ANNOUNCEMENTS:
*WARD PARTY will be August 14 @ 6 pm at the Fielding Park.
*ENRICHMENT NIGHT ~ Because of the ward party, our enrichment night will be moved back to September.
*STAKE PARTY - (Formerly know as Early Park Roundup) Will be held Aug. 11 @ Peterson Park in Elwood at 6 pm.
************************************************************************************************************
Today's Relief Society Council meeting was facilitated by Sister Tammy Jensen.
Tammy began our council meeting by asking two questions, but prior to those questions she said that research has shown that people learn better when principles are taught through stories. The questions were then posed; Is there a relationship in your life that has been or that you feel was Heaven Sent? Can you think of an experience that would demonstrate that this is so?
Then Sister Jensen went on to tell the story of a friend that she had. This friend was always, Tammy felt, a fashionista. She felt that this friend was really someone that had a flair for fashion. So one night this friend and Tammy had planned on going to a Celine Dion concert. Prior to the concert her friend turned up with two sequined gowns. They both put them on. Tammy said that they looked like two disco balls, due to the fact that they were both pregnant. One eight months and one seven. This friend kept telling Tammy how wonderful she looked throughout the evening. They attended the concert and Tammy said they had a great time, but they stood out. Tammy only saw three people that weren't wearing black that night, and they were two of the three. Their dresses were blue and red. When they got home they couldn't look at each other without laughing. Tammy has fond memories from this experience. This friendship has given her great joy over the years.
Then Sister Annalee Ashby told of the relationship that she felt was heaven sent. This was with her sister-in-law Tasha. She said that she never thought that she would have had a friend that she loved like she does Tasha.
The story that came to her mind was that of when she was in nursing school. Whenever Tasha was here visiting family she would help Annalee. They would make flash cards and study for tests. Tasha would also calm her down when she was upset. Tasha always seemed to know what Annalee needed. She would suggest that Annalee and her say a prayer when it was needed, or she would suggest doing something fun if Annalee was stressed. She just always had an innate sense of what Annalee needed. She had helped Annalee often through all of the years that they have known each other. Annalee said she feels like Tasha is someone she wants to be like, because she is so loving and giving.
Then Sister Jensen asked the sisters in the room to think of words that described both stories. Then she limited it to five words. The words that were given were:
Charity
Selflessness
Joy
Friendship
Time and
Unconditional love (okay so there were 6 given)
Next, she asked for more sisters to share their stories. So, Sister Tonya Hess shared how her friend Sister Jeri Garn and she had been called to serve Sister Cheryl Rose who lives in the ward. Sister Rose had had several health problems. Sister Hess talked about what a blessing it was to have Jeri assigned with her because Jeri knew what Sister Rose's needs would be, because she is a nurse.
At times Jeri and Tonya would text back and forth with each other regarding what they thought Cheryl would need and what they could do to help her. She remembered several times Jeri would tell Tonya that Cheryl would just need time to heal. They would text with Sister Rose's daughter to make sure that things were okay with Cheryl. Then several months after she had healed and was better, they all got together and spent hours at a restaurant laughing and talking. She felt that her relationship with both of these women has been a blessing.
The next story was given by Sister Bonnie Ashby. Her story was about when she was a little girl. Sister Ashby's mother as a child had taken piano lessons, but then quit, and began singing for her teacher. Because of that, her mother decided that Bonnie and her siblings as children were going to take piano.
They lived in Howell at one time and she remembers her mother driving them all over to Beaver Dam for lessons every week. They would sit for two hours as each was given their lesson. Sister Ashby thinks of all of the time and commitment that went into taking four children each week for lessons.
Sister Ashby remembers her mother telling them that they could do dishes or they could practice. She remembers loving to practice and she became quite good quite fast. She was able to become proficient enough to accompany her mother with her singing. And because of this she has had several opportunities in her life to play for others. She played for the school for nineteen years accompanying the choir. She remembers her mother coming to listen to the choir. Her mother was very devoted and so proud of Sister Ashby.
Sister Tammy asked us to think of five more words that described these two stories. The words were:
Syncronicity
Commitment
Devotion
Sacrifice
Intuitive
Sister Jensen then told a story of when she was in another ward, she was helping organize an activity for the young women and their mothers. She had invited a sister to come and speak. When this woman got up to speak at the event, she said something that touched Tammy deeply. This sister said, "Sisters I have been praying for two weeks to know what the Lord wanted me to talk about, and He just wants you to know how much He loves you."
As Tammy was preparing for today, she said that her ways are not the Lords ways. She wanted to take the lesson in one direction, and he kept inspiring her that we needed to know; that through all of our human experiences, we get those sweetest moments of heaven sent love. We get to experience a little piece of how much the Lord loves us; loves you, loves me, loves our children, loves our husbands, and our fathers and mothers.
As you look at the words that we came up with, can you think of a time when you have felt His love or a piece of His love?
Tammy then told of a time when she was in a connection with another person that was within a circle of her influence. She had been given the prompting that she was to do something for this person in her group. Tammy felt that if she did this, it would have put her in a very vulnerable social position. So she was scared to do it. This prompting had gone on for about three weeks.
One morning she was doing her personal devotion and as she pondered on the feelings that she had been given from the Lord, it was so very like a mother's pleading toward her baby. She then told of how the Lord pleads for us. She learned this from this experience. She then did what the Lord asked her to do for this person and it bore beautiful fruit.
