General Women's Broadcast

I hope many of you were able to view the General Women's Broadcast this past Saturday night, and if not, it's easily accessible on LDS.ORG to view those 4 talks! 

The text isn't yet available, but you can view the video of the 1st talk here:

https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2017/04/media/session_0_talk_3/5372724733001?lang=eng

The first speaker, Sister Bonnie H. Cordon, the 2nd Counselor in the General Primary Presidency, spoke about how we should center ourselves on Christ, leaning not to our own understanding. She gave 3 ways that we can center ourselves and trust in Christ, including 1) Feasting on the Words of Christ, 2) Praying, and 3) Serving.

She shared a very touching story about a woman who was extremely ill and only felt OK 1-2 days a month, while being in extreme pain, exhaust, and nausea the rest of the time. Although many people would've seen her situation and felt that she was exempt from service, her husband encouraged her to serve. On those few OK days each month, she and her family would deliver Get Well kits to others going through similar circumstances and perform other acts of service for those in the community. 

The point of this wonderful story is that we often put excuses as to why we aren't serving. It's easy to fill our time with other important things that get in the way. It's easy to not feel so great and not feel like we're in a great place to serve. However, at those moments when we feel the crummiest, when we feel that we need to just focus on ourselves, those are often the moments that we can greatly benefit from serving others. This woman and her family were brought great joy, peace, and comfort through serving others, and it was her greatest source of happiness during those dreadful times. 

I absolutely loved this lesson from Sister Cordon's talk, and I'm guessing it applies to many other women besides just me. As a young, busy mom, of course I can find lots of excuses to not serve, but I'm always happier when I choose to serve. Service is one of the greatest ways to lift our spirits, improve our perspective, and bless the lives of others, along with our own lives.

So, if you're feeling happy and wonderful and have lots of time, of course you are welcome to serve on Tuesdays with us. However, if you're feeling down, hopeless, depressed, or busy, and like it's hard to serve, it's probably a wonderful time to join us as well :)

6 Year Celebration!

On Tuesday, February 28th, we celebrated our 6th anniversary by doing what we always do every week...giving service!  Many hygiene kits were put together, quilts tied and quilts hand quilted.  In addition to our regular 2 hours of service, we celebrated with a wonderful potluck luncheon.  Wonderful food was enjoyed by everyone!

We enjoyed hosting our guests from Life Center North West!  They shared a picture of a completed donor quilt with the hand prints placed in the blank blocks.  It was touching. We also showed them how to put a quilt on the frames and they enjoyed seeing and learning that process.  We always love it when we get together with this wonderful team from Life Center.  They are caring women who are dedicated to their careers and are so compassionate with the people that they serve.  It is an honor to partner with them. 

Debbie Christian, Executive Director of the Auburn Food Bank, also joined us for our celebration.  She shared a story with us about a homeless woman who was given one of our hygiene kits.  She was so thankful for the washcloth that was included because for the last 10 years, she had been washing her face with paper towels.  It felt so good to her to have a wash cloth touch her face.  We were all moved to hear that our hygiene kits are needed.  Debbie said they are one of the first things to go at the food bank.  She said, "keep them coming!"  And we will!

We also honored Sister Sara Crabtree, our former Stake Relief Society President, with a hand quilted quilt.  This quilt was designed by Sister LaRay Barrett. Sister Barrett was an important part of our humanitarian committee and taught us many things, but most of all loved all of us and had a smile and kind word for each of us every week.  We certainly miss her.  We thought it fitting to honor Sara with a quilt that she designed and worked on.  We appreciate Sara for having the vision to start Sew Much Love.  It has provided many sisters with a weekly  service opportunity.   We have seen sisters reactivated and sisters go to the temple because of their association with Sew Much Love.  Hundreds of quilts have been made and donated, as well as many other items to people in need in our community and in our stake.  Thank you, Sara, for you vision, for your hours and hours of service and for your dedication to your calling!

Sew Much Love has certainly evolved over the years.  We look forward to what the future holds for our Humanitarian efforts.  We are confident that with faith in our Savior, Jesus Christ we will continue to influence lives and serve as He served.  Thank you to all who are serving, all who have served and those who will be called in the future to help us in this great effort!