A New, Holier Way

The Stake Relief Society presidency has been studying, pondering and discussing Ministering as they prepare to help ward and branch presidencies move forward with this new way.  As I have studied, pondered and discussed with them, I have felt the Spirit testify of this shift to Ministering and of the power it can and will have in the lives of each of us and the future generations.

Many of us, including myself, may have heard President Nelson announce the change in Conference and initially thought 'Oh good I can tell my home teachers they don't need to come.'  or we may have thought that less was being asked of us.  The reality is actually something different - something better that will bring us closer to Christ if we allow it.  President Nelson explained, "Sisters and brothers—old and young—will serve one another in a new, holier way." (https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2018/04/let-us-all-press-on?lang=eng)  I like that phrase new, holier way, because it truly helps convey the intent behind these changes.  We are being given an opportunity to become more like our Savior in a way that hasn't been emphasized quite like this before now.  My husband recently spoke in our Sacrament Meeting and used the comparison of Home & Visiting Teaching being like the Law of Moses and Ministering being a Higher Law.  The Lord knows each of us and knows our capacities.  He knows that we are ready and prepared to accept this invitation to act.

"For many years, home teachers and visiting teachers have responded to assignments to visit the house of each member monthly, deliver a message, and help as needed. Countless hours of devoted and selfless service have been given in this great work.  Building on that devotion, Church leaders now ask members to increase their focus on Christlike caring for others, both spiritually and temporally. To emphasize that caring, the former programs of home teaching and visiting teaching are now a common effort referred to as 'ministering,' overseen by the elders quorum and Relief Society presidencies under the direction of the bishop."  (https://www.lds.org/mycalling/ministering-faq?lang=eng)

For some of us, Ministering won't actually feel very different from their visiting teaching experiences.  There are many who have already been serving as visiting teachers in the true spirit of ministering to one another.  Today being Mother's Day, it seems only fitting I acknowledge the sweet influence my own mother's example of true ministering had on me.  She truly loved the sisters she was assigned to visit teach and was always watchful for ways she could help them bear their burdens.  She mourned with them and rejoiced with them.  She prayed and fasted for them. She invited them into our home and into her life. She shared her love of the Lord and His Gospel with them.  Her service was never a checklist and her sisters never felt they were an obligation.  She cared so deeply for them, that when she was dying of cancer one of her final requests of me was that I go personally to visit each of them to let them know she had passed and to express her love for them.  What a powerful experience those visits were for me.

As I have viewed the videos available at minisering.lds.org one in particular caught my attention.  It is titled "An Invitation to Act".  At the beginning of it Elder Ballard issues an invitation.  He says, "I invite you to study 3rd Nephi by identifying every reference to the word minister in any of its forms and every reference to the phrase one by one.  Once you have thoroughly identified these words and phrases, please consider what The Book of Mormon teaches about ministering.  I also invite you to seek the Lord's help to understand how ministering applies.  All leaders and members of the Church need to be careful not to just minister to those names on a list but to minister to all of Heavenly Father's children. My brothers and sisters I testify that this is the work of the Lord. May He bless you to implement with power the counsel from the First Presidency."  Sisters, I am accepting his invitation this week as part of my daily study from The Book of Mormon.  I know that this simple thing will increase my understanding and help me invite the Spirit to guide my ministering efforts.  Will you join me?

Many of you may still have questions about implementation and how to move forward.  But just as there are questions, there are many materials being published online to help leaders and each of us understand our new roles and responsibilities and how to effect the changes that may be needed to move this work forward.  One page that contains helpful explanations is the Frequently Asked Questions.  If you've wondered about any of these things listed below, you can go to that page and read to gain understanding for yourself.

I would love to hear from our sisters as they begin to experience Ministering.  If you are willing to share your experiences with the sisters of our Stake, please email me at loriepierce.rs@gmail.com, so I can include them in future blog posts.  We love you sisters and look forward to our continued associations and service together as sisters of the Columbia Maryland Stake.

