Episode 41 BONUS: Cheerful Giving Continued

This episode includes many of the awesome stories that were sent to me about ways that people have given and received love, service, time and money.  I know you’ll love it!

I’m also including a recent talk from President Russell M. Nelson, the prophet of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints talking about some of the ways that fast offerings and contributions from members have helped people all around the world.  

Shine on!

Stories of giving as I get them….

Like 22 years, and many miracles ago, we were pretty newly married and poor. I had a $50 bill and we decided it would be what we gave away for Christmas but we wanted it to go somewhere and to someone where it could make a difference, as much as $50 can. We prayed to know who that was and didn’t feel good about a work sub for Santa, or the “giving tree” in the foyer at church. We just kept waiting and on Christmas Eve, deciding that it was a bust and that our $50 was not a useful gift in the way we hoped it would be, we put it in an envelope and wrote “Hopefully you know someone that can use this,” on it. We put it in the Bishop’s screen door, rang the doorbell and ran off. I was actually pretty disappointed. Several months later the Bishop was bearing his testimony and said it was pretty late Christmas Eve and he got a call that someone didn’t have any food for the next day. He said he had family there, it was too late to get a check cut from the church or to cash it, and of course the bishop’s storehouse was not available at the time. He told the person he would get back to them as soon as he could. He then said that when he hung up the phone there was a knock on his door and someone left a $50 bill, enough for them to have food until other arrangements could be made. Of course I looked at my wife and said that was the $50 bill! I have seen many miracles, but this one taught me that God is mindful of all of us. Even months later He was gracious and kind enough to know that I needed to see that is wasn’t a bust and that my prayers were heard. So maybe no one reads this, or its one of those stories that doesn’t really translate, but I listened to this episode and wanted to say that God did show love to me when I tried to be a cheerful giver, and He used my gift in a way that helped someone and strengthened several testimonies at the same time. I don’t share this often because of that right hand thing you talked about, but whatever…

So a funny thing happened this week. I went to Walmart to pick up my groceries that I had ordered. (By the way walmart grocery pick up is almost as good as 2 hour church for a mom’s sanity.) I got out of my car and was chatting with the walmart employee as we loaded my car up with my groceries. We started to talk about Halloween and she mentioned her little boy wanted one of those blow up t-rex costumes. She told me she’d have to save up for it because it cost more than your usual costume. We joked maybe she could talk him into being a ninja instead. I got in my car and drove away and about a block later I had the feeling I should put some cash in a card and write “Happy Halloween, enjoy your dinosaur!” This idea chewed on me the whole way home. I got home, made lunch and decided to listen to this weeks podcast while I mulled over the dino idea. Well, 01:05:35 min later and after shedding some grateful tears I knew what I needed to do, so I headed back to walmart. Doesn’t God work in mysterious ways? Walmart, podcasts and a T-rex who knew?

“On Sunday I heard a sermon preached about the sign message held by a panhandler in Tucson. Today while shuttling my 4-yo granddaughter Chloe to music class, I saw it for myself. His name is Charles Pritchett from Tennessee. He’s a recovered alcoholic with no teeth who suffers from type-2 diabetes and has difficulty being hired for work. I gave him a ten dollar donation and talked to him about the message of the sign. He said I was only the second person to verbally recognize the (perhaps) hidden message of ‘Hungry for Change’. May we each remain hungry to better ourselves physically, spiritually, emotionally and socially as we navigate our life’s challenges. God bless.”

A few summers ago my husband, who was serving in the bishopric, was headed up to a lake for youth conference. He was pulling the trailer with everyone’s gear inside when our SUV broke down. They were able to get everything arranged so that little time was lost while getting the car to a mechanic and the youth up to the lake. He left the car for the few days and when he went to pick it up on the way back, the mechanic had a big smile on his face when he told my husband that the fixes had been paid for. It was not a cheap fix. This reiterated to me how much my husband needed to serve the youth of our ward. I’ll never forget it and hope to be able to “pay it forward” someday.

listening to a Mormon Channel Talk program where a former mission president and his wife were interviewed. He mentioned that there were always missionaries that had little or no support from home. The Spirit whispered to me that I need to “adopt” such a missionary. I’m in contact now with our mission president to see if there is someone I could adopt to send letters, emails, and the occasional care package to. I’m so excited to do this!

