We had a very interesting day yesterday. We got up, purposefully ditched the first session of Conference (don't worry, I recorded it) and met with a few members of the YM/YW and the Bishopbric. (See, we even had the Bishop's blessing) Our stake was asked to go to the Randolph Center church services.
The Randolph Center is a home for develpomentally disabled people who cannot live by themselves. The majority of them have been there since they were children. It is located in Coolidge, about one hour southeast of Phoenix. It was a very unique experience and one I enjoyed.
We met as a group in the Cultural Hall. There were couples assigned there as missionaries to train and take care of the 'friends' during church meetings. They informed us as to what was going to happen, and how we needed to act with our new friends. He reminded us that they had already secured themselves a place in the Celestial Kingdom and we were to treat them that way.
When it came time to pick up our friends, Ashley and her friend McKayla were with me. We were given a sweet lady named Barb who could not talk and could not comprehend what we were saying. We rubbed her back and sang to her. Another friend was JW, who was seated next to Barb. He was a flirt! He grabbed my hands and wanted to hold them and play. Very sweet man, although I could not understand what he was saying or wanted.
After a while, Ashley ditched us for Mary, another friend who roamed around hugging and kissing everyone. She also had lots of boyfriends there. She kept Ashley on her toes. Cortney and her friend, Monica walked around with a man who could not talk but loved to walk. My nephew, Josh, who was there with his ward, made friends with Emily. She slept most of the time.
It made me think about how lucky we are to be able to be independant and to communicate with others. I also came back with a better appreciation for the Plan of Salvation. Someday, no matter what had happened to a person here on Earth, they will be bought back to a perfect state. I could not imagine how it would be not knowing that.
We will go back the last Sunday in October but this time we will take the whole YM/YW organization. Hopefully, it will go as well as yesterday went. And Britt will be get to come next time.
1 comment:
Thanks for telling me about Josh. It's great to hear good things about your kids, especially when you can't be there. It was great to hear about your experience at the Randoplph Center. I totally love your idea of showing your kids off in their costumes. I think the Raggedy Andy costume has to be one the cutest ever. So glad you did it.
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