Selfless Service at Snowbird

We had the opportunity to attend church today while up at Snowbird. It's pretty incredible because a high priest group from a local ward (I believe from the Cottonwood Stake) is assigned to provide a shortened church service at the Snowbird Center EVERY Sunday. They said during the winter they may have as few as 18 attend but in the summer can get as high as 300. Snowbird personnel supports this by providing a room. We sing an opening hymn (a sister plays on a keyboard), have a prayer, then they have the head of each household introduce their family and where they are from. We sing a sacrament song and the volunteers from the local deacons quorum pass the sacrament (Which was actually pretty cute because one of them was wearing a white shirt, tie and black pants. And flips flops. You can get away with that a bit more easily at "Snowbird" church.) Then they have a short Sunday School lesson and two speakers. Today the wife of a high councilman gave a great talk and read a story that really touched me about a high school administrator (Hillcrest High, if I'm remembering right; I may not have all the details right since I was trying to occupy AJ) who learned a compelling lesson from the mother of a son who had been beat up by the school bully. Rather than being enraged when she came to the school office, she asked the boy where his father was (in prison) and mother (he didn't know; likely she was a prostitute). She asked if he had any friend (he didn't). So she put her arm around him and walked out of the school with the bully and her son, telling him he would come home and eat bread and jam after school, that they would get him a white shirt to wear to church on Sunday and that her son would be his friend. Pretty incredible. As we sat there during the service I was overwhelmed with gratitude and touched by the selflessness of those who give their time and talents to others. And also what a great opportunity this is for the deacons to come up each week and grow up participating in something like this. It is amazing that members of their stake are willing to give of their time each Sunday to drive up the mountain so we can partake of the sacrament and feel the Spirit and learn from the experiences of others. Just another great example of what the Church offers both givers and receivers.