11 toilets, 4 urnials, 3 floors, 9 sinks and a mothers lounge later

Have you ever cleaned the church building before?
I have.
But today it was different.

Nobody was there to greet us and tell us what to clean...so we did our best to remember what we did in the last church building and did that plus a little extra.
When we were done we were exhausted but feeling pretty good.

Under and behind the toilets were DISGUSTING.
The benches looked liked they hadn't been vacuumed in MONTHS.
and the nice rocking and swivel chairs in the mother's lounge were dusty and gross.
Everything looked much better when we finished.

When we got home I told my neighbor that we never got that reminder phone call from her hubby (jokingly telling her that it was a GOOD thing we remembered all on our own). Then I told her what we cleaned.

Then she said the unthinkable.

"oh um, you didn't need to clean the bathrooms or vacuum."

OOps.

What a waste.

And a million other negative thoughts ran through my mind.

Until my husband lovingly reminded me that we still did a good thing.
and told me a story that President Eyring once told about his dad:
"Now you have to know a little bit about my father. His name was Henry Eyring, like mine. He had done some of the things students of this university are preparing to be able to do. His work in chemistry was substantial enough to bring the honors some of you will someday have, but he was still a member of a ward of the Church with his duty to do. To appreciate this story, you have to realize that it occurred when he was nearly eighty and had bone cancer. He had bone cancer so badly in his hips that he could hardly move. The pain was great.

Dad was the senior high councilor in his stake with the responsibility for the welfare farm. An assignment was given to weed a field of onions, so Dad assigned himself to go work on the farm.

Dad never told me how hard it was, but I have met several people who were with him that day. I talked to one of them on the phone the other night to check the story. The one I talked to said that he was weeding in the row next to Dad through much of the day. He told me the same thing that others who were there that day have told me. He said that the pain was so great that Dad was pulling himself along on his stomach with his elbows. He couldn't kneel. The pain was too great for him to kneel. Everyone who has talked to me has remarked how Dad smiled, and laughed, and talked happily with them as they worked in that field of onions.

Now, this is the joke Dad told me on himself, afterward. He said he was there at the end of the day. After all the work was finished and the onions were all weeded, someone asked him, "Henry, good heavens! You didn't pull those weeds, did you? Those weeds were sprayed two days ago, and they were going to die anyway."

Dad just roared. He thought that was the funniest thing. He thought it was a great joke on himself. He had worked through the day in the wrong weeds. They had been sprayed and would have died anyway.

When Dad told me this story, I knew how tough it was. So I said to him, "Dad, how could you make a joke out of that? How could you take it so pleasantly?"

He said something to me that I will never forget, and I hope you won't. He said, "Hal, I wasn't there for the weeds."

Now, you'll be in an onion patch much of your life. So will I. It will be hard to see the powers of heaven magnifying us or our efforts. It may even be hard to see our work being of any value at all. And sometimes our work won't go well.

But you didn't come for the weeds. You came for the Savior. And if you pray, and if you choose to be clean, and if you choose to follow God's servants, you will be able to work and wait long enough to bring down the powers of heaven."

I admit that President Erying's story is much better than mine...and He is also a much better person that me. Because although we did do a good thing...and now the church looks much better...I am still

Grumbling

just a little

because now I have to clean my own house from top to bottom.

Ruby didn't mind cleaning the church one bit.

She wants to remind you that we will be going private tomorrow (hopefully) and if you want an invite to remember to leave your e-mail!!

Please stay tuned for my posts about more specifics about our free and clear in a year game and the first day of school jitters...after we go private.