President Thomas S. Monson observed his 82nd birthday on Friday, Aug. 21, which was the first day for dedicating the Oquirrh Mountain Utah Temple.
Last year, the Church News asked him to describe the ideal birthday gift. He said, "Do something for someone else on that day to make his or her life better. Find someone who is having a hard time or is ill or lonely and do something for them. That's all I would ask."
In response to that request, the Church News asked readers to give President Monson the gift of service to another and then report it to us. In the issue of Aug. 15, we published some of the service Church members have given during the past year. Following are highlights of more service members have performed, many on President Monson's birthday.
One man asked his children to think of ways to serve their neighbors for President Monson's birthday. After some consideration, one of his daughters thought it would be fun to bake cookies for some families in the neighborhood. "The week leading to the day we were planning on making the delivery of the cookies had been particularly busy at my work," he wrote. "I was getting home late and was unable to take care of some of the basic home needs including mowing my lawn that was getting quite tall. As I arrived home on the day we were planning on delivering the cookies, the kitchen was busy with all four of my children and my wife baking. Upon completion, we delivered the goodies to all 10 families, which took two hours as we had short visits with each neighbor. We had a great time.