On Thursday I drove to Utah to pick up Bon Bon and Semisweet who were returning on Friday from their trip to Barcelona (more on that later). Mr. Ferrero Rocher stayed home with all the rest of the children and his sister came up to help. (Thank you!) Because I was alone on this trip I had the wonderful opportunity to attend part of BYU Women’s Conference.
The Thursday afternoon’s “Errand of Angels” service project was really a site to behold! Thousands upon thousands of women gathered together to serve. There were hygiene kits, school kits, and newborn kits put together (a total of 34,000!!), fleece blankets and quilts made, sensory books, autism caterpillars, and a whole host of others things completed as well. And can you believe I didn’t even take a picture? I was too busy checking newborn kits to making sure everything was packed just right, then sealing the bags to be packed in boxes. My right hand pincher fingers were so sore from sealing the plastic ziptop bags, but it was worth it.
Friday was filled with several wonderful classes. There was an opening and closing session that all the women attended, then three smaller concurrent sessions in between where sixteen different presentations were offered each time. Do you know how agonizing it is to read through the session descriptions and try to narrow down your choice to the one you will attend? Choose you must, though, as seating is limited and there are those thousands of other women who are also going to the sessions.
The three classes I decided to attend were: Enhancing our Temple Experience, Being a Woman with a Mother Heart, and Like Lionesses at the Gate of the Home. They were all excellent and I gleaned much from them. What I wanted to share today, though, are my notes from the opening session where Sister Julie B. Beck, the General Relief Society President spoke. I cannot wait until the transcripts become available!! Until then here’s a copy of my notes just as I wrote them. Ha, that means they probably won’t make sense to anyone else but at least you get them in type form. If you read them in my handwriting I know they wouldn’t make sense as you wouldn’t even be able to read them! {chicken scratch handwriting}
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| Sisters in the Vineyard by J. Kirk Richards |
- We are of equal importance in His sight
- We have unique duties and responsibilities in His plan
- We are a unified purpose with the priesthood
- There is an interesting and exciting female identity that you can only fully understand through a spiritual confirmation. It is in direct contrast to the debased female identity of the world which include: sensuality, money, prestige, and power.
- Women are Guardians of hearth and home
- We have responsibility of the hearts and souls of men, women, and children
- Wife, mother, daughter, sister, aunt friend – these are non-negotiable responsibilities that CANNOT be delegated out. They have been part of the plan from the beginning and will not change because of the clamor of the world.
- It is a gospel choice to have children not a lifestyle choice.
One of the earliest records is in Luke 10 –
- first apostles are called,
- then the seventy
- the parable of the Good Samaritan is given
- then the story of Mary & Martha. Martha invited the Savior into her home. She was serving Him. The Savior took the opportunity to invite Mary & Martha to participate in discipleship – not to be bystanders
- {{personal note}} study more about Mary & Martha
- We are not entertainers
- We should teach as the Savior taught
- We are not about causes or advocacy groups
- We are here to provide RELIEF
If we really understood what Relief Society is there would be no more shoulder shrugging, eye rolling, or passive action.
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| The Quilting Bee by Morgan Weistling |
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| First Steps by Vincent Van Gogh |
- to create life,
- nurture it
- prepare it for covenants with the Lord
Every gift and blessing is available to ALL. We are inseparably connected. None can ascend alone – only together.
Go to the temple and PAY ATTENTION to the blessings and gifts of the priesthood that come.
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Read this week’s Sunday Society excerpt, Moral Training in Schools.
© 2007-2011 Chocolate on my Cranium, LLC all rights reserved
Oh, I am almost beside myself with being so excited about this. I can’t wait till the transcript comes out. I was so disappointed that I could go to Women’s Conference this year. I’m glad you got to go! Sounds like it was amazing.
Oh, I wish I could have heard this talk. Thank you SO much for posting your notes. I can’t wait to read the whole thing. And I love that van Gogh painting! I don’t think I’ve ever seen it before. Thanks for sharing beautiful art along with your words.
I love what was said about the outcome of Relief Society. I tried for two years to convince my leaders of this with no luck, finally I was just released because I am not an entertainer and didn’t want to be entertained. I am so excited about the call to study our history, I have for years and I admire the women who helped build up the church so much.
I am excited that you got to go. the service projects sound amazing. Someday I would like to go and take my daughters with me.
What a bummer we couldn’t have hooked up…we went Friday to hear Rachel speak (about your blog at times!) and were able to stay for Elder Bednars talk. I think next year we’ll try to hit more…maybe we can set up a cousin’s lunch or something 🙂
I cannot express how thankful I am that I read THIS POST tonight. ♥ I needed to read this…I needed these messages tonight.
Thank you for sharing your strong and inspiring testimony!
Thank you for sharing your notes. I love Sister Beck and the spirit she brings when she speaks! So validating and motivating!
How great to be in attendance! Thanks for sharing your notes and inspiring me this morning
thanks for sharing your notes, it makes me excited to read the transcripts.
Thanks for sharing your notes! Would you mind sharing the link when the transcripts are available? Thanks!
Writing down questions has been a powerful tool for me recently in finding answers! Awesome notes!
