I have been struggling to fully appreciate the Relief Society in my new ward. And now I'm teaching in Primary so it would be really easy to just completely disconnect. I'd rather not, though. I'd like to remember all the things I love about Relief Society or at least what I have loved since I am struggling to put it in present tense. I would love to hear your stories, too. I could use the pick-me-up.
So, what RS memory always makes you laugh, smile or feel loved? (Brotheren, feel free to contibute if you have RS stories, too!)
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"The promptings of the Holy Ghost will always be sufficient for our needs if we keep to the covenant path. Our path is uphill most days, but the help we receive for the climb is literally divine." --Elaine S. Dalton
I'll start with this one: We were having a getting-to-know-you type activity once and this sweet sister shared her most embarrassing moment story. This sister was the Bishop's wife and a seminary teacher. Her kids were almost all out of the house and getting married. She told of a time at a YM/YW activity a few years previous where a young man was wearing his pants a bit baggy and a bit low with boxers underneath. She got this mischievous thought to just give his pants a tug down a bit to show this young man the importance of wearing pants that fit. So, she tugs down on the pants and somehow manages to yank down his boxers too.
Just hearing that this lady who I loved who had everything together could have had a momentary lapse like that just made me feel better about my own tendancy to struggle.
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"The promptings of the Holy Ghost will always be sufficient for our needs if we keep to the covenant path. Our path is uphill most days, but the help we receive for the climb is literally divine." --Elaine S. Dalton
I'll start with this one: We were having a getting-to-know-you type activity once and this sweet sister shared her most embarrassing moment story. This sister was the Bishop's wife and a seminary teacher. Her kids were almost all out of the house and getting married. She told of a time at a YM/YW activity a few years previous where a young man was wearing his pants a bit baggy and a bit low with boxers underneath. She got this mischievous thought to just give his pants a tug down a bit to show this young man the importance of wearing pants that fit. So, she tugs down on the pants and somehow manages to yank down his boxers too.
Just hearing that this lady who I loved who had everything together could have had a momentary lapse like that just made me feel better about my own tendancy to struggle.
I have piano lessons in a minute, I'll have to come back to this one. But that's hilarious.
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"There is order in the way the Lord reveals His will to mankind. . .we cannot receive revelation for someone else's stewardship." L. Tom Perry
As a little kid, getting to eat some of the snacks afterwards (RS used to be held during the week so it was not unusual for mothers to have their pre-schoolers with them) and for the very first time not having to make a dash to the boys room down the hall to vomit from the nasty tastes / textures that grownups liked... (In the past, I didn't always make it to the bathroom...)
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It seems to me the only thing you've learned is that Caesar is a "salad dressing dude."
My greatest Relief Society experience has been in my current ward. As soon as we moved in I was assigned to Michelle on her visiting teaching route. We had an instant connection, and had a lot in common. Our visits were always uplifting and spiritual (sadly, this has rarely been the case for me in Visiting Teaching, and in fact it always seemed to be a burden to me to go and to have them over). We quickly became friends. We have the same endocrine disorder and the same fertility struggles.
Last summer Michelle was really wanting another baby and it just wasn't happening, in spite of treatments and everything else she could think to do. My happy, positive friend turned depressed and started losing hope. I was happy to be there for her to lean on, having been through it myself.
Then in October I found out that I was pregnant. It was a miracle and an awesome surprise for me, but one of my very first thoughts was, "Oh no! How am I going to tell Michelle?!" She was really struggling. She had just found out that her sister was pregnant, and had just had another failed round of fertility treatment. I knew she'd be happy for me but also crushed.
I agonized for 2 or 3 weeks over how to tell her. Every day my husband would come home and say, "Did you call her today? Have you told her yet?" But I just couldn't do it.
Finally, she came for a formal visit with her companion. She looked tired and she was unusually quiet. I still hadn't told her and I felt terrible about it. Then toward the end of the visit, she started telling me how she had hit a wall in her training (she was training for a marathon) and hadn't been able to run as much. One night she woke up weak and starving, and on a whim, took a pregnancy test.
It was positive!
