Relief Society activities make us this happy!

At January's meeting we strengthened our testimonies of the Savior as we listened to inspirational messages from General Relief Society President Sister Beck and shared what Relief Society means to us. A common thought was how Relief Society sisters demonstrate Christ-like charity, and no matter where we are, we can feel at home. The messages we listened to were from Sister Beck's Oct 2009 Relief Society Meeting talk, "Relief Society: A Sacred Work". They emphasized the purpose of Relief Society as "prepar(ing) women for the blessings of eternal life by helping them:

1. Increase their faith and personal righteousness.
2. Strengthen their families and homes.
3. Serve the Lord and His children."

The second message focused on Visiting Teaching and how "This is one responsibility that is certain to increase our faith and personal righteousness and strengthen our own homes and families as we become partners with the Lord. A sister in this Church has no other responsibility outside of her family that has the potential to do as much good as does visiting teaching."

We also learned about the different groups (don't feel obligated to go to these, they are just for fun!) like cooking, sewing, crochet, book club, etc that are going on in our Relief Society ward to build friendships and skills. We finished the night by signing on a quilt block what Relief Society means to us. These quilt blocks will be sewn together to create a quilt (of course!) for our ward's Relief Society. Once the quilt is complete, it will be passed with a journal each week to a different sister in our ward. The sister that has the quilt will be challenged to strengthen her testimony of the Savior through Relief Society work. Then she can share her experience and testimony in the journal. To strengthen her testimony, she can find ideas from the Relief Society motto or theme, go visiting teaching, or share how a Relief Society lesson of the week blessed their life. By the end of the year we hope to have a journal full or testimonies and uplifting experiences on how we do the Lord's work in Relief Society! If you have not had a chance to sign a quilt block, keep an eye out for it in Relief Society Sunday meetings, or call Sister Marcy for more info.

"Finding Joy in Womanhood" was the theme of this meeting. We found it by uplifting each other and remembering our special calling as women to fulfill the Lord's work.