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.

Save the Date!!!

Turn On Your Light

AND

Save the Date

for our Spring Activity!

Columbia Stake Relief Society’s Morningside with SandraTurley

Saturday, April 28, 9am at the Stake Center

We will have breakfast and hear from Sister Turley in both spoken word and song.

Sister Turley is a well known presenter at Time Out For Women and other LDS venues.  We are excited to have her come share her testimony and talents with us.

Further publicity will be available through your wards/branches later in March.

Fuel the Find - An Invitation to Indexing

Sisters technology has opened many doors and changed how we approach family history and temple work.  We have the ability to log into FamilySearch and other websites and be greeted with Record Hints. The powerful search engines of these sites are always searching the online records for possible matches to your Tree. But where do those Record Hints come from? Original documents are digitized and then volunteers view those images and type into a database what is on the record.  That process is called indexing.

Indexing is the first step in finding our ancestors online and we can assist in those efforts, providing service to all who seek to Find their family names and prepare them for Temple ordinances.

With the change in technology has come a change in Indexing. Now all you need to participate as an indexing volunteer is to sign into familysearch.org.  You view the images online and type the data directly into the site for processing.

October 20-22 is the FamilySearch World Wide Indexing Event.

https://www.familysearch.org/indexingevent2017

We have created a Web Indexing Group for our Stake Relief Society to join together to collectively contribute to this effort during that event and beyond.

To join this group you need to:
Login to familysearch.org

Click on Indexing

Click on Web Indexing

Scroll down that page until you see Groups

Click on the Find Groups link and then click Find Groups again in that drop down menu
In the Search box on the left of the Find Groups page type in Columbia Maryland Stake Relief Society and then click Search
You should then see the group listed on the right of the screen with a Request to Join button
(Our group picture is the same one of the Washington DC Temple used in the blog)

I will be monitoring those requests and get everyone in ASAP.

If you are new to Web Indexing - it is recommended that you take the Guided Tour found on the Indexing Overview page.  You can also find many helpful articles by clicking on Help Resources on the Indexing page. Simply type Web Indexing into the Search bar and you can scroll through the articles.  If you have questions, feel free to ask me at loriepierce.rs@gmail.com.

This Indexing event is a great opportunity for us as sisters to serve together in an effort with lasting effects.  We hope you will take time to login and get acquainted with Web Indexing before the event and then join us Oct 20-22! 

-Lorie Pierce

General Women's Session Recap

Last Saturday evening, we were blessed to join with over 230 sisters, young women and Primary girls at our General Women's Session social and broadcast event.  The cultural hall was filled with happy sounds of mingling and enjoying a delicious meal together.  We concluded our meal with a beautiful musical number provided by mothers and daughters from the Eldersburg Ward.  It was a perfect way to set the tone as we departed for the Chapel.

We are very grateful for the sisters who prepared soups, salads, and cookies for us.  These events are huge and the extra help from our sisters this time was very appreciated.  There was so much variety and no one went hungry!  As always we want to express our thanks to the brethren for their support in set up, serving and clean up.

We hope that all who attended felt the welcome of this great sisterhood and the love of the Lord.  The conference speakers were inspired and we were enriched my their messages of hope, encouragement, guidance and love.  If you didn't have the opportunity to view or listen to this session, you can use this link to access it on lds.org.

https://www.lds.org/general-conference?lang=eng&cid=HP_SA_23-9-2017_dGC_fBCAST_xLIDyL1-B_

We love you sisters!  How grateful we are for the association with have with such amazing women, young women and Primary girls.

- Lorie Pierce

Save The Date - General Women's Session

We are looking forward to our next gathering as Columbia Maryland Stake Sisters.  We hope many of you will be able to join us for a meal followed by the General Women's Session Broadcast.

We are looking for sisters to help us with the meal.  Please use this SignUp Genius link if you would be able to help.  http://www.signupgenius.com/go/20f044ea8a722aaf49-general

If you have not used SignUp Genius before, you will need to create an account as part of the process.

Women's Conference Recap

We had a wonderful Relief Society Women's Conference together on Saturday, April 29.  We had about 130 sisters join us for a morning of classes followed by a luncheon.

