Saturday, July 25, 2009

Service and the Pioneer Spirit

As part of Oregon's 150th anniversary, the church had a state-wide service project. Our Stake worked with the local school district. I got assigned be be the "Captain" for Mt. View (our Ward covered two schools). When I was going over the projects with the district representatives, they asked me if my kids went to this school. "No," I replied. "They are home schooled." I don't think that won me any points, but I did remember and pointed out that I went to Mt. View for a few months in the fifth grade. Let's see, that was um, thirty-three years ago!

This was the biggest project I have ever supervised. We anticipated thirty people, but ended up closer to fifty. A Captain of Fifty! We weeded, spread bark mulch, and washed the sidewalks. Being nominally in charge, I spent a lot of time going from group to group, and visiting with members I rarely get to talk with. Despite sacrificing a valuable summer Saturday, and doing hard labor in uncharacteristic heat, everyone seemed to be enjoying it. It made me reflect on the spirit of the pioneers, coming together and performing the almost impossible task of crossing the country. It seems that spirit still exists among our members!

5 comments:

Eldon and Janeil Olsen said...

Thanks for leading the charge. It looked like a great project. Eldon

Eldon and Janeil Olsen said...

We went to Kay and Lorin Davis' openhouse tonight and she said how much she's enjoyed getting to know you. Mom

Anonymous said...

Hey I went to that! My ward went to Wilson and ran out of barkdust an hour early :/

Neil said...

The only thing I remember about Mountain View was that they buried a time capsule while we were there.

We picked up trash and whacked blackberries along the greenway bikepath. No injuries from the machete, so it was a good day!

Ken said...

More pictures:
http://picasaweb.google.com/ProjectBuggy/StakeServiceProject#

A write up in the GT:
http://www.gazettetimes.com/articles/2009/07/26/news/community/1loc02_lds072609.txt