March Stake Relief Society Presidency Message

NEW RELIEF SOCIETY SEAL, SIMPLIFIED


In the early days of the formation of the Relief Society, Lucy Mack Smith, described this sisterhood in these words: "We must cherish one another, watch over one another, comfort one another and gain instruction, that we may all sit down in heaven together."

At our February 9th Stake Women's conference, "Temple & Home, Our Refuge From the World", we felt the spirit of what Sister Smith was describing. Sisters (and a few brethren) came from all over Lewis County to renew friendships, learn and share, strengthen and enjoy one another ! We witnessed the cherishing, watch care, comforting and instruction you all shared in that day !

It was such a fun and spirit filled event and we want to thank you all who presented as well as those who attended and partook of what was offered. Thank you for your support and enthusiasm, your contributions and feedback !

2013 Centralia Stake RS Women's conference - slideshow

Then seeing many of you and your families at Stake Conference the next week was a bonus !

this month of March we celebrate the founding and organizing of this great society of women that now spans the earth ! As a Stake Relief society presidency, we look forward to visiting as many of these as we can. We would love to be at every one of your celebrations but have to "divide and conquer" to be represented at those that are held on the same night. We love rubbing shoulders with you and feeling that sisterhood !

On the LDS.ORG website there are so many new resources weekly ! Be sure to check it out frequently...In conjunction with the April 2013 general conference, the Relief society general presidency will be providing training for stake and ward Relief Society leaders.

Love,
Sister Chris Jackson 1st Counselor

Stake Relief Society Women's Conference

Presidency Message January, 2013

At the beginning of each new year we feel a sense of renewal and a chance to start over. New beginnings are all around us. They can be invigorating. something about starting over generates energy and commitment. Blank pages of a new calendar can give us a sense of opportunity, possibility, and even resolve. We work a little harder, reach a little farther, and somehow do a little more. What may have seemed out of reach just days before suddenly eenters the realm of possibility when a new year comes.

We all have successes in our past, just as we remember things we wish we had done a little better. But we need not become discouraged about our past mistakes any more than we should become too comfortable with our past accomplishments. Many mistakes can be corrected, just as many successes can be improved. Now might be a good time to reevaluate our goals and aspirations,, rethink our direction and purpose in life, and refocus our efforts and energy on worthwhile endeavors.

There is nothing in life quite like the feeling of cleanliness: clean clothes, clean house, clean hands, clean thoughts, clean hearts. A sense of cleanliness come with clearing out anything that is unworthy of us, putting out prejudice and pettiness, and repenting of the past. A new year invites us to wash away the negatives and take a fresh, clean look at ourselves and our surroundings. It brings an opportunity of clearing away the "litter": cleaning out old errors, false attitudes, gossip and grudges, envy, indolence, thoughtless acts and utterances. We should endeavor to practice less cynicism, less frustration, less despair, and more keeping the Lord's commandments, along with more repentance.

If you are one who makes "resolutions" as a new year opens, here are a few suggestions to include in your listing: study the scriptures every day, go to the Temple more often, spend more time with family, give more service to others,, and prayerfully consider choices.

Stake Relief Society Presidency Message

Dear Sisters,

     Each year at Christmastime our minds go to a pilgrimage back to the little town of Bethlehem, which has nestled among the Judean hills for so many centuries. It is wondefully rich in its long and interesting history. It is here that Jacob buried his wife Rachel. Bethlehem is where Ruth gleaned in the wheat fields of Boaz. It was also here that Ruth's great grandson David was born and where he tended the sheep of his father, Jesse. It was here that he was annointed by Samuel to be the king of Israel. This little town finally called itself by the name of its most famous son and was thereafter known as the City of David.
     The Old Testament prophet Micah had foretold that one greater than David should also be born in Bethlehem and that the most important event in the history of the world should here take place to distinguish little Bethlehem above all of the great cities of the world. Since the meridian of time, Bethlehem has been remembered primarily as the birthplace of the Savior of all mankind.
     For that first Christmas, Mary and Joseph had come some 65 miles from Nazareth in Galilee to Bethlehem in Judea in response to the decree of Caesar Augustus that all the world should be taxed, each in his own city. They arrived in Bethlehem at about the time that Jesus was to be born. And Luke says of Mary, "And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn. (Luke 2:7)
     As we think back to the birth of Jesus, we feel a certain sense of shame and regret that there was no room in the inn for the Savior of the world to be born. It is also a very interesting thought  that the King of kings and Lord of lords should be born in a stable. With his Heavenly Father, he had created the earth in the first place, and yet there was no room in it for him to be born. But this fact is something more than an isolated event of interesting significance; it indicates what almost amounts to a theme song for his life. "No room" was one of the chief characteristics of his entire mortal existence. He himself summed up his experiences by saying, "The foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head." (Matthew 8:20)
     The birth and death of Jesus are now both ancient history. The great Roman Empire has long since become more than a memory. The problems of the religious leaders who brought about his death have long been buried. But Jesus did not give his life for his contemporaries alone; his mission applied with equal significance to us. It was our sins as well as theirs that made him volunteer his own death. What is our attitude about his life?
     Many of the doors with which Jesus was familar had the latch only on the inside and could not be opened from without. The door to the heart is still opened from within. The invitation for Jesus to enter our lives must still come from the inside. The door to the heart is not easily broken down by anyone beating upon it from without; the release must be operated from within.
     At Christmas time we sing the most beautiful songs and even though he stands at the door of our lives and knocks, not many doors are being opened. Too frequently we merely send back the ancient reply, "No room, no room."
     As the spirit of Christmas fills our lives and as we are haunted by the embarrassment of centuries past, we should consider the advisability of making room for him in our own present. If we are too busy to serve God, we are much too busy. If our lives are so filled as to crowd him out, then we should empty our lives and relieve the congestion that threatens to overtake us.
     Dear sisters, my Christmas wish is that we may change that ancient Christmas pageant of Bethlehem so that we may really hear the angels' song and make room for the Redeemer of the world in our personal lives. We will be blessed and our families will be blessed beyond measure if we do this. May you be blessed in all of your efforts to serve Him, our Lord and Master, our Savior, the Son of God.
Love,
Sister Sallye Johnston
Stake Relief Society President
    

November Message

November is here! Time to Celebrate! I love this month. First, we commemorate Armistice day and our Veterans, then we celebrate again on Thanksgiving Day.

