Unexpected Day of Service

Yesterday morning I did something unexpected and out of my comfort zone but it was worth it. I started the morning as usual getting kids off to school and it was a day for preschool for Alice. I drop off Alice last for school and on the way over I noticed a little old lady bending over pulling out tall weeds by the busy road of Midland on a big property right by the greenbelt. I had the impression or thought that I should go help her. I kept thinking about it on my way to the preschool. Lately I have been listening to less music so that I might have a better chance of listening to promptings of the spirit. I decided that this must be a prompting and that I should go ahead and do it. Since they were tall weeds I went home to change out of my gym clothes, deciding that I would skip the Rec Center today, and got in my work clothes. I also grabbed some gloves and a shovel. I was getting more nervous about it as I got closer and thinking that if she's not there any more then I'll forget about it. Once again I saw her still out there but I chickened out and kept driving. I told myself to stop being a chicken and turned into Melissa's neighborhood to circle back and just do it. I circled around and pulled over on the side of the busy road, got out and introduced myself.

I learned that her name is Delores and asked if she needed some help. She told me she was mostly trying to get goat heads out so people wouldn't step on them and track them around to grow elsewhere but she was also pulling out the bigger weeds. She said I didn't need to help her but I said that I wanted to and that I was raised to do as the Savior would do. So I grabbed my shovel and gloves and we got to work digging and pulling. Together we probably cleared about 8-10 feet but there's still a lot to do. I came to find out that she's 89 years old and widowed, which made me even more glad that I stopped. She's the same age as my grandma! She has also lived in this area for a long time but for different reasons her kids are not able to help with things like this. After working for almost 2 hours hours she had asked if I was raised on a farm. I said no, I was just raised to work hard. My grandpa and my dad were hard workers. Well, my dad still is a hard worker. We finally called it quits for digging and dragged the tarp full of the bigger weeds over to the dirt driveway. She said she was going to put them in the garbage bin later but I said I have the time and can help right now, so we walked up to the house to grab the dumpster and pulled it back out to the road. We filled the bin up chopping the weeds to make them fit. It was a big pile but we were able to get them all in! She said she was very thankful that I stopped to help and wanted to pay me. I said no you don't need to pay me, I just wanted to help. She insisted on getting my name and address and phone written down so I did. I had told her that I was planning on going to the Rec Center to exercise this morning but this was much more rewarding. I was truly happy that I listened to the prompting and helped her. I told her that if I saw her out here working again on Friday when I take Alice to preschool I'll stop and help again. She said she needed a day to rest in between working like this and I'm seeing today that I do too!

However, I think one reason I really needed rest is because I didn't stop working after I left her place. For days I keep driving home and seeing all kinds of garbage on the road in our cul-de-sac and it has been driving me crazy. And today it was added to by a bunch of white rocks smashed up in the road. I didn't realize what they were until I got the blower out to blow the garbage into a pile. I didn't see it when it was happening but I'm sure some of the boys in the neighborhood were the ones responsible for smashing these big beautiful white rocks to pieces. I don't even know where the rocks came from. So I was outside for the next couple hours blowing and sweeping off the entire cul-de-sac. I know some parents saw me out there so I'm hoping that they'll will do better with having their kids clean up their messes.

I was so exhausted, stinky and sweaty by the time I finished but I didn't have time to shower before picking up Charlotte from school. I had a hard time keeping my eyes open as I waited in line at the school so I went right to my bed after we got back and rested for awhile. 

When Curtis got home later and we started to cook dinner together he could tell I was tired and wondered if I was getting sick. I said no, I'm this tired for a reason (other than sickness) so I proceeded to tell him the story. He loved hearing it and had me repeat it to the 4 younger kids (Nikki was at work) while we were eating dinner. I think the kids were impressed to hear it also. I just hope that they see what I did and follow my example. That service can be a reward in itself. We don't always need to get paid in money but the most important part was to follow through on a prompting of the spirit that I received. It's my hope that I will be better at following through on promptings I may have from here on out.