Fantastic! Especially, the “I remember who owes who” part. Love it, love it, love it!
I have GOT to get to Womens Conference next year!
I was at Women’s Conf. as well and this was a LIFE changing talk! I especially loved don’t confuse holding the priesthood and priesthood duties with having priesthood power…SO powerful! I also loved the part about entitlement and the Savior.
I’m giving a lesson on The Additional RS Meeting on the first Sunday in June, as to try to encourage more sisters to come. A lot of the lesson will be on homemaking. Would you be willing to give a short summary of what you learned from Sister Beck? Please e-mail me and let me know. It would be on June 5th. Thank-you for your beautiful testimony and your example to us all.
Thanks for sharing your notes – what a beautiful talk by Sister Beck.
I’m so glad you shared your notes. I really wanted to go this year, but didn’t get to. I hope they do post a transcript so I can read it all. You chose beautiful art work to go along with your post, as always. Glad you got to attend conference!
Oh lucky you… it sounds wonderful! I love womens’ conferences!
Thank you! Now I’m so excited to go read/listen to it!
Wow. Wish I could have heard this in person.
Let’s all be sure we catch the rebroadcast on May 16! 😉
I wish I knew you were there and we could have listened to this talk together. 🙂 It was fantastic. I had a lot of the same things in my own notes and I’m excited to sort through them all and write them up myself. Thanks.
Oh! Oh!!! Did you go into the Lionesses at the gate class on the main level or in the balcony? I am going to bet main level because I didn’t see you. I was working the deJong Concert Hall all day on Friday – I was a line usher upstairs for the first and third class and then at the exit for the middle session. Because I was working that day I didn’t get to see Sister Beck’s talk, which was kinda sad. I can’t wait for the transcripts either.
Anyway I hope you had a great time at W.C (hehe)!
Am I allowed to comment here because I’m male? If not, sorry to crash the women’s party. I hope you will be able to accept this comment in the spirit it is intended. I do not intend to be confrontational or heretical.
By way of introduction, in the briefest sense, I’m included among the members of the church who think that we ought to just be ordaining women to the priesthood, and I look forward to the day when we will have our first female President of the Church. My reasons for this are many, but I can sum it up by simply saying that I can’t think of a single good reason why women shouldn’t be ordained. This is different than saying that men and women aren’t somehow different, only that I don’t see that any of those potential differences justifies excluding women from being ordained.
That being said, re:Theme#4, I admit that my first reaction is to laugh. I don’t understand why (and I’d love for some of y’all to tell me why) active women in the church don’t hear talks like this and think, “Well why don’t we just give women the priesthood then – if we’re ‘organized after the pattern of the priesthood’ and already have the ‘power of the priesthood’ and have specific ‘priesthood duties’, then why not just just ordain us and be done with it?”
She even suggests that home is where priesthood flourishes (which has traditionally been the Women’s Realm in Mormondom). And finally, she offers the tip to PAY ATTENTION during the temple ceremony, which is presumably a wink and an elbow jab that “if you’d just pay attention during the temple ceremony, you’d learn that you already have the priesthood anyway, or at least will have it someday.”
So active sisters, please tell me… How can you hear all this and not think, “Well then why don’t you just give us the darn Priesthood then?”
I suppose a lot of it is her follow-up statement (i.e., if you disagree with me you’ve been confused by Satan).
I was SO happy to see your wonderful posting on Julie Beck’s talk Fri. morning at womens conf. I had an incredibly moving experience while listening at the Marriott Center. It was so powerful that I felt I needed time afterwards to ponder and bask in the spirit of her message, and skipped a session to reflect. Her talk sparked within me a familiar feeling of connectedness to eternity; past, present and future, and a connectedness to the women surrounding me at the conf. I was by myself but not alone. I felt my Heavenly Fathers immense love for His daughters. The spirit of her message has stayed with me for days. I’m so grateful for her inspired leadership. I feel she truly is the “Esther” for our times. My notes were not as good as yours. Bless you for your posting and anxiously awaiting the transcript.
Janet,
I’ve called Sister Beck the Esther of our times as well!
Reuben,
I think at some point, we have to be careful to not try to guess or outguess why women don’t have priesthood, but I tend to think one reason we don’t is because it invites men and women to work together. If women could do all that men do and vice versa, the combinative power of partnership, imo, could be lost. I don’t think she is just saying ‘you already have the priesthood’ but is saying that we tap into the power of the priesthood (which is bigger than men’s roles vs. women’s roles) by fulfilling our ‘half’ of the plan.
Meh. I read back over my comment and how I say ‘we have to be careful not to guess’ and then I go ahead and speculate. What I was trying to do was leave a disclaimer for my thoughts as being just that — my thoughts, realizing that there is a lot we don’t understand about different roles for women and men.
BTW, did y’all see the writeup in the LDS Church News? Thanks to Emily at LATG for the heads-up about this:
http://lds.org/church/news/sister-julie-b-beck-shares-lessons-from-relief-society-history?lang=eng#893911016
I like the talk of Julie B. Beck. Where can I get a pdf copy of her talk? Thanks for your post!