Hermana Glazier in Chile: The Smallest Cupcake

This week we were given the smallest cupcakes I have ever seen. They were so so so small. But that made me love them even more. Now I'm sure you're thinking, okay, Hermana Glazier, you might be obsessed with tiny things, but it's not as interesting to everyone else. But don't you worry, there's a lot more meaning here than you might think. When the Lord says "by small and simple things are great things brought to pass," he means it.

I've been thinking a lot about the little things this week. The small and simple and how it makes us great. In Relief Society yesterday we talked about some of the small acts of kindness that President Joseph Fielding Smith was remembered for - buying a coat for someone, letting a small child sit by him in conference, things like that. I was so touched by that as I realized that when someone is in a position of fame, wealth, power, etc. it's those tiny things that everyone judges them about. One uneducated or impolite statement could label them forever as ignorant and bigoted, while these small acts of kindness from Pres. Smith left him remembered as a great example of love and Christian goodness. The church provides unmatched amounts of aid for natural disasters and other situations around the world, but most people's impression of the Church comes from their one Mormon neighbor or classmate. Just like a tiny cupcake is fascinating because it's so small, the President of a worldwide church worrying about one child is touching because of its simplicity. The cupcake, or the act in and of itself is so small, but it actually probably takes more effort, more patience, more humility, more creativity.

We may not be in the spotlight like the "important" people of the world, but we have chances to be important every day! We are important to that person we invite to sit next to us, that person we hug, that person we call, that person we sincerely listen to and pray for. These small acts of service are the lifeblood of the church and the kind of love that the world needs more than ever. A warm greeting from other people means a lot more to someone coming to church the first time (or returning after some time) than a perfectly executed activity or lesson ever could.

I can testify of all this because I experienced it this week. The members of the church are always serving us - feeding us, driving us home, helping us teach, etc. But there was one small act that impacted me more than a lot of those other things. We were walking to an appointment and I stopped to talk to a man waiting at the bus stop. We started to introduce ourselves and he made it clear that he wanted nothing to do with us. He said he was atheist and didn't want anything to do with our church. Having recently heard the words of Elder Holland reminding us to be persistent, I calmly explained that the truth we share has really blessed us and we know that God wants all of His children to have it. I'm not sure how he segwayed into it, but he starting talking about the United States and how they're going to close the borders and that we're terrible people because of Obama and we're discriminating against immigrants and how we should go back to America and...I'm not sure what he said, in all honesty. That's basically the impression I got - but, after being in Chile for over a year, I have absolutely no knowledge of anything even closely related to politics. I tried to explain that to him. I said we have no idea what's going on there because we've been in Chile for a long time and that we're only here to help our brothers and sisters. He wasn't having it and kept insisting that we were somehow responsible for the injustice and that we should leave Chile, so I told him that he was always invited to share and that it really would bless his life. I assured him that whether he believes it or not, we are brothers and God really does love him. At this point the bus came so we shook his hand and started to walk away. I didn't feel bad because he was attacking us for something we have absolutely nothing to do with, but I did feel sad that people let themselves get so confused sometimes. As we walked away from the bus stop, a woman that had arrived while we were talking was also getting on the bus. She was a little bit rebellious and grumpy-looking, but if she hadn't been getting on the bus we probably would have talked to her as well. She had a large cart of things that she was most likely going to sell. I thought to myself, for a split second, what she was probably like. I know her type. Has talked to the missionaries before, is willing to talk for a second, but will say that she's too busy and that maybe in the future she'll visit the church. She had overheard the whole conversation with the other man, and probably saw the concern in our faces as she turned around to pull her cart onto the bus. She said loudly and sincerely, "Que les vaya bién, chiquillas." (Doesn't translate but just wished us well). I felt that she said it sincerely and from the heart and that she was really concerned for the discourteous way we had been treated. That moment changed my view of her. It was something so, so small, but meant so, so much to me. It was a tiny little cupcake that was just what I needed to keep going.