We are grateful to all who worked to make our conference possible.  A big thank you to the teachers and sisters with displays for their preparations and time on our behalf.

A special thank you to our Luncheon Committee for their time and work to feed all of us!

Janet Yarn, Alice O’Neal, Danelle DeGraw, Kelly Tate, Katie Hamilton, Krystel Padilla and to Gabriela Russin & Felicita Sanchez for the homemade salsa.

We also want our Priesthood brethren to know how much we appreciate their support with the set up & clean up and facilitating in so many ways.

For those who attended Beverly Christensen's class "Not Your Mother's Food Storage" - here is a link to a file with the handouts:  https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/0B5j9ty_dBIVOeFdjN2ttWVJhZnM?usp=sharing

Thank you sisters for coming out and participating!  We love to mingle with you!!

- Columbia Stake Relief Society Presidency & Secretary
Cindy Erekson, Lisa Larson, Kim Olivier, Lorie Pierce

Ice Cream Social & General Women's Session Recap

Last Saturday, we enjoyed an ice cream social followed by wonderful and uplifting messages in the General Women's Session.  What a blessing it is to be Latter-day Saint women!

We were close to 200 in number - Relief Society sisters, Young Women and Primary girls.  Thank you to all who joined us at the Stake Center and an extra thank you to the brethren who always come to assist and support us.  Here are just a few pictures from the ice cream social.

RISE UP! Columbia Stake Relief Society Women's Conference

Sisters - we are excited to announce our upcoming Women's Conference.  Our classes/teachers, displays, service project and luncheon are shaping up wonderfully.  We are looking forward to this opportunity to gather as sisters to learn, to mingle, to serve, to be uplifted.  We hope you will be able to join us.  Please watch for the publicity postcards that will be distributed in your wards and branches.  If you have sisters you visit teach, who might not be at church to take one, please take one for them and invite them to join us.

We will be posting the complete list of class descriptions next Sunday (April 2) here on the blog.  Please be sure to check back to see what is being planned.

Questions can be sent to columbiastake.rs@gmail.com.

Coming Up - General Women's Session

Come join us for a delicious Ice Cream Social prior to viewing the General Women's Session of Conference.  There will be tables of toppings in all sorts of flavors and varieties.

Your ward/branch RS presidencies have electronic copies of flyers that you can print and take to sisters you visit teach.

We are looking forward to mingling with our sisters from around the Stake.

Topic Suggestions for Women's Conference

Our Stake Relief Society Activity for April 29, 2017 will be a women's conference format.  We plan to have morning class/discussion rotations, displays and lunch.  The exact times of the event will be published in a few weeks with our official publicity.

The past couple Sundays, you should have seen a suggestion survey paper being passed around.  We realize though, that some of you may have not seen it and want to give you a chance to submit suggestions.  If you have a subject for a class, discussion or display - please email it to loriepierce.rs@gmail.com by March 1.  Also feel free to provide name suggestions for teachers, discussion facilitators, etc.

We are looking forward to this event and hope that we can provide content that will be helpful and applicable to our sisters across the Stake.  If you have any other suggestions or questions, please feel free to send an email. (same address)

- Lorie Pierce

Save the Dates

As a stake Relief Society, there are three important dates to remember for 2017.  We hope you will Save These Dates to be able to join us at these events.


General Womens Meeting and Social
Saturday, March 25, 2017 - time of social & details TBA
For all woman ages 8+


Stake Relief Society Activity
Saturday, April 29, 2017 - time and details TBA


General Womens Meeting and Social
Saturday, September 23, 2017 - time of social & details TBA
For all woman ages 8+

Gathering As Sisters - Ellicott City

In October the Ellicott City Relief Society sisters gathered for a "getting to know you" activity.  It was a relaxed, casual and comfortable evening.  The sisters came together and shared things about themselves.  What amazing diversity and talents and interests I discovered as I listened.

painting - graphic design - wood furniture building - quilting - Korean HipHop - gardens - dancing - travel - children - temple service - missionary moms - young moms - homeschool moms - new converts - life long members - grandmas - vegetable eaters - chocolate eaters - crafters - noncrafters

What they all had in common was their love of the Lord and their families.  I truly enjoyed my opportunity to be there and feel of their sisterhood.

