Re-cap "Relief Society: A Sacred Work"

Sister Julie B. Beck is our current General Relief Society President. She is a wonderful orator and has spoken to women of the Church on several occasions. In her latest General Relief Society Meeting address, she has addressed a few changes to the Relief Society program. These are inspired changes and have been made in coaction with the First Presidency of the Church. As a ward presidency, we would like to take the opportunity to ask the sisters to join us in observing these outlines and become familiar with the changes. Sister Beck's talk is entitled, "Relief Society: A Sacred Work," and can be found in the November 2009 Ensign issue or on www.lds.org. We advise you as a Presidency to review these changes and look for ways that they promote the mission of the Church and of the Relief Society program. Below are the objectives of Relief Society as a worldwide organization, but it really comes down to what we do as individual sisters and then bring that to unify our wards, stakes, areas, etc. As you read and re-familiarize with these objectives, we encourage you to make individual assessments and changes where you feel necessary in your lives.

Both individually and collectively sisters of Relief Society make a difference in these six ways:

• Build faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and teach the doctrines of the kingdom (see 2 Nephi 31:20-21; Omni 1:26).
• Emphasize the divine worth of each sister (see D&C 25:2-3, 15-16; Moses 6:9).
• Exercise charity and nurture those in need (See Mosiah 4:26; Moroni 7:46-48).
• Strengthen and protect families (see Mosiah 4:14-15; D&C 130:2).
• Serve and support each sister (see 1 Corinthians 12:13-27).
• Help sisters become full participants in the blessings of the priesthood (see D&C 66:2; 84:35-39; Moses 5:1).

What areas are you doing well in? It is okay to recognize your strengths. What things can you improve on? There is always room for improvement, but these can be approached one step at a time. One way to approach this is to make a list of areas for improvement and log your assessments daily or weekly in a journal. Make goals recognizable enough so that you can write down your improvements.

As women, we need each other's support and love. We need all of your gifts and talents to make this year a successful one in the ward. We are grateful and privileged to have association with such a wonderful group of women.

With our love,

The 10th Ward RS Presidency

The Sego Lily

As some of you may know, The Relief Society's, as well as the State of Utah's, chosen flower is the Sego Lily. I chose this as the main picture for our blog, at least for the time being, for a few reasons. As I looked up pictures of the Sego Lily on google to find a good picture to put on our blog, I felt like all I was finding were unattractive tiny flowers in the middle of some dirt. If you google the flower, you'll probably find something similar looking. I wasn't realizing at the time, however, the simple significance to this tender beauty. Why would the Relief Society women choose this small bud to be known as "their flower?" Perhaps it has something to do with the fact that Utah is very mountainous and deserted, and the Sego Lily grows well in these conditions. By only looking at it this way, though, I completely missed something very unique that came to my attention. In a way, we women of the Church are kind of like these Sego Lilies. We bloom wherever we are planted, we flourish in harsh environments, and we bring simple, needed beauty to our "barren" surroundings. In effect, we, the women of the Church, take the harsh conditions around us and make them into something beautiful simply because of our presence in applying the things we know to be true. Sego Lilies lives are short, even as our precious lives on this earth are short compared to eternity, but these flowers add magnificent splendor throughout the duration of their lives. As we continue to thrive on the Living Water for our support, just as the Lily needs water for nourishment, others will see how we make use of our time here, and we will be lights and delights to them. Our influence may be ever so slight, just as the Sego Lily's beauty can be taken for granted, but the difference is seen by many. Our Heavenly Father sees and knows the goodness that we bring with us, and He hopes we will and loves when we "bloom where we are planted" in the best ways possible.

New Presidency!

Hi Sisters!

As we're just starting out this new blog, we just wanted to say that we love you and are so excited to get to know you all better! We also wanted to give you the chance to get to know us better, too... so we've put together a little "mini spotlight" for you to check out! We'll start with our President:

Sister Brooke Berges (Ward Relief Society President)

"I'm all the way from Provo, Utah," she laughs. She has been married to Brad Berges for 12 wonderful years, and met him at a ward prayer in Provo. Her say about the instance is, "I asked my friend to take me to ward prayer and drop me off there so that Brad could take me home. That's how things began!" Sister Berges is happy to be a homemaker, wife, mother, and friend. She has 4 great kids: Erik, age 10; Ashley, age 8; Kelsey, age 5; and Sadie, 16 months. Her ultimate goal in life is to be with her family for eternity. She feels that her best role models are her mom, her husband, and the Lord. Sister Berges admits that she has a few candy addictions; cinnamon bears and chocolate-covered raisins are always well-stocked in her pantry!

Sister Lisa Jones (1st Counselor)

Lisa is from beautiful Tacoma, Washington. Lisa met her husband, Nick, at a group-date dance, where they originally went to the dance with different people, but ended up leaving together. The rest is history! They were married in June 2007, and have a gorgeous little 1 year-old girl, Madison (Maddie for short). Sister Jones's goals in life are to help Nick graduate with his doctorate degree and to raise a righteous family. Lisa's favorite scriptural figure is Ammon because of his zeal towards the gospel. Referring to Ammon, she says, "[The gospel] is so powerful to him that he collapses a few times! It's incredible!" Lisa also has a sweet tooth for any kind of treats!

Jessica Blake (2nd Counselor)

Jessica is from Glendora, California (Los Angeles County). She came up to Provo with plans to go to UVSC, and ended up working at Jamba Juice instead. Ten whole days after his mission release, she met her sweet future husband, Boston, on the steps to the Bishop's office at Glenwood Apartments. They were married 6 months after Boston's release date, February 14, 2009 (Valentine's Day!). The two of them are coming up on their one-year anniversary. There aren't any babies yet, but they plan to have a minimum of 4 (2 boys and 2 girls at least). Sister Blake's goals in life are to be a good wife and mom all of her days, to try and better herself everyday, to graduate from school (she finally made it to UVU after all, woo hoo!), and to have a gospel-centered home that will please the Lord. Her favorite hobbies include dancing, singing, window shopping at the mall, journaling, and re-reading old journal entries. Her role models is the Savior.

Elyse Garlock (Secretary)

Elyse is from the cute town of Kissimmee, Florida. She has been married to Andrew Garlock for 1 year and 3 months, with no kids quite yet. She's studying and nursing at a doctor's office as well as working in the labor and Delivery at Timpanogos Hospital. She enjoys nursing and is excited to be certified one day! Her goals in life, besides nursing, are to be a mom and raise a good family. For those who may not know, Elyse is also Bishop Rasmussen's daughter. She says that the best thing about being the Bishop's daughter is "to be able to see the lighter side of him, and to get lots of wisdom at the dinner table." She also enjoys reading all different kinds of books, and loves to organize to relieve stress!