180 Years of Relief Society: A Stake Relief Society Activity

As a young woman, I never thought I would love Relief Society. To be honest, I never thought I would even like it. An almost 3 year stint as Relief Society President made quick work of changing that and here we are, with me serving in Primary, desperately missing the comfort and other adults provided by Relief Society. I know it's not forever, but I'd love to be back there sometime! For this reason, any time there is a ward or stake RS activity, I am there with bells on!

Today we had a stake RS activity that had been delayed from earlier in the year when covid had decided to make a scene here in WA. I am so glad that they were still able to make it happen though as it was a cool day. The lovely Debra (who used to be my secretary when I was RSP) was in charge of the day and it showed, she is so amazing, always going above and beyond to make things perfect. They had put together a display from each ward/branch in our stake and they were awesome. My Ellenbrook ward RSP mug shot made an appearance yet again.

There was an old fashioned fabric tie dolly making workshop, a game of Relief Society Bingo (so competitive ladies! haha) and plenty of things to look at on the displays.

I loved looking through all the history of the Relief Society and women throughout the world over the years.

The Northam Branch one was especially cute - I remember this quilt being made by the sisters - one patch each and being sewn together by my mother. It is still proudly displayed on the wall in the Northam Branch RS room. The wheat and farming items made it so lovely.

Another awesome activity for us ladies to mix and mingle. I am forever grateful to be a member of the largest womens association in the world.

relief society ward history: a rs birthday celebration

i love being able to attend our ward relief society activities. after being the ward relief society president and knowing what kind of effort (and stress!) go into each and every one of them, i try never to miss a single one as i remember how much i would worry for the entire day that people wouldn't come.

this was an exceptional activity. each year we celebrate the founding of the relief society (march 17th 1842) with an activity to gather the sisters of our wards together. this was a celebration of the sisters of our ward particularly... with photos of all of our past relief society presidents in one of the displays. i was so honoured and incredibly humbled to be counted among these incredible women. i know and love so many of them and would never have expected to be placed alongside them. it is amazing what the lord can do with us when we are ready and willing to serve.

we played relief society bingo, which was an absolute riot. i can never get over how competitive these women can be.

some absolutely beautiful displays showed the talents and hobbies of some of our sisters

and days of relief society in the beginning

and there was a pile of throwback photos from days gone by.

the hall was set up to make us all really feel at home, like we were relaxing in the lounge

and of course when the relief society sister are involved, there is always the best refreshments! 

i truly love being part of the largest womens organisation in the world! ❤

in her shoes: a relief society additional meeting

on sunday night, our ward relief society committee put on an amazing activity for the relief society birthday...

"in her shoes"

the point of the evening was to get to know more about the other sisters in our ward, by taking a walk in their shoes. each of us were asked to wear our favourite shoes and to be prepared to talk about why they were our favourites if asked. one of the girls was actually asked specifically to get up and talk about hers which was really lovely to hear. they had an incredible story behind them that left some of the sisters very emotional.

we also played a game, where we had to find each of the pairs of shoes listed on this paper (some of the ones listed were also placed around the room to make it easier to complete the categories) and find out why people loved them or had chosen to wear them on the night.

i had been asked to prepare a table to represent the first president of the relief society - emma smith, the wife of the prophet joseph. so i gathered up:

an old oil lamp

a sampler stitching

old ladies boots

a locket

pearls

and an old copy of the book of mormon

i also placed a few items that represented the relief society itself along with the quote: "sisters, we are going to do something extraordinary" on a chalkboard. emma said that when the relief society began on march 17th in 1842 and it's often quoted amongst our sisters. i have always felt like emmas shoes would have been the hardest to fill and i am so glad she was recognised on the evening, as our bishops wife also spoke about her briefly at the end of the evening.

the girls has decorated beautifully in purple and gold (for royalty!) and the room looked amazing. they always go above and beyond and i love it!

and each of the tables even had a gorgeous pair of dressy shoes as a centrepiece. ♥

these super cute handouts were made by one of the girls, each a cardboard stiletto with chocolate inside, complete with the quote:

"blessed are those who walk, according to the law of the lord" - psalm 119:1

and these cupcakes each had a hand cut glittery stiletto or star on them!

such a lovely evening. i love to see such hard work and effort pay off to be enjoyed by the sisters in our ward ♥

relief society birthday party: 176 years old!

last night we had our relief society birthday celebration at the chapel. i am blown away over and over at the amount of effort that goes into preparing these activities as i participate in setting up. this was no exception... our additional meetings co-ordinator had thought of everything and it was a super fun night.

our cultural hall was set up for an informal high tea celebration with vintage china... all sisters who attended brought along a plate of food to share while we provided drinks (crock pot hot chocolate - [recipe here], herbal teas and water bottles with the rs logo. above and beyond around here... haha) 

i spoke briefly as we began the evening, of my love for this wonderful worldwide womens organisation. when the relief society was founded in 1842, it was because a need was seen, it was a chance for the women of nauvoo to offer relief, to build up others around them and to be there for each other. i am constantly blown away even in our little corner of the world, with stories of women right here caring for each other, with no thought of reward. it's truly something amazing to be a part of. when emma smith was made the president of the society, she began with the words, "sisters, we are going to do something extraordinary." we still do to this day! 

