My Love for the Relief Society

By Lavona Richardson

As we celebrate the birthday of Relief Society today, March 17, 2010, I am thinking about Relief Society and the influence of being a member of this great women’s organization has been in my life.  I first became a member of Relief Society as a student at BYU and now have been a member of that great organization for almost 60 years.

I remember the two years we were in Nauvoo and the opportunity I had to be in the Red Brick Store and reenact the organization of this great organization where it actually happened.  One year we all dressed in our period clothes and reenacted exactly as it happened from the minutes of the meeting.  I felt that I was there in 1842 when the Prophet Joseph Smith organized the Relief Society.  Another year in Nauvoo as we met at the Red Brick Store I was invited to share with my Nauvoo missionary sisters some of my Relief Society experiences through the years. 

I enjoyed serving as a site missionary in the Sarah Granger Kimball home located on the banks of the Mississippi River.  It was here where the idea of a women’s organization to help make clothes for the workers at the Nauvoo Temple first began.  They planned to organize like other women groups of the day but Joseph Smith said it needed to be organized after the same pattern as the priesthood.

Today as I reflect back on the influence the Relief Society has had on my life I think of my mother, Irene Stratton Flake, who served in Relief Society most of her life and always expressed joy at being able to serve.  Her birthday is on March 18^th so at our home we celebrated both the Relief Society’s birthday and my mother’s birthday at the same time.  As a young missionary in Mexico I was privileged to help organize the Relief Society in Aguascalientes and Monterrey.  I remember being the translator for my mission mother and going with her to the new areas opened up in the mission to organize Relief Society in the new branches.  I also helped write an article about Relief Society in our mission paper each month.

When I was a young mother with three small children, my husband Jay graduated from dental school and we moved into a new ward in Tempe where we knew no one.  We were there less than a week when Marlene, our 2- year-old daughter, became seriously ill with Idiopathic Thrombocytopenic Puerperal.  She required a bone marrow test and lots of extra care.  Sister Mills, my Relief Society visiting teacher learned of our needs and was there to help me with care of our baby and our 3- year- old making it possible for me to spend many hours in the hospital.  She also brought in meals and was so Christ-like in her service.

A few years later Jay was seriously burned.  He required dressing the burns several times each day for several weeks.  Again a sweet Relief Society visiting teacher came to our rescue.  Sister Wiehrdt, a registered nurse, appeared at our door shortly after the incident to help care for the burn.  She came back to our home many more times to dress the burn and care for it.

One time I was assigned as a visiting teacher to a less active sister.  I faithfully went by her home at least once a month but never was allowed in.  Often I would leave a note or a loaf of bread at her door, with no response from her.  After three years of faithfully visiting her each month, one day when I stopped to see her she came to the door and said, “I was praying that you would come.”  Her husband had abused her and she needed to get out of her home.  We were able to get ward members to help her with her special needs.  Shortly after we were able to start giving her the missionary lessons and she started occasionally coming to our church meetings.

While Jay and I  were on our mission in Indonesia I saw Relief Society and its motto “Charity Never Faileth” put into action as I witnesses a sweet Relief Society President of the Bogor Branch, Lily Lee administer to her little group of women and care for their needs.  I was assigned as her shadow leader but instead she taught me about caring for the one.  She planned lessons around the needs of the new members who needed so much and gave comfort and love as she taught and watched over her little flock.  Lily became friends with Hartika as she was investigating the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. She was at her baptism and encouraged others to fellowship her in the church, recognizing her special needs in a Muslim nation.  Another member of Relief Society was Esther, who with seven small children never had enough of the material things in life to care for them Lily was always making some special treat to take over to the family for Home Evening and giving them encouragement as they struggled.   I indeed saw love administered in the way I know Christ administed to those He was with.  Lily taught me so much about caring for the one and being an instrument in the hands of God in doing his work in a little branch in a very remote area in Bogor, Indonesia.  One of the things that I enjoyed doing in Indonesia was making “temple cakes” for the 8-year- old members of the branch as they were baptized and birthday cakes for the other members in my little “easy bake oven”.  Most of them had never tasted cake as we have it and no one had ovens.