That was such a cool moment for both of us. I think I audibly shouted out and jumped from the couch and hugged her (not like me). I gave her a huge hug and told her that I was, too, and how I'd struggled with how to tell her. She was grateful that I hadn't because it would have been hard. I think I was really being restrained by the Spirit.
She had a girl, about 10 days before I had my baby girl. We get together every week. She'll always, always be a really special friend to me, and she's someone I never would have gotten to know if it hadn't been for Relief Society (she's not the type I'd pick out and say, "Hey! We could be friends!", necessarily.)
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"There is order in the way the Lord reveals His will to mankind. . .we cannot receive revelation for someone else's stewardship." L. Tom Perry
I know this is mainly a chick topic but my wife hates relief society. She has never gone and worked to get callings where she doesn't have to be in there such as in primary. If she doesn't have a calling in primary she is volunteering to help in primary. She really dislikes enrichment night and rarely goes unless there is some project that actually interests here which is rare. She's not really a crafty type of person so making things, scrap booking, etc she really doesn't enjoy at all.
I've never been wild about Relief Society either. I like to attend it on Sunday, but I don't always go to Enrichment Night. The newest upcoming Relief Society event that they do every year, where they have a breakfast and classes such as crafts, and holiday stuff, etc. isn't reaching out and grabbing me. I'm kind of like your wife, Jason. Unless there is something that truly interests me, I don't go. I don't deliberately avoid it, it's just most of the time I forget about it, or I'm working.
But, if we're talking about favorite memories...
I don't know if this is a "favorite" memory, but it sticks out in my mind. It was years ago and they were having a dinner for homaking. The theme was to show other uses for wheat and home food storage items, besides bread. So they had a couple of recipes that they gave out to whomever signed up to cook and everyone was supposed to make the same things, right? The main dish and the side dish had wheat in them. I remember my mother-in-law and I were totally amazed at how many people could take the same recipe and end up with a completely different concoction. One person totally omitted the wheat in her main dish. (Which was, basically the point of the recipe and the homaking meeting). No two dishes looked alike. My MIL was kind of annoyed about it, cuz I think she was in the R.S. presidency at the time and I was the Food Chairman. I just thought it was funny.
Yeah... I remember that one too, dear... remember, they invited the men-folk to that dinner and we got to (had to?) eat it all. Some of it was pretty good, but all that whole wheat sure did a number on our systems for a week or so... cleaned ya out almost as good as a bout of rotovirus!
Was that the wonderful Food Chairman job that you never got to do anything with because other sisters with other jobs in RS were already doing it all?
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It seems to me the only thing you've learned is that Caesar is a "salad dressing dude."
I'm in Primary now, so sometimes I get that feeling of being "out of the loop" but then I remember back to those first Sundays back in RS and my thoughts of, "I was missing this for WHAT?" Anyhoo... I really enjoy the book club enrichment we do every month - we've got some great sisters that have got interested in that. Last month was a class on quiet books and family home evening ideas. Afterword, I visited with a new-ish sister in the ward (our daughters are the only girls in the 5 year old class) out in the driveway until 11:30pm! We talked about all kinds of stuff... MrCoco was like, "What the heck, woman!!"
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Life is tough but it's tougher if you're stupid. -John Wayne
I don't like RS. There I said it. I like when some people teach it, but overall I think it's just a estrogen-fest to tell FPR and cry. I don't enjoy enrichment--never have. I like the new format better than the old homemaking thing, but I still don't enjoy it that much. BTW, my calling is 1st counselor in RS pres over Enrichment. go figure...and if you say the Lord is trying to teach me something, I'll bonk you over the head.
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It takes a big man to cry, but it takes a bigger man to laugh at that man.
I would give a talk once a year in all of the Relief Society's in the stake for ward conferences.
I loved it when they made the choice to sing "As Sisters in Zion". I would sing the bass part loud enough to hear and sing every word and while some would roll their eyes, others just loved it.
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no unhallowed hand can stop the work from progressing... the truth of God will go forth till it has penetrated every website, sounded in every ear, till the purposes of God shall be accomplished and the great Jehovah shall say the work is done
(In the past, I didn't always make it to the bathroom...)
Got to catch us first... 
