Merry Christmas to Meilani from Mike

Let me begin by saying this has been a great idea. I'm a quiet person by nature and I tend to stay inside my comfort zone. I'm diligent in my church callings, but I've never been really good at extending myself to others, unless I was assigned. The idea of giving service in lieu of presents has forced me to do more than I've done in the past. I've come to appreciate how easy it is to just buy presents for Christmas.

Initially, I was excited about the prospect of doing service for others, particularly in the name of someone else, but as Christmas drew closer, my workload at work didn't diminish, and I began to realize this was going to be much more difficult to do than I'd anticipated. Weeks were reduced to days and I still didn't have a good idea of what I could do for service. I thought of things I could do, but they all seemed to be an extension of things I was already doing. Towards the end, I was starting to feel desperate.

To compound the pressure, I had Meilani, whose family provided the motivation for taking this approach to Christmas. She and Michael have done this before so they already have a standard of excellence. In the end, I decided I wasn't going to be able to put the time in they did and I was just going to have to lower my expectations. I hope she's not disappointed. Lani has always been a great example of someone who extends herself to others and her list exemplified this characteristic: Be a nuisance, be a member missionary, be a quality home teacher, read to others, babysit for others. Fortunately, I have a wonderful wife who was willing to help.

Given the tight deadline, I determined it wasn't realistic to try and schedule time to visit people in the San Ramon Senior Citizens Center. I also know from serving in the Young Men that lots of people volunteer there at Christmas time. I next thought about offering to read to children at the library, but wasn't sure if they even had such a program at our local library and was sure that if they did, they were booked up as well. Finally, I decided to think of people in the ward that might need some extra attention or help.

First, I thought of the Halls. Pam has been a member of the Church for years, but her husband Ed didn't join the Church until about 15 years ago, after all their children were raised. Ed drives a flat bed semi for a living. Six or seven weeks ago he was injured when he loosened the straps on his cargo at the loading dock and the cargo fell on top of him. He's been in the hospital ever since, unconscious much of the time. Since then, Pam and the children have been at the hospital with him. I thought there might be something I could do at the house that had been neglected in their absence. After Church last Sunday, I went to their house to check things out. It turned out that their son and his wife were there, so I got an update on Ed and asked if there was something I could do to help them. They assured me they had everything under control, but thanked me for the offer.

Second, I contacted one of the single sisters I home teach and offered to help with chores around her house. She is hoping to put the house on the market next summer and there are a number of remodeling projects she wants to complete before then. She said she'd think about it, but was non-committal and when I checked back with her later in the week, she still hadn't identified something for me to do.

Next, I thought of another family I home teach. She is a member and he isn't. I'm been visiting them for many years. During this time, he hasn't expressed interest in the Church, but recently I've been thinking how guilty I'll feel when I see him in the next life, if I don't at least give him the opportunity of reading the Book of Mormon. I decided to give him a copy for Christmas with a letter expressing my love for him and a challenge to read 1 Nephi, see if he feels closer to the spirit as a result, and, if so, to continue reading, otherwise put it aside. Since she loves to read, I also ordered a book of missionary stories I read last month for her. Not only do I hope she finds it interesting, but I hope it strengthens her testimony as well. They're gone until after Christmas, so I won't be able to give it to them until next week.

Finally, I thought of a single sister in the ward that has special needs and can't drive. She has a reputation for being outspoken and has offended a number of people in the ward at times, including me. Eileen mentioned that she likes to go to the temple, so I called her and said Eileen and I were going to the temple and asked if she'd like to go with us. She indicated she hadn't gone for a while and appreciated the offer. After the session, Eileen wanted to take some pictures of the Christmas lights on the temple grounds, so the sister and I visited while Eileen was gone. While driving home, she seemed interested in going to dinner, so we took her to dinner at a local restaurant. When we dropped her off, she had leftovers from dinner along with her temple bag, so I offered to walk her to the door. She thanked me for inviting her and said she had a good time.

In addition to feeling the joy of service, it was good to get to know this sister better and it was wonderful to see how happy she was as a result of a little extra effort on my part. As a result of this experience, I've resolved to be more proactive in looking for service opportunities during the coming year. Thanks Lani and Michael for this opportunity.