather was so lovely I went to church without a jacket. Church was, as always, calming. I got to play the organ, and we sung two boisterous hymns that I really enjoy. The talks were well-thought out and the musical number was simply amazing (Elder Clawson played "Oh, How Lovely Was the Morning" arranged by Marshall McDonald), and Sunday School was, as usual when Brother Bauerfeind is teaching, amusing and informative.

Then, I had the opportunity of giving the Relief Society lesson about serving others (Sister Lederer played the piano for me in the primary). I purposely had them name the things that one would normally hear in a talk about service (that we follow Jesus's example, that it is actually serving God, that it blesses us, etc.), and then I said, "We're going to discuss some other things." President Monson's talk from October 2009 was the basis of the lesson, and these are the things I found interesting:

• He reminded us of our baptismal covenants, that we are willing to carry one another's burdens so they are light. He said most of us already are willing, but actually carrying, the way Jesus did, is something we sometimes need to be reminded to do.
  
• He focused on daily service.
• He asked, "What have I done for others?" not, "Have I done any good for others?"
• He talked about communication as a form of service! Wow. He said that we often live side by side but we don't communicate from heart to heart. (We talked a lot about this one, especially when something needs to be critiqued.)

We also talked about the five languages of love and how they help us to know how to serve people. I told them about developing love for my grandpa through service and listened to their examples as well. One sister told of how a friend of hers came to her and just needed to talk about things going on in her life. The sister felt bad that she couldn't really do anything concrete to help, but the friend was so thankful that she had done just that--listen. That was all she had needed. Then, I handed out post-it notes and we thought up some real things we could do this week for other people. Some ideas were:

• Visit a sister in a retirement home.
• Invite someone to eat cake with you.
• Call someone.
• Ask the bishop whom you can help in the ward.
• Fast and pray for someone.
• Fast and pray for ward leaders.
• Give someone flowers and a card.
• Write a nice card to a ward leader.

I also reminded them that there is a time in life when we have to be able to accept help (like when Mike had me write a list of everything I had to do besides my Master's thesis, and he figured it all out for me), and I encouraged them also to ask someone to do them a favor this week. I wish I could hear their reports later, but I'm not usually in the Relief Society anyway, so I doubt that will happen.

After church, I went home to get some sugar for a friend and then I had a bit of lunch and enjoyed sitting in the shade in the beautiful warmth wearing some awesome pink retro sunglasses that matched my shirt. Then I got to go back to the church to meet with the elders. The investigator who was supposed to show up probably ended up watching the World Cup, so they practiced teaching me. It was so uplifting despite the occasional roars from the surrounding area every time something exciting happened in the game, and I thought of some questions and got some good answers that I'd never really thought about before. And Elder Clawson, who I found out is an Olympus Titan, let me copy his music. Suh-weet.

Now I'm home and I'm ready to hit the sack. I love Sundays.