- Lorie Pierce

Ministering Replaces Home Teaching and Visiting Teaching - Frequently Asked Questions

Given A Voice

Sisters we were richly blessed yesterday morning by the Spirit as Sister Turley shared the gift of her voice and her heart and her testimony of the Savior.  I can't do justice to what she shared with us.  I know that each of us who were there were touched personally through her words and her songs (and the sweet voices of her daughters).

Our theme for this year has been Turn on Your Light.  Sister Turley wove that theme into a beautiful tapestry this morning.  She was inspired to focus us on how sharing our light through ministering will uplift and bless us.  As she concluded her remarks, she said that we each have been given a voice to sing with - to minister to ourselves as we draw close to our Savior, to our families as we love and serve, to our communities as we reach out to one another.  She encouraged us to find our voice and share it.

We want to express our gratitude to the sisters who planned and prepared our breakfast yesterday morning.  Our committee was Kelly Smith, Tammy Rosson, Connie Knight and Shalie Beck, but we know that they were supported in their efforts by dozens of our sisters around the Stake.  We are truly grateful for how willing the sisters of the Columbia Stake are to step in and serve.

Thank you also to Tami Koncurat and Carol Williams who generously loaned us their lanterns.

A special thanks to the sisters who provided sign language translation for our hearing impaired sisters.

We also want to acknowledge and express our gratitude for the support of our Priesthood brethren.  Without their help in set up and clean up and all sorts of technical issues, these events would be much more burdensome.

As I watched the pre-event preparations - the during event service - the after event assistance, I know I was seeing the Light of our Stake Relief Society and Priesthood brethren in action.  The willingness and genuine caring demonstrated touched my heart.

-Lorie Pierce

The Time Had Come To Reignite My Family History Search

As an African American convert to the church, I knew that researching my ancestors would be a challenge. The biggest obstacle to tracing my African-American lineage would be slavery, an institution that broke family bonds and made record keeping nearly impossible. I already knew very little about my family beyond my grandparents. That’s why after an initial start to my family history research (and many hours of frustration), I ended up taking a 4 year hiatus. I felt defeated at the time but I held on to hope that the answers I needed would be revealed to me in due time.

After a not so subtle dream and a Sacrament meeting full of talks on family history, I received revelation that the time had come to reignite my family history search. So I dusted off my old FamilySearch.org account and began the work once again. To my surprise, I had so many more opportunities open to me now compared to before. More resources for African American genealogy were available through Ancestry.com and other websites. My grandfather and the eldest member of our family, who previously lived in another state, just moved to Maryland and he was able to give me so much information about his parents and grandparents.  Another family member of mine, who has been a great record keeper, gifted me with numerous documents including obituaries, birth certificates, death certificates, pictures and letters. I never knew before how much information she was sitting on! Newly equipped with only first names of family members who were born into slavery and the name of a small town in South Carolina, I was able to find (through the magic of the Internet) the slave owner’s records with my ancestors’ names and birth years listed! It was like my ancestors had just opened the floodgates and released the jackpot of family history goodness on me!

In an April 2017 talk by Pres. Henry B. Eyring, he says “We do not know what marvels God will inspire people to create to help in His work of gathering His family. But whatever marvelous inventions may come, their use will require the Spirit working in people like you and me. This should not surprise us. After all, these are beloved sons and daughters of God. He will send whatever inspiration is needed to give them the opportunity to return to Him.” (https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2017/04/gathering-the-family-of-god?lang=eng)

I am so grateful that God sent me the inspiration to help complete His work. I am even more grateful that I was in the right position to receive this inspiration. I have gained many blessings from this family history journey besides having many names to take to the Temple for performing ordinances. This has given me the opportunity to draw closer to my family members. Being the only LDS member of my family has been a challenge at times, and working on family history with my aunt and grandfather has allowed me to share the gospel and learn the oral histories of my family. My testimony of the Gospel and my faith has been strengthened by allowing the Spirit to work through me. The Lord has blessed me in my efforts to do family history work. The “Spirit of Elijah” is strong and I can feel it guiding me and revealing the knowledge I need to help my ancestors return to Heavenly Father. It is my hope that others will be able to receive this inspiration in the gathering of Heavenly Father’s family.

