Service and Camping by Eric

Hi Jared,

I like your question. I actually spoke in sacrament meeting on Sunday (as part of the EQ presidency) and part of what I spoke on was how a quorum is a service unit. One such area is home teaching. I think it is sometimes brushed aside because it's open to most everyone (much as parenthood is in the general population) but really it's a rare opportunity to do what Christ did: to go into people's homes, preach the gospel and bless them.

When I think about service, like most everyone else noted, I think about how good I feel afterwards. It's always an enobling thing, whether it's working at the cannery or helping someone move or spending a little longer on the phone with someone who needs some cheering up.

About camping, I think all the camping in Oregon as a Boy Scout (think rain, mud, more rain, and occasionally freezing rain) turned me off to the whole enterprise. It doesn't help either that the last few times I went tent camping (in 1997 in college at Yellowstone, and in 2003 in Death Valley with the scouts) it was a less-than-enjoyable experience. Because of that, I haven't really taken Laurel camping. She has always wanted to go, but I've always put it off. I should remember that I've had good experiences camping too.

You know what else I can't stand... being dirty. I'm such a sissy, I know.