Follow the Covenant Path - Stake Relief Society Women's Conference 2019

We are excited to announce this year's Stake Relief Society activity will be a women's conference.  There will be classes to choose from, service opportunities to participate in, an opportunity to hear about local organizations we can become involved with in our communities and a luncheon to mingle and enjoy each other's company.

Our theme is Follow the Covenant Path and the classes will provide us with insights, learning experiences and uplifting messages designed to help us participate in and support our North America Northeast Area Vision.  That vision statement is: "As beloved children of God, we will follow the covenant path by receiving ordinances and keeping covenants that lead to eternal life, and invite family, friends and neighbors to do the same."

You can find out more about the CLASSES being offered here:
https://columbiastakers.blogspot.com/p/follow-covenant-path.html

You can find out about the SERVICE OPPORTUNITIES available here:
https://columbiastakers.blogspot.com/p/service-projects.html

There is also a DONATION OPPORTUNITY:
We will be collecting Diapers (all sizes but especially sizes 4 and up are needed - even opened packages are great!) AND Laundry Detergent at this Stake Relief Society activity to benefit FIRN, a local non-profit organization which helps immigrants and their families.  Please consider donating these needed supplies.  Thanks for your help!

Please be aware that No Child Care will be available at this event.  We suggest that if the need exists, you seek out young women or young men in your ward/branch or reach out through your Ministering brethren & sisters for possible options.

We hope that many of our sisters across the Stake will be able to join us for this event.  It promises to be an uplifting and inspiring day together.

If you have any questions, please let us know at columbiastake.rs@gmail.com.

Start or Start Again & Move Forward

Last Sunday, I was visiting a ward in our stake.  It was their ward conference and President Lund spoke during Sacrament meeting.  Something he said really struck me as important.  He was speaking about Come Follow Me for Individuals and Families.  He was encouraging the members to participate, to use the curriculum to bless their lives.  But what really struck me was when he acknowledged that we will all have times when it is hard for us, when we don't quite get it done, when we miss a week or two or more.  His counsel was to just start again where ever the current weeks reading is.  He said that the effort to do it, the pattern of doing it, is what will matter most.  I've thought about that this past week.  How many of us start something that we know is a good thing and then life overwhelms us and we aren't able to stay as involved, as on top of, as engaged as we planned.  We then get discouraged and frustrated and perhaps abandon the effort completely feeling we will never catch up.  His counsel was encouraging - just start where we are and keep moving forward and when we fall behind - start again and move forward.  There will be blessings that come from simply doing our best to participate.

Since my post a few weeks ago about the Come Follow Me for Individuals and Families, I have had sisters both within our stake and from some who have since moved away, share their experiences.  With their permission, I am sharing them with all of you - in hopes that it will encourage each of us to keep trying.

"I have struggled with an 8 year old trying to keep her away from the snow for the better part of the morning!  (It was a Sunday and she was trying to help her daughter keep the Sabbath Day holy.)  I had to think of something quick!  So once I told her Church was cancelled I said ‘they’ sent us a lesson to do at home.  So I started with a children’s bible video (from the Gospel App), we talked about the Angel Gabriel, Mary & Elisabeth.  And watched 2 more of the videos in the Bible series.  We also read a bit of the children’s version of the New Testament.  I tell you....reading the children’s version is so helpful in my journey as well!" 

-Star Miller

"Someone got her first set of scriptures…so everything needs to be underlined.  Someone else is taking this home study by storm and taking copious notes every lesson.  Going strong on week three (had to document while we were still on top of our game)."

-Darice Auston


"I just have to share how much we have loved the "Come Follow Me' program in our home. I will admit, I worried that I would have to do a lot of nagging to get our whole family together on a daily basis, but instead, it has been the most beautiful bonding experience. I don't think we have ever had the opportunity to share so much about what truly matters in life with each other. No one complains, everyone participates, everyone takes turn leading the discussion. In just a month, it has blessed us so profoundly. I know this program was inspired by a Heavenly Father who loves us, has faith in us and knows how much we need each other every day. I am so grateful for President Nelson and this powerful program. I never dreamed with our uber busy lives that we would be able to squeeze in another thing, but the time is always there! Sometimes, it doesn't happens until 10 PM, but it almost always happens and that is a true miracle. We have missed a few days and that's ok. We don't beat ourselves up, because we truly miss having missed our time as a family. In fact, our boys will actually remind us--knock me over with a feather!"

-Alex Franco

I recently read again two of the General Conference talks about the Sunday meeting adjustments and the Come Follow Me for Individuals and Families.  I felt the Spirit whisper clearly to my soul the truth in these inspired changes and focus.  I felt a desire to claim fully the promised blessings.

"The new home-centered, Church-supported integrated curriculum has the potential to unleash the power of families, as each family follows through conscientiously and carefully to transform their home into a sanctuary of faith. I promise that as you diligently work to remodel your home into a center of gospel learning, over time your Sabbath days will truly be a delight. Your children will be excited to learn and to live the Savior’s teachings, and the influence of the adversary in your life and in your home will decrease. Changes in your family will be dramatic and sustaining."  (Becoming Exemplary Latter-day Saints, President Russell M. Nelson, October 2018)

"We are confident that members will be blessed in extraordinary ways. -- The announcements made today will result in profound blessings for those who enthusiastically embrace the adjustments and seek the guidance of the Holy Ghost."  (Deep and Lasting Conversion to Heavenly Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, Elder Quentin L. Cook, October 2018)

My own family experiences were admittedly awkward at the start, but are becoming more genuinely enjoyable.  It has provided an opportunity for conversations that are helping us share and articulate our thoughts, our understandings, our beliefs in a way that we have rarely done.  I am grateful for this inspired opportunity.  And I'm grateful to know that there is no perfect, one right way to do this.  The only "right way" is to try.  Consistently trying is what will bring us the blessings.

