To Find Love in a Hopeless place

Today is the last day of the love month, and so I'm sharing here one of my favorite video treasures found in youtube which makes me and all of us believe that love can be found almost anywhere... so be ready to express it! Be warned. This video is too cute.



Have a good day!,
Flor

What I would like to live by this New Year

Hello everyone,
Happy new year!
Happy Chinese New Year!

It has been a while.
It's 3 am in the morning and I'm still typing here.
But what I really want to share with you, is something I read from the scriptures some time during new year's week which made me think about what i would like to BE for this year.

I cant remember the exact passage but it's something like this
 "Be a light unto the world".

We can all choose to be good examples.
Our good works will serve as a guiding light for others to follow.

Pay it forward.
Serve others.
Create ripples with your good deeds.
Follow the commandment to love one another.

There are so many ways.
But hopefully, I could be able to live by these words myself.
Hopefully too these words could inspire even just one reader of this post to live by these parcels of wisdom.

Have a good day everyone! :)

Sincerely, Flor

Joy Inventory #2

(... and help for Sendong victims)

Merry Christmas everyone!

One of my fondest christmas memories was when I was young maybe a few years back, there was one christmas eve where we (mama, my sister, baby brother) joined papa in the last simbang gabi. We were actually after the family bonding and the breakfast that comes after. Sometimes we eat at Mcdo or buy putobungbong that's why everyone is so hyped to go. 

Then at that christmas day, after the simbang gabi, we went home, the air was very cool and we, all of us, snuggled with our parents in their bed like sardines, side by side. it was very cozy and we were laughing a little before we went back to sleep that early morning.  That' when i remember then how much i love my family and  how grateful I am that all of us are together.

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For today's joy inventory:

1. because of the gifts i received, i find it wonderfully surprising that a lot of people actually care about me..,, sometimes we tend to forget

2. my family is complete

3. we had a successful choir presentation after just 1 practice hahaha

Today, at church, everyone was in a very festive mood. It's so fun to see again the people close to you and having the chance to wish them well this Christmas and for the upcoming new year.

My heart is overflowing with gratitude for the wonderful, thoughtful gifts i got. you can tell that these givers took so much time and effort to be able to give the best gift. After all it' s the thought that counts.

Anyway, Christmas is also the best time to reach out and give. On our last company christmas party, instead of the common practive of exchanging gifts, we were asked to pledge/donate for our colleagues in Taiwan (flood victims) and our fellow pinoys in Cagayan de Oro.  i am now using up this space because I know that we have a lot of fellow Filipinos who are in the midst of trying times. Typhoon Sendong have left people homeless this christmas.

Here are ways to help:

http://www.interaksyon.com/article/19904/ways-to-help-sendong-flood-victims

Hope you have a wonderful christmas day!

Sincerely, Flor

Joy Inventory #1

(FIRST!)

Hi everyone!

I've recently come across an article entitled Be Your Happiest (Tips For Finding Happiness and Improving Your Mood) from the Redbook magazine blog.

I've left the link above, knowing that you will love it and will surely get some great tips from the article. Here's the one I like best:

"Do a Joy Inventory:
Each night, jot down or make a mental list of three things, big or small, that brought a smile to your face that day (you got a seat on the bus; your boss loved your proposal). This happy list will keep your optimism soaring. The more you look out for life's little joys, the more of them you'll find."

So because of this, I am going to try to make a JOY INVENTORY of my own at least weekly. I guess this is a list of things that made me happy today:

1. I ate more than 3 times today

2. I have a baby brother who I can annoy and laugh with all the time. He was especially kind this morning.

3. I am dating a very kind and sincere guy

It made me smile just by looking at this small list. Somehow it makes me realize that even the most mundane things can make you happy. They are also free.

So I hope that you also make a joy inventory of your own. Let us all count our blessings!

Have a good day!

Sincerely, Flor

My Take on Cars

Good evening everyone.

It's been quite tiring to get home with all the commuting that I do. I ride 3 buses to get to work, not to mention all the walking that you still need to do to be able to reach the office that sometimes I wish I have a driver and a car! Well, I guess hiring a driver is quite luxurious but having a car is doable and achieveable. These days having a car and learning how to drive are almost necessities. You can go anywhere at any time you choose when you have a car of your own. That's why at times I really dream of having one and of course, it's one of the things that I really aspire to own one day.

