Relief Society Christmas Dinner

We started off the month of December with a nice reminder about what Christmas is all about. We decided to invite the men to this dinner and enjoy a nice date night. Sally provided a wonderful meal of chicken cordon bleu, rice pilaf, salad and green bean almondine. Thank you Sally for going to ALOT of work to make such a nice meal for us. It was so scrumptious. The Young Men recieve the "STARS OF THE NIGHT" award because they were our waiters and served the meal to everyone like professionals. They looked super sharp in their sunday best and were very efficient and fast at making sure everyone had what they needed. PLUS they did the dishes and clean up as well!!! I wish that we would have had a tip jar for you! I'll remember that for next time.
After dinner I hope everyone was pleasantly entertained with a production of "Women at the Well." Several women and young women participated and it is so nice to live in a ward with such amazing talent! My hope for the evening was that the women would feel closer to their Savior and realize that we all have a story to tell in which the Savior has influenced our lives. I didn't want to say anything before the performance and get all mushy before I had to sing because then I would have blubbered through the whole thing! But everyone did such an amazing job and things really came together. The Spirit was there and from the feedback I received, I think people enjoyed it. A huge THANK YOU!!!!! to all who participated, both in singing and in reading. Also, I can't let this night pass without me giving shout outs and blowing kisses to my husband Jason, Alysia and Brad Peterson, Libby Roudabush and Ivy Orchard and friend (all three girls helped with the nursery and they are from a different ward!) and Sally Evenson. This night would not have been as wonderful without all of your help and support!
We finished the night off with a few choices of cheesecake and socializing. Everybody at the dinner received a bottle of water with a scripture on it to remind them of the message that we need to quench our thirst for the gospel through the Savior, and then help others do the same.
Again thank you to all who came and supported the evening and thank you to all who participated. Have a wonderful holiday season!

Thanksgiving Feast

Sorry, I forgot to post about the Thanksgiving Feast. It was a huge success and we had a lot of great food. Thank you to everybody who participated and came to enjoy each other's company. With all the leftovers we had we were able to help out 7 families!! I'm sure they were all very grateful. If you have any suggestions about what we can do better next year, or what you really liked this year, please let someone on the activities committee know or a member of the Relief Society Presidency know. Kudos go out to the youth who did a fabulous job of serving the food. Thanks to everyone who stayed after to help clean up. The craft committee did a wonderful job on the centerpieces and the cooking committee made the delicious rolls so be sure to thank them for that. Thanks to Sally Evenson for letting us use her big kitchen and making the process of making rolls really quick and easy! I've never made rolls that turned out perfectly before.
Just to look ahead, we have the Relief Society Christmas dinner on Dec. 3 and the Ward Christmas Party on Dec. 10. Let the festivities begin!

RS Christmas Dinner

Don't forget!! Thursday Dec. 3 is the Relief Society Christmas Dinner. This year we are doing the production of "Women at the Well" and the men and young women are invited to join us. There will be dinner, some very inspirational music, and of course dessert. Starts at 6pm in the Cultural Hall so be there or be square! There will also be a children's class provided for those who need babysitting.

Fall Festival was Fabulous!

All who attended the Fall Festival will agree that it was a fabulous time! The Young Women did a great job putting that together. Not only were there cookies and crafts, but yummy refreshments, a fishing pond, donut eat cupcake walk, face painting and a haunted house put on by the young men that my kids talked about for days! Maddie said that her favorite part was the craft and fishing pond and the donut eat. Emma liked the craft and the donuts. Nathan can't really express himself but we had to keep chasing him out of the cupcake walk! Once he went to the fishing pond and got a black bouncy ball we were then chasing his ball and him away from the walk. Costumes were fantastic and it was fun to see so many there. Hope you had a fun and safe Halloween! Now it's time to gear up for the Thanksgiving Feast!

Fall Festival

Don't forget the Ward Fall Festival is this Thursday, the 29th, at 7pm. There will be no dinner but plenty of treats! We will have sugar cookies for decorating, face painting, cupcake walk, a craft for the kids and even a haunted house! So come and enjoy. Costumes are encouraged but please no masks and there will be no trick or treating. Hope to see you all there!

Sugar Cookies

Don't forget that this Tuesday night we are meeting at North Hampton at 7pm to make sugar cookies for the ward Fall Festival. Even if you are not on the cooking committee you can still come and help because we need a lot of them! If you would like to carpool you can make arrangements on your own or meet at Cara's house at 6:45. See you there!

