Thankfuls

(This Thanksgiving was just me, my mom and dad. Cute huh?!)

Tonight as I was helping my mom with dishes, I was recounting to her some memories of my China days. Four years ago while living there, I had the rare opportunity to have a Thanksgiving there with some new friends and my cousin Bryce. Bryce and I took a sān lún chē (Chinese pedicab/rickshaw) to Krissie's apartment at her school where she had kindly prepared a Thanksgiving dinner. We had a "make-shift" glazed ham (Turkey wasn't an option there with the Bird Flu in those days), huge shrimp, green mashed potatoes and stuffing. It was delightful. Krissie had invited one of her students and a new friend to join in a tradition all Chinese were curious about. I watched as this student attempted to use a fork for the first time. I watched as her eyes lit up in the amounts of food that were on the table. It was clearly more than she'd ever had before. And she seemed to thoroughly enjoy herself and express her gratitude and blessings with us. That evening as I got back to my apartment I looked around at what I had. I lived in the Physics Preparation Room 1 where I had a type of pig trough as a sink. The "faucet" was a hose that only gave ice cold water certain hours of the day. When I did dishes, I then quickly had to take the hose and attach it to my teeny-tiny washing machine for one load of laundry before the water went out. I didn't have a toilet in my apartment, in fact, it was a hole in the ground outside of my apartment in the "public bathroom" section of the school grounds. I had a little electric stove and a tiny refridgerator PACKED with eggs. The apartment was freezing, had flies, millions of them, crickets, spiders and bugs. Yet I sat there on my bed and was overcome with blessings, and I thought back on a year before that, my senior year, when I was in Brother Hadley's seminary class....



Before that year's Thanksgiving, he did a lesson on gratitude and blessings and had us write on a piece of paper all of our blessings we were grateful for and he gave us ten minutes or so. Of course the usuals appeared on everyone's list: Family, friends, food, water, the Gospel and a home. Some student's had more on their lists, but for the most part that was it. Brother Hadley asked us to share some of them and after we were done he stared at us for a long moment with an almost hurt expression on his face. Then he said these words that forever changed my outlook on things:



"That's it?"



He went on to say, "Of all of the things in the world, that is all you're thankful for?" He asked us why we weren't thankful for modern restrooms. Or a soft bed with a good mattress. The ability to turn on a faucet in our home and have drinking water there. Airplanes to visit around the world. Modern technology to save lives. Hospitals. Doctors. Cars. The education system. He even got down to the little things of even staples, paper clips and things we often look past that other countries consider a luxury. He had us write a new list after that. It was amazing to see the pages and pages of blessings we had after that.



I thought of this lesson as I sat in my cold classroom apartment in China. I had visited some actual homes of my students while I was there and they lived in literal holes in the wall with dirt floors. I had tile at least. They kept food outside buried to keep things cold. I had the fridge. They couldn't afford eggs. I had them stuffed in my fridge because the Chinese wanted to gift us every week. They didn't even have holes outside for restrooms in a room. I had one twenty feet away from my apartment. They cooked over fires. I had the stove. They eat so little, because they have so little. I had just come from a Thanksgiving dinner. I was SO blessed.



So, tonight, as I am here, lucky to be living in the United States, I will list some luxuries and blessings I have. Because I need to recognize the millions and millions of things I have:

• A home. I live in a mansion compared to what the rest of the world lives in.


• Having been born in the USA, in Utah, into the Gospel, to parents who still love each other and an eternal family.


• My ward.


• My job.


• The ability I have to make a living for myself.


• A car (seriously, a HUGE luxury - even if it is my Satan car :) )


• Having temples everywhere


• A church in walking distance, instead of a three hour train ride, and and hour taxi to my one hour sacrament meeting in China.


• A Western toilet (hey, you can only squat for so long :) )


• Carpet. Seriously, I had NO idea how much this was a blessing, until I missed the soft feel on my feet!


• Good, um, toiletries. They don't have the same stuff as we do!


• The ability to afford once in a lifetime experiences of traveling to different countries, when those I've met around the world think it's a luxury to go to the next city or province.


• Even though I am not in school, we have excellent schools where people work their entire lives to get to and a very select few actually get here.


• Computers


• Internet


• Freedom


• A piano


• iPods


• Freeways (no toll-booths are a HUGE HUGE blessing, I promise!)


• Being SO close to the headquarters of the Church


• The extremely rare opportunity to meet our Prophet.


• Cellphones


• Heaters and A/C's

And so many more. I could spend hours listing blessings. This year, especially recently, I've found my biggest blessing. The Atonement. I'm so grateful to a loving Savior who atoned for everyone's sins. And to help us forgive and love. I'm grateful it can heal me of a broken heart and even a damaged testimony. What a beautiful thing.

Happy Thanksgiving to all ~