I really prefer the small Suzuki Swift. I really adore it's cute but sleek features and it's appearance is like the car is made for a girl. I really dream of going on a ride in this car. I love the white-colored Swift most especially and just a few weeks back, I saw it on display on a nearby mall. Since I coincidentally found it on display, I felt as if this car and I are truly meant to be! But then again, I am too young and have to save up for more important things. But buying a car, albeit small, is really one of my aspirations. I think that having a property like that is a good investment, as well.

Since we all know that cars are valuable properties, we always have to be cautious about the type of vehicles to purchase. I might prefer the Suzuki Swift because of it's appearance but my father and sister always advise that there should be specifications to look for and guidelines to follow in choosing a car. Well, of course for me I appreciate appearance best because I don't know much yet about driving and car specs. The advice they've given me are quite practical.Of course, the car must be able to fit  your needs, like if you're going to use it in the city or for long drives on rough terrain. You must have to means to be able to pay for the car, too, especially if it is a loan. You have to make sure that the spare parts can be bought within the country and easily accessible. And also that it should be brought to the best car repair services for maintenance.

As you can see, I'm not keen on car terms so I can't give out the best advice when it comes to car maintenance and purchase but I still can't wait to have a car that I can call my own. See you around!

Happy Easter everybody!

My easter may not have been as eventful as everyone's, having not joined any Easter Egg Hunt activities. Random fact: today our local SM has a special promo selling eggs at 1 peso a piece. Imagine that! What a nice way to celebrate this holiday!

Okay, so this Easter, I have learned something, too and for me every learning experience is a good experience.

Today, we had a chance to visit one of my friends' friend, a guy who, as they say, has lost his way in this life. Or probably, he has chosen a path that even he himself describes as non-exemplary. He used to be a spiritual, scripture-reading person and had a future goal of sharing the gospel until one day he realized this all stopped and he already has an entirely different life. I can assume that what he now is, is not an overnight experience but an accumulation of choices that he has made along the way.

At one point in the visit, he tried so badly to avoid us, keeping himself in his room, also pretending he has somewhere to go to. He left us at his house. But when he came back to get his wallet, we grabbed the chance and did all that we can to persuade him to join us. We wanted to be close to him and make him feel sincere that we were there for him. Well, all's well that ends well, he did join us and we gave him a message about the importance of scripture study and its benefits on our lives, and how, if we hold fast to its teachings, we will be able to "thwart the fiery darts of the devil" (if I'm not mistaken) and avoid temptation.

Well what I remember most was his message. He told us that he can relate a lot about temptation. He gave us a message that felt powerful to me. He said that if you give in to one temptation, something will come that will be an even bigger temptation than the first, until you give in to that too. And if you give in to that, you will give in to many more and become numb in the end.

So true, so true and so powerful. I never thought that the visit can evoke him to say these things to us. The guy who tried hard to avoid us ended up giving us his piece of mind, his feelings and testimony. I hope that we can all persuade him to come back with us.

So there. I've shared with you my Easter learning. Have a nice day and I hope we could all remember the essence of the Jesus' atonement and Resurrection which we commemorate today.

Happy Easter :)

Sincerely, Flor

PS. I hope the message in the picture would ring true in my life as well. I'm going through something too, as with all people, we are all plagued with temptations that are pretty hard to battle. Hopefully, I can spring back 

Teaching the Youth to Give Back

(a Gawad Kalinga experience)

Hi there!

A few weeks ago, a friend of ours, who also goes to the same church as I have, has invited our single and youth members to give community service to children from a small barangay in the south of Manila. We were truly interested to join because this girl who invited us was a member of the Gawad Kalinga group who we all know is much known for the wonderful causes that they champion and services that they render to struggling communities. What I personally know about them is that they build homes for numerous families and communities in the country.  

