April Presidency Message

Happy April Sisters! We made it to Spring! Can you believe it? What a wonderful time to be able to hear inspired messages from God’s Prophet, Apostles and others at General Conference. We also look forward to Easter and the focus on Christ’s resurrection. It’s just a great month.

This month’s message is about visiting teaching and the strength we gain as the visiting teacher and the sister being visited. I have recently realized how united our Relief Society becomes when we participate in visiting teaching. When every woman is cared for, loved and encouraged through service or a spiritual message it strengthens our organization. As we give the care, love and encouragement it also impacts us as well as the Relief Society.

Sister Silvia H. Allred, a counselor in the Relief Society general presidency, said: “I marvel as I witness the countless acts of charity performed daily by visiting teachers all over the world who selflessly minister to the needs of individual sisters and their families. To these faithful visiting teachers, I say, ‘Through those small acts of charity, you follow the Savior and you act as instruments in His hands as you help, care, lift, comfort, listen, encourage, nurture, teach, and strengthen the sisters under your care.’   

         

I am so grateful for the great examples in our Relief Society of this. Many of you never tire of serving other women in our ward, especially those you visit teach and it is such an inspiration. At times I feel that my rushed lessons while dragging children with muddy feet into the homes of the sisters I teach isn’t a service to anyone or acting as the Savior’s hands and I’m sure some of you feel the same. However, I realize now that the repetition helps us get to know our sisters and their needs. Our small acts of charity come after the many times we visit.

We are blessed as we try our best to get to know one another and serve through our visiting teaching. When sisters serve others as visiting teachers, they receive blessings themselves. Sister Barbara W. Winder, the eleventh Relief Society general president, taught: “It is vital that each sister have visiting teachers—to convey a sense that she is needed, that someone loves and thinks about her. But equally important is the way the visiting teacher is able to grow in charity. By assigning our women to do visiting teaching, we give them the opportunity to develop the pure love of Christ, which can be the greatest blessing of their lives.” I recognize, as I’m sure we all do, that visiting teaching isn’t always fun or convenient but it is a great way to grow and develop Christ like attributes that can carry us through unforeseen heartache or trials. It also helps us care for others who might be dealing with their own heartache or trials. We all want to be loved and needed and that’s what visiting teaching can do. I love that through my visiting teaching I can strengthen my sisterly bond with the women in this ward. I hope that we can all find our own appreciation for this great blessing of visiting teaching.

           

(The quotes used came from Daughters of His Kingdom, chapter 7)

Guess Whose Birthday It Is...

Thank you for all that you do for us as sisters of the Relief Society!

We love you! 

January Relief Society Meeting Overview

4 sisters offered to share their different blogging and journaling tips:

Lindsay Stubbs shared how to begin blogging and gave a brief introduction to and look around the St. Joseph Ward Relief Society blog.

The recommended blog site for those wanting to begin blogging is blogger.com (aka blogspot.com).

It is very user friendly and easy to navigate. Personal blogs can be private or public. Blogging is also easier for those who like to type instead of write by hand. The digital setting also makes it easy to add pictures, videos, links to sites, etc. For more tips on blogging you can do a Google search or ask Lindsay Stubbs at lindsaykaydesign{at}gmail{dot}com and she will try her best to help.

Lindsey Parker shared some helpful tips on getting your blogs printed.

She shared a site called blog2print.sharedbook.com that is easy as copying a link to your blog and the site puts it all into a book format for you. If you want a more hands on (and time-intensive) site to work with you can also try blurb.com. Lindsey showed some of the family journals she has been able to print from her blog over the years. Such a fun way to organize all of your pictures and read through journal entries in a beautiful printed book.

Aloma Custer shared some great advice on journaling.

Journaling can be as easy as carrying a little notepad with you in your purse or jotting down some thoughts in your phone when you're waiting in a line at the grocery store or picking up your kids from school. "Take small steps..." she said, "Something is better than nothing." Find what works best for you. Here are some other fun ways to journal:

Doodling/sketching a page of thoughts or things you enjoy:

Using a calendar to keep track of some highlights of each day:

Scrapbooking (it can be as simple or complex as you want):

When scrapbooking Aloma mentioned the following helpful advice:

GOOD:

A photo and a title.

