Blessing Bags

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas around here, even though there's no snow and we are running around in short sleeves and sunglasses.

Our sister missionaries put together a beautiful bulletin board in the mission office.

Sister Simpson brought  17 nativities from home and decorated the main area of the office.

And we've been listening to the Messiah and other Christmas music as we work.

A SHORT STORY:
At first, I had a difficult time listening to Christmas music in the mission office. It made me so homesick for my family that I had a hard time concentrating on my responsibilities. I was really in a quandary, because I didn't want to keep the other missionaries from enjoying the beautiful music of the season, but I was about ready to jump on a plane and return home to my kids and grandkids. I was missing them so much!

A tender mercy the next morning changed everything for me. I had gone to bed the night before with a prayer to know how to handle the homesickness the music was creating. The next morning, following some scripture study time, as I was getting ready to go back to the mission office, a clear thought popped into my head out of nowhere. "Instead of focusing on what you'll be missing at home this Christmas, let the music help you celebrate all the wonderful memories you have of Christmases with your family in years past." All of a sudden my whole focus changed. Wonderful feelings and memories of years past began to flood my mind and I was filled with gratitude for all those Christmas blessings and experiences I have already had that cannot be taken away from me. They're locked in my heart forever and I can recall them whenever I want. Since that early morning inspiration, I have loved listening to the Christmas music and letting it remind me of all the special times I've known.

NOW, ABOUT THE BLESSING BAGS:
Last week, President and Sister Golden invited the three Mission Office couples to dinner at their home on Monday evening. It was such a treat for us! Their home was warm and inviting, decorated beautifully for Christmas. We had a delicious dinner of soup, salad and rolls, then spent some time talking and getting to know each other better. We felt so special!

The very best part about the evening, though, was our service activity. Sister Simpson introduced us to blessing bags for the homeless, and helped us put some together.  Each of us had been assigned to come to the dinner with 25 packages of two different snack foods to contribute. We set them all out on a table and created an assembly line, putting one package of 8 different contributed foods into each bag. When we were finished, we each had 5 bags of food to put in our cars to distribute when we see homeless people on the street.

Because of the mild winter weather here, we see many homeless people almost every time we travel somewhere in our car. We have felt helpless as we've looking into their faces, not wanting to give them money that might be squandered on addictions. Since putting the bags together, we have had some touching experiences. Those to whom we have handed bags have opened them and exclaimed, "Food! Thank you! God Bless." It has been a heartwarming experience to say the least, and we are putting together more bags to continue to distribute as we travel around doing our housing inspections and other mission responsibilities. It may not be much, but it is something, and we are so glad to be able to make a small difference for someone who is suffering.

It turns out that there are many good ideas for blessing bags (particularly on Pinterest), but we had never heard of them before. Some of the items we included were water, granola bars, applesauce pouches, Ritz crackers with peanut butter, raisins, fruit snacks, trail mix, life savers, and a piece of chocolate. Other good ideas are tuna and cracker packs, peanuts, jerky sticks, instant oatmeal, drink mixes, etc.  Personal items like toothbrushes, toothpaste, soap, deodorant, a comb, Chapstick, hand sanitizer, a washcloth, etc., can also be included. There are many other good ideas on the internet, as well. And, instead of brown paper bags, everything can be put in a gallon size Ziploc bag that can be reused to carry personal belongings.

This is a project that we plan to continue during our mission, and hope to get our family involved in when we return to Utah. It's only one of many ways we can lift someone else's burdens, but it's a great place to begin.

--Pat--