This coming weekend (Oct 6 & 7) is General Conference and with it comes a significant change to the women's general session. It was announced in October 2017 that beginning in 2018 the Priesthood general session and the women's general session would be held alternating between Spring and Fall on the Saturday evening of General Conference weekend. The women's general session will be on Saturday, Oct 6. It begins at 8pm Eastern Standard Time.
Previously, we as sisters had gathered on the Saturday evening of the weekend prior to General Conference. This change is part of an effort "to reduce and simplify the work of the Church and the demands made upon leaders and members". (See 27 October 2017 announcement) While it was always a pleasure and a blessing to gather as sisters from around the Stake to socialize and view the broadcast together, this change will also bless us in ways we maybe don't yet understand. The updated instruction to us as Stake leaders is that we should not plan activities/events "in conjunction with the women’s session of general conference". We had already felt that there was insufficient time between the sessions of Conference to continue holding events such as we have in the past and so this Handbook instruction verified our thoughts. In the spirit of simplification, we have suggested to ward/branch Relief Society presidencies to encourage their sisters to reach out and invite those they Minister with to view this session of Conference with them in their homes or to join them at the Stake Center.
For sisters who may not be able to watch or listen from their homes - or who prefer to view it away from the distractions of home, the Stake Center will be open and viewing of the women's general session will be available there, both in English and in Spanish. Our Stake Relief Society president, Cindy Erekson and I will both be there.
If you want to watch or listen from home you can access it via the BYU Channel or on lds.org or even in multiple digital options. This link provides a list of all the viewing options for General Conference: Viewing Times and Options. AND at the bottom of that page there are links to Additional Resources - such as ideas to prepare, activities for children, conference notebook for youth, ideas for studying.
We would love to connect with our sisters as part of the women's general session. If you would like to send pictures or comments from your gathering to listen that evening they will be welcomed and used as a follow up blog post. Post them to our Stake Relief Society Facebook group or send them to me at loriepierce.rs@gmail.com.
- Lorie Pierce (Stake RS Secretary)
