Youth Conference

Bruce and I have been serving as co-chairmen of our Youth Conference. The youth decided they wanted to do an extreme makeover. We found a very needy house and after much preparation, we went to work. We worked on the house for 4 days and then spent a day at the lake and a night at the Eden Cabin and had a beautiful testimony meeting. Some comments that we learned about the people whose house was rebuilt: They had been struggling so much financially that they decided not to pay tithing a couple of years ago. This year the decided to get back on track and told their Bishop they wanted to pay 12% to catch up. It was so neat to be the hands that helped open the windows of heaven. A comment overheard from a granddaughter of the family was "Grandma, does this mean we can have sleepovers now?" And as we were getting into the air conditioning we had an electrician take a look and said,"This panel is fried!" He couldn't believe the house hand not burned down. If it had of they wouldn't have been able to get out as they are somewhat handicapped. The real bummer is that my SJogrens chose this time to flare up and I had bronchitis and Bruce would not let me go after the first day. I was devasted. But then how can I be when such a wonderful thing happened here.

Des Moines

Last week we were in Des Moines for another tournament. On Thursday, they took the wives to Child Serve which is a place where they take care of disabled children. They had us go to 4 stations, rotating every 15 minutes or so. The first station had us wearing two pairs of stockings on our hands. Then we had to dress ourselves in a shirt, trying to button the shirt with our hands in those gloves was tuff! Then we had to tie our shoes with the lady telling us to hurry because the bus was coming. It was so frustrating. Our next task was to try to stack 5 pennies on top of each other. If we were able to finish all of the tasks we were rewarded with a starburst---if we could unwrap it with our clumsy fingers. Our next station had us putting a large marshmellow on top of our tongue and then going to a job interview. We had to answer the questions with the marshmallow in our mouths. This was to show us how hard it is to communicate with a speech impediment. It was so frustrating as our minds were quick but we couldn't express how we felt and we couldn't make them understand us. The third station had us blindfolded--and I mean blindfolded!! We then had to negotiate the halls of the building with our white stick and it was total darkness. They would tell us to hurry or to watch out for the cat. This was the hardest task for me. I was totally disoriented to the point when they told me to turn left I couldn't remember which way was left. Before, I always thought the worst part of being blind would be not to be able to see the beautiful world or your children, now I feel the confusion and disorientation are the worst. The last station we went to put us in wheelchairs. We had to open the door and go to the drinking fountain and then to the bathroom in the wheel chair. Then we had to go down a hill and back up a hill. Both were difficult and my arm muscles were burning. (probably that would help my squishy arms that Mia reminded me of.) This activity really gave me an empathy for those suffering these disabilities and a feeling of wanting to be accepted for who I am and not for how I use my hands etc. I should mention that thru all of this they had me miked for TV. Probably a good thing they miked me and not some of the others who express themselves a little stronger when frustrated. We ended by giving a special bicycle to a young boy who had been in an accident that killed his mother and left him brain injured. We saw how far he has come and saw his joy at receiving the bicycle that have him a new mobility. He loved the horn the best. Hats off to all of the people who dedicate their lives to helping people who suffer and to those who also spend so much time raising money for these charities. Playing golf seemed much less important after this day. But I should mention that the charity money raised by the golf tournament is very helpful for charities in the towns we play. Last year this tournament raised $575,000 for local charities of which Child Serve is one of the beneficiaries. These activities might make a good Family Home Evening.