Developing a heart of service comes down to one thing: following the prophet’s counsel. When we do that, we can become someone’s “Yellow Angel.”
Photo by Natalia Luchanko
The world has recently been hit with multiple natural disasters, leaving tens of thousands without homes. In moments like these, Latter-day Saint volunteers, called Helping Hands, have flowed in to help. In the 2017 general conference talk “Fear Not to Do Good,” President Henry B. Eyring praises these volunteers in yellow t-shirts, some of whom served those affected by Hurricane Irma.
Their service stands as an example to us all. As President Eyring explains, these volunteers worked tirelessly, only stopping “their cleanup labor long enough to let me shake some hands. . . . The only stress I sensed was that they wanted to stop being thanked so they could get back to work.”
Wow! No wonder people in affected areas have started calling Helping Hands members “Yellow Angels.” What if we could serve like them every day?
President Eyring assures us that we can. He says that the way to develop the heart of a Yellow Angel is to follow the counsel of the prophet, President Thomas S. Monson. “As we accept President Monson’s invitation to plant in our hearts a testimony of Jesus Christ, we gain the power, the desire, and the courage to go to the rescue of others without concern for our own needs.”
By heeding the prophet’s counsel, our hearts will be changed, and we too will become like many now serving as Yellow Angels—even without the yellow t-shirts.
To learn more about the Yellow Angels, read President Henry B. Eyring’s full talk: “Fear Not to Do Good.”
Source: LDS General Conference
—Christina Crosland, Mormon Insights
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Find more insights
Another Mormon Insights article to check out is “Do I Have to?” by Brad Elders, which explains why we need to develop a heart of service for all people.
There are so many ways to serve where you are. Find some great ideas on LDS.org’s page “What You Can Do.”
A new resource for finding service opportunities around you is the app JustServe. Chase C. Wheatley explains more about it in “Use JustServe Website or App to Find Service Opportunities Near You.”
Get inspired to dedicate more time to service by watching the BYU devotional address given by Elder Richard J. Maynes: “Shape Your Life through Service to Others.”
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Thank you, we are so glad that this article is applicable to your life.
It’s interesting to think about this in the Covid crisis as well. We may not need as many physical church volunteers out wearing vests but I know a lot of people who have been putting in their helping hand by sewing masks for hospitals.