Swapping Service

Sharing talents and extending service to one another can sometimes help families with tight budgets. One family we know finds it difficult to pay a baby-sitter for their monthly trip to the temple, located two hours away. After talking with another family in the ward, they agreed to baby-sit for each other, each taking one Friday night a month. Now both families can take turns attending the temple, and their children love the care they receive.

Another friend felt music lessons were unaffordable until she exchanged child care for piano lessons from a sister in the ward. Still another gives voice lessons in exchange for sewing lessons, and a third trades ironing for baby-sitting. While we should not ask those who seek to make a living to give or exchange their services for free, we can offer to share our own talents and give service to others in ways that can mutually bless our lives and theirs.

Balancing tight budgets has been easier as ward members and neighbors have shared their talents in a spirit of service with one another.—Carolyn Williams, Redlands, California