Helping Hands

Folks I am being one hundred percent honest when I say I have no idea
what to write. Time is short it's going to be a free write!

On the same day my cousin got engaged we taught eleven lessons to
eleven of our friends.

We accidentally spent two whole days in Tokyo this week.

We cleaned the filthiest Ramen shop I have ever walked into. When we
began the cleaning process it smelled like grease and river bank and
poop. There were bugs begging us to kill them so that they didn't have
to wallow in it anymore. But you know what? By the end it smelled like
the baptismal font in the temple. How would I know? Because I entered
it this week with Sister K. What a miracle.

I think this is the route the email will take now: service. I've
changed a lot as I've served the people of Japan (who aren't
necessarily Japanese). I remember once we did "service" as young women
where we cleaned the house of an older lady. I am beyond humiliated as I
type this. I still remember where this woman lives. I remember opening
up her cupboard and seeing maggots. What did I do? Prideful, shallow,
sixteen-year-old Sister Goldsberry just leaned over to her fellow
Laurel or Miamaid whatever, whispered something, and closed the
cupboard and walked away. I WALKED AWAY. I SIGNED UP TO DO SERVICE AND
I ONLY DID MY JOB HALFWAY. That moment haunts me. Yes maggots haunt me
too but the fact that I did nothing about it drives me insane.
Here in Japan, maggots are the least of my problem. I've seen bugs
I've never even dreamed about. Cockroaches are a daily encounter. I've
had to dig pretty deep to get cleaning jobs done right. It's gross! I
still squirm, I still squeal, but I do my best.

As I've served people I've felt a small taste of how He feels for
them. I know He loves them and wants the best for them, so I don't
turn my head away when I see a cockroach and I don't sweep spiders
under the rug. It's disgusting to scrub a dead spider off of a greasy
wall but I do it because I love this random stranger and I would want
them to do the same thing for me if I needed it.

As we cleaned a member leaned over to me and told me in Spanish:
"Today for her; tomorrow, for me." Service is a beautiful cycle. I'm
happy and healthy and capable of killing my own maggots, but someday I
might not be. I'm grateful for volunteers. I love my companion Sister
M. who squishes my spiritual maggots for me. I love service a
ton

!
Everyone go to lds.org and type in "lift" so you can feel more
motivated by that video than you are by this email.

Love you! See you soon!

Sister Goldsberry

Opening Halloween Package, can only be viewed from a computer, not a mobile device :(