Service Softens Hearts

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Today’s thought is a principle that I’m sure will not be new to you, but I wanted to testify that it’s true. 

Every young man with desires to serve a mission is familiar with the story of Ammon.  Little boys love the part where Ammon disarms the enemies of King Lamoni.  Older boys appreciate the variety of weaponry Ammon uses, from the sling to the sword.  Then, as young men approach mission age, they learn to appreciate the real moral of the story, that service softens people’s hearts. 

One day, my companion and I were street contacting.  In Vladivostok, the streets wind wildly over steep slopes, like snakes slithering up hill between the towering, communist apartment buildings.  We tried to talk to some people about the gospel with little success.  Some people were politely not interested, some rudely rejected our message, and some people avoided us all together.  One man in a black and white striped shirt shook his head, expressed his disinterest and hurried along.

As we continued along our planned route, we came across a lady closing up her kiosk for a lunch break.  Her food stand had a sturdy metal gate that came down over the window when she turned a crank at the top.  As we walked by, she stood on a rickety box, on her tip-toes, struggling to turn the crank.  My companion and I stopped and offered to help.  Relieved, she accepted, and we helped her close up her shop.

As we walked away a man in a black and white striped shirt approached us.  He said that he saw what we had done to help the kiosk lady and wanted to know who we were and what we were doing in Russia.  As my companion began explaining I realized that it was the same man who had hurriedly blown us off earlier!

I would like to tell you that he got baptized three weeks later, but he didn’t.  I never saw him again after that, but I was still impressed that the Ammon principle had worked!  A man saw some service, and a spark of interest arose in his heart.  Hopefully a seed was planted that will grow into a greater desire someday.  So for all you young men about to serve missions, I just want to share with you my testimony that service really softens hearts.