The rains came down, and the floods came up!

We have been doing service up in Roundup Montana (yes, Roundup is the name of a town in Montana) the past few weeks, due to the major flooding they have had there.  It has been so humbling to be a part of the clean up.  As we were tearing out drywall because of the water damage the thought dawned on me "what if this was your home?"  I felt a cold shiver go through my whole body.  What would my family do if this were to happen to us?!  I almost began to weep for the family this did happen to.  They lost everything...  what was most painful for me to see, because of my love for pianos, was the beleaguered Steinway that was destroyed!!!!
     I have learned so much about serving others here in Montana.  It feels so good to lend a helping hand.   To who ever reads this I hope that you will heed the voice of a prophet when asked what the church could give him for his birthday, as President Monson said "find someone who is having a hard time and do something for them"  I know you will feel better no matter how your day is going it will only go up as you serve your fellow man.  As King Benjamin of old said  "I tell you these things that ye may learn wisdom; that ye may learn that when ye are in the service of your fellow beings ye are only in the service of your God."  Mosiah 2:17 
If you'd like to see a brief shot of me on the news check out http://www.kulr8.com/news/local/Volunteers-Get-Roundup-Recovery-on-Right-Track-123168003.html

The Epitome

There was a woman that we were teaching for a while, who had alot of contact with Mormons and had had missionaries coming to her house for quite some time.  We had not been able to see her for along time and were kind of catching up when she told us that through this gap of not seeing us she feels that the "Mormon Church" is not for her and she did not believe the Book of Mormon to be true.
         "However" she said in an almost confused tone "I still think that you guys are the epitome of Christianity and you do everything and more that a good Christian would do"  She told us this is her stance now but she will keep an open mind on the Book of Mormon and maybe one day she will believe it is true.  Now what sticks out to me is that she said we are the "epitome" of a good Christian.  Epitome is a rich word meaning

"a person or thing that is typical of or possesses to a high degree the features of a whole class: He is the epitome of goodness. " (http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/epitomes)  "Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles?"  If it walks like a duck, quacks like a duck, swims like a duck IT PROBABLY IS A DUCK.