The first one is a friends story. Her family, including 4 young children, decided to forego Christmas last year. Instead, they went with a group of people to Mexico and brought down the things the people in that very small, poor community needed. In preparation to going, my friend felt prompted to bring a sewing machine. She had no idea why but she brought her extra sewing machine. While there they learned of a woman who had just moved to this neighborhood and was a seamstress, but in the move she had to give up her sewing machine. So, here was this woman without a way to provide for her family. She was given the sewing machine my friend felt prompted to bring and was then able to bless her family and the community because she could now sew clothes for them. 

The second is about fast offerings. When I was first married, my husband and I had very little. My husband had returned from his mission just a couple of weeks before 9/11. He had been applying to jobs and had some people interested in him but when 9/11 happened no one would hire him. He could not find a job for months. Finally, before our wedding he was given a job as a server in a restaurant. We were so grateful for the job but soon realized that he would not be and wasn’t making very much money. He would work for his dad or mow his moms lawn to earn the extra money we needed to pay rent. He also became a realtor in this time and we hated living in an apartment so we started praying and trying to figure out a way to buy a house. There was no way possible we could do that unless he found a better job. He went job hunting again without much success. We heard in sacrament about doubling your fast offerings and decided to do it. Writing that check was scary. I think we were giving $30 for fast offerings, to double it we would possibly be giving up gas or food money for that pay period. But we did it. Not only did we have enough but my husband soon found a job and we were able to buy a house. I was expecting to buy a small fixer upper but we were able to buy a brand new 3 bedroom home. We weren’t all of a sudden making tons of money but the desire of our heart to buy a home was fulfilled. The story goes on that with my husbands job he was expected to work some Sundays. His employer agreed that on the Sunday’s he had to work he would make sure he was scheduled around church. Well, that didn’t happen. He was scheduled week after week on Sunday and right during church. So, he quit. It was the scariest thing we have ever done. Would we lose our house? How would we pay our bills? I said earlier that my husband became a realtor. When he quit he went into full time commercial real estate. And we have never looked back. A commission check always came in right when we needed to fix our car, for example. We were also able to pick up an early morning job cleaning a shopping centers parking lot. It was nasty work but it paid the bills. Within two years my husband was doing so well, we bought a new, bigger home on an acre lot and I was able to quit work as soon as my baby was born I was able to be a stay at home mom. 

Last year around Christmas time we asked the bishop who we could help in the ward. He told us that he would get back to us but never did. And we just forgot about it. The week after Christmas at a relief society activity I sat next to a lady that lives close by but that I’d never spoken too. During our conversation she told me how she and her husband and four kids had just built and moved into a brand new house and the very next month lost their job. (At the time this really took me by surprise. This was quite a personal situation to tell someone in a first conversation)  But now they were stuck with a huge house payment, no backyard, no curtains for their house, and they were just trying to keep their house stocked with food, toilet paper, and diapers for their baby. I knew instantly that this was who we needed to help. 

Amazingly enough in that first ever conversation she just happened to tell me everything she needed by telling me all the little things she missed being able to afford. It was definitely divine intervention that she gave me this much detail so I knew exactly how to help her. 

I went shopping the very next day and bought the things that she said she had been living without but really missed like paper towels, Saran wrap, tissues, and sandwich bags. We also had a baby that had just outgrown the size of diaper they needed so we were able to give them the extra in that size that they needed. 

We invited them to come to dinner the next day and after dinner we gave them the box full of items. It was actually kind of awkward cause we didn’t know this family and didn’t know how they would react to someone handing them a box full of stuff, but they were extremely grateful and it was so fun to be able to give them some of the things that we all take for granted and that they missed so much.

So, my friend and I were on a business trip this week in California. We got some really crappy news while at the conference. We went for a walk to talk things over and vent about the news we’d just received. 

While we were walking, totally absorbed in our discussion, we heard a crash and turned around to see a woman on a bike who’d just run into a concrete wall. She was holding a container of food and trying to balance it and she ran into the wall which caused her to then drop her food and scrape her leg. She started to cry because of the dropped food. We asked her if she was alright and offered her the cereal bars we had. More tears and thanking us.  We asked her if she needed anything. All she wanted was water.  I pushed her bike while she ate, walked, talked and told us her heartbreaking story of how she ended up on the streets. We walked a mile to get to a store. In that time my friend and I shared with her that God loves her and that she is valuable. The most beautiful thing was that she was starting to believe it. She had a bible and read it and treasured the knowledge she has that she’s a daughter of God. She sang a song to us that said as much. Phew! All the tears!!