Drug Awareness Night

We had a successful Drug Awareness presentation given by Officer Anderson (Lacey Silverio's brother) who was gracious enough to come out. He talked in depth about what we can do as a community and neighborhood to start a Neighborhood Watch and how we can organize ourselves for that. He explained the signs to look for that suspicious activity is going on and then how we can help the police department protect us. He brought a few of the main drugs to show us what they look like and how they are being used and distributed so that we can look for signs among our children and their friends. He also talked to us about how we can keep our children safe by knowing who our neighbors are, identity kits, and stressing the importance of stranger danger. If you would like any of the pamphlets or identity kits please contact someone in the Relief Society Presidency and we will get it to you. For those of you who missed it, you missed some great information and great pumpkin pie and cider!

Update

Sorry ladies, it's been a while since I've had a chance to sit and blog. First of all, let me extend a very warm welcome to our new Relief Society President, Sister Kathryn Proctor! We are very excited to have her spunky spirit and know that she will do great things for us! A HUGE THANK YOU to Sister Debra Hansen for all of the wonderful work she has done with our Relief Society thus far. You will be greatly missed. We hope that you will be able to accomplish the things that you need to do for your family and yourself and know that we love you! Ok, so we had a wonderful conference, a really good lesson on Testimonies. Don't forget that the Stake President and the Bishop have challenged us to strengthen our testimonies and share them at least once in the coming year. Watch out because I heard a rumor that the Bishop may just be calling up random people to share the testimonies! So, do it when YOU want! This week's lesson was given by Sister Silverio and it was wonderful. We talked about the importance of Marriage and the different roles that we play as husband, wife, father, mother, son and daughter. The importance of Family and why we do the things we do. We had a very good discussion amongst sisters.
This week the sewing committee will be meeting at Sis. Leann Hansen's house to make blankets for the cold sisters in our ward. Wednesday night is really important because we will be having a guest speaker, Officer Anderson, come and speak to us about drug awareness, neighborhood watch and halloween safety. So you do not want to miss this! ALL are invited...men, women and children. This is important for all of us to know. Invite your neighbors as this is a community issue. Of course there will be refreshments afterwards! That starts at 7pm on Wednesday in the Relief Society Room.
Thursday is the YW Evening Of Exellence and the Stake has invited ALL Women to attend. That is at 7pm at the Stake Center.
The cooking group will be meeting next Tuesday to make sugar cookies for the Ward Fall Festival. Please come and help us get ready. The Craft committee will also be putting together a craft for the kids to do at the festival and all help is appreciated.

We love you sisters and hope that you will spark the spirit of service in your hearts. We have many needs in our ward, some of which I'm sure are yours, and we try to reach out to all, but our arms can only go so far. Please help us when called upon and not only to DO things, but SUPPORT and PARTICIPATE as well. Have a great week! It's a busy one!

Relief Society Broadcast

We were not only physically fed, but spiritually fed as well on Saturday night for those of us that attended the General Relief Society Broadcast. We started the night with a wonderful dinner of Navajo Tacos served by the Young Men. Thank you to Bro. McKell and Bros. Bezzant and Foltz for taking care of the serving and cleaning up!!! Kisses all around to you. Thank you Sis. Sally Evensen for making the delicious Fry Bread, Sis. Makin for the scrumptious chili, and all of the sisters that brought the veggies and cheese. We really appreciate you helping us put this together. And a HUGE thank you to all that attended the dinner. It was fun to eat, chat and then leave the mess and go be nourished some more!
The Broadcast was just absolutely wonderful and I am so glad that I was there to hear all of the wonderful talks given by the RS Presidency and Pres. Eyring. I took a few notes on what the talks were about and so these are my notes. They are not perfect or cover everything, just what touched me. Please watch or read these talks when you get a chance because they have so much information in them and I felt the Spirit while listening. It strengthened my testimony of Relief Society and made me feel all warm and fuzzy inside!

