A RANDOM ACT OF SERVICE

Our new chapel (across the street) is ready to be dedicated this Sunday and there has been lots of chores to be completed by then. One of the jobs is to get the kitchen stocked and organized. I never realized what that meant until this past week. Zillions of dishes, bowls, plates, etc. etc. (very heavy stoneware by the way) Of course all items needed to be washed, dried and stored away. This new chapel has a small kitchen so it was took a lot of creativeness to make it all fit. One of the chores was to unwrap all the silverware, wash and dry all the pieces. Ugh! I volunteered to take them all home and put them through the dishwasher. I didn't realize what a big job that was going to be. Nor did I realize that each piece was individually wrapped in plastic sleeves that were full of static! There were 25 doz. knives, 75 doz. forks, oodles of spoons and serving spoons. You do the math! Plus 48 sets of salt and pepper shakers to be washed! I started in by unwrapping 12 doz. knives and felt very overwhelmed. I decided to convince my little granddaughters that they could make a big contribution to our new building by helping with the silverware. They were anxious to come home from church that day and start in. They unwrapped all the rest of the utensils. I was so happy that they were so willing and excited to be helping. You can see from the following pictures what a big undertaking they took on. Of course a nice Sunday dinner and lots of ice cream sweetened the pot! Who says bribery doesn't work?? It took 3 days to put them all through the dishwasher but they are now safely deposited in the kitchen drawers waiting to be used. The irony of all this is that the 3 wards that will be sharing this small building will never be able to use the facility for ward dinners because it is too small and large events will have to be held at the larger facility down the hill - and - who uses real silverware anymore at large functions?? Plastic and paper is the way of the times. I told the girls that whenever we do use the silverware at the church they can think about the time they helped in this service project. I appreciate their enthusiasm, willingness and sweet attitude - and the Lord does too.

Jenna's sweet smile while helping.

This is only a fraction of what was unwrapped and washed!

Hannah was really happier than what she looks like in this picture. She is always willing to help with anything she is asked to do. She also knows how to be a leader and a supervisor. Hannah is going to be a great teacher someday. She has a knack for getting others to follow directions and listen to her.