Serrving Others

At our last zone conference our mission president told the missionaries not to do any tracting at all (unless they felt like they had a gift for it). He wants everyone to serve members as much as possible and non-members wherever possible and to be creative in finding ways to serve. Now, the flaw in this plan is that Finns don't want or need help. Asking for help is considered a sign of weakness. There's an interesting irony to this attitude in that the socialistic system provides health care, education, nursing home care, and daycare at no charge. The unemployment benefits are so excellent that they can work against a person seeking a job and mothers get subsidies for each child they have under the age of 18. But government assistance is viewed differently. Anyway, we're trying to get members to let us help them. David asked to help someone work on the new home they're building, but he said the insurance would be too expensive. He tried to help another man work on remodeling his home, but he said they ran out of money. He asked the branch president if he could help him dig up his potatoes. He said he didn't need any help but if David wanted to do it for the experience he would let him. So when we arrived he had already dug up 80-90% and left David a row and a half "for the experience." So I went out and took some pictures to document the service. Then his wife had me pretend to dry dishes so we could take a picture of me giving service, in a manner of speaking.

Back to the president's initiative--some missionaries are coaching football, some are painting houses, others are putting in flooring. They are walking around with shovels and rakes and knocking on doors asking if they can help. They are stacking wood. They are joining sports teams and attending other church's events and trying to help there. They are offering their services in the schools and libraries. So, we'll see how it all develops. President even told them not to ask for referrals from anyone.