A New Birth of Freedom

Blessed friends,I memorized the Gettysburg Address this week. The whole of it. "Fourscore and seven years ago, our fathers brought forth on this continenta new nation, conceived in liberty and dedicated to the propositionthat all men are created equal…." I won't quote the whole thing foryou, I promise, but I have gained such a love for Abraham Lincoln and"this nation, under God."On Monday, my Home and Family Living professor from BYU called and hadan internship interview with me. I unloaded on her that it had beendifficult thus far in finding substantial work to do each hour of theday while at work. By the end of our conversation, I felt relievedand a whole lot better about why I am in DC, trying to promote thetraditional family. She committed me to memorize The Family: AProclamation to the World. So, just know that every time I get on theMetro from now until December 14th, I will have the words of prophets,seers, and revelators flowing through my mind and mouth.My boss told me to come to work on Monday in less dressy clothes—Iwould get the lovely task of organizing the supplies closet. Theentire day, people kept walking by, asking me why I was doing such amenial task. Isn't this what interns do, I thought. David, a youngerspecialist in the agency, sits right by the door where I was sortingand lifting boxes. I mentioned to him that if he needed any help onany type of project, I would be more than happy to help. He sat medown and reamed into me for the next 20 minutes on how I had wastedthe first three weeks of my internship. "You should have been askingme for work three weeks ago, along with approaching every other personin this office for work." I swallowed my hurt and told him "betterlate than never."Heavenly Father teaches me, though. Because I got the laborious taskof the supplies closet, I was able to talk to David. Because I showedup at work on Monday and found my entire cubicle taken apart (picturespulled of the walls, etc) and moved to a smaller, more cramped space,I now sit directly across from the Branch Chief of the HealthyMarriage/Responsible Fatherhood Initiatives. Because I sit here, Ican overhear all that goes on in that office. Three ladies weremeeting to discuss the overall goals of the initiatives on Tuesdaymorning. I poked my head in and asked if it was all right that Ilistened to the conversation from my desk. Right away I was told topull up a chair and start giving input. Later, I was asked to edittheir 230 page report to congress on what has happened in the programthis past year. Even later, they asked me to attend a corporatestrategy meeting at the end of the week to help the 11 differentagencies that deal with Healthy Marriage/Responsible Fatherhood cometo a consensus as to what their next 5 years of outcomes will looklike. Wow. My internship has changed forever.I figured out why the garbage men are outside of my window all morninglong, every single day. The recycling team brings all of the binshere, and they smash the trash from around this entire neighborhoodunder MY window. How blessed I am!I love the song of the heart. I have heard more people singing fromtheir deepest souls in the last week than I can remember hearing in mylifetime altogether previously. Three men get together at the MetroCenter stop and sing praise songs in the tightest, happiest harmony.When they sing, no one can help but start tapping their feet. All ofthe hundreds of people trying to dash home from work slow down andsmile. Two people sang their testimonies at church today. I loveblack soul music. Sitting during the sacrament, music flowed up frombelow us. The heavenly tones of "Teach me to Walk in the Light"melted over me—in Spanish. "Now therefore, ye are no more strangersand foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints, and of thehousehold of God."The more specific my prayers become in regards to missionary work, themore directly I am watching Heavenly Father answer those prayers. Ireally desire people to see me and recognize me as a member of theChurch, and then ask me about the gospel. That's the best way for meto start teaching the doctrines of the church. So that's what Ifocused on asking for this week. A Jewish man noticed my "big Bible"on the Metro, and we discussed the Mormon church. When I went to thebig corporate meeting on Thursday, a lady noticed me sitting along andinvited me to sit by her. She kept talking about how she needed somecoffee. I never agreed that I also needed coffee, so she finallyasked if one, I drank coffee, and two, was LDS. I answered no to thefirst and yes to the second. The rest of the day, including our lunchtogether, was spent in deep gospel conversation. She is aUniversalist and feels that our churches are similar in many respects. The Spirit burned within as I explained that so many people inSouthern America have joined the church because the Book of Mormon isthe history of their forefathers, men and women who knew of JesusChrist and waited for His coming.The missionaries had me sit by Denise today. She has tried to commitsuicide in the past and has just gotten out of drug rehab. She's abeautiful, shy black woman with only a few teeth left. I love her. Ibore testimony from the pulpit that I know this church is a hospitalfor sick people—all of us are sick, and need healing, lifting,andlove. I asked the members of the ward to allow me to assist inlifting and loving and serving.Sister Adams, a 70 year old investigator with a walker, just got outof the hospital after cardiac arrest. I told her I wanted to comesing to her this week. She happily agreed—I'll go on Tuesday night,just the two of us.I didn't want the General Relief Society meeting to end. The ReliefSociety is the most powerful, empowering organization for women onthis earth. How grateful I am that the 1st counselor is a firstgeneration, Spanish-speaking member—so many people I know here canrelate to her. The meeting felt like what I know our heavenly homemust feel like—warm, serene, complete love that will flow on througheternity.Our tour of Gettysburg was too hurried and quick—we weren't given anyalone time to reflect. Phrases from Lincoln's address kept coming tomy mind, however, and the Spirit confirmed that I really am supposedto "here be dedicated to the great task remaining before" me—thisnation receives a new birth of freedom every time another soulreceives the peace of the gospel of Jesus Christ. How I love Him. Ilove you, too.