YW/RS Camp Out

Okay, finally here are some photos from our fabulous Friday night get-away. Thanks to my great counselors for all their work, to the young women and Sister Clement for coming, and to all who participated... it was a great time.

Sometimes God calms the storm.

Sometimes He lets the storm rage and calms His children.

Either way, trust that He can and will because He knows you and loves you.

Don't miss this opportunity!

PLEASE NOTE that we will be showing portions of the General Relief Society Meeting during a special "All Relief Society" meeting on Sunday, November 2nd.  If you want to watch it online now, use this link.

Saturday night is the General Relief Society Broadcast being shown at 7:00 pm at the church.  We will have dessert prepared to share after the meeting.  Please join us.  I can personally saw that this is a meeting I look forward to and plan around every year for the uplift it gives me.  

The meeting never fails to offer an abundance of inspiration, personal revelation, and a filling of our emotional and spiritual "wells."  please join us Saturday night at the church or watch at home if you cannot make it but have access to it. Don't miss this opportunity to be uplifted, and I promise you will be.  It will be worth the effort and sacrifice you make to be there.

If you need a ride, please contact your visiting teachers, me, Sister Sirrine, Wheeler, or Jamieson.

Visiting Teaching-- One half a week left

There is just one half a week left to complete your visiting teaching before the end of the month.  Please pick up the phone if you have not already done it and make contact.  Please also call or email me with your reports.

Enrichment Activity Bike Ride/Walk CANCELLED

This activity has been cancelled due to a conflicting Young Men/Scout Camp Out ont he 10th and 11th.

October 11th will be the day for another Enrichment Activity to ride your bike or walk the Osage Trail in Cape.  We will meet at the Osage Center at 9:00 am on Saturday, October 11th.  Bring your bike if you plan to ride.

Stay tuned...

Pictures from this weekend's Young Women / Relief Society Camp Out will be posted on Sunday.

Really, did you call them?

Who is feeding the missionaries tonight?  Do you have room for two more at your table?  If ou cannot have them over, can you take some of your meal to them?

(573) 517-9230

Missionary Challenge

The missionary challenge for September is to
take care of our missionaries!
Please do all you can to take care of them. There is a calendar in each of the Relief Society Notebooks-- sign up to feed them! Take them a meal, give them a ride, make them cookies, send them a note, do all that you can (especially this month) to take care of them. But really, they are growing young men and are likely to be hungry. You don't have to wait for Sunday, call them now at (573) 517-9230.

Primary Temple Trip

Thanks Kim for sharing these pictures from the primary temple trip yesterday. You can click the photos to enlarge them.

Visiting Teaching Interviews/September

We will not be having Visiting teaching interviews this Wednesday night, September 17th, due to some scheduling conflicts. If you have not yet had your interview, we will be in touch with you to schedule one and to make sure you are aware of your new routes and companionships for September. If you are not sure who you should be teaching this month, please contact me ASAP!!

We would like to interview you as a companionship as possible.

Services for Kylie

Services for Kylie Simmons will be held at McCombs Furnal Home in Jackson, Mo

Sunday Septemeber 14, 2008
Visitation 12:30 2:45
Funeral Service 3:00
GraveSide 3:45 (weather Permitting)

Together Forever

For those of you who have not heard the news, the Simmon's baby girl, Kylie Alexis passed away this morning at their home. Many of you know that Kylie has been sick since days after her birth in January. She has since struggled to fight an illness that left her little body with little function and eventually took her life. Without doubt, she was a special little girl. The first time I saw her, I was so touched by her spirit. I left the hospital and cried that she had to suffer. How hard it is for us to sometimes understand as we want to see and be in control of the whole picture of our lives rather than take each step on faith, trusting the Lord along the way.

I first meet Kylie's parents just a couple of days before she was born. I have watched them struggle through this battle with their daughter, always wondering how I would personally hold up if I had been given such a challenge. I remember Keisha's phone calls time and time again for months now, when they were sure, and I was sure that Kylie would not make it. I have prayed and prayed for understanding that we all could understand WHY this baby needed to suffer for what seemed to me to be for such a long time. I do not know what her mission in this life was, nor may it be my place to know, but I trust that her life absolutely did have a purpose, and that our Father in Heaven knows her individually as he knows each of us, and that he has a plan for her much greater than what we may understand.