I memorized the theme of Relief Society and like to repeat it to myself when I am walking or have time to meditate.  It says, “We are beloved spirit daughters of God and our lives have meaning, purpose and direction.  As a worldwide sisterhood we are united in our devotion to Jesus Christ, our Savior and Exemplar.  We are women of faith, virtue, vision and charity who increase our testimonies of Jesus Christ though prayer and scripture study, seek spiritual strength by following the promptings of the Holy Ghost, dedicate ourselves to strengthening marriage, families and homes, find nobility in motherhood and joy in womanhood, delight in service and good works, love life and learning, stand for truth and righteousness, sustain the priesthood as the authority of God on earth and rejoice in the blessings of the temple, understand our divine destiny and strive for exaltation.’

I am grateful to be a member of this great Relief Society organization and join with the other members of the church in wishing it a happy birthday.  Relief Society has made me a better person.   Lavona Flake Richardson

Getting Back in Touch..

Paula A. Tomey-Allen 

Do you ever have those times when you feel like you are off balance and that your life is taking a wrong turn of sorts? Or, perhaps that you are in a strange territory and not feeling quite like yourself?

I have noticed lately that I have been feeling this way. No, I haven’t gone out and robbed a bank or done anything else illegal, so we can stop worrying about that! It’s just that, I have felt, sort of, like the ole’ “lights on, but nobody’s home” syndrome.

So, recently as I was making my proverbial daily “To Do” list, which by the way never seems to get done, I got to thinking about things in general and how I could get out of this slump? I decided, as I turned on the TV to “just see” if something was on that I could listen to as I piddled around home, that TV wasn’t going to get me anywhere. Same thing happens with the computer sometimes too. The dust balls seem to just grow…

Since I had already decided that since I didn’t care for the silence, I turned on the stereo. As I scanned the stations with my remote I came across a Christian radio station that I listen to once in awhile, but had not tuned into for a long time.

They were playing a version of “You Raise Me Up” by a performer I didn’t know, but I love this song as I had heard it often by one of our favorites, Josh Grobin. Recently someone had done a post about this song, which has such amazing words and meaning, and it had been on my mind ever since I read that post and have been thinking about the words a lot.

So, I left the station on and commenced to putter around doing things like loading the dishwasher and wiping down the kitchen which seemed to have taken on a life of its’ own. As I wiped here and there sorting papers and trashing the endless mound of junk mail that accumulates, I found myself listening to two men having a conversation about fathers and there responsibilities to their children. I found it very interesting and since I am a single mom, I put the counsel to myself as the duo role I play as mom and dad. Even though my children at the time had living fathers, they have lived in different towns than we have most of their growing up and now adult years. We are so blessed they have always had the utmost desire to be an integral part of theirs lives, even though we are separated by divorce and miles.

I continued to listen to them counseling us on the things that we should be doing and how doing these things, simple things, such as spending time with your kids and getting to know them and talking to them and setting a good environment for them were all important things. These were words of wisdom I knew very well and had learned many times over in my adult life. I am sure they were around when I was a child myself, but I was locked into the “me” phase of my life and they surely fell on deaf ears.

In the course of their program they played a talk that was given by a prominent Christian speaker several years ago that related to the topic of raising children and so I continued to listen, as I wiped down doorways and continued to rip up the never ending pile of “You are Pre-approved” junk mail.

This gentleman was funny, to say the least. He had me chuckling and hanging on his every word, as he incorporated stories from his own family life, that we as parents could so relate to. Some topics included, the boy who comes to pick up your daughter for her first date. We still feared that one as I had one not yet married and sometimes I found myself biting my tongue, as I watched and listened to the potential suitors of that time.

As I listened, I was once again reminded that I have a very loving Heavenly Father who loves me unconditional. He is always there and he will never leave me; ever. I had been so very fortunate to have had the father that I was blessed with at birth still with me today, to listen when I needed an ear and to tell me that he loves me and that he is so proud of me and my accomplishments in life. He passed at the youthful age of 86 years, and he still had a heart of gold and the compassion of a Saint. I have learned many lessons from his life and his wonderful example.

So, I decided that I needed to step back and re-evaluate my life and what was possibly putting me in the slump I had recently experienced? I realized that my life is as I make it. I am the sole proprietor and decision maker for how or what I do in this life that I was so graciously given 50 plus years ago. The talk shows and the shopping malls will most likely be there tomorrow. If they are removed something else will replace them. But, my family is one of a kind and they won’t be here always. They may leave this existence before I do or I before them. What’s important is that I make the best of the moments that we have while we are here, together.

