Our "Gathering As Sisters" post series is designed to help us as sisters within our wards/branches see that we are part of a whole - that across the stake there are other groups of sisters gathering together in activities and service to support & teach one another and develop friendships as they fulfill the purposes of the Relief Society in building faith, strengthening families and providing relief. Each month through the end of this year, we will share one or two highlights from activities within our Relief Societies.
We have truly been blessed with our current Handbook of Instruction that allows each ward/branch to counsel together and then plan with inspiration according to their specific needs. We hope that by sharing some of the wonderful things happening within our wards/branches, we can understand better the individual yet similar needs we share as sisters in the Columbia Maryland Stake.
In May the Columbia 2nd Relief Society gathered for a dinner and to be uplifted by shared experiences. Their theme was "by their fruits you will know them". Three graduating Laurels and three Relief Society sisters shared personal experiences with standing for truth and righteousness. Their experiences were simple and yet powerful examples of how our daily living of the Gospel and following the Spirit is so important.
In a recent Church News and Updates email, I noticed a blurb about patriarchal blessings. Two things caught my attention. By logging into your account on lds.org you can do both of the following:
1. Request a digital copy of your own patriarchal blessing which can then be available for reading on your mobile device.
2. Request a copy of a deceased direct-line ancestor's blessing.
When I received my own patriarchal blessing, my father who was actually the patriarch, gave me the original and told me to put it in a safe place. But before putting it safely away, he had me make a copy. He told me to use the copy for marking and notations just as I would my scriptures. He also told me that he would send a copy to the archives in Salt Lake, so that if I ever lost my blessing I could request a new copy. I am sure if my father were alive today, he would be amazed at the advances in technology that provide digital copies. Having acted as his secretary in his calling as patriarch, I know the countless hours spent typing, proofing and retyping blessings before they would be sent to the recipients. He kept a copy for the Church archives of each blessing in a binder. When the binder was full, he then shipped it to Salt Lake for archiving. Each patriarch across the world has followed the same procedures to ensure that copies of the blessings were archived. Those archives are what make this digital copy request possible.
My mother loved family history. She collected not only the stories from her ancestors, but she actually also had patriarchal blessings and missionary blessings for many of her grandfathers. I sometimes wondered why having copies of those blessings mattered to her. But I have come to see the value in being able to read her patriarchal blessing and my father's patriarchal blessing. Those blessings are a witness. I know my parents lives and the trials and blessings they experienced. When I read their patriarchal blessings I see clearly the hand of the Lord in their lives. Being able to access those archived blessings can bring strength and hope to the younger generations of a family. On a personal family level, we can see that the Lord keeps His promises as we live faithful to our covenants.
If you are interested in requesting digital copies simply log into lds.org and in the "my account and ward" tab select "patriarchal blessing" then click on "get started" and follow the instructions from there.
Our "Gathering As Sisters" post series is designed to help us as sisters within our wards/branches see that we are part of a whole - that across the stake there are other groups of sisters gathering together in activities and service to support & teach one another and develop friendships as they fulfill the purposes of the Relief Society in building faith, strengthening families and providing relief. Each month through the end of this year, we will share one or two highlights from activities within our Relief Societies.
We have truly been blessed with our current Handbook of Instruction that allows each ward/branch to counsel together and then plan with inspiration according to their specific needs. We hope that by sharing some of the wonderful things happening within our wards/branches, we can understand better the individual yet similar needs we share as sisters in the Columbia Maryland Stake.
As a ward Eldersburg is focusing on preparedness and family history this year. Their Relief Society is holding activities that are helping the sisters build their 3 month supply of foods they would normally eat and on increasing their knowledge of the online tools for doing family history and preparing names for temple ordinances. In April they held a double activity as a follow up to ones previously held in February and March. Sisters could either continue their work on building a menu plan for their 3 month supply or they could receive one-on-one assistance with familysearch/family tree and ancestry.com questions. As a fun and useful treat, they asked sisters to bring items for a taster's table that were made from store brand or generic brand products - demonstrating that those items were not only less expensive for their storage, but tasted just as good as a higher priced version.
