When I drew your name, I thought of lots of different things that I could do in your name to serve someone else and bless their lives. I thought of children and autism and animals and your love for others. It was hard to decide where to devote my efforts, but ultimately I decided to focus on missionary work and helping to spread the gospel of Jesus Christ.
In January, our ward gained a pair of Sister Missionaries and this is where my service began. I had the opportunity to give the missionaries a ride, feed them meals, help them in our ward, and best of all, teach others about the Gospel of Jesus Christ with them. They quickly realized that my schedule was flexible and would call on me sometimes daily, but at least weekly. If at all possible, I went with them if I could. It's been a rare week this year that I haven't helped the missionaries in some capacity.
At the end of summer, they tracted into a less-active woman and began teaching her husband. I've been able to befriend this lady and her family. We've become good friends, we've had them over to our home, and I've been able to slowly help their 5 year old son to adjust to Primary. We were able to attend her husband's baptism this month. It's been a really wonderful experience.
As Christmas approached, I wanted to get our children involved in some type of service. We've really been trying to focus on and teach them that the true magic of Christmas comes in serving others. Through a friend, I became aware of some missionaries serving in the Australia Brisbane mission who are not supportive of them being on a mission. This was so sad to me, especially having spent so much time with the missionaries serving in my ward and developing close relationships with them. There were 39 missionaries from Tonga, Samoa and the Philippines. One of the Elders was from the area of the Philippines that was recently hit by the Typhoon. He is the oldest of five children and both of his parents died when he was 13. He quit school to work and raise his siblings until leaving on his mission. His home was destroyed and he hasn't heard from his siblings since the typhoon. However, he has a constant smile on his face as he testifies daily that God loves them and will watch over them until he gets home because he is serving a mission. Some of the missionaries are the only members of the church in their family and their family isn't even speaking to them. They probably would not be getting anything from their families for Christmas!
This is the message that has been a common thread throughout my service this year and coincidentally it was also the 2013 Primary theme, "I am a child of God". It has been so wonderful to teach others this truth and for me to try harder to remember that everyone is loved by Him and He is aware of each and every one of us.
Tiffany, I love you and I am so grateful for the person that you are. I loved this opportunity to think of you all year and to provide this service in your name.
Love,
Gina
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