Youth Conference 2007

This is the poem I wrote for reflections. It was based on what my ward did for youth conference this past summer. We went down to Ogden and fixed up about 18 or more houses that really needed some work done. It was a lot of fun and I know we touched a lot of people's lives.

A rotting porch, some ruined paint
Cracked windows all around,
This is how some houses are,
If you travel to down town.

They pray they will be able
To make it through the year,
Lots of them with hardships,
And lots of them with fear.

Fear of what their kids will see
while playing just outside,
Never knowing what those
Gangster kids will do when on a ride.

Also fearing all about their lives,
Hoping everything goes right,
They struggle sometimes with that hope,
But always put up a great fight.

They pray a lot, they really do,
For things they really need
Hoping one day they will find an answer,
So they really can succeed.

We prayed a lot of who to help
Not knowing where we’d go
We prayed for safety, health, and hope
For people we didn’t know

Our goal was to serve someone else,
Someone who was in need,
Our whole ward and stake
Was ready to help, yes they were indeed.

Our prayers were answered,
Both of ours, we now knew what to do
We were to help the Ogden homes,
And they were to help too.

They helped with everything they could,
But that wasn’t much at all,
We had so many helping hands,
They ranged from short to tall.

With all the youth and leaders there,
We really got stuff done,
We painted, roofed, and built a deck,
All under the hot sun.

No one complained a single bit,
We worked until we were sore,
Doing yard work, scraping, and other things,
We fixed about 18 houses or more.

We made this work by showing up,
No matter where we wanted to be,
We chose the right, and served our friends,
Even if we’d rather of watched TV.

But think if that, one by one,
Each found something else to do,
Like hanging out with friends, and such,
There probably would only be few

Few that actually took the time
to help someone in need
And trade their entertainment out,
With doing a good deed.

It turned out very many of us,
Chose the right thing to do,
And helped out all the needy ones,
That could barely make it through.

With all our help, they’re better off,
With getting through hard times,
They’re prayers were answered each of them,
And now they’re doing fine.

I know that I had made a difference,
In many people’s lives,
Even if I didn’t seem to do much
Just by looking with the eyes.

It all worked out well, for both of us,
Our prayers were answered, it was fate,
With faith in the lord, he blessed us well,
Houses were fixed, and we felt great.