To Hannah, love Darcy

      Hannah darling you have been blessed with an amazing gift which inspired me to share what I can do during the month of  December I took every opportunity to share my musical ability. I am truly sorry I have no pictures.

     So in seminary I would play the piano, which was no biggie but my favorite part was I got a group together to go Christmas Caroling. These students were all amazing singers and they kind of took charge to make sure everyone was singing the right part. We prepared 3 songs before at someone's house and then went out and sang to all widows in our ward and single men. We also sang to the families in my ward with special needs kids.

     There was one man who's house we went to and I was kinda scared when he opened the door but he was super nice. (turns out he is in the Mormon Tabernacle Choir) He opened the door came out and sat on a rocking chair on his porch and smiled and listened. When we finished he stood up clapped and said we were better than the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. We all laughed said Merry Christmas and left.

I love your talent and I love you Merry Christmas Hannah!

Merry Christmas Casey

My Christmas service was for one of the newest additions to our family,  Casey. I don't know kacie all that well, but from what I do know of him I've been able to tell that he is a soft hearted individual who cares for those closest to him. I know that he recently came home from his mission, and I know that at least for me one of the most important things to bring home from a mission was the relationship I had with companions.so the service that I was able to render, was for one of my closest mission companions. His name is Elder Pratt Despain.

Pratt & I have been close since the mission. We have hung out often and I have made several new friends through him as well. He is now married and has one little girl. Unfortunately, Pratt and his family have fallen on some hard times this year. Pratt had his car breakdown, and needed help in not only getting around but also in looking for a new car.

The service that I did, was on a few different occasions providing transportation that Pratt and his family needed. for a few days in a row, I got up early to take pratt to his work. This provided him the opportunity to get to work without needing to rent a car. The other, was that when he and his wife were ready to buy a car, I went and picked them up after work, as well as their baby girl Lorna, and took them to a few car places that they had found potential cars for them to buy. While they were looking at cars and test driving them I would keep an eye on their little girl. It took the better part of the evening, but was glad to be able to be service too one of my dearest friends.

So to KC, I say Merry Christmas and I hope you can appreciate how important it is to keep up relationships after the mission.

Merry Christmas Bruce!

The service I did this year was for Bruce! As I contemplated what I'd like to do in the name of our dear Dad, I wanted to do something that reminded me of him that I could do for him. I thought of his talents and hobbies. I decided to take what he can do, which happens to be a something that many of us in our family appreciates        - painting - and create a service with this skill. 

My ward participated in the Sub for Santa project to 2 needy families within my ward boundaries. They asked for donations in forms of gifts or money to help give these 2 families something for Christmas. I decided rather than just donating money to this cause, that I would paint a toy for one of the younger boys in one of the families. I bought a pre-cut wooden train, painted it, then decorated it with stickers. I gave it to the family in the ward in charge of the Sub for Santa project that will wrap and deliver the train for Christmas.


  

It was fun project to do and I am glad I could contribute to someone's Christmas. Merry Christmas Bruce!!

for Alyssa: Therminator and Healyssa

So I recently finished my Christmas service project for Alyssa, and I made a little video thing about a boy and girl who has powers when they interact with bullies... I wanted to make something about Alyssa being a wizard in the Harry Potter world, but I didn't get any Harry Potter ideas, so I made a story (using a programming language called Scratch) about these two with incredible super powers...

The Gift That Keeps On Giving....Merry Christmas Liz!!

Merry Christmas Liz!  When I think about you, and what you love, lots of good things come to mind.  The main thing I thought of was your love for music.  I remember growing up listening to all the music you loved.  I still have a few church tapes and CD’s you made for me with awesome Michael McLean or Mariah Carey songs on them.  I have always loved church music and I give you the credit for introducing me to many of my favorites.  I admire your beautiful singing voice and musical talent.

When David died, I needed church music to fill my days, to keep my spirit at peace.  It made such a huge difference in my grieving.  “I Feel My Savior’s Love” was the song that was played on repeat the weeks following David’s death.  The words and tune bring me so much peace. 

The first thing I did to serve in your name was join the stake choir.  I am not a confident singer, so this was kind of scary for me to do.  It was so great!  First of all, I didn’t have to sit with the kids for the entire 2 hours of Stake Conference, so I really enjoyed the meeting.  (Thanks to Kevan for handling all the fun.)  Also I LOVED the songs we sang as a choir.  Alyssa was able to sing with the choir as well, so we enjoyed going to the practices together. 

My favorite song was a beautiful arrangement of “Where Can I Turn for Peace” and “Be Still My Soul”.  It would bring tears to my eyes almost every time we rehearsed it because I love the messages in these two songs. 

Where can I turn for peace?

Where is my solace?

When other sources cease to make me whole?

When with a wounded heart, anger or malice,

I draw myself apart, searching my soul?

Be still my soul:

The Lord is on thy side;

With patience bear they cross of grief or pain,

Leave to they God to order and provide;

In every change He faithful will remain.

Be still my soul; thy best, thy Heavenly Friend-

Thru thorny ways leads to joyful end.

Be still, my soul:

The hour is hastening on, when we shall be forever with the Lord,

When disappointment, grief and fear are gone, sorrow forgot

Loves purest joys restored.

He answers privately, reaches my reaching.

In my Gethsemane—Savior and friend.

Gentle, the peace He finds for my beseeching

Constant He is and kind-

Love without end.

Be still my soul, thy best, thy Heavenly Friend

Constant He is and kind—Love without end.

Constant He is and kind—Love without end.

I have a testimony of these words, I know they are true!  I know that when we make the time to “Be Still” we can feel of His constant kindness and love without end.  I searched and searched for a recording of this arrangement and could not find one anywhere.  I asked Kevan to audio record us in the chapel to play for this little blog post.

