"And They Were of One Heart and One Mind"

Ron got to speak to one of his good friends and little brothers today: Cody Temperini! I have never met this person, but he seems pretty incredible. He just 16 when he found the Gospel of Jesus Christ and joined it. A year later Ron got to serve in the same congregation as he was living and they were instant pals. Cody just returned from serving a mission in Brasil and I know it was fun for Ron to talk to him. They are "of one heart and one mind".


But the title of my post is really about the powerhouse church meeting that we attended today. It was in our main worship service, Sacrament meeting, that the youth in our congregation gave a report of their service trip the completed this week. I know many of the people I associate with are Latter-day Saint (LDS) and so they know what youth conference is. However for those of you who are not LDS, I would like to explain a little. Like many Christian churches we have a youth program that helps strengthen their faith in Jesus Christ and helps them grow closer to God. They do this every Sunday during one of the hours of our three hour meeting times AND on another night of the week where they come together to fellowship one with another and help strengthen each other. They are taught, instructed and watched over by people serving in their congregation. Please note, unlike many Christian churches, these leaders are not paid to do this. It is a commitment they accept to fulfill for as long as they are needed there and they do it for free. Service, as set forth by the example of Jesus Christ, is one of the main foundations upon which the Gospel is built, and thus in turn, upon which the Church is built. Having a little background now, every year the youth and their leaders, plan a conference, or retreat as others would call it, where they grow in spirituality, love and witnesses of who Jesus Christ is and why they choose to follow him. That is what happened in our congregation this past week and it was really neat to hear what they had accomplished.

I currently live in Utah, specifically Pleasant Grove. There are about 75% LDS people in our congregation boundaries. About 50% of those people are active currently. So to give an idea, I grew up in Casselberry, Florida (a suburb of Orlando) and there were about 10 LDS youth in my high school, out of roughly 2500 students. I would say that is about the ratio of poeple who lived in my congregation boundaries and how many people were in the populations of the cities that encompassed our boundaries. So I would say where I grew up was about .004% LDS compared to the 75%LDS I live around currently. I don't know exactly what it is like living in such a heavily populated LDS area as a teenager, but I do remember what these "Youth Conferences" as LDS teenagers call them were like for me growing up. Today's report was very similar to how I felt then, almost 9 years to the day that I attended my last youth retreat.

The youth in our congregation traveled about 10 to 13 hours to get to a home built on one of the reservations in Arizona. There are 7 people living in a two bedroom house that is very worn down and needed a lot of fixing up. After having 12 to 15 hour days, these youth arrived Monday afternoon and came home last night. They worked on a lot of different things, the list of which I am working on getting a hold of. However, one of the most prevalent themes was how much the youth loved serving and working hard. They came together and learned how to love one another. They felt the love behind giving your all to someone else and helping them have a better life. They felt God's love for these people they served all week long. It made them love each other and themselves greater than they had before they left.

I was impressed that these youth understand what the whole picture is about. I was studying a couple of "talks" (speeches members of the church give each Sunday) today. They were written and delivered by Apostles of Jesus Christ. One is no longer living, but the other is. These two men were sharing a similar message as the youth of my congregation today: God loves us! He wants us to be happy. He has given us each other to love and learn from so that we can eventually become like him. That is what this life is about: preparing to meet and becoming like Jesus Christ, and God, Our Heavenly Father who sent Jesus Christ. That is what it is about.

I love Sunday's like these that allow me to reflect about what it is really about.

I hope it was a great day for everyone else! And Happy Father's Day! Celebrate Fathers and Families.