Sis. Beck spoke about the purpose of Relief Society. She made the announcement that the name Home, Family and Personal Enrichment was no longer going to be used. We know refer to our activities as "Relief Society Meetings." She told us that these meetings we can call "groups or classes" or whatever we want and that we can meet daily, weekly, or monthly but at the very least quarterly. She said that the Bishop and RS Presidency should council together and do what they feel is the best for their ward. (I especially loved this because it validated everything I'm trying to do with our groups!!) She also emphasized that we should be getting together to serve and lift one another because that is the purpose of Relief Society.
She strongly emphasized Visiting Teaching and stressed that it needs to be done. She said, "There is nothing more important outside the duties of family than Visiting Teaching." She reminded us to never suppress a generous thought and always follow our inspirations however small, insignificant, or silly they may seem to us. She promised that as each sister does her part in RS, angels will be our associates.
Sis. Allred asked the question Why do we need RS and what does it do for us? She gave us the calling to go to the women who are not engaged in RS and teach them with love about the great blessings and opportunities that RS offers. She reminded us that "your attendance in RS Sunday meetings will bless you, but your participation in RS activities will bless the whole church." She said that we are the love, truth and righteousness throughout the entire world. She stated that RS is vital to the welfare of every home and family. Women have a divine role in the building up of the kingdom of God. She ended by saying that "Relief Society needs you and you need Relief Society."
Sis. Thompson taught us to "Mind the Gaps" in our lives. She listed three that she wanted us to be specifically mindful of:
1) Believing you are a daughter of God and Knowing you are a precious daughter of God. There is nothing that can separate you from the love of Christ. The Lord sent us His Son as the ultimate act of love. Accept yourself. Love yourself and love others. We are all children of God. Recognize the Lord's approval in your life.
2) Completion of Young Women to becoming a sister in the Relief Society. Some of our YW sisters are taking a "leave of absence" from growing in the church. They say they will come to RS after they are married and have a family. You can be single and childless just as much outside of the church, but you will receive blessings by participating in the church. It is the duty of each one of us to be "Holy Women."
3) Believing in Jesus Christ and Being Valiant in the testimony of Jesus Christ. We must do more than believe in the Savior. We must have faith in Jesus Christ, repent of our sins, be baptized in the church and receive the Holy Ghost, and then endure to the end through our lives. We must share our testimonies and rejoice in the Savior.
Pres. Eyering reminded us of the Legacy that our pioneer ancestors left us in Relief Society. Speaking of the first RS he said that "Charity is at the heart of the society and became the heart of the members." He then listed examples of that Charity:
1)The sisters in their poverty and suffering cared for others. Determination of faith in the Lord and to serve others sustained them.
2) When the RS was again organized 40 years later, the leaders found that Charity was undiminished in the hearts of the members.
3) The RS helped creat a great hospital system and also started the Welfare program.
4) They began what is now the Primary and Young Women's programs.
5) They started a magazine for women.
6) RS is at the heart of humanitarian aide across the world.
Pres. Eyering continued by telling us what we must do to continue to pass this legacy on. He said, "Remember the legacy is passed from heart to heart." Simple things can be done. Visiting Teaching can be done by doing simple acts of kindness. Visiting Teaching can help others receive the gift of Charity in their hearts.

Like I said, it was a wonderful meeting and left me full of the Spirit. I was sad to have it end and I can't wait to read these talks again in the Conference issue of the Ensign. After the broadcast we were treated to a variety of refreshments from the Stake RS and a wonderful display of Provident Living Christmas Gift Ideas. I have a pluthera of papers, instructions and pictures of all of the great ideas and we will be making some of them in our craft and sewing groups.

High Priest Social

The High Priest Social was a huge success! We enjoyed good food, fun conversation and wonderful Organ music provided by Bro. Chamberlain. He has such an amazing talent!! He played a few classical pieces by Bach and then 10 or 15 hymns arranged by himself. He played an additional piece by one of the organ players of the MOTAB. It was a wonderful evening and it was nice to have a date night. A huge THANK YOU to Bro. Hansen and his assistants for putting that together for us.

Super Craft Day

Hey ladies! Sarah Moon is doing a craft day on October 17th from 9 to 1. If you or someone you know, are interested in coming please let her know what you would like to do ASAP. Money isn’t due until October 12th. Any questions please call Sarah. **Pics of the crafts coming soon!** Orders are due by Tuesday Sept. 29th!!

While the Men are away the Ladies will play!

Cara Childs is hosting a Girls Night Out on Saturday Oct. 3 while the men are away at the Priesthood Meeting. It's an Open House from 6-8pm and there will be fun, food, and friends so come and enjoy. Children are welcome and there will be games and food for them as well. So, no excuses!! Come and chit-chat while the men get spiritually fed and we can feed ourselves and get girl time! No RSVP required nor do you need to bring anything unless you feel so inclined.

Welcome to the American Fork 5th Ward Fabulous Five Relief Society Blog!

Hello and Welcome to our Fabulous Five blog! On this blog you will be able to view the announcements, review past lessons and see all of the fun that we are having together as Relief Society Sisters and as a ward and stake. If you would like to announce or share anything on our blog please see the link to my e-mail on the right hand side. Enjoy the soft Sunday music while you browse through and read all of the exciting things going on.