we then watched this short video from youtube, entitled "something extraordinary" before the fun began!

we had fun and games galore as the night went on, including a designated photobooth area, minute to win it games (trying to slide an oreo from your forehead into your mouth, pull all the tissues from a tissue box, stack some metal nuts with a straw, move m&ms from one bowl to another with a straw and who could blow the biggest bubblegum bubble, they were hilarious!) and a round of speed friendshipping (questions below, also hilarious), with two people moving each time from table to table so that less mobile sisters were able to remain seated.

and last but not least, much to my amusement, our additional meetings co-ordinator had actually gone ahead with her joke of the evening, we played "pin the pearl earring on the relief society president. please have a laugh at the below photo of me trying to pin an earring on myself.

honestly, look at this, so much effort... everything was just so.

little relief society decorated cupcakes...

and a beautifully decorated white mudcake, which we will be passing around during sundays lesson. i am sure it will keep the sisters happy...

it was an amazing evening... i am so blessed to be a part of something so wonderful. ♥

relief society birthday high tea

after weeks of preparation, begging and borrowing items from ward members, my personal collection and an insane amount from my lovely mother, we finally had our ward relief society birthday activity this evening, a beautiful high tea. oh the effort involved! tablecloths, chair covers, sashes, 52 vintage trios, bunting... and a photobooth. but it was so worth it, because it looked absolutely amazing! 

i had some amazing sisters from the ward give their time to assist in setting up and thankfully they even did little things that mean so much to making it look perfect, like moving all the unused chairs to another room... matching the sashes to ensure they were in a perfect order... and dealing with my never ending ocd to ensure it all looked perfect!

we used a vintage floral sheet that i picked up from an opshop last year for $1 for the photobooth backdrop, which fitted in so perfectly... i was thrilled to finally put it to good use, as i haven't actually even used it on my bed yet haha

each place had a quote about the relief society (printed at the local big w on photo paper) for the sisters to take home, a floral serviette (found at the local $2 store) and a trio for food and drinks

as the sisters arrived, we had them drop their food to the kitchen, so we could mix and match it all - ensuring that each seat had a variety of food available to them without getting up over and over.  we also had a quiz about the history of relief society on each chair (which you can find here!), so that they had something to do until the food came! we were also careful to pass a sign up sheet around the relief society a few weeks in a row prior to the evening to ensure that we didn't end up with all of the same food or too much sweet or savoury.

during the evening, we had the answers to the quiz and awarded a prize to the winner, then we had each sister stand and tell the room their name and one thing about themselves that others might not know. this is one of my favourite things to do... it's amazing the facts about ourselves we can come up with when we are put on the spot. mine was: hi my name is jade and i have been to over 600 funerals. true story. and i know it would definitely be more than that, but that is a safe number to go with. we also awarded a door prize, we had placed a sticker on the bottom of one of the cups and asked the sisters to find it. easy!

and then we had some fun with the photobooth... i've only popped up these two pics, because i don't think it's right to share pics of all the sisters in our ward without their permision, but these peeps with me here count as family, so i know i am safe...

it was such a fun night and a total success... so happy 174th birthday relief society. we love you!

relief society birthday prep

we have our relief society birthday celebrations in a few weeks and being the additional meetings co-ordinator my planning for our high tea (involving a lot of hot chocolate and herbal tea of course) is in full swing... we are having a quiz on the evening and i thought i would pop it up here, in case any one wants to use it in the future. please feel free to send me an email (starsinourhearts @ gmail.com) or comment below if you'd like a pdf of the questions and answers emailed to you.

by the way, if you know all the answers (without googling them), i'll be super impressed!

1. In what year was the Relief Society founded?
2. What is the floral emblem of the Relief Society?
3. What colours are on the emblem?
4. What was the original name of the Relief Society?
5. What is the Relief Society motto?
6. Who is the current President of the Relief Society? 
7. What date was the Relief Society Founded?
8. How many dollars worth of gold did Joseph Smith give to the society to begin?
9. Who was the first president of the Relief Society?
10. In what year did the general women's broadcast become a biannual event?
11. Since the founding of the Relief Society, how many presidents have there been? 
12. With a 29 year effort, which Relief Society president served for the longest period of time? 
13. Name the three sisters who serve on the Relief Society Presidency of our ward? 
14. How many women were present at the first meeting of the Relief Society?
15. How many other women not in attendance were admitted membership that day that were not present? 
16. What hymn opened the first meeting of the Relief Society?
17. At the first meeting Emma Smith said the relief society was going to do something WHAT? 
18. There are now more than how many MILLION members of the Relief Society?
19. Where was the first meeting of the Relief Society held? 
20. At which age do the young women of the church join the relief society?