November's Service Project!

On November 1st, our additional Relief Society Meeting will be at 7pm at the church.  We will be assembling hygiene kits for Portamento of Hope.  We are asking people to sign up to to bring items to put in the kits.  If you are interested in donating items, please leave a comment here or let Michele Stevens know on Sunday.  

We will also be having a clothing swap!  If you have any clothes that no longer fit or that you just don't wear anymore, please bring them.  You will have the opportunity to look through the clothes that others have brought to see if there is anything in there you might want to take home with you!!!  Anything that is left at the end of the evening will be donated to the Portamento of Hope.  

On Saturday, November 5th at 9:30am we will meet at the church again to deliver the items to the Portamento of Hope.  We will carpool from the church.  

Please join us for either one of both of these days!  It is a great opportunity for us to serve others in our community!

Highlights from Saturday's broadcast...

Relief Society General Broadcast

September 24, 2011

On Saturday we had the opportunity to hear from the General Relief Society Presidency and from President Uchtdorf.  It was a wonderful evening and the talks were very inspiring.  I took some notes during the broadcast and thought I would share them with all of you here.  I hope that you will take the time to watch the full broadcast.  It will be well worth your time.

*Julie Beck (General President of the Relief Society):  "What I hope my granddaughters will understand about Relief Society"

-The Relief Society is patterned after the ancient church.

-The Lord has always needed women in His church (missionary work, sustaining the Priesthood, compassionate services, charity).

-The Lord ordered Joseph Smith to organize the Relief Society under the Priesthood after the pattern of the Priesthood.

-Relief Society is an essential part of preparing members to go to the Temple.

-The RS will provide relief that will strengthen and bring joy to its members

-Your discipleship can lift others.

-Visiting teaching is a significant way to honor your covenants:

     -help to grow spiritually

     -care sincerely

     -extension of the Bishop's charge to care for his flock

     -opportunity to participate in miracles

*Silvia Allred (First Counselor in General Relief Society Presidency):  "Charity Never Faileth"

-Charity is love- It's a state of being, not an act.

-It is a divine gift that we must seek and pray for.

-We must have a desire to be more charitable (read Scriptures, pray, follow the Savior's example, follow the Prophet).

-When we have charity it becomes part of our very nature (visiting teaching helps us to be more charitable).

-We must live up to our privileges.

-Small acts of charity have a healing power.

-We must use all our resources to bring relief to all those around us.

*Barbara Thompson (Second Counselor in General Relief Society Presidency):  "The importance of cleaving to our covenants and the joy that comes."

-Cleave=adhere firmly and closely to something

-Joy and protection will be given to us as we cleave to our covenants.

-When we have died, will people find evidence of our cleaving to the covenants?

-By going to the Temple we will find peace, joy, and comfort.

*President Uchtdorf (Second Counselor in the First Presidency):  "Forget me not"

1.  Forget not to be patient with yourself.

     -We create false expectations and then don't celebrate our accomplishments.

     -It is part of our mortal existence to have weaknesses.

     -Be thankful for small successes in the home; God notices them and they are not small to Him.

     -Our journey is long.

2.  Forget not to recognize the difference between a good sacrifice and a foolish one.

     -Ask yourself, "Am I committing my time and energy to something worthwhile?"

3.  Forget not to be happy now.

     -  There is nothing wrong with righteous yearnings; the problem comes when we put everything else on                                   hold.  

     -Never stop striving for the best that is within you.  

     -Savor the beauty in everyday things.

4.  Forget not the why of the Gospel.

     -The gospel is not an obligation, but a pathway.

     -It illuminates the path before us.

     -It will cease to be a burden to us, but will bring us joy; It will inspire and uplift us.

     -Seek out the majesty and beauty of they why... It will sanctify our actions.

5.  Forget not that the Lord loves you.

     -We are never forgotten.

     -We are loved with an infinite love.

     -We must allow his divine love into our lives.

     -Cherish the gift of service.

Sisters, I want to let you know that I felt the Spirit so strongly as I listened to the words of our leaders.  As I listened to President Uchtdorf speak, I knew that our Father in Heaven was answering prayers in my life and giving me the words that I needed to hear.  I felt that love that our Heavenly Father has for me as he spoke.  I encourage each of you to listen, to read, and to study the words that we heard this weekend HERE.

Love,

Amanda Call

General Relief Society Meeting

Heads up Ladies! 

Tomorrow night is the 2011 General Relief Society Meeting!

If you want to see the Broadcast at the Stake Center, get there at 7p and enjoy some dinner with your fellow Sisters beforehand. 

Otherwise, the broadcast begins at 8pm. You can view it at the Stake Center, online, or on BYU TV (if you have Direct TV).

