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.

july join in: a stake relief society activity

yesterday i had the chance to go to an amazing stake relief society activity at our stake centre. the relief society presidency had put a bunch of work in and it showed. seriously... the hall set up was epic, check it out!

on arrival, we were sorted into groups to do a round robin of a few activities during the afternoon. first up was a mini workshop about the importance of making friends and keeping up with our ministering... a girl i was in primary with taught it and she was excellent. kept us all engaged and laughing... perfect!to start off gave everyone a bag to pull a random coin from. we were to look at the year on the coin and tell about something important that happened in our lives that year. such a great way to get to know more about someone!

class number two was a singing workshop, in which we learned to sing an arrangement of "give said the little stream," which i lovvvvved. it's always been one of my favourite primary songs and singing it with a group of likeminded women was an beautiful experience. 

class number 3, a cooking class, in which we learned to make a soup and a salad which were prepared (a different set for each group)... ready for the feast after all the activities were done -

where we all sat in this beautifully decorated hall (seriously, our stake relief society presidency is amaaaaazing!) look at the effort they went to! the food was delicious and we were even waited on by the boys in their local ward.

our final activity before that dinner was making a family proclamation with fine art mini prints of the saviour on the framing mat. they looked so beautiful when they were finished and i can't wait to get mine home and frame it!

(update and added photo of mine complete and framed! i am giving it to a friend as a housewarming gift who i am certain is going to love it! they have just bought their first house and are so excited... we love all the same things and i just know it will be perfect for her house)

we ended the day with a fireside, which was so lovely. our stake relief society president spoke of the love they have for us and how important it is to remain firm in the faith. we united sang our arrangement of give said the little stream which was just incredible and then prior to closing watched a video about the relief society general presidency and board entitled "just like you." this was so eye opening. i don't know about others, but i tend to think of those women as being so righteous that they wouldn't have the same petty issues in life that we do. but they do. and sometimes more and others that we haven't even thought of. i loved it so much and will definitely be showing it to the young women, soon. 

i am so grateful for relief society. i learned so much about the importance of it and the bonds it creates during my time as president. it can help and heal so many women and i wish some who struggle to attend could see that. relief society is truly god's gift to women. emma smith stated when she opened their first meeting, "sisters, we are going to do something extraordinary." and over the years, we truly have.  

the fruits of the spirit

we are so blessed in dianella stake to have a relief society presidency who go above and beyond to make sure that the sisters in our stake are able to improve ourselves and to grow spiritually each year.

last year we had a 6 week challenge (increasing faith in jesus christ) that gave us something to read/ listen to from past general conferences and the likes. each of those talks assisted us in increasing our faith and at the end we had a dawn testimony meeting at the stake centre, after visiting in the temple grounds as the sun rose. 

it was such a success that they decided to do another, although only for 4 weeks this time around focusing on the fruits of the spirit found in galatians... and it was just as good! this morning marked the end of the program and we met again in the grounds of the temple, then went off for another testimony meeting. what a wonderful blessing it is to meet with other women who share our faith. who know of the same truths and are willing to share them to improve the lives of others!

we had breakfast afterwards in the hall and it was lovely to just sit back and listen as the women around me visited with each other.

what a wonderful thing the relief society is. there's not a day goes by that i am not grateful for the gospel in my life and those who are on the same path to home. ♥