I am in St. Louis tonight. I met my mom here and we attended tonight's portion of Deseret Book's Time Out for Women. Michael McLean was one of the presenters and I love that his music is so real. As he speaks and sings, he is so often able to describe exactly how I feel. As I listened I thought about my family,  Kylie and her family, and all of you, I cried and cried. Please know how much I care about you and love you. The last Michael McLean concert that I attended was years ago, just a week after my dad passed away when I was a teenager. He sang many of the same songs, including his well-known song: Together Forever. My feelings were tender then with thoughts of my dad, and again tonight with thoughts of Kylie, you, and many others.  I also cried happy tears as I remembered times of comfort, times of joy, and times in my life when my prayers have been answered, when I have felt encircled in the loving arms of my Father in Heaven.

Families can be forever, I believe that without any doubt and I am so grateful for that great blessing and knowledge. I hope and pray that you have the same testimony and that you feel the comforting love of our Father in Heaven who does know and love each of us as he loves Kylie. 

He can and will give us peace and comfort through our trials and be with us in our sadness, if we only let Him into our life where he can heal our hearts and bless our lives. Please remember their family in your prayers.

A sneak peak... at the Plan of Salvation

From teachings of The Prophets of the Church: Joseph Smith, Chapter 17:
We came to earth to obtain a body, to gain knowledge, and to overcome through faith.

“All men know that they must die. And it is important that we should understand the reasons and causes of our exposure to the vicissitudes of life and of death, and the designs and purposes of God in our coming into the world, our sufferings here, and our departure hence. What is the object of our coming into existence, then dying and falling away, to be here no more? It is but reasonable to suppose that God would reveal something in reference to the matter, and it is a subject we ought to study more than any other. We ought to study it day and night, for the world is ignorant in reference to their true condition and relation [to God].”

Why should the knowledge of the Plan of Salvation be so important to us?

YW/RS Campout!

We have scheduled a Young Women/Relief Society Campout as an Enrichment Activity for Friday evening, September 26th. This is the night before the General Relief Society broadcast. We plan to get home early enough that Saturday that you have time to take care of your home and family and then make it back to the church that night for the broadcast and dessert.

All Young Women and Relief Society sisters are invited to attend. We will camp in tents at the Smith's Grand Chain Lodge and Campground in Grand Chain, Illinois. One group of sisters will meet early in the afternoon to drive over and work on a small service project at the camp. We will provide tent space for you to sleep and food. Unless other items are specifically requested of you, you will just need to bring a sleeping bag or bed roll and a change of clothes, a flashlight, and other personal items.

We are excited for this opportunity to bond with the Young Women and learn or refresh some of our survival/emergency preparedness skills. We will be cooking delicious meals from food storage items, practicing some skills, and so much more!

Please comment on this post or email me to let me know what time you want to leave. The options are : 1:00 pm, 4:00 pm, and 5:30 pm. Meeting places will vary based on drivers for each group.

Hopefully one of those times will accommodate your schedules with work and school. We need top know how many people will be coming in each shift. Please comment or email your desired time ASAP.

Something to Teach

Okay, I'm hooked on this story and I can't help but continue to comment on it-- sorry. I have shared with you tidbits of the story of the parents of a family in Arizona who were in a plane crash last month. Their story is being told everywhere, it was on the Today show this morning-- see it here. My absolute favorite part of the entire story is at the end when Matt Lauer admits
"you teach us something about families and positive attitudes."

To which I say: DON'T WE ALL HAVE SOMETHING TO TEACH?!

Who do you have to teach about families and positive attitudes today?
So much of missionary work starts with example.

A Visiting Teaching Boost

Is it possible that the Savior might have said the following about Sisterhood and Visiting Teaching?

“I know these good sisters are so busy doing the other necessary things of life that often they forget to have true fellowship with each other. Some hardly even know the other sisters in their wards. Yet, the need for personal contact and friendship and love between sisters is greater than ever. Too often they forget part of the baptismal covenant that says they promise to bear one another's burdens.