Almost two weeks after our Stake Conference, I got the heartbreaking phone call from Lani, telling me about Ryan’s car accident.   My heart started pounding as I tried to absorb the news and what this would mean for the Conley and Gates families.  I started playing this song in my head on repeat.  “Where can I turn for peace…Be still my soul” .

Imagine my surprise when, on that awful Monday morning, Liz posts on our blog a recording of this arrangement!  It was a tender mercy for me for sure.  I quickly bought the song on iTunes and recorded it onto several CDs to give away while in California.  That post can be found and you can listen to the song here:  here.

I am so grateful that we were able to be in California together the week of Ryan’s death.  I know our relationship will forever be stronger because of the experiences we had together and the lessons we learned.  You are such a great example to me.

Once we got home, I kept thinking I wanted to do just a little bit more for you as my service.  One day I heard about Lindsey Stirling’s fundraising project to earn money for the Atlanta Music Project.

The Atlanta Music Project provides intense music education for underserved youth right in their neighborhood.  Our Mission Statement is “To inspire social change by providing Atlanta’s underserved youth the opportunity to learn and perform music in orchestras and choirs."

T he Atlanta Music Project provides for each of its students: an instrument, classes, world-class Teaching Artists and numerous performance opportunities.  AMP classes include orchestra, choir, musicianship, African drum and dance and group lessons in the following orchestral instruments: violin, viola, cello, bass, flute, clarinet, trumpet and trombone. As AMP expands, we will offer oboe, bassoon, french horn, tuba and orchestral percussion.

I felt good about donating to a worthy cause, and made a donation in your name.  You can read more about the Atlanta Music Project on their website here:

http://www.atlantamusicproject.org/

love you so much Liz!  Merry Christmas! 

p.s.  I wrote this little blog post back in October, and since then I've gotten a new ward calling....one that is making me stretch and grow more than any other I've ever had.  It's Primary Chorister.  ACKK!!  I am not confident in the music world at all.  I guess Heavenly Father thought it was time for me to be stretched beyond where I am comfortable.  All I can think is that someone in the new bishopric must have seen me in Stake Choir and thought I must be musical.  So, now my service for you will continue on as I try my best to fulfill my calling...and I have you to thank for that.  ;)

To: Jimae From: Wes

Dear Jimae, since I got your name and read how this service project would work, I thought to myself "I'm going to do this well, I'm not going to be a jerk". Every week that passed by, I would end the week with a sigh, commmitted to not let this service fly by. One week in ward council the relief society asked if anyone could help install some kitchen plumbing for a family who's dad was away in therapy for a serious condition that he will most certainly die from in less than 2 years. I sat in silence waiting for someone to volunteer, but the request seemed to fall on deaf ears, so I raised my hand and said I, I would give my sweat and tears. I put in my best effort for nearly 2 hours, hardly a drop of sweat and no tears were drawn, so the though never crossed my mind that I would count this for my service project. Nonetheless, I was more than happy to help. As the weeks began to slip by, I kept trying to find a great creative idea of service that would be worthy of Jimae. Each Thursday night, before Friday morning garbage pick up, I would drag our big black garbage can to the curb, and out of sense of neighborly love, and maybe an excuse to stay outside for a little bit longer, I would take another short trip to the Newman's driveway and take theirs too. It only took an extra minute, no way could I count this small effort for a noteworthy cause. Nearing the end of my alloted time frame, my wife, Cristina, had planned her big service by name. For our renter below, she would clean her appartment and garnish it with a new table worthy of show. Of course for my wife I would do as I was told, so I carried the 100 pound boxed table from the garage to the basement, and assembled it with the ease of a paper fold. A few new light bulbs, some wet wadded hair clogging the shower drain removed, and a few screws to straighten a door. Now that my wife has fulfilled her service project, how can I be outdone? I'm too competitive to be the only one to not complete a challenge! No more walking, I now must run! As the final weeks turn into days, I have no time for a big service project. The demand for my time and attention at work increases, and the snow on the road makes my commute even longer. One snow fall here, and another one there, during my snow removal duty, I decide to plow the sidewalk for my neighbor... since I'm already in that direction, I might aswell keep going and plow the next neighbors sidewalk too, afterall, this gas powered machine is doing all the work. Before I know it, I have plowed the side walk for all 10 houses down my street. 3 times I do this on different days, but it hardly took much extra effort since all I do is sit and push a gas pedal... no, this can't count as my service project. As Christmas day has finally come, and I have no grand service project story to share, I'll let you be the judge... did I share Our Saviors Love? Wes

Maisie

 

The cousin I got to serve this year was the incredible Maisie! When I think of Maisie, I think of how kind, hardworking, and passionate she is.  I know she is a great artist, and is a runner. Since I am not an artist in any way, I decided I was going to do something that had to do with running. I searched for some 5k runs that used the money from participants to donate to charity. I came up with several options, but in the end I chose Cooper’s Run. Cooper’s Run was started by Cooper’s family to remember Cooper and to thank all of the people that helped them during Cooper’s death. They use the money they receive from the run to help families that don’t have the money to send their kids to preschool. Many families benefit from the money. What’s even cooler about Cooper’s run, is that Cooper is our extended cousin, so by running in the race, I got to show support to Cooper’s family.

 

I ran the race on a Saturday and my dad was super awesome and ran the race with me. We both got cool t-shirts, and I wrote Maisie’s name on the back of my shirt because I was running the race for her.  The race went pretty well, but about 5 minutes into it, I got a painful side ache. It was hard, but I finished the race with my dad. It was a really neat experience, and I’m glad I got to do it to support Cooper’s family and to help families in need of money so that they can send their kids to school.

 

I love you Maisie! Have an amazing Christmas! Thanks for being such an awesome example to me! Love, Alyssa