What is service?

[UtahDan]

A follow-up on The Church and Tohoku relief efforts.

Our district's effort a few weeks back where they took about 150 people (mostly youth) up north to help clean up is serving as a model for The Church's efforts going forward. Since that time it has sent two large groups of missionaries as well. The Church has decided that all units located in Nagoya and to the east will go up north to help with the clean up for their Day of Service, which should happen sometime this summer. The Church will pay for the transportation and as noted above, the units will use our district's effort as the model (we worked through much of the kinks putting it together).

Even better, The Church will also be chartering buses for regular trips up north for anyone that wants to sign up to go help. The Church will also pay for lodging for those that go. Volunteers should plan to stay a few days. Tentatively these buses will leave on Monday evenings after FHE and on Thursdays with return trips on Thursdays and Saturdays. This will allow members and their friends the opportunity to go help when they can.

The area around Sendai is progressing fairly well, but things are still rough further north, particularly in Iwate prefecture. Still a lot of work to do.

A few other cool things:

• When the missionaries went up they sent about 50 of them over to a centuries-old Shinto shrine that was hit hard to help clean up under the direction of the local priest.
• The Church's yellow Helping Hands t-shirts and vest are getting to be fairly well known. When they show up, people know they are there to help and ask them to come to their homes to assist with a variety of tasks.
• There is still high-level interest in the effort here. Elder Costa was here a couple of weeks ago and Bishop Burton will be coming soon to present ice-making and refrigeration equipment to a local fishing cooperative to help rebuild the industry, which was pretty much wiped out all along the coast by the tsunami.
• The people The Church has in place right now in the area office, most of whom arrived over the past 16 months and before the earthquake, form a team with significant expertise and ties to the Tohoku region. The Lord prepared well.

I think that is great.

[wuapinmon]

This makes me happy. The response after Katrina was to send about 100 missionaries who only had a few months left home instead of putting them to work.

The work that followed that was intense. Yet, I still think that organizing the missionaries into work gangs would've been a huge missionary success.

[DU Ute]

From each according to their ability, to each according to their need.

[NorthwestUteFan]

From each according to their ability, to each according to their need.

Thank you, Karl.

Seriously though, this is wonderful news.

[myboynoah]

Bishop Burton presents Mormon church aid to Japanese fishermen

[UtahDan]

Bishop Burton presents Mormon church aid to Japanese fishermen

An ice maker, a cooler, a refrigeration truck and other supplies. Makes you wonder what the story behind it is. I wouldn't be surprised to find out that one of those fishermen is a member and that these items are coming from another member. Just seems like a really specific set of items for there not to be an interesting back story here. Sounds like the membership continues to come through.

[myboynoah]

Mormon missionaries return to Sendai to help Japanese rebuild

[UtahDan]

Mormon missionaries return to Sendai to help Japanese rebuild

I imagine your ward is getting some unique opportunities to serve. You should share them.

[myboynoah]

An ice maker, a cooler, a refrigeration truck and other supplies. Makes you wonder what the story behind it is. I wouldn't be surprised to find out that one of those fishermen is a member and that these items are coming from another member. Just seems like a really specific set of items for there not to be an interesting back story here. Sounds like the membership continues to come through.

I guess it could seem that way, but the equipment was purchased by The Church for the cooperative, none of the fishermen being LDS.

[DrumNFeather]

Per President Eyring's call last conference for a day of service, all stakes and wards in Virginia will be providing service in their communities on September 24. In our area, the wards that meet in our building are helping out one of the local cities fix and paint areas where otherwise the resources don't exist to make these kind of changes/upgrades/fixes. Additionally, the youth will be doing a food drive that will be donated to one of the local food banks around here.

All in all it has been well received and the hope is that it is at a minimum an annual event.

[taekwondave]

Per President Eyring's call last conference for a day of service, all stakes and wards in Virginia will be providing service in their communities on September 24. In our area, the wards that meet in our building are helping out one of the local cities fix and paint areas where otherwise the resources don't exist to make these kind of changes/upgrades/fixes. Additionally, the youth will be doing a food drive that will be donated to one of the local food banks around here.

All in all it has been well received and the hope is that it is at a minimum an annual event.

How much were you paid for doing it?

[taekwondave]

I remember this one time, when I was twelve, I spent all afternoon pulling out some dead bushes in our front yard. My mom paid me for my services with twenty bucks. I like service.

[RobinFinderson]

I'm going to take this moment to mention once more that, if I ever contract asbestosis, I'm going to sue the Mormon church. I've had exactly one serious exposure to ridiculously high amounts of asbestos, and it happened on a Mormon service project. We were prepping an elderly woman's asbestos siding to be painted by sanding off the old paint with a freaking palm sander! No respirators... nothing. Just a bunch of Mormon youth breathing asbestos particles. Freaking idiot youth leader...

[UtahDan]

Per President Eyring's call last conference for a day of service, all stakes and wards in Virginia will be providing service in their communities on September 24. In our area, the wards that meet in our building are helping out one of the local cities fix and paint areas where otherwise the resources don't exist to make these kind of changes/upgrades/fixes. Additionally, the youth will be doing a food drive that will be donated to one of the local food banks around here.

All in all it has been well received and the hope is that it is at a minimum an annual event.

Obvious he read this thread.

[myboynoah]

They needed help with the chains at Noah's football game last night so me and another father volunteered. After the game the head ref came up and said he needed to pay us $15 for our time. Total surprise.

Service is great!

Then as we left the store after the game a woman in the parking lot approached us and was a little distraught. She had left her lights on and her battery was dead. Her husband was out of town and she had been waiting for help from someone for 30 minutes. We jumped her car, for which she was very grateful. She offered us some ice cream as a reward, but we turned it down. I was just happy to send her on her way; I've been in that situation before.

Service is great!