-Lorie Pierce

Gathering As Sisters - Eldersburg Ward

In October, the Eldersburg Relief Society learned how to "chill out" in response to the age-old question, "What's for dinner!?!" The topic was freezer meals! The class was very well organized by Sister Beverly Christensen with loads of handouts and videos about different strategies to prepare meals that can be stored in the freezer and used at a moment's notice to create delicious meals. She's posted it all on her Pinterest board if you'd like to check it out! ( Beverly Christensen)  A group of sisters met afterwards in an effort to organize a freezer meal exchange group where they will share meals amongst themselves. Cool!

Also, a separate group of ladies learned how to crochet flowers to help adorn the knitted sassy caps the sisters in the Eldersburg Ward have been making to donate to cancer patients. The caps are adorable!

It was a wonderful evening!

-Jill Goodrich

Gathering As Sisters - Columbia 2nd Ward

Bon voyage and bon appetit! Traveling to far-off lands is always more fun with friends, and food! That's what made Columbia 2nd Ward's Relief Society Cultural Dinner activity (October 12) such a success! Sisters brought food from all over the world representing their heritage or interests. Also, there were tables set-up with objects representing cultures such as the Lakota tribe, Hawaii, Korea, and Ireland. Two sisters shared their experiences from countries where they lived or were born which included Spain and Korea. So many interesting cultures bless and enrich our Relief Society Sisterhood. In all it was very informative, friendly, and yummy! Good job sisters! It was a pleasure traveling with you!

- Jill Goodrich

Gathering As Sisters - Savage Mill Ward

What fun to go out and mingle with the sisters in our stake!  My most recent visit was to Savage Mill for an activity centered on recording and sharing the stories of our lives.  It was a relaxed and welcoming evening.  I am grateful I was able to participate with them.
- Lorie Pierce

Below are the highlights from their activity as written by Sarah Christiansen, counselor in their RS presidency:

We started off talking and sharing stories.  Our table found out the Pacini's have THE best worst vacation story... its a good one!  We all have so many amazing and wonderful stories to share that make up our lives.  It was fun to listen and to talk and share.  The second part of our night was centered around recording the stories of our lives through journaling with 3 speakers.

Corinne Edwards shared about her journey of writing and recording her life.  It was inspirational.  She has learned so much through her journaling experiences and had powerful things to say about the importance of recording our histories through journaling.  Corinne shared three important tips: 1. Decide that your story matters because it does.  Every story is unique and wonderful even if you just fold laundry or can peaches!  2. Decide what form of journaling works for you... whiteboards, blogs, computers, sticky notes, notebooks, chatbook, scrapbook, or regular old journal...  3.  Decide to be gentle with yourself.  Don't start every entry with "Oh, I can't believe its been so long since I wrote last.."  Just move forward knowing your life is full and set a goal.  Remove from your head that you need to journal every day.  Maybe start with once a year... on New Years or every Fast Sunday take an hour to write about your life.  Discover what works and keep going! 

Sarah Christianen shared tips on how to create habits of journaling with our families and children.  There is a great article in the September Friend with some prompts and ideas to get kids writing.  https://www.lds.org/friend/2016/09/happy-sabbath-keep-a-record?lang=eng  Another idea was to keep a notebook or journal by each child's bed and every night before they go to bed ask them what the best part of their day was and write it in that book.  A Family Home Evening journal was another suggestion on how to get kids and families journaling together.  You could write testimonies or have the kids write about the topic you learned about in your lesson.  If you can find a way to fit journaling into a routine you are already doing than it will make recording your history a habit.  I also touched on StoryCorps which is a fantastic group that records oral histories.  Some of them have been put to cartoons.  They are real life stories... sometimes a bit raw and gritty, but there are some amazing ones out there.  Here's a story I love, probably because she reminds me a bit of my grandma... https://storycorps.org/animation/no-more-questions/

Angela McGhie shared about the importance of recording our ancestor's histories.  There are so many options available through Family Tree.  Angela shared the app Memories (just type in Family Tree within your app store and it will come up).  Within this app you can make a collage of photos, add typed histories/stories, and record an audio memory.  So when you are at a family reunion or a holiday get together with your family this season and Grandpa starts talking about when he grew up on the farm with his Mom and Dad you can have this app on your phone and record the story right as he tells it.  Then you can upload those stories right to Family Tree under Grandpa's name and his parents.  Go check out Family Tree and this Memories app and put it on your phone.  Try it out the next time you are with family.  These apps are free and imagine the great stories you'll be able to find and share by just capturing them on your phone!