As a student back in high school, (which was NOT a long time ago) we used to have the subject: CAT or the high school sort-of military training. As part of the subject, we were also invited in by the Gawad Kalinga to help build homes for a small, nearby community that they are sponsoring. We brought small shovels. The boys were in charge of the heavy load of work, like carrying bricks, shoveling cement, etc. While some of us girls were in charge of cleaning up. We had an easier job . And although it was really dusty there and dirty because of the cement that gets stuck in your airways, it was quite fulfilling to know that there is a family that would consider the walls we were building as their own home.

I was quite excited because I thought that we would build homes again. However, we were told that the community that we will be visiting already had homes. We could help paint but that would cause us to shell out a huge amount of money to donate paint. We thought that that was a good idea already but we also learned from them that of course, we can only donate so much that would cause us to give a few buckets of paint. The few buckets could help us paint 1 to 2 homes. The organizer advised that it might cause the other people from the other homes to feel envious as to why they were not chosen for the service, why other homes would be painted and their homes would not. We felt sad about that, but we knew that this truly could happen. Plus, I'm not sure but I think we were also told that the G.K. has a new policy wherein the family members of the new homes should be the ones most responsible for the building of their house. A labor of love. This is a good idea, don't you think? The GK organizers thought we should start a teaching/educational community service community.  So we started asking how we should plan the activity. We were advised by our leaders to organize one wherein the youth are the ones implementing the service and the leaders would be there only for support. This is so that the youth would learn at a young age to not just be participants in a service, but grow up to become leaders.

A few weeks before I was hesitant because we were not sure what the real program was. We were just told that we were to teach about hygiene to a bunch of children. We all thought that hygiene is 'cliche' as a topic to demonstrate about. But we all know that we should just stop murmuring and just start supporting the organizer.

When we visited the community, we met our friend's Gawad Kalinga group. I was impressed how they were there so early as a group and were very eager to assist us though we all know they wouldn't get any compensation out of their efforts. We also learned that they were still very young, still teenagers, but spoke with great enthusiasm and were really willing to be helpful. They said they first met and joined the group when they helped out in last year's biggest tragedy, the Ondoy calamity. Since then they have become Gawad Kalinga members organizing services in our city. 

We, the youth and singles, were grouped into 4 and each group was given children to bond with, play with and teach certain topics about hygiene. It was obvious that these children were from a less fortunate community. But they had smiles on their faces and once again I'm impressed that the Gawad Kalinga organizers have gathered these kids on a Saturday morning to be participants in the activity. I'm glad that all the children found us all fun to be with since they were all laughing, playing the games we thought about just that moment and were listening to our lesson. I mean, as a child, it's really not easy to listen to serious lessons in general. Luckily these were very good children. We were also told to give out cheers to show gratitude to the Gawad Kalinga sponsors in the area who were some of the country's big companies. It was such a fun moment and I will always be thankful to have met those children. I sure hope they retained something out of what they have learned about the hygiene topics we taught about.

I was also thankful that we have given help to those kinds in our own little way. We didn't have to shell out so much money but we gave a big amount of effort (especially those Gawad Kalinga people) and our hearts into that service.We were also proud of the youth because they too participated in the lessons, such young wonderful teachers! I'm proud of their presence there that day and feel good that our future leaders could come from these young group of people.

I hope we can all think of little ways to give back to our community. Remember, as what we have learned that day, we don't have to be rich to give, we just need to have the willingness to serve others.

Have a good day everyone!

sincerely, Flor

Looking good in Scrubs

Hi there,
Back when I was on duty as a nurse in the hospital, we always wear our generic light blue scrub suits to work especially on the O.R. or operating room. Of course we love wearing them since they are so comfortable... but then they fit so badly . We look so frumpy with no regard to fashion, whatsoever. Mind you, we have the same color of scrub suits as the ones they were wearing in the TV show, Grey's Anatomy and we just can't make our uniforms fit right or look as good as what the doctors wear in that show.

