Letters

Jarrett, me, Kendrick, and Meka at the top of Little Rock Canyon!

Dear Jarrett, Going hiking with you in Little Rock Canyon this morning was stupendous fun! From climbing up rocks to strategically picking up trash to cleaning cuts to talking about things that matter--all of it was pretty much the best. I can't wait for our next adventure!

Dear Kendrick and Meka Bradshaw, Thanks for being Jarrett and my hiking companions. You two are awesome!

Dear Jordan Liau, I can't believe that you were over at my apartment to claim some cookies near seconds after I offered them on the ward facebook page. Gold star for making me laugh.

Dear Joseph Scoville, Your message meant a lot to me. Thanks for being so superly fantastic.


Dear Eric Johnson, Yea for you moving into our ward!!! I never thought that when I did early morning custodial with you for 3 semesters that I would one day be lucky enough to be in the same ward as you! This spring and summer are going to be 10 times more amazing because I'll get to share them with you!


Dear Rachel Munyan, I'm so glad that you came over to watch Neverland (well, at least the first half...we kinda drew the line when we found out that Captain Hook was Peter's dad and made up our own happy ending) and to color with me tonight! Next time we hang out, we will have to do something even more epic!

Dear Aunt Janet, I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE, LOVE, LOVE YOU!!! Your email absolutely made my day, week, month, and life. I can't wait for our next  "rocking" movie, late night campfires, marathon shopping spree and giggles too. Having your for an aunt is better than . . . pretty much any and every thing. It lets me know that Heavenly Father watches out for and cares for me. Thanks for being your awesome self.


Dear Heavenly Father, Nothing feels better than knowing that you used me to help someone else out in their time of need. Thank you for using me. Thank you for trusting me.

Letters

Dear Minhnhat, Morgan, and Chris, Thanks for playing badminton and then going to the Malt Shop to get shakes with me! I had so much fun!

Dear Agent Octear/ Chris, Playing pretend super secret agents with you all the way home from the Malt Shop was the best ever! I'm convinced that you and I could save the world super secret agent style if we needed to.

Dear Jarrett, Your message was hilarious. Best phone message I've ever gotten in my life. I'm excited to go hiking with you tomorrow!

Dear Alexis, Thanks for letting me run with you for a mile or so even though we are total strangers and will probably never see each other again. It was fun and extremely nice to have someone to run with. Good luck on your half marathon next weekend! You'll do AMAZING!

Dear Bed, I'm super excited to join you in a few seconds. HERE I COME!!!

Dear Heavenly Father, You are so good. I think I'm the luckiest person in the world to have you as my Father (along with all the other billions+ people in the world. They're lucky too.)

Letters

Dear Abby, Thanks for talking to me on the phone today for half an hour about boys and dating and school and reading and birthdays and normal days and friends and church and life. You're the best second to youngest sister I've ever had. For reals. Happy 14th birthday! I LOVE YOU!!!

Charity

“Now ye may suppose that this is foolishness in me; but behold I say unto you, that by small and simple things are great things brought to pass; and small means in many instances doth confound the wise. And the Lord God doth work by means to bring about his great and eternal purposes; and by very small means the Lord doth confound the wise and bringeth about the salvation of many souls.”  -Alma 37:6-7

"Brothers and sisters, may I reemphasize that the most important attribute of Heavenly Father and His Beloved Son that we should desire and seek to possess within our lives is the gift of charity, "the pure love of Christ" (Moroni 7:47). From this gift springs our capacity to love and to serve others as the Savior did . . . Like the small flecks of  gold that accumulate over time into a large treasure, our small simple acts of kindness and service will accumulate into a life filled with love for Heavenly Father, devotion to the work of the Lord Jesus Christ, and a sense of peace and joy each time we reach out to one another."  -M. Russell Balard, Finding Joy through Loving Service, April 2011 General Conference

Being charitable does not have to be a big thing. In fact, it should not be a big thing. It should be many small, little things (though really no act of service is ever small). It's uplifting those who need uplifted. It's enlightening those who think they're of little worth. It's befriending someone who needs a friend. It's visiting someone who's alone. It's listening to someone who needs to talk. In short: it's loving people that need to be loved (just a hint: that's everyone). True charity is learning to love and treat people the way Christ would were He here. It will transform us so that we begin to not only act as the Savior would, but to think and feel the way He would too. It is essentially what helps us become like Him.

And I really do mean it when I say it's the small and simple things that count. It's not so much the act itself, but the fact that someone was thoughtful enough to act that makes service meaningful. We don't need to throw huge philanthropically themed events in order to do this. We can take five minutes to send someone an uplifting text message or to drop by and say a genuine 'Hi!' Five minutes of the day, people. Out of 1440. That's 0.35%. God has given us life and eternity. We can afford 0.35% of our days to help Him serve His children.

Let's all start being the super awesome people we are by getting up on our feet and going out to serve each other. Let's make Heavenly Father's day by choosing to be happier, kinder, friendlier, thoughtfuler, givinger, awesomer people. Service is awesome, and we are all awesome people, so let's put the two together by living with more charity today than we did yesterday. We can do it.