The Good Samaritan

The past two weeks have been incredibly exhausting for both Stephen and I as we have been trying to finish up all the little home repairs, cleaning, and boxing in preparation for our move. There is so much to do inside and outside of the house that I knew I wasn't going to get it all done in time before the photographer came to take pictures. In fact, we had to move our appointment back a few days so we were really ready. Our realtor came by yesterday to see the progress we had made, and said it looked like we got a lot done, but it still needs more work, especially outside with the weeds in the flowerbeds. I already knew that, and kinda hung my head because it was just so much work for one pregnant woman to tackle alone. I had asked the youth in our ward the week before for some help in weeding around the house so I could focus on the inside. I told them I was willing to pay, but no one showed up that week to help.

Last night after a quick rain storm I went outside to get a start on the weeding while Stephen tried to finish painting the windows. Lucas came outside to play in the dirt while I weeded to keep me company. The dirt was hard as concrete. I hadn't been out there for more than 10 minutes when a young man walked up my driveway and asked me if I needed help. I turned to face him but couldn't find any words to say anything, so he asked again, "Do you need some help?" My first reaction was to brush him off and say no because I didn't want to bother him with my monumental task of weeding, but I finally forced the word "yes" out of my mouth. I had never met or seen this boy before. He was about 16 years old and on his way home from wrestling practice as he walked by my house and didn't hesitate to offer help. He lived just a few blocks north of our house.

He sat his backpack on the grass and immediately began pulling weeds. I was dumbfounded and excited that someone saw my need and aided me. We began to chat as we pulled the weeds. I'm not much of a conversationalist, but we had a lot of common interests so it wasn't hard or uncomfortable to work together. He was willing to work all night, but after about an hour and three flowerbeds completed I told him we were done for the night. He seemed to know what he was doing too because he pretty much knew right away which plants were flowers and which ones were weeds without me having to point everything out. He helped me clean up and put my tools away and went to get his backpack to leave. I hurried inside and handed him a $20 bill for his help and kindness. He tried very hard to refuse the money and said what he did wasn't even worth that much, but I explained to him that I had asked others for help and no one came. He had no idea how much he helped me out just by stopping on his way home to offer help to a struggling pregnant mom. He was literally an answer to my prayers in my time of need. Thankfully he took the money and I told him he was welcome back any time to help me finish and he could earn more money. Even if he doesn't return he made a world of a difference and a huge impact on me.

Normally I wouldn't do this, but  I asked him if he was LDS because our ward boundaries just changed and our ward increased by a few blocks north of us, so I was curious if maybe he was going to be new in our ward.  He  said he was not LDS and wondered why I asked. I told him about the boundary changes and that I just wondered if he would be in our ward. Anyway, I am just so impressed with this young man's willingness to serve his neighbors. His parents have raised a great young man, so thank you Ethan for being the answer to my prayer.

I didn't even think I was going to get the first flowerbed done that night especially with how hard the ground was, but with his help we weeded half of the front yard!