Personally my body is grateful that it only has to undergo "Thanksgiving Day" once a year. My spirit and soul on the other hand rejoices and thrives when I recognize and give thanks many times every day of the year.

Recently I saw a video called Clicking Can Change Your Life" by Hilary Weeks

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-9PHrtc2EA8&feature=related

I love this video!!! It is soooo true. We could also give it the title "Gratitude can Change Your Life." A short synopsis of the video is that Sis Weeks decided that she could get rid of her negative thoughts and negativity in her life when she realized what they were. So she bought a mechanical counter clicker. She clicked many times a day. One day she had already clicked 8 times while driving the kids to school. She clicked while out on date night as she remembered and recited to her husband the problems that she had been dealing with throughout the week. After a week of this she realized that she was feeling depressed and down.

This was the opposite of what she had planned. By giving attention to the negative, she realized that she had not got rid of it, instead she had given power to it.

So she switched and gave power to positive thoughts. It was so much more fun to chase away or block negative thoughts by filling her mind with positive. One day she looked at her counter and saw 1,262 clicks. She wondered if a family member had been playing with it, but no-one had. Her outlook and spirit changed. She felt like she could accomplish ANYTHING. She set goals that she would never have thought of setting. That week while on the treadmill she ran further and longer than she had in 20 years by filling her mind, spirit and soul with everything that was positive.

She ends with Philippians 4:8 where Paul tells us "whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure,whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.

I understand Paul's message better and I am so glad Sis Weeks shared this story. I know some people who are giving their family members clickers for Christmas.

I often think about Joseph B. Wirthlin's final talk in conference "Come What May and Love it." What a wonderful man and what a wonderful message to leave us with. Even the title alone has great counsel. I will end with a quote from his talk

"How can we love days that are filled with sorrow? We can’t—at least not in the moment. I don’t think my mother was suggesting that we suppress discouragement or deny the reality of pain. I don’t think she was suggesting that we smother unpleasant truths beneath a cloak of pretended happiness. But I do believe that the way we react to adversity can be a major factor in how happy and successful we can be in life.
If we approach adversities wisely, our hardest times can be times of greatest growth, which in turn can lead toward times of greatest happiness."
I am so grateful for all you sisters who love and uplift one another, and for the veterans who have rescued and preserved freedoms world wide and wish you all a very wonderful and blessed Thanksgiving Day.
Love,
Sister Best - 2nd Counselor in Centralia Stake RS

Relief Society Presidency Message October

It is hard to get through a day without being bombarded with hearing or seeing politcal ads, discussion and opinions. You may be looking forward to November for it to be "all over", but let me suggest that we should be looking forward to November because we have the right and privilege to cast our vote in the staet and federal elections. I make that distinction for a reason I will discuss later in this post.

Elder L. Tom Perry in 1998 stated, "The 11th and 12th Articles profess our belief in religious liberty, tolerance, and agency. Agency is one of the great gits of God to His children. It allows all men and women the right to choose for themselves and to earn their own individual salvation. Also declared is our belief in secular governments and "in obeying, honoring, and sustaining the law" of the land (A of F 1:12)."

Those Articles of Faith read as follows:
11. We claim the privilege of worshiping Almighty God according to the dictates of our own conscience, and allow all men the same privilege, let them worship how, where, or what they may.
12 .We believe in being subject to kings, presidents, rulers, and magistrates, in obeying, honoring, and sustaining the law.

"Voting in government elections and performing other civic duties when we have the opportunity is a sacred responsibility, a God-given blessing, and a duty to be carried out with honor and trust."
Michael A. Neider, October 2012 Ensign.

We need to take seriously the sacred responsibility we have as we vote in the upcoming election. We need to look past the persuasive rhetoric and outright, inflammatory bashing of candidates by one another and focus on the issues, solutions and values put forth by candidates. As dramatic and important as the presidential or federal election is, we should realize that local candidates and state representation is a more effective part of our voting. This grass roots level is where we can have the dictates of our own conscience expressed most influentialy.

Another thing to keep in mind is tolerance. Just as we allow all men the same privilege of worshipping according to their own conscience, we acknowledge their right to vote according to their conscience. By showing one another mutual respect and listening without bias, we can at least understand better opposing points of view and look for common ground rather than judging and getting into heated debate. The more effectively we listen and respect, the more likely we will be listened to and our opinions respected.

The Church does not "endorse, promote or oppose political parties, candidates, or plateforms." But it does address, in a non partisan way, issues that it believes have significant community or moral consequences or that directly affect the interests of the Church."*

Sisters, let us be well-informed as we carry out with tolerance, honor and trust, our sacred responsibility.

Sister Chris Jackson
First Counselor Centralia Stake Relief Society Presidency

* [See also Answering questions on Political Neutrality of the Church, October Ensign p.41]