Sister Tammy Ward then share an experience that she had. She told of her grandmother. Her grandmother had been in a car accident and was in the hospital. Tammy had been to visit her and felt that things would be okay. Tammy left and went home to Brigham City where she was living at the time. A couple of days later she received a phone call from her mother telling her that her grandmother had passed away. Tammy was not expecting this. She always had felt that this grandmother would always be there, so she was very angry and shocked. It really threw her. She got down on her knees and told the Lord how taking her grandmother was not fair. Tammy told the Lord, "She doesn't even know how much I love her." Tammy said at that exact moment, she felt her grandmother's hand on her shoulder. And she heard in her mind, "Well, now I do." And it was like she could feel Tammy's love for her. In exchange Tammy felt the massive amount of love that her grandmother had for her and simultaneously she also felt how much Heavenly Father loved her. She cried because she felt so much love. She felt such an overwhelming feeling of love.
Sister April Smith then shared the story of her and her husband Derek and when he was hurt. She said that she had Derek had been struggling. Morgan was a baby, not even more than a couple of months old. She had been attending church, but just attending and taking her children. Then she said there was the day that Derek fell. She said she knew that something had happened. She felt that something wasn't right, something was off. It was right before Christmas.
She said that it had been hard right before Derek's fall. That she had been talking with the Lord. She said, "no matter what you do to wake him up, just don't take him." She remembers saying this over and over. She talked to his aunt with whom she was very close and who became her best friend because of this trial. She was April's rock through the whole trial. She remembers telling the Lord to please don't take him.
The day he fell, a policeman came to her house and told her he only had less than an hour to live. She said, "Okay" and they went right to the hospital. She had a neighbor that came and sat with her children. She went into the hospital and there was Derek. There was so much damage done when he fell. His whole left side is now titanium because they had to rebuild his whole side.
She remembers that the first thing Derek said to her when she got there was that he needed a blessing. She got an overwhelming feeling of, "I told you it would be okay." She said she knew it was the Lord. She walked into the hall and looked up and she said, "You did what I asked, so here we go." She said that she was inspired as to who she needed to call and what she needed to do. She knew she couldn't do it on her own.
When she looks back on the whole experience now, she can see how both she and Derek were carried the entire way. They were never alone during this whole trial. She knows she was held in the Lord's hands, because there was no way she could have gone through it alone. She knows there were people that prayed for them and they knew the Lord was there and He answered her prayers.
The words that were given for these stories were:
Faith
Comfort
Humility
Hope
Mercy
We were asked by Sister Jensen to look at our papers and the experiences we wrote down at the start of the lesson. An earthly relationship or a relationship that we felt was heaven-sent. Then we were asked to think of our ministering sisters. Sister Tammy said, "If you feel a little resistance to that suggestion it is okay." Maybe take just a minute and ponder, because as she did this herself, she had to say to herself, those relationships are not the same right now. The ministering sisters that she is over, don't quite compare to the first story she told of her friend. She has a lot of love for her friend that she talked about in the first story.
There is no guilt. We all get a free pass on this, because some of these relationships are just beginning. But maybe is there hope that we can feel that in our ministering assignments? Can we have at some point that same richness?
In Matthew 5:46 it says, "For if you love them which love you, what reward have ye? Do not even the publicans the same?" But in the verse prior to this one, it says, "That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he taketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and senders rain on the just and on the unjust."
Heavenly Father wants us to become his children. He invites us to be one. To have the joy that those heavenly moments bring to our lives. That we can feel the clarity of His love and what it will be like on the other side of the veil and can possibly be here.
Can we as sisters see a clear path in how we can achieve this with our ministering sisters? Perhaps you are already there, but is there a way to improve and deepen those relationships? Is there a way to feel that love and how you might increase this in your life?
The challenge is to think of a ministering sister, a neighbor, or someone in the ward. Think of just one relationship that you would like to improve on. If you have the time or if you have someone in your family that has needs. Just improve on one relationship.
Write down three things of how you might bring the same depth to this new relationship that would make it a heaven-sent one. Perhaps things that you can do. Things that you can think. Ways that you can feel. If you can't think of three things, then ask. Sometimes those that ask good questions are able to get better answers. Maybe ask what are three things I can do or what is one thing I can do to improve or open a path for me to feel that kind of love. With the Lord it is always win/win.
So this is our challenge for this month. Try to improve on a relationship. Try to make it a heaven-sent one and to increase your love for another.
Tammy told one last experience that she had. She was given a sister to visit. As she knocked and the sister answered the door, she had the feeling that there are so many problems here. She walked away thinking I don't know how I can ever love this sister. She didn't love her. The whole environment was difficult. She wanted to, but didn't know how. As she walked away, she prayed in her heart, "Lord, please give me your love for her. Please show me the way."
The next time Tammy saw her, all those things that had been in the way, all the impediments were gone. She didn't see her the same way. She felt like that has been a gift from Heavenly Father.
As she has studied for today, she has felt that as we love Him, He gives us that love to love others. And we are able to keep the first two commandments. They are invitations to us more than commandments to increase our joy.
Such a beautiful lesson and discussion given today. Please pray about and search to improve upon those relationships that can and will be a blessing in your lives.
