Week 42

Some days lately feel like every other day. The world is kind of coming back to life around us, but for me here in the mission my days are pretty much the same as the day before. I'm grateful that there are days when I can go in to the mission office to work, but most days I'm still working from my apartment. I try to stay productive - at least during the daytime hours - but one day pretty much looks like the one before.

I adore President Unger. He's the counselor in the mission presidency over my zone, and because the mission is so large, his responsibilities are much more like a mission president's. We have a zone devotional three times a week, and President Unger gave the thought this week. He told us of a time when he and Sister Unger were serving as missionaries at the bishop's storehouse. There was a young service missionary there who was Downs Syndrome and significantly challenged. Her assignment every day was to pick up two ice cream buckets. One bucket was empty, and in the other bucket were twist ties similar to the ones you'd see on loaves of bread. She would take two twist ties out of one bucket, twist them together, and put them in the empty bucket. All day. At the end of the day, her empty bucket was full, and she would put the buckets back on the shelf. The next day this sister missionary went to the shelf to get her buckets. Her job that day was to take those twisted ties out of the full bucket, untwist them, and put them in the other bucket. All day. She did her job perfectly and to the best of her ability without complaint. I have put these ties in my journal with a note about this sister. I hope to remember her story and precious example of service the next time I feel like I'm not contributing much or that my assignment isn't all that exciting. We can all serve, and as long as we continue serving to the best of our ability, the Lord will accept our offering and bless us beyond our ability to receive.