We made it to the store and got some water and food for her. We continued to talk and share scripture and God’s love with each other. We hugged her and told her we’d pray for her. 

On the way back to our hotel, my friend and I reflected on the whole experience from beginning to end. We were absorbed in our

Own problems and then we met the homeless lady on the bike. Our focus shifted from ourselves to her.  The Lord worked through all of us to lift each other. 

Later, I sent my friend a text and told her how much I loved her and that we could share that experience. We were all in the right place at the right time. My friend who’s just been through a nasty, difficult divorce told me she’d just  heard that her ex-husbands dad has a rare cancer and has maybe six months to live. My friend told me that it was the first time she was able to pray for her ex and their family. Our hearts were softened from the morning’s events and she was able to comfort her daughter.  Christ’s power to heal is 100% real and undeniable. Being a cheerful giver felt awesome!

This year I knew I wanted to be more giving.I didn’t want to have another year go by and wish we made more money, or say when we make more $ I’ll be able to give tons to charity. So this year I have allotted $50/ month towards giving. By the simplicity of adding it to my budget I don’t mind all the calls and mail I receive from organizations. I just send them off as I get them or as the budget allows.

At the beginning of the year, my neighbor who I have known for years and I was giving a ride home from a youth activity mentioned she needed new dance shoes. I know her father had just borrowed money for gas and that this  was something she needed for school and was behind on getting. Instead of taking her home, I took her to the shoe store and we bought her those jazz shoes and tights. She said her size to the clerk, when they didn’t fit and the clerk said we should go up a 2 size. This young woman meekly asked if that would cost more. It was a moment that made my heart break slightly, that she was so concerned about the cost. The attendant giggled and let her know the size didn’t affect the cost and she was fine getting the size she really needed. Her smile and surprise warmed my heart. This family has a lot of hard issues to deal with, and I had been at such a loss of knowing how to properly help without feeling like  enabling some negative behaviors. I was so grateful that I had made this decision to be more giving.Even if it wasn’t a $1 million, I felt like I had done the saviors work and ministered the one and made a small step in the direction of who I wanted to be and how I wanted to give in life.

Last year we did something a little different as a family for Christmas.  We took a portion of our Christmas money & went to the local Walmart, talked to the store manager there & asked if we could donate this and give to a cashier or divide it up among several cashiers and have them give it out as they saw a need.  The manager’s reaction was the best as she was so excited to pick cashiers to give it to and watch all of this play out.  We didn’t stay although I think it would have been fun to have stayed and watched people’s reactions as the cashier said their bill was paid for but it was a really fun experience for us to be able to do something like that.  We have always donated and helped families at Christmastime but this time we wanted to do something different than what we have ever done before & I loved it!  We also printed out “light the world” gift tags, wrapped a ribbon around a rose and went to Walmart (I am not sure why I picked Walmart both times…most likely because I live in Waddell and it’s close lol).  We go there, said a prayer & then walked around the parking lot and handed them out to people and said “we are just spreading a little holiday cheer, we hope you have a Merry Christmas”.  I totally get the idea of not letting the right hand know what the left hand is doing and I am all about anonymous service…I’ll share some of those too but this was such a fun experience for us!  It was so fun to see the looks on people’s faces.  My heart was filled with excitement and joy.  In the world we live in today I am so disheartened by what is going on and how mean people can be.  To me it resorted some faith in the goodness of people to see their reaction & their gratitude and I hope it restored some faith for them too.  I was so nervous, because I know a lot of people are so politically correct.  I was nervous of getting rejected and someone being upset because we said “Merry Christmas” but that didn’t happen!  I’m not saying it couldn’t but it didn’t and that made me feel so good inside.  