I firmly believe that “Families ARE Forever” and that I will be with mine into the eternities, but I need to make the most of this earthly time as well.

So, as I look at my “Daily Balance Scale” where I measure importance and mundane, I once again am reminded that, family, my most precious eternal gift, must always comes first and foremost. Without them, I am nothing and I don’t like having nothing, weather it be in my bank account or my life. But, my bank account, I can’t take with me when I leave, whereas, my family I can and I will. Because my family, is the single, most important, eternal gift I have.

An Early Morning Blessing from Elder Jeffrey R. Holland...

This morning while listening to lds radio, speaking at a CES Fireside on September 7, 2008, Elder Jeffrey R. Holland gave all in attendance, wherever they were listening from, an Apostolic Blessing. As I listened, tears filled my eyes. I felt so blessed. I stand all amazed at how and when and where the Lord will touch our hearts. As I sit here at 6:45 in the morning, eating my breakfast and listening, I am nourished by The Spirit...
In Christ,
Paula/mom


Blessing and Testimony
My beloved young friends, as part of my concluding testimony to you tonight, I wish to give you a blessing. It seems to me that as our apostolic witnesses are taken into the world, we have two opportunities and, indeed, perhaps obligations. One is to testify and bear witness, as I have been trying to do and will conclude in doing. The other is to bless—as the ancient Apostles did when the Savior invited them to do as He had done, except that it would be in all the world.
So for every one of you in attendance tonight—here in this vast auditorium or in other locations around the world—I bless every one of you, each one of you in your individual circumstances, as if my hands were on your head. I offer that to you as honestly as I offer my testimony. I bless you in the name of the Lord that God does love you, does hear your prayers, is at your side, and will never leave you.
I bless the brethren that you—that we—will be worthy of the priesthood we bear, that we will live true to the discipleship to which we have been called, in that great order, the Holy Priesthood, after the Order of the Son of God. I bless you that we will really be like the Master—that we will think more like He thinks, that we will talk more like He talks, and that we will do more of what He did. I bless you brethren as you strive to be faithful that you will have all the blessings of the priesthood, many of which we have quoted tonight from these very sections from the Doctrine and Covenants.
I bless the sisters within this audience and within the sound of my voice. I would have you know how much we cherish you, how much God cherishes you, and how much the flag of faith has been flown by the sisters of this Church from the beginning. In every generation, it would seem, from the beginning of time down to the present hour and beyond, so often it has been the women in our lives—our grandmothers, our mothers, our wives, our daughters, our sisters, our granddaughters—who have taken that torch of faith and that banner of beautiful living and have carried gospel principles wherever it would take them, against whatever hardship, into their own little equivalent of Liberty Jails and difficult times. Sisters, we love you and honor you and bless you. We ask that every righteous desire of your heart, tonight and forever, be answered upon your head and that you will walk away from this devotional with the understanding and the knowledge firmly in your heart as to how much God and heaven and the presiding Brethren of this Church love you and honor you.
I salute you young adults of this Church in this great CES congregation and say that the future is in your hands. Those of us of my generation have to, in the very near future, pass the baton to you. God bless you to face those times with the valor, the honesty, and the integrity we have spoken of here tonight.
In closing, I testify that the Father and the Son do live. And I testify that They are close, perhaps even closest via the Holy Spirit, when we are experiencing difficult times. I testify (and as our closing musical number, “My Kindness Shall Not Depart from Thee,” will testify, quoting the prophet Isaiah) that heaven’s kindness will never depart from you, regardless of what happens (see Isaiah 54:7–10; see also 3 Nephi 22:7–10). I testify that bad days come to an end, that faith always triumphs, and that heavenly promises are always kept. I testify that God is our Father, that Jesus is the Christ, that this is the true and living gospel—found in this, the true and living Church. I testify that President Thomas S. Monson is a prophet of God, our prophet for this hour and this day. I love him and sustain him as I know you do. In the words of the Liberty Jail prison-temple experience, my young friends, “Hold on thy way. . . . Fear not . . . , for God shall be with you forever and ever” (D&C 122:9). In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
Transcripts: Lessons from Liberty Jail CES Fireside for Young Adults • September 7, 2008 • Brigham Young University
Listen: "My Kindness Shall Not Depart from Thee,”
Watch: You Tube 
Lyrics: 

My Kindness Shall Not Depart From Thee

Text and Music by Rob Gardner

For a little while 

Have I forsaken thee; 

But with great mercies will I gather thee. 

