Service Feels Good!
This last month we have spent some time serving in different capacities. Obviously Paige is serving people full time right now in Montpelier, ID, McKell served the poor in Nicaragua for a week during July, and Mike and I also serve in callings at church (he's the Sunday School president and oversees the teaching that happens in our ward, as well as teaches a class once a month to help teachers teach more effectively and I work with the 16-17 year old girls right now in the young women's program).
But I was also given an assignment to serve as chair person on a stake committee at church where we were asked to find a way to reach out to the refugees in our community and serve them. We found a local organization here in AZ called the Welcome to America Project (WTAP) which assesses the needs of new refugees (language proficiency, physical needs, etc) then collects donations or finds resources and then delivers them to the families every Saturday. When I visited their warehouse the first time and heard the volunteer explain who these refugees are and what they have been through, my heart felt ready to burst and I was itching to figure out how we could help.
I soon learned that one of our biggest obstacles was going to be educating people about the difference between a refugee and an immigrant. Many people in our congregation were not as excited as me to help the refugees. There has been so much negative political rhetoric surrounding this issue that people were hesitant to support this idea at first. I decided to produce a video, after getting permission from the stake president, explaining what a refugee is and the intense vetting process that happens for each one coming into the U.S. Also I included clips from the most recent conference where our leaders asked us to help them. Most of the refugees are women and children and have been forced to leave their homes out of fear of being killed or hurt. After that many of them live in camps sometimes for as long as 20 years. We then asked people to donate supplies for a two month period.
On July 30th we had a morning of service at the stake center where we had different stations the women could choose to work at. By the end we had assembled or created:
61 backpacks full of school supplies
25 cleaning supply baskets
40 painted canvas art pieces
45 fabric wreath decorations
3 full size and 1 twin size quilt
18 twin size fleece blankets
60 welcome to America notes
100 bags of clothing sorted
My favorite moment however came at the very end when a Muslim woman stood up and thanked all of us for showing love to their community instead of hate. She told us that they are religious people who love God just like we do and she thanked us for not judging them. That was the icing on the cake!!
That is so great! Thanks for all that you do!
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