Tyese Knight
Eldersburg Ward

"It's a Miracle!"

A few weeks back, I saw a Facebook post from a friend in another state about how her participation in the Church's Self-Reliance Initiative had truly blessed her life.  I asked her if I could share her post with my sisters here in the Columbia Maryland Stake.  She agreed.  As I read her comment, it occurred to me that within our stake many sisters have been participating with the classes and focus groups offered through this initiative.  I would love to share experiences from those of you who have or who are participating.  Your experiences may be just what one of your sisters needs to encourage her to make a change, improve her skills, set a new goal, etc.  Please if you are willing to share - email me at loriepierce.rs@gmail.com.

Original Facebook post from my friend - Inger Orr:

"OK, I think YNAB is gonna save our lives....we actually spoke, with hope, about house projects that have been neglected for many, many years. We are seeing how quickly we should be able to get our debts paid off, then save for these projects. As we head toward our goals, we can actually start planning and pricing, then saving towards fixing up the house! It's a miracle! There are no words....I should say that this is thanks to the self-reliance program we are attending at church. The program has four areas of focus and we're attending the financial self-reliance section, which prompted me to look for a budgeting app, which led me to YNAB (thank you, again, Ken!)."

I also found this while searching the Church website for applicable info:

Adriana González



“When I asked about the bright blue table in the middle of Adriana’s kitchen, I learned that there was a time she had no table at all. Struggling to make ends meet, she took one of the Church’s self-reliance courses and decided that she could bake and sell bread—if only she had a table. She prayed for help and built a table from scrap wood.”
—Cody Bell, photographer

For more photos and story about Adriana, go to lds.org/go/21721.
Back to Portraits of Faith

Here are links to some good articles:

Let Us Be Self-Reliant and Independent
Self-Reliance Participants' Quotes From Around the World
Catching the Vision of Self-Reliance

For more information on the Self-Reliance Initiative you can contact our Stake Self-Reliance Specialist - Susie Rosenquist at ColumbiaMDStake.SRS@gmail.com.

You can also access the materials using the Gospel Library app under Self-Reliance or visit srs.lds.org.

-Lorie Pierce

Finished Quilt

I wanted to share this photo of the finished quilt from the squares we started at the Stake Relief Society Activity last Spring.  A Big Thank You to the Hampstead Young Women and individual sisters who helped us finish all the squares.  The quilt will be donated locally to a shelter or hospital.

- Lorie Pierce

Hastening and Strengthening the Work of the Lord

What an amazing time to be involved with the work of Relief Society!  In the past several months, we have seen several changes that directly impact us as sisters and how we approach and participate in Relief Society.  The new curriculum, including the opportunity for council Sundays, and now the announcement of Ministering to replace Visiting Teaching, both place more responsibility for how the work of the Lord moves forward on us as individuals, rather than so much on the shoulders of the leaders.

It will take time for each ward/branch to adjust for the assignment changes that may occur with Ministering.  We know that each ward/branch Relief Society presidency will be working as quickly as possible to understand the changes, coordinate with the new Elder's Quorum presidents and with the Bishops and then have the needed conversations with assigned sisters.  Please be patient with them as they do their best to implement these changes.

If you visit the Church website, you can find resources to help you understand how the shift in focus to Ministering will help you better fulfill your stewardship.  I have tried to gather useful links here to help us in our study and preparation to participate better in this work.

As we move ahead and gain experience, I think it will be helpful to share our experiences with one another.  If you are willing to share your new Ministering experiences with your sisters of the Stake, please email me at loriepierce.rs@gmail.com, so I can include them in future blog posts.

- Lorie Pierce

Ministering to Replace Home and Visiting Teaching

Be With and Strengthen Them by Elder Jeffery R. Holland

Ministering as the Savior Does by Sister Jean B. Bingham

Ministering - First Presidency Letter

Ministering with Strengthened Melchizedek Priesthood Quorums and Relief Societies

Relief Society Homepage

Happy Easter!

Wishing each of our sisters a very Happy Easter!
We love you and hope you will feel the peace and hope and joy of the Gospel today.

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