Service

• Proverbs 12: 25…A good word maketh the heart of a man glad.
• D&C 44:6…Visit the poor and needy and administer to their relief
• 1 Corinthians 9:19-23…Members and missionaries should adapt themselves to the people they save and dwell with.
• Alma 30:9…It is a privilege to serve God.
• Alma 30: 8…Choose ye this day whom ye will serve
• Alma 28: 13-14…Men are needed to be called to labor in the vineyards of the Lord to stop Satan from ensnaring the hearts of men
• Alma 19:3…Look to serve others firs.
• Alma 18: 14-15…Look to serve others first
• Alma 18: 8-10…Complete obedience and service can touch the hearts of others
• Alma 17: 25…Look to serve others first
• Alma 22: 3…Always offer service
• Alma 24: 18…Rather than take away from a brother you should give unto him
• Mosiah 18: 13…When we’re baptized we covenant to serve God until we die
• Mosiah 18: 10…If we serve God and keep His commandments then we’ll have His Spirit more abundantly upon us
• Mosiah 18: 10…When we’re baptized we covenant to serve God and keep His commandments
• Mosiah 2: 16-17…Service of others – service of God
• Alma 30: 9..A privilege to serve God
• Jacob 1: 10…Work your whole life for other’s welfare
• Mosiah 2: 18…We should follow our leader’s example in service
• 1 Chronicles 16: 8…We should thank God for the deeds done among the people
• Mosiah 2:18…  Behold, ye have called me your king; and if I, whom ye call your king, do labor to serve you, then ought not ye to labor to serve one another?
• 2 Nephi 9:50...  Come, my brethren, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters; and he that hath no money, come buy and eat; yea, come buy wine and milk without money and without price.
• Moroni 7:3 -5…Wherefore, I would speak unto you that are of the church, that are the peaceable followers of Christ, and that have obtained a sufficient hope by which ye can enter into the rest of the Lord, from this time henceforth until ye shall rest with him in heaven. 4  And now my brethren, I judge these things of you because of your peaceable walk with the children of men. 5 For I remember the word of God which saith by their works ye shall know them; for if their works be good, then they are good also.
• “Following these most basic teachings, a splendor of connections to Christ opens up to us in multitudinous ways: prayer and fasting and meditation upon His purposes, savoring the scriptures, giving service to others, “succor[ing] the weak, lift[ing] up the hands which hang down, . . . strengthen[ing] the feeble knees” (D&C 81:5). Above all else, loving with “the pure love of Christ,” that gift that “never faileth,” that gift that “beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, [and] endureth all things” (Moroni 7:47, 46, 45).”  Broken Things to Mend (Jeffrey R. Holland)- Kindle Location: 71-75
• Matthew 23:11 -12…11  But he that is greatest among you shall be your servant. 12  And whosoever shall exalt himself shall be abased; and he that shall humble himself shall be exalted
•   “What counts in life is not the mere fact that we have lived.  It is what difference we have made to the lives of others that will determine the significance of the life we lead.”  Nelson Mandela
• “Edith Stein was a woman of Jewish birth who became an atheist by age fourteen, earned a doctorate degree, later converted to Catholicism at age thirty, then wrote a number of theological treatises including “The Prayer of the Church.” At age forty-two, Edith entered the Carmel of Cologne as a nun, and four years later fled to the Carmel at Echt (Holland) to escape Nazi persecution of Jews. While in Holland she wrote: “The thought that we have . . . no lasting home is always with me. I have no other wish than that God’s Will should be accomplished in me. How long I am to be here depends on Him. As to what will happen then, it is not for me to concern myself. But it is necessary to pray much, in order to remain faithful come what may.” At age fifty-one she was arrested, transported to Auschwitz, and executed in August 1942 for faithfulness to her Jewish heritage and opposition to the Nazi cause. Edith—now beatified and known to Catholics as Saint Teresa Benedicta of the Cross—was seen peacefully praying and actively serving her fellowman in the concentration camp until her last moments.”  Broken Things to Mend (Jeffrey R. Holland) Kindle Loc. 1096-1104
• “One day after paying for my groceries, I was bagging them on the little counter provided for us to bag our own purchases.  I did notice another lady next to me, who had a cane. This older lady asked me (in Danish) if I lived on Priovej. I answered in Danish, “no, but I lived on Ane Kristinesvej” (these two streets are very close to each other).  She then asked me, if I could help her to her apartment. I, of course, told her yes. It had just started to snow and the sidewalks were getting very slushy. I carried her bag of groceries and she held on to my arm and we walked to her apartment, having a conversation in DANISH!!!  After I helped her into her apartment (2 flights of stairs) and started back to our apartment, I thanked Heavenly Father for this opportunity to help and that I was able to understand Danish enough to help someone!!! I came home and told Dad/Ross/Grandpa what I had just accomplished.  However, when in the temple later that day, I had the same problems of not being able to understand when someone spoke to me. I realized that Heavenly Father knew this daughter of His (the elderly woman) needed help and through Him, I was able to understand the language. I truly felt that day that I was the “Hands” which were needed for that lady.”  From Edith Brown while serving at the Temple in Copenhagen Denmark, 02/17/2014.