In a little wrath I hid my face from thee 

For a moment. 

But with everlasting kindness will I gather thee, 

And with mercy will I take thee ‘neath my wings, 

For the mountains shall depart, 

And the hills shall be removed, 

And the valleys shall be lost beneath the sea, 

But know, my child, 

My kindness shall not depart from thee! 

Though thine afflictions seem 

At times too great to bear, 

I know thine every thought and every care. 

And though the very jaws 

Of hell gape after thee I am with thee. 

And with everlasting mercy will I succor thee, 

And with healing will I take thee ‘neath my wings. 

Though the mountains shall depart, 

And the hills shall be removed, 

And the valleys shall be lost beneath the sea, 

Know, my child, 

My kindness shall not depart from thee! 

How long can rolling waters 

Remain impure? 

What pow'r shall stay the hand of God? 

The Son of Man hath descended below all things. 

Art thou greater than He? 

So hold on thy way, 

For I shall be with thee. 

And mine angels shall encircle thee. 

Doubt not what thou knowest, 

Fear not man, for he 

Cannot hurt thee. 

And with everlasting kindness will I succor thee, 

And with mercy will I take thee ‘neath my wings. 

For the mountains shall depart, 

And the hills shall be removed, 

And the valleys shall be lost beneath the sea, 

But know, my child, 

My kindness shall not depart from thee!

A Little About Me, What I Believe, Where I Stand

I believe that anyone who has a testimony of the Living Savior needs to share it and do so often.

In my profile it tells a lot about me, but sometimes it is hard to sum up one's personality and belief system in a paragraph or two. I just wanted to share with anyone who's interested about the things I hold sacred and believe and know to be true. I am using some pastings because they pretty much sum up what I do believe and have chosen to follow. I am not stating that I am perfect, but I am striving towards perfection everyday; be it through my deeds, works, thoughts or actions or a combination of any and all of the above. This is not meant to debate, argue about or discuss in depth. This is only me, Paula, sharing my value and belief system...

"Love one another as you would have them love you". This is my first and foremost rule of thumb. This does not mean I don't make mistakes and that I don't have to pick myself up when I fall. But, I have learned by the things I have been taught, weather they be in the schools I have attended, the good parents who raised me or the religion in which I am now fully engrossed. I know what it means to live in a negative light, to walk the wrong path or to the point of beating my head up against the wall for an unknown reason or cause. I have since learned there is a better life and I can and do desire to be a part of it. I desire to treat others with respect and ask they do the same with me. I am not a bad person if I do wrong; I am not yet refined.

The following is a long post, because after looking it over, I felt there was no way I could chop it up without doing it injustice. Please read it with the positive light in which it has been written. Instead of pasting it in, I will lead you to the link where you can read it in its entirety.

The Family: A Proclamation to the World

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Many of us have developed a good and positive relationship with many others. Sometimes we don't always have the same belief system or set of values. That does not mean we are bad people or that we think the other is evil. It mean that I respect you and your beliefs and I hope and would wish that you would respect mine.

But, if you write something that I feel goes against the testimony that I have of the Divine Nature of God and His plan and purpose, then I may interject with my two cents. It does not mean I think you are a bad person, it just means I know there is a better way that I believe you and others should investigate, with an open mind and positive attitude.

My reason on being here is not to force my religious beliefs on you. My reason is two-fold; to share my writing skills and techniques with those who are interested and to get to know you as my brothers and sisters in Christ, because that is what we are. No matter if you believe or accept it or not; it is true. We are the children of a Father in Heaven and He loves us - unconditionally. And I, will try to do the same with you. Only I need more patience and tolerance, as I haven't quite mastered all the skills yet that make that happen. But, I am working on it. He knows that. He accepts that. And, He still loves me when I fall. Because that's what He does - unconditionally.

Your Sister in Christ -

Paula