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
Our Stake Relief Society Activity yesterday - A Humanitarian Aid Project for orphan children in Haiti - was a great success. Thank you to all those sisters who helped us prepare and who came to participate! Next week, I will post the photos, provide links to the patterns used, and post the video of the children in case you missed it.
Sister Reinsch asked that I provide information on the Church wide "I Was A Stranger" initiative and a bit about local and other resources available to us as we seek to lift those around us.
Many of us have been touched by the media published images of refugees around the world fleeing their homes and seeking succor in foreign lands. As sisters of the Relief Society, we share a common desire to provide relief in times of temporal, emotional and spiritual need. It is sometimes overwhelming to figure out what, how, where, etc.
Sister Linda K. Burton, Relief Society General President, counseled us, "prayerfully
determine what you can do—according to your own time and circumstance". I feel like the best I can do here is provide links to information and resources - allowing us each to then consider our circumstances and seek the Lord's personal counsel to us. My list is in no way all-inclusive, but will provide a starting point.
LDS Philanthropies Website LDS Philanthropies is a department of the Office of the Presiding Bishopric responsible for philanthropic donations to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and its affiliated charities.
LDS Charities Website
From LDS Charities,"Our humanitarian signature programs are built on the principles of personal responsibility, community support, self-reliance, and sustainability. We employ these principles even during times of critical aid and emergency response. Our efforts are designed to give individuals and communities the tools they need to improve their own circumstances in permanent and meaningful ways."
JustServe.org is provided as a service by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. JustServe matches faith, nonprofit, community and governmental organizations that need volunteers with volunteers willing to help. JustServe.org links you to service opportunities in your community so you can make a difference wherever you are and however you want to serve. volunteer.lds.org
This is a new beta volunteer site on lds.org. Volunteer tools can
help you find service opportunities that work well with your time, talents and
capabilities.
There are other organizations and websites within our counties that offer volunteer matching services and listings of local events. You can simply do a quick internet search of "volunteers in xxxx county maryland" and find several listings. You can filter your search with more specifics such as "refugees", "food banks", "homeless shelters", etc.
In the recent General Womens Meeting, Sister Cheryl A. Esplin reminded us, "President Monson has often reminded us that we are 'surrounded by those
in need of our attention, our encouragement, our support, our comfort, our
kindness—be they family members, friends, acquaintances, or strangers.' He
said, 'We are the Lord’s hands here upon the earth, with the mandate to serve
and to lift His children. He is dependent upon each of us.'" We are blessed in our Stake with amazing sisters willing to reach out to lift and serve. Thank you! - Lorie Pierce
This is the best tutorial I've found for learning the Magic Circle/Magic Ring technique. It is the best way to begin the hacky sacks. If you are planning to crochet with us tomorrow morning - you might want to try this out today!
One of the things that I have been striving to do to elevate my Sabbath Day Observance is staying in my Sunday clothes the whole day. This may seem like a really simple thing to do and it is. Several months ago I was pondering about what I could do to make my Sabbath more of a delight/elevate it, not a lot of things were coming to mind. I started praying about it. The thought came to my mind that I should wear my Sunday clothes all day. Now, this was kind of hard for me to do. I do not enjoy wearing skirts or dresses, even though I served a mission. You would think after wearing nothing but skirts and dresses for 18 months, one would learn to love it. That was not the case with me. I often dread having to wear skirts or dresses. What I usually like to do after church is change into my PJ's or something more comfortable and relax. But since receiving this impression, I have made the effort to wear my Sunday clothes all day on Sunday. And it has made a world of difference. By remaining in my Sunday clothes all day, it has literally set the Sabbath day apart from all the other days of the week. I am more focused on the gospel, the things Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ has done for me. I am more in tune with the spirit. And I have probably received other blessings that I am not currently aware of. By doing this simple little thing, it has changed the way I observe the Sabbath day. It has made my Sabbath day more of a delight. In my personal opinion, not everything has to be done in a grand gesture. Sometimes the simple things make the biggest difference, and I have found that to be true with wearing my Sunday Clothes all day on the Sabbath.
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.
For our February activity we got together to try and improve our communication and better understand our style of communication. We gathered together in a circle so it would be easy to talk with one another. I handed out a quiz for everyone to take, so they could understand their communication style. Everyone loved it. It was fun and informative. Then I threw out some questions to get the conversation flowing about what things they have all learned, what bothers them, what do they like, what has worked when communicating with your spouse, co-worker, children, etc. we laughed about the mistakes we've made and we were able to learn what works for others that we might try in our own lives. We ended our activity with cookies and milk and conversation hearts. It was a laid back, but enjoyable and informative activity.
-Ashton Jensen
Here are some of the tips/advice from their activity:
From Barry L. Johnson, associate professor of sociology, serves as bishop of the
Brigham Young University 148th Ward, BYU Sixth Stake - Here are some suggestions to help you improve your “couple talk.”
1. When you want to talk about concerns and problems with your spouse, pick a comfortable setting, one free of distractions or interruptions. Choose a
place where the two of you can be alone.
2. Talk face to face, close enough to touch each other and with enough light
to see each other’s features clearly.
3. Express your thoughts and feelings by using “I” messages rather than
“you” messages (blaming and criticizing statements). Try “I feel unimportant
when I don’t get to explain the problem” instead of “You never listen to me!”
4. Keep your comments brief—no more than two sentences.
5. Don’t put your spouse on the defensive. Express negative feelings in a
respectful manner, such as, “When I am criticized, I feel angry and hurt.” Say
how you want the burgers cooked rather than criticizing after they’re done.
Accentuate the positive.
6. Don’t hide your feelings behind intellectual jargon. Instead, be kindly
straightforward about what you really feel and think.
7. Make requests clear and respectful: “I’d like you to put gas in the car this
morning. Do you have time to do that?” 8. Do not try to be a mind reader. The only way to find out what your
spouse thinks or feels is to ask.
9. Do not blame, demean, or accuse. Focus on the problem rather than
criticizing. Use the no‐fault approach: “I’m uncomfortable/unhappy with this
situation. Let’s talk about what we can do to change it.”
10. Remember that listening, controlling anger, and using the appropriate
tone of voice all contribute to good communication. Nagging, conversational
discourtesies, and sullen silence detract from it.
In March, many Relief Societies across the world celebrated the birthday of the Relief Society. I was able to visit the activity held by the Columbia 1 Ward sisters. They enjoyed a salad bar, a fun baby picture matching game, table question prompts designed to help sisters get to know each other better, yummy cake and lots of chatting & mingling. It was fun to be with them and it was clear how much they enjoyed getting together.
Last week we had the opportunity to gather as sisters of the Columbia Maryland Stake with sisters from all around the world for the General Womens Meeting broadcast from Salt Lake City. If you were unable to listen to or view this meeting, you can use this link to access the talks and video presentations from that night.
About 190 of our Stake sisters, young women and Primary girls joined us at the Stake Center for a meal before the broadcast. It was fun to see so many of the younger girls there with moms establishing traditions and making new friends. We are very grateful for the assistance and support provided by the brethren that day. Without their help, we would not have been able to manage such a large meal.
