Where We Have Been and Where We are Going

On September 30th, our Relief Sisters met for a night of reflection and projection, both as a Relief Society group and as individuals. Jamie Larsen highlighted the love and support that we, as sisters have offered to those around us.

• Over the past year we have donated $7,000 worth of food to our town's food banks.
• We exceeded our goal of knitting 100 hats for Rwandan newborns. It is estimated that one in ten infant deaths in Rwanda could be prevented if their heads were kept warm. We sent close to 300 hats to these newborn babies, which saved their lives.
• Officially as a group we sent 45 organized compassionate service meals, but will never be able to calculate the additional hours spent cooking cleaning, organizing, moving and babysitting for one another.
• We read 7216 pages in our book group, including books such as A Lion and A Lamb, God Wants a Powerful People, To Draw Closer to God and The Red Tent.
• We did 58 endowment sessions and several initiatory sessions during our scheduled RS Temple days, but know that many, many more were done as individual sisters.
• 288 Family Home Evening Packets were put together in our FHE group, which have spiritually strengthened and enriched the lives of the children in our homes.
• We conducted 48 Relief Society lessons and taught and ran programs for the children and youth in our ward, providing spiritual sustenance and guidance for many.
• We visit taught 840 times.
• We supported the Haitian branch after the terrible earthquake in Haiti, providing music, decorations and food for a Haitian Memorial Service. We visited 7 grieving sisters in that branch. We hugged and cried and sang with these women. And it meant the world to them and to us.

Jamie pointed out that this is an astonishing list that not one of us could have done alone. It took each of our talents combined with other sisters and we have made a significant difference in others lives this year.

Debbie Marcantano then highlighted the events that are planned for this year. We will be attending a retreat in October in the beautiful fall foliage of Zion Camp in New Hampshire and a marriage seminar is planned for February. With the new "Additional Relief Society Meetings" which were introduced by the Relief Society General Board, we will be meeting together the second Tuesday morning of each month as well as several Thursday nights throughout the year. We look forward to the bond of sisterhood that will be strengthened through these events, as well as the service we will render, the lessons and skills we will learn and the information that will be shared.

As a group we then shared significant items that each woman brought, representing events from their pasts and dreams and hopes for their futures. We saw such items as Julie Berry's first journal, written as a nine year old, a family themed Christmas ornament from Ana Silvas representing her love of family and Heather Marx's matryoshka dolls from her mission to Russia.

Afterward, we enjoyed each other's company over warm soups, breads and salad, with a selection of hot fruit crisps and ice cream for dessert. This was a night of appreciation for what we have accomplished as a sisterhood, a night of looking forward to what we will experience together over this coming year as well as a night of bonding, friendship and love.