Meredith: One Simple Act of Kindness

(Meredith and Jess---embracing the kindness)

The first Sunday in my ward in Palo Alto, I felt like a new freshmen in college again (alone and lost!). People smiled politely and introduced themselves, but by the time I’d entered Relief Society I never had missed being at BYU-Idaho more. I sat down in Relief Society and then something miraculous happened. Meredith Bergin sat down next to me and in a matter-of-fact tone said “Hi, my name is Meredith. You’re new too, we should be friends!” All I remember is saying something like “I’m Jess, sure that sounds great.” At the time, neither Meredith nor I understood at the time how many additional blessings/people would come into my life due to Meredith extending that simple act of kindness. Elder Joseph B. Wirthlin said “Sometimes the greatest love is not found in the dramatic scenes that poets and writers immortalize. Often, the greatest manifestations of love are the simple acts of kindness and caring we extend to those we meet along the path of life.” Through Meredith (from Ohio) later that week, I met one of my future roommates, Nicole Wood (from the Sacramento area). We also got introduced to Scott Robertson (from Alaska), who also worked at Hewlett-Packard. Nicole then introduced us to Ben Petersen (from the Sacramento area), a Berkeley law student. Through Ben we made great friends with his roommates Alex Green (from Nevada City, CA) and Craig Samuelson (from Bountiful, UT). Later in the summer, Meredith’s BYU professor emailed to tell Meredith that his daughter “Mikey” was moving to Palo Alto and looking for a place to live. Meredith said that her professor was a cool guy and we took her word on it that this “Mikey” character was going to be amazing! Guess what? Mikey Page (from Moscow, ID) turned out to be amazing! We later met Heather Crawford (from Arcadia, CA) she moved into the ward from Los Angles, became my visiting teacher and then she became Meredith’s roommate. These kids have become great friends and at times I’m amazed at how wonderful these people are to and for me. When I tell people this story, Meredith blushes and tries to downplay the whole meeting as “chance”. I relate this story to illustrate Elder Wirthlin’s point of how much small acts of kindness impact the lives of those around us. That simple act of kindness was an answer to my prayers. The Lord uses others, when they are willing (as Meredith was in this situation), to bless His children.