We spent most of the day getting ready for today's service. There's a church in our community that hosts families and individuals that don't currently have homes. Actually it's a whole organization that has several churches that are willing to host people. They stay at the churches for a week at a time. The church gets other churches to do different things like provide dinner, lead an activity, and have a couple people spend the night as chaperones.
So we went tonight to do the activity part. I was so nervous. I had a bunch of questions in my head, and I was just unsure of what to expect. Also, Jeff had to work so he couldn't go. He's always so good at stuff like that. Anyway, we were supposed to do an activity and a little discussion about something positive. So we decided to talk about feeling the Love of God and how we can help others feel that too.
I told a story about how a few years ago, I got a little depressed or something and started wondering if my Heavenly Father had forgotten me. So I decided to write in a little notebook at the end of each day, evidence of His love. While I was doing that I noticed that a lot of the way I know He loves me is by what other people do to be kind. Then, since we're focusing on doing acts of service this month, we had written down small things that everyone has done or had done for them, like smiling at someone or remembering someone's name. We put each one on a slip of paper and had everyone take one and think of a time they were in that situation and how it made them or others feel.
Everyone participated, and it was a lovely discussion. They told us how they've only been together as a group for two weeks, but they're already feeling like a family--like they love each other. One person talked about coming to know Heavenly Father in a way that she never had before. It was very sweet. After that we gave each person a little notebook and pen to write down every day how they can feel Heavenly Father's love for them. We really enjoyed ourselves. I hope we get to do it again and encourage others to volunteer.
After that we were supposed to go visit a lady from church, but she was sick and had to cancel. Our family uses essential oils to help with a variety of health things, so I thought we'd take this lady some oil that helps stop coughing. I called to see if I could just drop it off, and she sounded absolutely terrible. I could barely understand her. I just gave her daughter the oil at the door. I hope she got some relief from it; she's so sick. I'm going to have to call in a day or two and see if she needs more. I didn't put much in the bottle; but from the way she sounds, she'll need it for a while.
We did science today, but nothing else for our usual school stuff. Tonight Sam told me he's concerned that he's "not excelling academically." I said we would sit down tomorrow and address that together. I told him that each of his siblings had that same feeling at about his age, and that's when they each started working harder. I guess it's a sign that they're taking more of the responsibility. He's been talking about wanting to do better for a few weeks, so I guess it's his turn. I love how they each came to the same realization a bit before high school. I guess that's so they could get through it. I'm excited to help him figure out what to do.
See you tomorrow!
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