The next thing we did was get flowers, arrange them in mason jars & tie a ribbon on with a “light the world” tag.  We went out one evening and said a prayer and just went driving around the neighborhood to find 5 houses we could leave these floral arrangements at…each person in our family got to pick a house and our middle son was our ding dong ditcher.  It was so fun as we drove around and each got to decide what house we left these at, we didn’t stay or peek to see if people went to the door to get it but it was so fun thinking about their possible reactions as they opened the door.  As members of the church I think things like that would not be unusual to us but as non-members I wonder?  I wonder how many times someone has left a plate of cookies or flowers on their door.  I hope we made someone smile that night & maybe just maybe lifted someone’s spirits who was down.  

A few others things off the top of my head….my youngest just went into kindergarten but I have had almost 6 years with her at home.  For the passed 2 Valentines days we have heart attacked certain members doors during the day.  I seriously had so much fun with her as we snuck up on their doorsteps and quickly heart attacked their doors.  One of them was a gal in our ward who was having such a hard time, going through a divorce and really down.  We wrote special things about her on each heart to help her know how special and loved she is.  Last…something we did years ago with our boys for FHE was we would make cookies & then each pick someone to write an anonymous note to about how special they were and then drop it off on their doorstep.  

I will share with you a few thoughts about accepting service and being served.  This is hard for me…and I know a lot of people have a hard time with this.  It is much better to be the one serving than the one receiving.  My sister in law is so good at service, she has brought meals over to us a handful of times despite my resisting and telling her we were fine I was always SO grateful for the meal.    

 This year we decided to do our 8 is great and Temple Priesthood Prep on the same day to get them done with in one night so we did them back to back.  My sister in law knew that I needed help (she just can sense those things) and just showed up early (well before my presidency) to help, she went back home because we forgot something and came back and then stayed for both meetings and to help clean up.  She didn’t need to be there at all! She is our chorister and did not even need to come but I honestly couldn’t have done it without her.  She is amazing & I truly am thankful for her service she gives.  I love when people just see a need and do it, they don’t ask what needs to be done or how they can help they just do it.  I learned that years ago because it is so hard for people to accept service that sometimes you just have to do it. 

I just wanted to share the miracle that has been happening here every day. On Christmas Day we had a package arrive. It was a package “from the North Pole.” It said, on the outside of the box that that instead of doing just one present for the day that giving every day was better. Another words to have the spirit of Christmas everyday. This is month 9 of recieving gifts every day! Like oh my goodness Gravy!! This has been so fun for my family! And, has taught me(and hopefully the rest of the clan) to also be a giver. To put trust into giving. To stop the excuses of not giving. To pass on the ripple that has been given to me.(us) I have often wondered why? But, try to stop those thoughts and try to more focus on the “this is amazing!” And allow people’s goodness to shine!! It has really made an impact on me with how I look at giving. People are amazing! 

I had a small business, and while having breakfast in a local restaurant, a member of our stake was talking to a man from Chile that he had met on his mission.  The daughter had been severely burned and the family needed to move to Salt Lake to be near the Shriners hospital for regular treatment as she grew.

I felt impressed to offer to have them live in a home we purchased to operate our small business from.  We paid the payment and utilities in exchange for some help from their family.  

The first one is a friends story. Her family, including 4 young children, decided to forego Christmas last year. Instead, they went with a group of people to Mexico and brought down the things the people in that very small, poor community needed. In preparation to going, my friend felt prompted to bring a sewing machine. She had no idea why but she brought her extra sewing machine. While there they learned of a woman who had just moved to this neighborhood and was a seamstress, but in the move she had to give up her sewing machine. So, here was this woman without a way to provide for her family. She was given the sewing machine my friend felt prompted to bring and was then able to bless her family and the community because she could now sew clothes for them. 

