The brothers and sisters gathered in Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh, for a street cleanup. Although it was a rainy season, it was sunny that day as if even the sky was cheering for us. Thanks to the weather, the brothers and sisters in blue t-shirts and yellow vests looked even brighter.
The area we were cleaning that day was around a big hospital. All kinds of trash were mingled with dust, so we had to clean them up one by one with our hands. Everyone was working diligently although they were sweating buckets. The trash that we gathered while cleaning for a short period of time in the morning was over one ton. A hospital official who was watching us even came outside and complimented us. Soon after that, some people came to see us, carrying cameras. It turned out that a hospital worker reported our volunteer service to the press.
The brothers and sisters said that a church’s volunteer service was something that requires caution in Bangladesh because the major religions are Islam and Hinduism. So the press covering a church’s volunteer service is something unimaginable. Our volunteer service was covered in a local newspaper. After our cleanup, we visited the hospital as the hospital worker invited us. We explained our volunteer service to the hospital worker, who expressed his will to give us a helping hand. We felt thankful to God for his unexpected favor.
There is one thing I’ve surely realized through this volunteer service: A good deed that we do without wanting anything in return has power to move the hearts of other people. This is the virtuous cycle of love that Heavenly Mother has taught us.