A Day of Service

Yesterday my church sponsored a "Day of Service" during which hundreds of thousands of volunteers across 11 southern states got together with members of other faiths to do service in our communities. Our local ward was assigned to help clean Bethesda Park, a huge county park not far from my home. Ben and I arrived at the park at 8am, signed in, and were given our assignment. Together with about 12 other people, we had the responsibility of cleaning a cluster of 3 ball fields: picking up litter on and around the fields, cleaning out the dugouts, cleaning the restrooms, and painting the inside of the concession stand. Our team leader asked Ben and I to clean up one of the ball fields, after which we assisted the painters in cleaning up the area they had been painting. It took us about 3 hours to shovel out the sand from both dugouts, sweep them clean, and pick up the trash that littered the entire field. We must have picked up over 200 cigarette butts from around just one baseball field. It was disgusting. By the end of the 3 hours we were hot, sweaty, and sore from the effort of bending and straightening to pick up litter. To be honest, I was surprised I had that much energy. Sometimes I think I'm a really big wimp. I'm sore today though! But I'm grateful that we were able to do this service and give back to the community we live in. Service feels great!