• Mosiah 5: 15… Being steadfast, immovable, abounding in good works, it will be sealed that you will be brought to heaven and have everlasting salvation and eternal life.  All this through the wisdom, power, justice and mercy of God.
• “Philanthropy is often defined as an effort to improve society, based on love of humankind. While philanthropy usually includes money, it is most meaningful when it comes from the heart and includes the contribution of time and talents” Remmer, “Raising Children with Philanthropic Values“
• “Invite your children to participate in your charitable giving by creating an informal “family fund.” Encourage children to nominate their favorite charities or causes and then hold an annual family meeting to discuss their ideas. When the children are younger, it may be helpful to offer specific ideas, such as buying toys for hospitalized children or supporting baby animals at the local zoo. As they mature, you can show children how to research and evaluate their proposed charities for presentation at the family meeting. The Internet is a wonderful tool for the preliminary research, although nothing replaces the heartfelt experience of visiting organizations and seeing them in action.”  Remmer, “Raising Children with Philanthropic Values“
• “ September 20th, 1994 – Tuesday….Today was a learning experience.  I woke up feeling super empty. I felt homesick, I felt like crying & very weird & confused.  After 2 ½ months of feeling the Spirit I know when it isn’t with me. And this morning it wasn’t.  I tried to push it back & just get to work. We visited a few members and gave a charla for New Members to a young girl.  It went well. We came home & on the way home Elder Salazar mentioned that he felt the same way (empty, no enthusiasm). We got into the house & it was super strong.  I could feel it was Satan. So we prayed and cast Satan out of our presence. We ate at the Mamitas, then went & visited some inactives (we invited them to church). We then ran into an old man who had been walking since morning looking for his son.  His son never visited him so he took a cab to a part of Puyo, and then walked since morning. We bought him a soda & sat him down in the shade. We walked him until we found out where his son lived. His grandson came & got him. I felt so good serving this man.   I felt like a peculiar person because of taking time to serve him. A lot of people looked at us like we were wasting our time but we weren’t. We were serving this helpless old man who could barely walk. The poor man was tired & it was hot. I wanted to carry him but figured that would be a little uncomfortable for us both.  After serving this man I had the Spirit back with me in a snap. I’ve learned that Service will bring the true love of Christ at any time!”- Missionary Journal of Clinton Brown
• “More recently, Abraham Maslow, the twentieth-century American psychologist, gave us clues to real happiness in his hierarchy of human needs and goals. Self-actualization, the final aspiration, involves the journey through which we discover what we are truly called to do and be and starting to do it. Maslow postulated an additional objective: transcendence, the ability to move beyond the “self,” to see one’s own fulfillment as inextricably linked to serving the needs of others.” Wealth in Families Third Edition (Charles W. Collier) Page 10
• “The Rev. F. Washington Jarvis, headmaster emeritus of the Roxbury Latin School, says that true happiness in life comes from a long-term vision of our life. Jarvis writes in his book, With Love and Prayers, “Important, though, as a vision is [regarding career and lifestyle], it is nothing like as important as an overall vision for your whole life. We might call such a vision existential; it has to do with the discovery by you of some meaning and purpose to your whole existence. Inevitably such a vision must entail not only finding meaning in your life but meaning also in your inevitable death.” He goes on to say, “If you want to be happy, you must learn to love: to pay the price of caring for others, of putting the first, of inconveniencing yourself. That is the pathway to happiness.”” Wealth in Families Third Edition (Charles W. Collier) Page 10
• “The term care derives, of course, from the Latin caritas. The philanthropist is first and foremost a caregiver, not a giver of time and money. Time and money are the medium by which care is expressed. But the fundamental moral standard to which philanthropists should dedicate themselves is caring for others in need.” Wealth in Families Third Edition (Charles W. Collier) Page 17
• “It is only when a man supremely gives that he supremely finds.”  (Joshua Lawrence Chamberlaine, Address to 16th Maine, 1898)
• Book of Mormon, Mosiah 2:18 …King Benjamin, who is the king of the people, labors to serve his people as an example.  He also encourages them to follow his example and serve as well.