Finally, scrub suits that you could actually look great in

Recently, I'm being intrigued by the rave reviews on Blue Sky scrubs, maker of customized surgical scrubs and medical uniforms in the U.K. When I searched their testimonials page for women's scrubs, almost everyone gave a high mark on wearability of the scrub and the fact that they fit so well. I love the part when a customer said most scrubs indicate that they 're size 'XS' but they still fit like a trash bag. But when she wore Blue sky scrubs, she loved the fit and felt that she actually looked good in it and not frumpy any longer. That's because the top, they said, was tapered so it probably gives you a waist. The good quality fabric used in these nursing uniform scrubs were also loved by the customers.

I think that as a nurse, if you want to do your job well, the medical scrubs that you wear is also important. If you look and feel good in what you wear it could help  maximize your performance. I had a classmate once who kept raising and adjusting her sleeve while working. That is not good when you are in an aseptic environment or when you are scrubbing on an operation and you really feel the urgency to adjust your sleeve just because it's too big. Another of my duty buddies had a cap which kept falling over her eyes. You won't be as helpful when your vision is impaired just because of an ill-fitting scrub hat! So I think I would love to try Blue Sky scrubs and hats. They have a good product line. After all, I heard that their shipping is fast and customer service is good.


Have a nice day!

So You Think You Can Dance...

Who says we can't have fun? Here are my fellow singles dancing their hearts out just at our local church dance social. . . Not your typical church activity, eh? 

Antioxidants for a New and More Beautiful You

All women (and men) these days highly value beauty and skin care. It's always crucial to keep our appearance in check because this is how other people create their first impressions about us. We have to make sure that we use the right type of products that would improve our skin. Whenever I buy skincare products, I always look for certain qualities. They should contain antioxidants, have sufficient sun protection, and most importantly, they have to fight signs of aging. Anti-aging has become an increasingly in demand quality in leading skincare brands.

Oxis International carries a line of skin care products that are based on powerful natural substances and are made of potent antioxidants. According to http://www.oxis.com, one of the compounds of their products, Ergothioneine, is made up of the popular but beneficial ingredient, glutathione, along with vitamins C and E. Thus, detoxification is one of the major benefits of Ergothioneine. This super anti oxidant helps eliminate harmful free radicals in our skin.

To know more about their skincare brand, Oxis penny stock investments and more, check out Oxis on facebook, or follow Oxis on Twitter.

Have a beautiful day!

Sunday Specials: Best Kuya

Sometimes being a brother is even better than being a superhero.  

~Marc Brown  

I've always noticed them at church. The Kuyas in this family are always very sweet to the youngest sister, their bunso. They really adore her and give her hugs all the time. The kuya in this photo is guiding his sister and holds her hand as they are about to head home. I really envy this cute, little girl. It's nice to have an older brother who'd protect you when you need it most.

Sunday Specials: A Sweet Mother's Day

Last Sunday (May 9,2010) was mother's day and my family and I celebrated my mom's special day at home. 

At church, a family rendered a song number as a tribute to mothers. The youngest among the sons cried in the middle of the performance maybe because he really felt the wonderful lyrics he was dedicating to his mom who was at the audience. Some of the people watching got teary-eyed. Iba talaga pag lalaki na ang umiiyak. And so it was a very touching number and it was well appreciated not just by mothers but everyone who has ever been a mom, daughter, or son.

We had a simple dinner back home. My cousins and I decided to buy a very sweet cake for my own mama, my cousins' mom who was my aunt, and our grandmother. On second thought, since all our moms are not fond of sweets (diabetes, aging) , we kinda knew they would all end up eating little of the cake we'll give (hehehehe). Anyway, the cake shop ran out of the gel they use to write dedications on the cakes so we had to improvise by buying small Nips from a nearby tindahan.. Our gift ended up looking like this...

Cousin 1: mukhang "I O U" (i owe you)
Mama: ano yan? tao? (stick man)
Tita: di ko mabasa.. (i cant read it)
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Well, it's the thought that counts, though. Happy Mother's Day to your mom's too!
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Love,
LDSPinay

Dating, Ducks, and Brain Hemorrhage: Liahona April 2010

 Have you noticed something different with this month's issue? There were so many references to marriage and dating! I'm sure lot of us were pumped to read the features after seeing the cover page with the word "Dating" on the bottom. My single friends were practically teasing each other on who'd be getting hitched next. I guess dating and courtship is really an exciting (and a much-awaited) topic to talk about and the writers of the magazine got it right to convey that message this month. 