-Lorie Pierce

A Home Centered Learning Experience

We are preparing to start week three with the new Come Follow Me for Individuals & Families Curriculum.  I very  much appreciated the remarks made in Stake Conference last weekend by James Mitchell, our recently released Stake President.  He shared that his family's experience that first week was a work in progress and not perfect.  That made me feel so much better about our own rather tenuous first week's attempt.  I don't know how it's been going for anyone else, but I thought perhaps sharing our family's experiences and thoughts might be helpful to others.

Our family at home consists of just me, my husband and our 24 year old son, but for the first few days we also had our 21 year old daughter home participating.  I'll be honest it was rough starting.  That first week's material was hard to feel we were getting any real scripture reading or discussion going.  Our family has always been consistent in daily scripture reading together - granted not much discussion - but always reading together.  So that first week was VERY different from our norm.  We all agreed that we would stick with it and find our new norm.  This second week has been better.  As we read Matthew 1 and Luke 1 along with the supporting materials included in the outline, we found we were having better and less forced discussions - more sharing of ideas and insights.  I can see how this pattern will serve to strengthen our relationships.  Communicating on a deeper level is always good.

Our daughter returned to college at the end of that first week and on that Sunday evening she and her roommates held their own "family" discussion using the Come Follow Me outline.  They invited other friends and ward members to join them.  She wasn't sure going in just how uncomfortable or forced that group discussion might be.  But she shared with me the following day this: "The apartment study was really good. Ended up being small which was nice and there was really good discussion."  She is hopeful that they will be able to build on that first success and as result find a greater portion of the Spirit in their apartment and in their relationships.  She is also committed to spending more personal study time in the scriptures - looking at both the Come Follow Me materials and continuing her personal reading of the Book of Mormon.  She has learned for herself the great blessings that come from daily time with the Book of Mormon.

Our oldest daughter is married with two young daughters (ages 5 and 2).  I asked her about their experiences so far.  Here is what she shared: "I really like using the Primary manual  (Come Follow Me For Primary) as a supplement because not all the family scripture study ideas are workable for young children.  Kate came home from her first day of class and asked me directly if I had a testimony and if I would share it with her.  She has never been that direct before and it was amazing!  I complimented her incredible teacher afterward."  Our daughter also commented: "Just establishing a habit of reading and discussing the scriptures with your young kids is more important than always covering the assigned materials.  Ask questions. What does that story mean to you? Be actively reading, not passively reading."

Our oldest son is married.  He and his wife started reading and discussing the Book of Mormon as they were dating, so time with the scriptures was foundational in their relationship.  I asked them how this new approach was working for them.  They responded with: "We're really enjoying it!  We also teach Primary so we like how the lessons align for every age group and we're able to talk with our Primary kids about the same things we've been studying together."

I think for everyone this will be a work in progress.  A year from now everything will feel and look differently.  It will be an ever changing - hopefully ever improving - experience. Our family has committed to sticking with it even when it might not always be great.  We know that there will be blessings that come, unexpected blessings, simply from engaging and following our prophet.

-Lorie Pierce

A Home Centered Church

It’s been a week since we experienced another wonderful General Conference, and I think I’m still floating on a “conference high”! I feel so energized! The Church is moving forward at an ever increasing pace, hastening the work, and preparing us for the coming of the Lord.
What a blessing to have a living Prophet, who has reminded us that the church of Christ must bear his name. We belong to His church, and it’s important that the world know where to find Him and His true gospel.

Does a Home Centered Church seem new to you? It shouldn’t. We all came from our Heavenly home where we were taught by our Heavenly Parents. We were placed on this earth in families and taught to honor our parents. We’ve been instructed over the years to raise our children up unto the Lord, to teach them right from wrong in our homes, and to counteract the things of the world. We’ve been invited to set aside one night each week for Family Home Evening, and to sit together as families in Sacrament Meeting. We have ALWAYS been a family centered Church, and the wonderful new ‘Come Follow Me’ materials and the extra time on Sunday will help us better fulfill this responsibility.

President Eyring spoke of the woman’s role in nurturing her family and administering to others in need: “As daughters of God, you have an innate and great capacity to sense the needs of others and to love. That, in turn, makes you more susceptible to the whisperings of the Spirit. The Spirit can then guide what you think, what you say, and what you do to nurture people so the Lord may pour knowledge, truth, and courage upon them.”

He went on to say: “ whatever your personal circumstance, you are part--a key part--of the family of God and of your own family, whether in the future, in this world, or in the spirit world. Your trust from God is to nurture as many of His and your family members as you can with your love and your faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.”

And then: “You will each find ways to contribute to the outpouring of truth upon your families in the Lord’s restored Church. Each of you will pray, study, and ponder to know what your unique contribution will be. But this I know: each of you, equally yoked with sons of God, will be a major part of a miracle of gospel learning and living that will hasten the gathering of Israel and will prepare God’s family for the glorious return of the Lord Jesus Christ.”

What a blessing! I hope you are feeling as excited as I am! There have been lots of changes over the past year; new policies, new curriculums, new changes in responsibilities. But with each new change I have had the confirmation that we are moving in the direction that the Lord wants for his church and his people. It all makes sense!

And now, we have this amazing blessing of technology that allows us to have almost immediately, in text, what we heard from the mouths of the Prophets. We don’t have to wait a month for printed copy to arrive in a magazine. My hope is that you are already reading this new scripture and feasting upon the words of modern revelation. Apply it to your family. Mark up your Book of Mormon. Remind your friends that you are a member of Christ’s Church during these Latter days.

As always, I send you my love and prayers,
Cindy Erekson