Christmas in September

Tomorrow morning we will all be feasting on waffles and making Christmas items! 

Don't be a Scrooge and miss out! 

Be at the John Moore Building at 9am to save me from scarfing down too many waffles and gluing my fingers together.!

New Link!

Sister Mortensen found an article all about making homemade jellies and jams! Mmmmmmm. Take a look and get ready for berry season!

P.S. I also added it to the "Sites That Help You Save" for future reference.

June Visiting Teaching

Sisters,
 

Below is direction from our Stake Relief Society President on the visiting teaching message for this month. In order to help our sisters be prepared, which is our focus this year, please read and follow the instructions given below.  I testify as you are obedient to this you will bless the lives of the Sisters you have stewardship over and your life will be enriched and blessed also. Our lives are always blessed when we are obedient to the council given by our leaders.

Love,
Sister Shelley Mortensen



Dear Sisters -

As I was studying the visiting teaching message this month I was struck by the beauty by which our 8 Steps to Preparedness fits in so wonderfully.
 
I would hope that you would encourage yourselves to use the cards that have been prepared for the families of the Brandon Stake - to talk seriously with your assigned sisters about their state of temporal preparedness. They should counsel with them about ways to become more temporally prepared - and set easy, attainable goals to do so. Then, as you return each month, you can check to see the progress that is being made and reset goals to achieve more.
 
I testify that our homes are greatly strengthened as we put an emphasis on being temporally prepared. This self reliance gives us the peace and the freedom to help others. We are more available to serve and be instruments for good.
 
Thank you for all that you do to help your sisters. There are many who are in need of divine assistance which is often meted out through you.

Cheryl Jensen

Here is a link for the preparedness checklist.  

Please call those you visit teach or the letter routes and ask them if they have filled out the checklist online.  If not click on the link above, and fill in their information and save it.  If they would like to do it themselves, give them the link above and ask them to do it that day. You will be asking them the questions on the same check list we received at church 2 weeks ago.  If you don't have the check list, it is on the Stake Preparedness website and under the page called "Check Before the Storm."

If you could please complete this by June 9th. This will be a great way to make contact with your Sisters early in the month, you could combine setting up your next appointment to visit them, to discuss their preparedness status.

I appreciate your willingness to complete this assignment. Again, we as a presidency feel the urgency to see all our families and sisters prepared temporally. Sister Jensen our Stake RS President and the Stake Presidency also feel concerned that we be prepared this season.  Even the Ensign this month and last has urged us to take action and be prepared.

Let us be obedient and work on our preparedness so we can have peace of mind, and be blessed.

Love
Sister Shelley Mortensen

PS if you have any questions call me 957-1383 my cell phone.

Dinner with Dr. Marc Bernhisel

For those of you who were unfortunate to have missed having dinner with Dr. Bernhisel last week, here is a recap. Don't feel too sad you missed out. 

The evening started with a delicious chicken salad, warm yeast rolls...

Eva and Karina started us off!

 and yummy cupcakes!

There was a beach theme for the evening. Each cupcake was adorned with a chocolate shell.

 Each woman in the Stake was invited to attend.

 After dinner, President Bernhisel told us a little about himself. He was one of two sons when his parents started to struggle with their fertility. So, they ended up adopting more children until just before President Bernhisel went on his mission, when his mom discovered she was pregnant. He said that when he got home he had a little sister waiting for him.

Once he began college at the University of Utah, he knew he wanted to be a doctor, but he didn't have any intention of becoming a fertility specialist. However, he eventually found his way there and graduated from the School of Medicine at Duke. 

Dr. Bernhisel even helped setup the IVF program at the University of Florida. He said there were a group of right-wing Republicans waiting for him, protesting his arrival. 

Dr. Bernhisel taught us that bioidentical medicines are not approved by the FDA. 

Ninety percent of them do not even produce the advertised result.

He also told us that the term, "hormone imbalance" is not in the medical book. 

There is no specific definition, therefor no specific symptoms or treatment. 

He also taught us a lot about the health issues of women. One of the statistics I was shocked by was this:

"A 40 year-old woman who is a non-smoker can expect to lose 3.3 years of life if she is overweight (just overweight, not to the point of being obese). If obese, the loss is 7.1 years and if smoking is added 13.3 years." -Clinical Gynecological Endorcrinology and Infertility

Whoa. Thank you, Word of Wisdom!

After Dr. Berhisel answered any of our questions we wanted to ask publicly, we ended the meeting and he answered some one-on-one.

It was a delicious and educational evening! 

If you are interested in learning more about your health, go to:

The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists

The American Society for Reproductive Medicine