The second is about fast offerings. When I was first married, my husband and I had very little. My husband had returned from his mission just a couple of weeks before 9/11. He had been applying to jobs and had some people interested in him but when 9/11 happened no one would hire him. He could not find a job for months. Finally, before our wedding he was given a job as a server in a restaurant. We were so grateful for the job but soon realized that he would not be and wasn’t making very much money. He would work for his dad or mow his moms lawn to earn the extra money we needed to pay rent. He also became a realtor in this time and we hated living in an apartment so we started praying and trying to figure out a way to buy a house. There was no way possible we could do that unless he found a better job. He went job hunting again without much success. We heard in sacrament about doubling your fast offerings and decided to do it. Writing that check was scary. I think we were giving $30 for fast offerings, to double it we would possibly be giving up gas or food money for that pay period. But we did it. Not only did we have enough but my husband soon found a job and we were able to buy a house. I was expecting to buy a small fixer upper but we were able to buy a brand new 3 bedroom home. We weren’t all of a sudden making tons of money but the desire of our heart to buy a home was fulfilled. The story goes on that with my husbands job he was expected to work some Sundays. His employer agreed that on the Sunday’s he had to work he would make sure he was scheduled around church. Well, that didn’t happen. He was scheduled week after week on Sunday and right during church. So, he quit. It was the scariest thing we have ever done. Would we lose our house? How would we pay our bills? I said earlier that my husband became a realtor. When he quit he went into full time commercial real estate. And we have never looked back. A commission check always came in right when we needed to fix our car, for example. We were also able to pick up an early morning job cleaning a shopping centers parking lot. It was nasty work but it paid the bills. Within two years my husband was doing so well, we bought a new, bigger home on an acre lot and I was able to quit work as soon as my baby was born I was able to be a stay at home mom. 

My MTC companion came from a less active family and arrived at the MTC with a set of beat up, falling apart scriptures. We didn’t get along well for various reasons, but I felt the Lord whisper to me to buy her a new set of scriptures. My grandparents were sending me $25 a month to use for personal expenses, so I asked my parents if they would “loan” me the next few months of grandparent money and order a set of scriptures for her with her name on them. When they were delivered, she was surprised and touched and confused at who had done this for her. She asked around to all of the people who might have sent them and never found out who the giver was. It brought me so much joy to do that. I got to serve with her a year later while in the mission field and we were great friends. We had both changed and softened during the first part of our missions, and we were better able to enjoy our time together. I love that God directs us to serve in these ways. Thanks for the opportunity to share my story. 

Last year when my daughter had just turned 3, I decided that in our family, I want my kids to help participate in a family service project every year for Christmas. I am still brainstorming what to do this year, so I hope your list helps me come up with some good ideas. But last year, I found a woman in South Jordan who collects books and then mails them to kids in need. So my daughter helped me pick out some of her own books to donate and then people from our ward brought us some. So we had a whole box of books to drop off to her. – One lady in my ward is always brining people Swig (Flavored drinks). One day, I was having a rough morning because it was the end of my maternity leave and she happened to cal me and just said, “what’s your order?” Then she dropped it off. I don’t really care for soda and drinks from Swig, so I had her get me a lemonade. But what she brought wasn’t important, it was the fact that Heavenly Father knew I was having a rough time and he sent her over so I would know he was thinking about me. And for that I am grateful. I know she often brings drinks to lots of women in our ward, and I think she goes by the spirit to know who needs one that day. So awesome. – A friend of mine was super ill this summer with her pregnancy (so ill she couldn’t get out of bed, was in and out of the ER and on IV’s). Rather than just ask to take her kids, I set up a playdate rotation so she didn’t have to worry about it. She gave me the dates and I set up the people to pick up and drop off the kids and to take over lunch when necessary. – Once when I was a Mia Maid leader, I felt prompted to write my girls small notes each week to give them on Sunday. They were small (half the size of a index card) and I put silly stickers on them. Usually they just contained a small compliment. I did it for a month or so. I don’t know if the girls needed it or not, but it was something I felt prompted to do. – When I was a Laurel, I remember my Young Women leader at the time gave each of us 6 girls $100 of her own money to spend on any kind of service. And then we reported back to her with what we did and how it felt. Another girl and I pooled our money and went to Sam’s club where we spent $200 on food items. We door bell ditched my neighbors across the street who were struggling with money and had young kids. We ran to my garage and hid and watched him. First the neighbor was super mad because someone door bell ditched him (and the food was in a box and not wrapped like presents, so not very noticeable in the dark). He stated yelling and was mad, but then he realized what was on his porch and started crying and saying thank you. When we met with all of our laurels, we found out that another Laurel had also been prompted to help that family and she spent her $100 on toys for the kids. It was a sweet Christmas and if I’m ever rich enough to do that, I would love to do it with my kids or future young women.