Gathering As Sisters - Clarksville Branch

Last week I had the opportunity to join the Clarksville Branch sisters for their very first Relief Society activity as a new unit.  What an uplifting evening it was!

Their theme was "Things That Matter Most" based on President Uchtdorf's talk "Of Things That Matter Most".  They shared one of my favorite Mormon Message videos entitled: "Moments That Matter Most".

After the video, four sisters shared personal experiences with focusing on the things that matter most in their relationships.  It was a wonderful evening of learning from our sisters and through the Spirit.  We ended with pie and ice cream - can't go wrong there!

Celebrating the Joys of Womanhood

Last night's Stake Women's Social and General Women's Session Broadcast were wonderful!  Thank you to all who assisted in preparing the food tables!  And a extra HUGE thank you to the brethren who assisted us with setup, serving and cleanup - truly without their help we would not be able to accomplish such a nice evening.  Thank you also to all the wonderful Primary girls, young women and sisters who came to mingle with us and listen to the inspiring words of our leaders.  How blessed we are to be able to participate in such an uplifting session of Conference!

Confession - I didn't actually hear much of the meeting last night.  I was in the kitchen with the brethren and then went home early not feeling well.  But I took the time today to listen to the meeting via lds.org   As I listened to the words spoken by Sisters Bingham, Stephens and Oscarson and then President Uchtdorf, I heard messages that I personally needed to hear - promptings of things I need to improve in my life - hope for concerns I have - courage to try more diligently.   My heart and soul were touched.  My testimony and faith in the Gospel message were strengthened.

If you weren't able to listen or watch last night, I would encourage you to take advantage of the video and audio recordings available on lds.org.  It will also be available to read in a few days.

General Women's Session Oct 2016

Our theme for the Stake Women's Social was "Celebrating the Joys of Womanhood".  Each table reflected themes from the Primary, Young Women and Relief Society phases of our lives.











-Lorie Pierce

Come Gather With Us!

Twice a year, we as sisters in the Columbia Maryland Stake have a chance to gather together with the young women and Primary girls (8+years) for the General Women's Session of Conference.  This session of Conference is always held on the Saturday one week prior to the General Sessions.

It is a great opportunity to hear messages from our General Auxiliary leaders as well as a member of the First Presidency.  We also have the opportunity to socialize with our sisters prior to the broadcast.  This year, with all the recent changes in so many of our wards/branches, that opportunity to socialize will be especially wonderful. It is a chance to see friends from all across the stake.

Hopefully the publicity postcards have made their way into your wards/branches over the past two Sundays.  There were plenty distributed to allow for sisters to use them to invite less-active sisters or non-member friends to join with us that evening.  We would also encourage you to look at the young women or Primary girls (8+years) in your ward/branch - are there any who don't have a mother to accompany them?  Could you fill the void?

We are not serving a meal, but there will be lots of sweet and savory finger foods to enjoy.  Our set up this time will facilitate mingling.  We hope that sisters will take the opportunity to introduce themselves to those they don't know and begin new friendships as sisters of the Columbia Maryland Stake.

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

Save The Date! General Women's Session

This event is for all sisters, young women and Primary girls ages 8+.  It will be a great opportunity to gather and mingle as friends across the stake.  We hope to see many of you there.  Visiting teachers - if you visit a less-active sister, please take one of the postcards to invite her to attend.

Gathering as Sisters - EC

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.

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Our Ellicott City Ward Sisters:

In July, the Ellicott City sisters got together to celebrate our pioneer heritage, learn new things and have a little fun.  They shared family history stories and pulled taffy.  Sisters were able to learn how to make simple wooden shelves and work on a family history decorative fan chart.  The friendship and sisterhood between these woman was clear as they chatted and laughed together.  How truly wonderful the sisters of the Columbia Stake are!