BETTER:

A photo with a caption and a description.

BEST:

A photo with a story.

Sometimes we get hung up on "What do I write about?" Aloma shared a fun idea to solve this "writer's block" problem as well. She created a list of questions, cut them into pieces and put them in a jar. Then, when she has a minute she takes one out and writes for a few minutes based on what the piece of paper says.

If you'd like Aloma's list of journaling ideas for your own journal jar, you can request them by emailing her at jcuster1{at}comcast{dot}net

You can also see some more ideas on Aloma's Pinterest board found  HERE

Finally, Amy Barfuss (our Relief Society President) shared some great tips on journaling with children and provided some great handouts that you can use with your own children or grandchildren.

Some ideas Amy and the other sisters shared are:

• your children can draw pictures and you can label them
• they can fill out a question and answer about themselves or a relative
• you can write a quick daily note about what each child did that day
• you can save special things they create (homemade Mother's Day cards are some of Amy's favorites)
• have your children try their hand at writing poems or thoughts
• try giving your children access to a camera and allow them to "video blog"

And that, sisters, was the basic rundown of our fabulous Blogging/Journaling Relief Society meeting.

Thanks to those who braved the weather!

And a special thanks to Lindsay Stubbs, Lindsey Parker, Aloma Custer and Amy Barfuss for the helpful tips and advice that you shared.

See you at the next Relief Society Meeting, sisters!

We love you.

January Presidency Message

Happy New Year, sisters!

I am so excited for this new year, and of course with a new year we feel it is time to make new beginnings as well.  I feel very blessed to be able to serve each of you, and I feel love and concern for you and your families as well.  This new year started out with an exciting event for our family as we welcomed home our son Kaleb from his mission,  What a joyful yet humbling experience it is to see your children put their full heart into the work of the Lord.  I was humbled and touched as I listened to him report to President Witt and share experiences from his mission, particularly how prayer had been such a strength to him.  Later as we talked more about serving and prayer I saw the love he had for the people he served, and was reminded that we truly do love those we serve.  I remember in a letter that Kaleb wrote home he asked that we pray for a certain investigator.  Of course I had always prayed for my missionary, but it brought new thoughts and testimony building to team up with his missionary efforts, and pray with him for an investigator.  What a great experience, even though he was many miles away I felt the love Kaleb had for the work, and the love our Heavenly Father has for each of us.  We are so blessed to have the knowledge of the Gospel and the power of prayer.

This Holiday season my family had the opportunity to welcome the missionaries into our home to teach.  We had a friend, Catherine, staying with us for Christmas.  She is from China and has been living in New York going to school.  This was the second year she stayed with us.  Last year Catherine had lots of questions, being new to the states and then throw in the gospel, it was a lot to take in!  She really related to my son McKay, who was 12 at the time.  He got questions that were easy to answer and some not so much, including the big one of "Who is Jesus?"   What a great missionary experience it was for him!!  This year she was much more comfortable with life in the states and with us as well.  Catherine is so curious about the gospel, and she was ready to meet the missionaries!  She met with them three times while staying here and they introduced prayer to her.  What a beautiful thing it is to witness the very beginnings of a testimony of prayer.  She has posted about prayer on Facebook, talked to the Sisters here, and to us, and is now texting the missionaries she will meet with when she returns to New York, expressing that she is still praying!

  In our last General Relief Society meeting President Monson Quoted President Ezra Taft Benson:  "All through my life the counsel to depend on prayer   has been prized above almost any other advice I have...received.  It has become an integral part of me-an anchor, a constant source of strength and the basis of my knowledge of things divine.....

"....Though reverses come, in prayer we can find reassurance, for God will speak peace to the soul.  That peace, that spirit of serenity, is life's greatest blessing."

Let us not forget the simple beauties of the Gospel, our Heavenly Father loves us and he has given us the power of prayer to feel His peace and love for us, He will never leave us alone. 

Love,

Sister Barfuss