• “It was said that humility is not thinking less of yourself, it’s thinking of yourself less.”  Sherman Smith
• “There is no limit to the amount of good you can do if you don’t care who gets the credit.”  Ronald Reagan
• “On the other side of the veil, there are perhaps as many as 70 billion people.  They need the gospel, and releases occur here to aid in the Lord’s work there. Though we miss the departed righteous so much here, hundreds may feel their touch there.  One day, those hundreds will thank the bereaved for gracefully foregoing their extended association with choice individuals here in order that they could help hundreds there.  In God’s ecology, talent and love are never wasted.”  (told by Cory Maxwell what his dad had taught. Shared at his fathers funeral) Church News, July 31, 2004, p.4
• “The world is in need of your help. There are feet to steady, hands to grasp, minds to encourage, hearts to inspire, and souls to save. The blessings of eternity await you. Yours is the privilege to be not spectators but participants on the stage of priesthood service.” Teachings of Thomas S. Monson, Thomas S. Monson
• “I am convinced that when we give unconditional love; when our interest is first in serving, building, edifying, strengthening without thought of self; when we do not expect an automatic return for each act of kindness, generosity, or sincere effort to help; when we are not concerned about what we will receive or what others will say or whether our own burdens will be diminished, but selflessly seek to build another, the miracle of the power of the gospel is released in our lives.” 21 Principles, Richard G. Scott
• “Sometimes we must help address the basic needs of those we serve before we can invite them to grow.  A few years ago I received a call from Bishop Puckett asking if I could accompany him to meet a family he wanted me to serve as home teacher. Our visit was way more of a ministering opportunity than a home teaching one. The sister of concern had recently separated from her husband and faced alone a mountain of parental, financial, legal, and spiritual challenges. We went equipped to immediately offer a priesthood blessing and the full resources of a loving ward to assist.  But as we settled in to offer counsel and blessings, we all noticed that of all things — her fire alarm had been triggered, and even though it had been disabled — it was emitting a periodic “beep, beep.” This was a huge distraction from everything we hoped to offer that night. So we reprioritized things, and as best we could, the three of us set off through the house to try to find way to reset that stupid alarm. There was no way we could just leave the family there to try to go to sleep that night with that annoying sound, on top of all the background stress. Finally, after a long time trying and with a lifeline call to a relative who knew the system, we were able to find and disable the alarm and to clear our heads for the influence of the Holy Ghost and the Savior’s balm. My point in sharing this experience is that even though Bishop Puckett and I had lofty goals and earnest hopes to bless that family, it was the very worldly annoyance of a smoke alarm beep that we needed to resolve first in order to minister effectively.” – President Scott Smith, San Clemente Stake Conference, June 13th, 2021
• “As a member of the restored church, I have often found myself on the receiving end of Christlike empathy. As young parents, my wife and I spent a year caring for a gravely ill daughter. Our daily lives were in complete disarray. I have to say honestly that at the time, this unimaginable hardship significantly compromised the simple faith that had sustained me in my youth. Our home teacher at the time, Skip Johnson, was initially really at a loss as to how to help us. He checked in, but we’d often be MIA, having rushed to the hospital in emergencies, or spending days at a time there.  Skip sometimes felt a bit intrusive asking about the details of our daughter’s deteriorating condition. I came home from the hospital one night so weary, to find that he had let himself into our house, where he stood washing the dishes and scrubbing the sink out. Nothing was that dirty, but I think he found that was a good way for him to work out his frustrations about our situation and to demonstrate his love for us at the same time. There was nothing I needed more than that token of his love and empathy for me. Of all the amazing help that we received during that trial, I don’t know why the memory of that simple gesture sticks with me the most. Skip wanted to enter our burning building somehow, so in “comprehending” us, he decided to do it with our hide-a-key, comet, and a scouring pad. What an inspired minister he was.” – President Scott Smith, San Clemente Stake Conference, June 13th, 2021
• “He is the most happy and successful in life whose interests are coupled with giving assistance to others and helping them find the way. The sign at the railroad crossing that warns us to stop, look, and listen could be a guide for us. Stop as we rush through life. Look for all the friendly, thoughtful, courteous things we can do, and all the little human needs we can fill. Listen to others and learn of their hopes and problems so that we will be able to contribute in little ways to their success and happiness.” Manual, Teachings of the President of the Church: Howard W. Hunter,  Chapter 23 No Less Serviceable
• April 2, 1996 – Tuesday – Quito Ecuador…”We next went to Marcelo Mosquera’s house.  Let me tell you about him.  He got his right arm blown off to the elbow and 3 fingers and half of his left hand.  He did it working in the Jungle.  His wife left him. He never gets hired because of his physical impairment, so it’s very hard to get a job.  The government pays him 150 mil sucres each month (about 60 bucks a month) as a retirement pay.  This month he has no money at all because after getting it, he was robbed on the way home.  He’s had to go 2 days without food, and today he finally was invited to eat by Elder Howard and another friend.  With all these trials and problems (by the way, he lives in a one room house and basically all of his possessions (gas stove, bed, TV) were all given to him)  he still works soooo hard in the church work.  He sold almost all his possessions last November to go to the Lima, Peru Temple.  He’s the Turubamba Ward Mission Leader and magnifies his calling sooo much.  He reads his scriptures and is active.  He serves others.  He’s an example for me.  The thing was, after telling us his situation, he testified of his love for Christ, cried while doing it, and then went looking for things to give things away to us.  He gave my comp stickers.  Just seeing his situation, he has all the reason to complain and be selfish. But rather he serves others.  He is so awesome.  I’ll be like him.  I left 5 mil sucres on his table.  I hope he can make good use of it.  I left from there repenting of my selfishness, and of the times that I’d whined for material things.  How lost I was.  I’ll pray for him.”  – Clinton Brown Missionary Journal