Relief Society & Mimi...

Every year our Church (The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) has 2 general conferences. They are held in April and October. They each have 5 sessions. There is a Saturday morning, Saturday afternoon, Saturday evening Priesthood session, Sunday morning and Sunday afternoon session. Many wonderful talks are given at each session. Then the following month (May & November) these talks are printed in the Ensign (Church magazine for the adults). Our ward Relief Society (women's organization) issues a challenge each May and November to each of the ladies in our ward to read all the conference talks. When we are finished we report that we have accomplished this goal and for our efforts we receive a BIG chocolate candy bar. Today I finished reading my conference issue of the Ensign and sent an eMail to the 2nd counselor in our ward Relief Society to let her know I did this. I also included this little note to Amber about my experience today with my mom as I finished my reading: Hi Amber, I just wanted you to know I finished reading my conference issue of the Ensign today. I had a sweet experience I thought I might share with you. After teaching seminary this morning, I visited my father to practice music for us to sing Wednesday at the nursing home. Then I went to the nursing home to sit with my mom. Today she was very unresponsive. I’m between crocheting projects which I usually do while visiting with her. She loves watching my fingers fly and will usually talk a bit. I had my Ensign in the bag I carry to the nursing home so I pulled out the Ensign. I had Sis. Thompson’s talk and Pres. Eyring’s talk left to read. I turned to Barbara Thompson’s talk and put my arm around my mom and started to quietly read her words about ‘minding the gap’. When I finished I said, “Mom, wasn’t that a great talk?” She simply said, “Yes!” like she understood every word. Then she bowed her head to take a bit of a nap. I call this one of the tender mercies of the Lord. A clear word or thought is just a blessing. I turned to Pres. Eyring’s talk and started to quietly read it to her about the legacy of Relief Society. I can’t explain the energy passing between us. If you were on the outside looking in you would have thought mom was asleep and I was reading quietly out loud. But from my chair the words were clear and powerful. I pulled out my pen and as I read I underlined thoughts that spoke to me like: …when speaking of the Relief Society sisters in the beginning Pres. Eyring said, “Their feelings of charity come for Him through His Atonement.” …when speaking of dealing with adversity in the early days of the Church he said, “Their determination born of faith to serve the Lord and others seemed to take them not around the storms of life but directly into them.” …when speaking of the Saints in 4th Nephi he quoted, “there was no contention in the land, because of the love of God which did dwell in the hearts of the people.” …and at the end of Pres. Eyring’s talk he spoke of the legacy of Relief Society being passed on with these words, “Just remember that the legacy is passed from heart to heart.” I sat there with my arm around my mom who served as a ward and stake Relief Society president and we just spoke heart to heart. It was tender and memory making for me. I’ll cherish those few minutes and when times are rough with and for my mom, I’ll remember reading that conference talk and us speaking heart to heart in a way we cannot speak now with our voices. Thanks for challenging us again to read this Ensign. I would have done it even without the challenge but I’m grateful for Relief Society sisters that challenge us with powerful, testimony building opportunities. Thank you! Sandi Christensen I love a life filled with good moments and experiences.