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According to a recent survey, the *Liahona magazine is being subscribed to and read by a larger portion of youth and young adults than any other age class. 

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The new Liahona magazine  has been divided into sections according to age groups namely the Youth, Children and Young adults. This is a great new feature . Now we can have access to the articles that we can relate to the most.  And since more of the magazine's readers are young adults, the dating-courtship-and marriage topic was spot-on.

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Spotlight on Dating

I especially like the Advice to Young Men and Young Women on Dating (p 50-52). The message was given by the Young Men and Women General Presidencies. They counseled that we should become the persons we would like to date and presented a bulleted list of qualities to develop that would make us "attractive and interesting". The bulleted list made it seem so easy but it was quite challenging as I try to review how I am in terms of dating.

My idea of a boyfriend would be someone who is great with church callings, has a good job, a great cook, can make me laugh and is handsome like John Krasinski (haha, well, a girl can dream). Now, I think I could only ask to date this kind of guy if I also have these same qualities.  Changes won't happen overnight so I better start improving on myself right now.

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Anyway, so let's say a guy asks you out tonight.  According to the article, here are some questions to consider before saying Yes :
- does he have a strong and good character?
- is he trustworthy and dependable?
- is he honest?
- is he respectful and kind to others and to me?
- is he unselfish?
- does he respect my parents and honor his parents?
- does he honor his priesthood?
- does he motivate me to be my very best?
- is he worthy to attend the temple?
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Whew! Those are tough questions for the guys to keep up with. So you boys better be prepared!
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When Ducks Don't Float 

       Another article (p58) i liked was about the ducklings who were too young and who didn't have enough of the 'waxy oil' needed to make them float. They immediately sank in the water when they didn't have their mother to help them  stay afloat. It is a good parable about obeying our parents. They alone would know if we are ready to float on the big pond.

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Call an Ambulance

       Speaking of parents, this story on p 41 was particulary touching to me. It speaks of a man who after feeling a sharp pain on his left received and followed a prompting that saved his life. It was exactly what happened with my mother who had a brain hemorrhage last 2000. My mother too experienced having a numbing pain on only one side of the body and my father who surprisingly didn't go to work that day carried her to the hospital. My father remembers not even being able to wear slippers bec of the emergency.

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       Also, as with the story, my mother recovered miraculously fast. She received a priesthood blessing that night before the surgery. We were really grateful that because of the blessing given my mother is here with us right now without even slurring speech or any form of paralysis. Aneurysms and strokes usually cause things like this to happen. My mother is very healthy and normal ..and thankful for the miracle that happened 10 years ago.

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How about you? Any thoughts on the Liahona?
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*The Liahona Magazine is the official magazine of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints

Beauty and Confidence

Beauty is synonymous to confidence. Sometimes if we feel good about how we look outside, we also feel good about what we are inside. This can also be evidenced by the people who go on makeovers on television, who after acquiring their new look, swear that they have a better outlook on life and develop a more confident personality. 

But as we age, physical beauty is more and more difficult to maintain. It's great for the rich people, they always have the resources to go have a face lift, a tummy tuck or a botox injection every once in a while. But to maintain beauty, they also swear by using tried and tested skin care products and beauty regimens.

Some are very sure that the cleanser-toner-moisturizer ritual is the best. Others add that sunblock is essential as it helps stop aging by blocking UV rays. Some use special , albeit expensive, creams that they use for day or night to soften facial skin and fight wrinkles. Some use equipment like wands and special scrubs. 

Whenever i visit my favorite beauty stores, I am always hunting for the best moisturizers and sunblocks. Recently, I've been having sun spots by neglecting my skin when I travel and do activities outdoors. I've found that sunblocks are truly important and must be worn all year round. So i must really put an emphasis on this. Please don't forget to wear your sunblock. You must wear it before your moisturizer. Well, for moisturizers, i am still looking for the best water based moisturizer for sensitive skin. Water based and organic products are still the best. All of us must do things to make us both look and feel beautiful even if you have to go through a lengthy skin care regimen.