My husband is the best example of service I can think of. If someone needs to move, a car has broken down, someone needs a truck ride to home depot because they only have a small car, he will always drop what he is doing to help (to the point that it annoys me and I need to work on my attitude). – I have been in my current ward for about 5 years now. And I feel like it took me and my husband 3 years to make any friends. Now we love it and it is a very inclusive ward. But to get this way, I started planning a bunch of activities that I would invite the whole ward to on our ward Facebook page. Once I posted that we were going to the local elementary school to play Four Square and it almost turned into a primary activity with the amount of kids that came with a few moms. I’ve planned a big game night where everyone can come hang out or bring games to play. In Herriman, there is a little manmade reservoir that is about 20 minutes from our neighborhood. Over the summer, for 3 or 4 Mondays in a row, my friend and I invited our whole ward to join us and let ward members use our paddleboards, kayaks, and kid kayaks. We ranged from five -15 families that came. And after summer, 3 or 4 of the families had jumped on the band wagon and also purchased kid kayaks. At the end of summer, I booked a group Campsite at a lake and invited all of my friends that wanted to come. About 10 families form our ward (plus other friends) ended up coming and there were people introducing themselves to each other that didn’t know they were in the same ward. It was really fun (and probably had a better turn out than our “ward campout”). So I’m not good at spreading the gospel, but I try to be good at including everyone in fun activities. And that has made a difference in the feeling in our ward.

“Wherefore, my beloved brethren, pray unto the Father with all the energy of heart, that ye may be filled with this love, which he hath bestowed upon all who are true followers of his Son, Jesus Christ.” (Moro. 7:48.)

More experiences that I’ve gotten since or weren’t included in the podcast.

I just want to add my wonderful experiences that I was reminded of during this episode. When my mom was sick with cancer, I lived 3 hours away with three small children. When I mentioned to my friend, Shelly, that I would love to go spend time with my mom, she rallied around and arranged for herself and neighbors to watch my kiddos every Wednesday so I could drive up to Idaho and spend the entire day focusing on my mom with no distractions.This went on for about two months. I didn’t have to arrange any thing, she would just let me know the night before where my kids were going that day. This let me spend some very precious time with my mom! I love them all so much!

Later, after my mom died, a family friend from years ago showed up at my parent’s house and filled the table with groceries and meals so that all of us kids didn’t have to worry about that while we were planning her funeral. Such an amazing act of love! I have been blessed by so many wonderful people! Thanks for letting me share my experiences. 

Next story I’m a delivery driver for FedEx, and I’ve been listening to your podcast every week since episode 8 or something (I went back and listened from the beginning), but I’m usually too busy with work and my family of 5 kids to ever comment. (Plus, I listen through Google Podcasts, so I can download it to my phone, but it doesn’t let me comment.) I wish I could have shared a story about cheerful giving, but I always felt too busy. This episode was so great, I felt like I just had to pull over and write this comment. My wife and I have had a lot of financial trials in the 13 years we’ve been married. We were homeless for almost a year in 2010-2011, and had 3 kids at the time. In 2014 we moved to a new state to live closer to family and look for better job opportunities, but we were just barely scraping by. A little before Christmas that year, we were doing so poorly that we didn’t know how we were going to get any presents for our kids. We went to Church one Sunday morning and put our things on the pew to save our seats while we took our kids to the restroom for diaper changes, etc. When we got back, we discovered that someone had left a sealed envelope on the pew with our things. Our last name was written on the outside, along with the message, “From the Green Bandits”. We opened it up and found that these “Green Bandits” had given us $300 in cash! To this day, we don’t know who gave this to us, but I remember having to leave the chapel for a little while to cry privately and thank Heavenly Father for answering our prayers. We’ve decided to pay it forward every year — as well as whenever we see someone in need — with our time, our love, or just with money when we can’t do more and when that’s needed most.