”I know that they are busy providing for their families, living and dead. They cannot be all things to all people. But they can provide much happiness and share each other’s burdens. I will inspire the Relief Society president to call teams where the companions can teach each other by example and love. I will inspire her to assign routes where I need special help, and as these visiting teachers come to me in prayer, they will draw closer to me. Through this strengthened bond I will inspire these sisters in ways that they could not experience in other circumstances. Their own paths will be lighted as they light the way for others.

“I can remember all things, and I see the sisters of these wards as they were when we were all together in the premortal existence. Some are only waiting for the love and attention and efforts of others to inspire them to find their way back. It will not be easy. My own mission was not easy. But my mission made theirs possible. Now these sisters can show each other the way. The sacrifices they make for each other will not enslave them but will exalt them.”

Focusing on the positive and Building the Kingdom of God

Last week, I shared with you my desire to make our blog more inspirational based partly on my feelings about the story of a family who are dealing with tragedy and experiencing it with grace and faith, valiantly enduring-- publicly online for everyone to see their example. I thought it would be appropriate to share this story which was published in the New York Times on Saturday. The reporter talks about a "feel-good corner of the internet." I think it is neat that this writer (and the world) recognizes that there is good on the internet.   I was also please to she this young mother recognized for her love and devotion to family, homemaking, child-rearing, and marriage strengthening. As our prophets have told us, that the internet is a powerful tool that can be deadly in many ways. They have also told us that is can be a very powerful tool when it is used to share goodness, inspiration, and gospel truth.

Setting such an example of faith, of love for life based on a positive, Christ-centered outlook is part of what we do, part of what we NEED to do every day as part of our efforts to spread the gospel. As members this true church we understand that our priority should be to work towards building the kingdom of God. Sheri Dew, former member of the Relief Society General Presidency, said this:

"If we all had name tags, I would want mine to read: “Sheri Dew, Woman of God, Busy Building the Kingdom of God.” Imagine what would happen in this Church if every morning 4.5 million of us got on our knees and asked our Father who He needed us to reach out to that day. I invite you to rededicate your life to building the kingdom of God."

I, as YOUR Relief Society President, echo that invitation to build the kingdom of God by living everyday examples of happiness and righteousness!

Walk for Kylie Simmons

Thanks for all who came to support the Simmons family yesterday. Kylie is actually doing much better, has gained back some of the body function that they thought she had lost and may live longer then expected. She is quite a miracle. We don't always know what the Lord has in store for each of us or what he has to teach us, but can only trust that He truly is in control-- that he is aware of each of us and has a plan for each of us. May Keith and Keisha feel the Lord's love in each additional day that he allows Kylie's sweet spirit to dwell in their home.

September VT

Here is a link to the September Visiting Teaching Message.  I will have your assignments to you by next week and will try and email all of them today or tomorrow so that you can schedule appointments soon.

Youth/Primary Temple Trip

The youth and primary have a temple trip scheduled for Saturday, September 13th. Please support the youth as well as our YW and Primary leaders in getting your kids up there or attending the temple yourself that day. The youth are scheduled for baptisms at noon and the primary activity starts at 11:00 am outside the temple. If you have names for baptisms, let Sister Clement or Brother Windbigler know.

From Myrna

Myrna emailed me part of her testimony last week and agreed to let me share it with you. THANKS Myrna!

"If it weren't for missionaries, the Relief Society, and definitely the Priesthood... to me, everyone has been sort of like a tool for me in how I have strengthened my faith in Christ. When I was in Hawaii, I'll never forgot the lesson that the missionaries taught me to be bold, so we all wore this button that says, "Be Bold". When you think of it, We Should Be Bold in what we Believe In. I watched this movie called "The Best Two Years" its about the missionaries, I believe I watched it about 6 times, but anyway it is a good movie, how as member of the church/missionaries can be so easily distracted, and not focus on what we are supposed to do. It's funny how at work, I truly didn't mind telling my friends that I'm a Latter-Day Saint. I am just so amazed at how my life has changed. The Church of Jesus Christ Latter-Day Saints has brought me a whole new family, whom I truly love.

Thank Goodness that I am back to praying more often and reading my scriptures, no matter what the subject is, I have never been more happier that things are getting in place and situated. I thank Jesus Christ and God for everything and my blessings and all my friends who have supported me, without that who knows where I would have been."