Gardens were the theme in April for the Hampstead sisters. They had two classes - 1 on herb gardens by Sylvia Burciaga and 2 on basic gardening and container gardening by Jeanette Frye. It was a fun, casual and informative evening. We tasted lemonade with fresh mint leaves, homemade pesto, and mint jelly. There were seeds and mini pots for sample planting and of course the traditional dirt cakes with gummy worms.
On Saturday, April 23, about 90 sisters from around the Stake came together to work on a Humanitarian Aid Project for orphan children in Haiti. We spent our morning making about 200 drawstring backpacks and 75 crocheted hacky sacks. We also had an area for collecting donations of hygiene and school supplies for local refugee relief efforts.
We began the morning with me sharing a bit about my son Matt's experiences working with these children in Haiti. Then we viewed a video of children and volunteers from these orphanages. Here's just a bit from my remarks, which provides details on who we were helping.
"My son, Matt, has become involved
with a group of women in Haiti that maintain 3 orphanages near the city of
Leogone. He makes a few trips
each year to continue his volunteer work there.
When I discussed with him ideas for things our Relief Society could do
to for these children – he felt the drawstring backpacks would be very helpful
and he liked the idea of the hacky sacks.
These children love futbol – or as we call it soccer. They play for hours with old beat up soccer
balls. For those who don’t recognize the
term hacky sack – these are small balls that are kicked between their knees and
their feet – think bouncing a ball on your foot, ankle, knees.
The orphanages we are doing these projects for
house about 300 children between them and are run by a group called Femmes Intégrées d'Haïti - which translates to: Integrated Women of Haiti. They are a Haitian women's organization in
Leogane,
Haiti. Since, August 2006, they have been serving their community despite
their own poverty and personal trials.
Several of them, including their main coordinator, are members of the
LDS Church. Like us, they are Relief
Society sisters doing their best to lift and help those in need."
Relief Society sisters in Haiti
I also shared the following story from my son:
"In 2014 I was visiting an orphanage that I have become very
close with. During that visit one of the children was crying and no one could
help him stop. I picked him up and asked the care taker about him. She said
that he had only been in the orphanage a few weeks. He was very young, maybe
less than 6 months, but we couldn't really tell his age because most orphans in
Haiti are very small and malnourished. I asked how he came to be an orphan in
their care. She told me that he was brought to the orphanage after being found
crying in a latrine. She told me that many of her children in the orphanage had
been brought to her after being found in a latrine.She said that often mothers do not
know what to do with their child who they cannot care for. So they leave them
somewhere. This broke my heart. I couldn't imagine a woman leaving her child in
a latrine.
I held that little boy while he cried in my arms. I didn't know
how to help him. I didn't know how to help him stop crying and feel peace.
While I was holding him one of the volunteers with me starting singing what is
now one of my favorite hymns. I have only found it in the French hymn book. It
is called 'Souviens-toi'
This is a rough translation:
'Remember, my child: At the dawn of time,
We were friends playing in the wind.
Then one day, in joy we chose
To accept the Lord's great plan of life.
That evening, my child, we promised
Through love, through faith, to be reunited.'
I remember feeling something so strong that I wept. I say wept
because I didn't just cry, or shed a couple tears, I felt so much in that
moment and I could not hold back my tears. My heart felt so broken for this
child, and at the same time I felt so much love for him. And he and I just wept
together until he fell asleep in my arms.
A scripture came to
my mind in this moment: 'But, behold, Zion hath said: The Lord hath forsaken me, and my Lord hath
forgotten me—but he will show that he hath not.
For can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have compassion
on the son of her womb? Yea, they may forget, yet will I not forget thee, O
house of Israel.
Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands; thy walls are
continually before me.'"
Sisters, we are grateful to all who helped us prepare for and carry out our activity last week and to all of you
who were able to come and help us do a little bit for these sweet children of God. It was truly a joyful morning as we worked together and remembered the words of our prophet, Thomas S. Monson, who has told us that “we
are the Lord’s hands on the earth”. Below are pictures taken that morning (that is a very yellow room - some of the photos just looked better converted to black and white) and links to the patterns we used for the drawstring backpacks and crochet hacky sacks. If you have any questions, or if you have some of the unfinished work now ready for me to collect - you can reach me at loriepierce.rs@gmail.com. -Lorie Pierce PATTERNS: Crochet Hacky Sacks – prepping for filling plastic pony beads Filling and Closing Hacky Sacks