Next story

I was in the category of I’ve been helped a lot in my life and now I’m in a place where I can give back, but I didn’t know how or who needed my help. So I took your advice and I prayed!
 The first day I prayed nothing happened. The second day I prayed I walked into a sandwich shop for lunch and there was a homeless man sitting there with a soda, but no food. So I bought him a sandwich. The next day which was today, I was driving to Walmart to get my daughter some stuff, and there was a homeless guy with a sign that said he needed winter clothes. We live in a cold climate and winter is fast approaching! So when I was at Walmart I bought him a bunch of snacks and a bunch of winter gear and brought it back to him. And he was so happy he was literally did a little jig when he was opening his bags. And it made me feel so great!
 And then I got a blessing back already! My son who’s on leave for the military, pre-deployment :-(. He went to the dentist to get some work done and insurance covered everything but about like $250. He had an emergency root canal crown. So the dentist at first was like oh 19-year-old kid blah blah and then Calvin was like yeah I’m getting ready to go overseas I’m an army ranger and the dentist was like wow your 19 and an army ranger! And my son said yep and I’m getting ready to be deployed. so at the end the dentist said  the $250 is on me and my son was so happy he started crying and of course me told me I started crying! We’re a bunch of bawl babies in our family 🙂 S

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I wanted to share what my sweet ministering sisters did for me for your cheerful giver. It may not seem like much but it meant the world to me. My husband has had some serous health issues this past Summer. I have been preoccupied and overwhelmed at times. My dear Ministering sisters invited all of the sisters they visit to go to lunch, the other 2 couldn’t make it the day they wanted to go but they still went and took me, just me! I felt so much love and genuine concern that they would go anyway when I was the only one.

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So, l’ll start with some background. We are broke. Always have been. Every time we double our efforts to save, stuff happens that depletes it. Paying all of our bills on time every month is a serious struggle. We try not to complain because we know that the blessings of tithing make it so we will never be without a roof over our head or food to eat. However, in my prayers, I’ve been asking Heavenly Father to please allow me to be successful enough in my business to help our family have the things we need, to be able to pay the people who take care of my kids while I work on my business, and to be able to financially bless others.

That being said, I put a brand new crib up on FB a few months ago. No takers. Lowered the price a few times- nothing. Our room got super messy and so husband and I decided to spend the day cleaning it. I posted once again about the crib and a few others items that we were just going to give away. We took the

crib down, thinking we’d put it in the garage until someone offered to buy it. This was going to help us financially, right?! This was going to be the answer to a few prayers.

As we were cleaning our room, we were listening to the Cheerful Giver episode. A friend texted me, asking to take whatever baby stuff I had left. I told her yes on all the free things, but that we really needed to sell the crib. She was grateful for the small things. As we listened to the beautiful stories people shared, especially about the last minute $50, my husband said to me, “I feel like we need to give the crib to her.” And I knew he was right. So we did.

We doubled our fast offerings this month also. I don’t know how all the car repairs are going to happen or how we’re going to pay the mortgage on time, but I’m not going to sit here and worry. The Lord will provide because giving that crib felt so SO right. It’ll all work out.

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I hesitate to tell you of an act of service we did many years ago.   I had a small business, and while having breakfast in a local restaurant, a member of our stake was talking to a man from Chile that he had met on his mission.  The daughter had been severely burned and the family needed to move to Salt Lake to be near the Shriners hospital for regular treatment as she grew.

I felt impressed to offer to have them live in a home we purchased to operate our small business from.  We paid the payment and utilities in exchange for some help from their family.   Unfortunately, they never learned English, so it wasn’t ideal, but it felt good to help them.   

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I’ve been trying to be a more cheerful giver since that lesson a few weeks ago. I’ve decided to donate $10 to every Go Fund Me that I see pop up on a Friend’s Facebook page. So far it’s only been 2, but they’ve been very special experiences. One of them was for my blind cousin. She divorced her husband while I was on my mission a few years ago (his bad, not hers) and she is struggling to support herself and her 3 children. Her braille machine broke, so that money went to support her it getting a new one. The other donation was to a friend’s brother who lost his 5 week old baby. I plan on continuing to support those friends I see who are in need by giving my measly $10.

Another way I decided to give was to ship a gigantic package of diapers to any new parents. My neighbors just had their baby three weeks early, so I shipped a box of diapers to them. And they’ll never figure out who did it!! Bahahahaha! I was at work when it shipped, so unfortunately I didn’t get to peek out of the window like a creeper and see how they reacted.

I don’t think that this blessing was a coincidence, because the flights I’ve been looking at to get my mother-in-law here for a month and then to get my kid and I to Mexico and back went down by hundreds of dollars today. I saved over $800 on those three round-trip flights! I will forever be a cheerful giver and continue to look for more ways to give to others.