I say, beauty is not skin deep! It's true, these products are only applied to our skin. But if we look great, we develop confidence to go through our days with ease.

photo taken from videojug.com

How online advertising helps

Do you spend a lot of time in the internet? As for me, I consume hours just surfing the net. I spend a lot of it on writing and editing my blogs. Blogging is one of my biggest hobbies and I also maintain 3 blogs. I get to share my opinions about my favorite things, my opinions, rants and raves to a humble amount of readers and followers. As long as you are consistent about you blog posts and themes, fellow bloggers would be more and more interested in what you have to say.

I am also very fortunate to get to be paid to blog. Imagine getting paid to do your favorite things! A lot of business owners get to advertise through the internet and for just cause. Many turn to the internet for information, to watch, to read, and to purchase.The info you find in the internet isn't contained in one area. Many web contents can be read all throughout the world. Bloggers' articles are the best way to advertise to a large readership and for a very small cost.

Consumers are very knowledgeable these days. They demand to know what they buy before they spend on them. Information and advertisements on the internet are great sources of information on what we are about to buy. You can even find reviews so you know where your money goes to.That's why online advertising is one of the best forms of promoting your businesses and attracting possible customers. Both advertisers and bloggers benefit from this type of advertising. Some bloggers even work from home and still earn!

I love using the site www.Blogadvertisingstore.com . Their site helps advertisers find writers to promote their ads and helps bloggers find opportunities to promote for the advertisers. They make it easier for you to find tasks that are compatible with your blog. I also like that they clearly specify the the links and instructions for each post. It is a great way to earn and you as a blogger are also helping businesses to grow while just doing what you like to do best and that is to blog.

image taken from lodexsolutions.com

The Best and Worst Fashion Trends (Ever!) Fashion: glamour.com

Really nice to look at.

The Best and Worst Fashion Trends (Ever!) Fashion: glamour.com

Grow old with you

Sunday Special.

I know it's not sunday, but i just want to introduce to you this category. This category showcases some scenes from Sunday at church. And since it's almost hearts day, i think this photo is just relevant.

A Brother gives a rose to his wife.



Happy Valentine's!

Hi there, i'm selling my books!

Save Mother Earth

The Seed Project
In collaboration with our Church's Jubilee's theme : One Heart One Mind, we are now filling up on the 1000 hours of Community Service per year til 2011. WHEW! That's a lot of work . I think our ward has done 400+ hours so we're really proud of ourselves.

As you can see, being Green (not green like green jokes but being ) green as in environmental is the IN thing today. Notice in SMs you see green fabric shopping bags, and Recycle this and that, and the cleanup of Pasig (wonder if this is true).. So we wanted to share in the hype...no we really just want to help out in the Cleanup of mother earth. My sister ,being the Ward Activity Coordinator(with the help of my politically-active grandma), brought us together for The Seed Project:

Which is basically just a tree-planting activity... heck no! believe it or not, only the best of us actually dug the soil and planted the small soon-to-be trees. It was difficult! of course we were careful not to plant too much or the court would look like a jungle in the future. And we also painted us some walls. And ate of course. We went about doing good.. (quoting something i read..lol)
.....
* Everyone was told to wear green shirts

Jubilee Kick Off

One Heart One Mind
The Church will celebrate it's 50th year anniversary in the Philippines on the year 2011.

So before anything else, we had a Jubilee Fireside Kickoff last January 3, 2009 at the AFP Theater. Ilang mga members lang sa stake namin ang nabigyan ng tickets. My family (except me, huhuhu) was there to join in that historic event. Right now Im green with envy.

Our stake provided a wonderful song number.. "United" (sorry i cant give you a vid right now, but they said it was great, well, to each his own)

What I am truly excited about is this:

One of the countrywide projects for the Jubilee is the rendering of two million service hours from 2009 to 2011 by members of the Church. Members are encouraged to do various acts of service in their communities, record their service hours, and report these to the Area Jubilee Committee or to the Public Affairs Department.

When this was revealed to our wards, we thought it would be an impossible task. But like the theme of the Jubilee, if we had one heart and one mind, we can accomplish this great feat. We were all excited to give out helping hands to our communities.