LIFT

July 6th, 2015

No one warned me about the summers here in Germany... No one... Oh yes, I heard plenty of people talk about the winters for sure! But the summers...That's another story. I distinctly remember a conversation I had with Elder Heil, our previous Zone Leader. It was right when I got to Germany in late February. I was commenting on how cold it was and how badly I wanted it to be warm. Then a very wise Elder Heil told me "Oh no, Sister Helmick...You just wait until the summer. You just wait until you can't stand the heat, and you try to desperately fall asleep at night in a pool of sweat. You'll be begging for the winter again."

Okay, so I won't go into gross details, but it has definitely been a struggle this last week with the weather. It was in the 40's (celsius - about 105 or so in fahrenheit) with extreme Humidity. I felt like I was swimming at one point as Sister Bates and I were struggling through our 10 hour day on going on vorbeis, street contacting and traveling between appointments on trains and buses. Something my Dad said in one of his emails to me made me laugh - he was commenting on the weather in good old Portland: " It is days like this that makes me realize how nice it is to work in a place with air-conditioning." HA! The Germans don't do air-conditioning. Stepping onto a Straßenbahn (street-car) or Train is like walking into a Sauna.

Okay, now that my little rant is over about the weather... Here are my insights from this week:

I am incredibly grateful that Saarbrücken has been my first area here in Germany. I feel like the Lord has wanted me to learn what it really means to serve people. Our ward has a lot of members and less-active members who have personal struggles - whether physically, mentally, or otherwise. Because of this, the Bishop has asked us to do what we can to help support our Ward and lift the people up. I have done mores service on my Mission so far than I ever thought I would have. And it's changed my entire perspective.

I came across this video earlier this week, entitled "Lift" (I attached the link at the end of this email). It shows the story of many men who received a call to serve this woman Kathy who has multiple sclerosis. Shortly after being diagnosed with the condition, her husband divorced her and she was left alone with a physical disability that required the help of others to get into bed each night and be taken out of bed in the morning. The video shows men who had their very natures changed through serving this woman by taking 20 minutes each day to lift her into bed. As I watched this film and as I heard these men describing their experiences I felt a quite peace in knowing that I was learning these same lessons too.

A man in the video described his experience with lifting Kathy. He said, "It's interesting the dichotomy of healing the body and healing the soul. When you heal the body it's always an inward effort, we're always paying attention to ourselves. When we heal the soul, turning inward doesn't work. The triage of the soul is found in turning outward to other people. Every time I have gone to Kathy's home and dealt with her, it feels like it heals a part of my soul."

I have thought a lot about this video this week... I remember this last Thursday on a particularly hot, torturous day, I witnessed a tiny act of kindness from a stranger. There was a huge lot of people trying to cram into a Straßenbahn that had just arrived. In front of me, a blind man was moving his cane with one hand, and with the other he searched aimlessly for the button that opened the door to the Straßenbahn. A man to his left became aware of his struggle, and immediately reached out his arm to guide this blind man into the Straßenbahn. It was such a small act of kindness but it has stayed with me all week.

So often in life, we are bombarded with the News which often highlights the bad and ugly. Some are tempted to think that we live in a world of horrible people who do horrible things. Yes, bad things happen. But there is so much GOOD all around us. We just need to open our eyes and retrain ourselves to look for the good, to look for opportunities to LIFT each other, and then just do it. Even if you don't want to at first. The men who were asked to give up 20 minutes of their evenings to lift Kathy - they didn't want to do it at first. But it is the only way we will ever be able to change, find peace, promote good, and be the Hands of God for someone else.

Jesus Christ was the ultimate example of selfless service. I have been able to start this change within myself as I work alongside people - and as I take the opportunity to serve in anyway I can. I testify that there is no greater feeling or fulfillment that comes from being able to Lift.

"For whosoever shall save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it" (Matt. 16:25).

Liebe Grüße,
Sister Helmick


I cannot recommend watching it more! Please take 10 minutes to watch it. You won't regret it.
https://www.lds.org/media-library/video/2015-05-003-lift?category=mormon-messages-2015&lang=eng