This year we decided to make bags to give out to homeless people we saw around town. Back in November, we took a trip to the store and bought beanies, gloves, hand warmers, water bottles, and a lot of snacks. We made little notes to slip into each bag as a little reminder that they were loved and that we hoped this little gesture would help them stay warm during the winter season.
The bottom middle picture above was right before we were going to give out our first bag. We had been carrying the bags with us for a while but hadn't seen anyone that we could give the bags to. We had gone to Cubby's and on our way in we had seen a woman sitting by the exit on Cougar. We were both really excited that we were finally going to give out a bag. We waited for our food and then we were going to go out that way so that we could give her a bag. As we were waiting for our food, the thought came to my mind (Shelby) that one of us should just run over there and give it to her. I ignored this thought and we continued to wait for our food. As we pulled out of our parking spot and turned to drive towards her, she was gone. We looked around for her but couldn't see her anywhere. We were super bummed and felt bad that we had waited. A lot of thoughts came to my mind after that experience. We are given the gift of the Holy Ghost to help us throughout this life and to help us be blessings in the lives of other people. It is a really incredible opportunity that we can strive to be blessings in other peoples lives. However, this felt like a time that the Holy Ghost whispered to me that I should do something and I didn't listen. These bags are not going to change anyones life but I wish that I had listened so that we had had the opportunity to serve someone that day.
After learning our lesson the first time, we finally found another person in Utah and we made sure that we went directly there before doing whatever we were originally. He was so grateful for the little care package. It was a wonderful feeling of joy and Christlike love for another child of God. We really hope that he felt that love, even if it was by small means. We kept our search going but didn't have much luck finding many more in Provo. We ended up bringing most of the care packages with us to New Mexico. After the quarantine, we had a lot of luck seeing quite a few more homeless people, and we made sure to always have one ready to give out whenever we were driving. We got lots of smiles, and "thank yous" and "God blesses" and "Merry Christmases." One of our favorite things to be a part of is genuine human interaction and connection, and being able to brighten the days of strangers is one of the most rewarding things we were able to do this year.