Called to Serve Relief Society Meeting

Dear Sisters,

We had a great evening,  the Spirit was strong.  This meeting was about missionary work and how important it is to be a good friend to everyone, young and old, nonmembers and members. 

Kristy Budge shared her conversion story.  She spoke of the importance of ward support and feeling loved and valued.  She shared many experiences of ward members helping her and her family.  She reminded us all to never assume that people are taken care of and to listen to the promptings of the Holy Ghost.

Ashley Williams also shared her conversion story. She spoke of the value of friendship.  At a young age Ashley and her family received the missionary discussions and were baptized.  She recounted feeling the spirit and her family growing closer together.  Those blessings only lasted a short while.  Her family became inactive.   Ashley grew up longing to have the gospel in her life. In college Ashley started attending church, but felt years behind the other sisters in gospel preparation.  She went through periods of not attending church. It wasn't until members of the church extended their friendship to her that she was able to overcome these feelings.  Ashley said she is forever grateful to those kind sisters.  Now she is married and has a little boy and is so happy he is being raised with the gospel in his life.

Both Lindsey Smith and Lindsey King shared experiences from their missions and spoke of ways we can do missionary work. Lindsey Smith testified that we should be good examples to our families and those we visit teach.  She said to extend the hand of friendship and invite people to activities. Some great ideas she shared were: to keep pass-along cards in your purse, and study the words of Christ daily to bring the spirit into your lives.  By doing these things    we are better prepared to share the gospel.  Lindsey King said FRIENDSHIP is the key to sharing the gospel.  She shared that if we want people to feel the pure love of Christ, we must be a true friend.  We also should strive to be the friend that we would love to have.


Laura Foster spoke about an experience during her mission in Russia.  While she was there she saw a faithful sister work to bring back a less active friend.  Through her efforts she was able to rekindle her friend's testimony, and see her embrace the gospel.  As time passed the the tables turned and the once faithful sister fell into inactivity, and previously inactive sister has made it her duty to bring the joy of the gospel back into her friend's life. Laura testified of the importance of bolstering each other's testimonies, and helping one another through trials.

Annie Jordan talked about the missions she and her husband have served.  She talked about how to prepare for a mission, spiritually, emotionally and temporally. She also shared some of her favorite scriptures Proverbs 3: 5-6.  

Dorthy McVae shared experiences from her mission.  She served in the Family History Center in SLC.  She wanted to do something to thank the Lord for His goodness to her.  She shared how service drew her closer to the Lord.  She talked about the concerns she had with leaving her home behind, but it all worked out. She is grateful for the experience and would recommend to anyone to serve a mission.

Dana Erickson spoke about how to prepare your sons for missions.  She currently has a son who is out serving a mission.  She focused on the importance of raising your family with gospel principles. She said her son grew up with a desire to serve the Lord.  She also said she has learned so much from reading her son's letters. Preparing and seeing her son serve a mission has greatly increased her testimony of the gospel.

Julianne Harmon spoke about teaching your children the meaning of the word "missionary". She shared a cute story about how she taught her little boy the meaning.  She also said to share your missionary experiences with your children and let them see you being a missionary and the joy it brings you and the ones you are helping.  She said if you have a family member or know someone on a mission talk about it with your children and read them their letters.

This truly was an inspirational meeting.  We hope you all will attend the next one. 

Thank you everyone for coming, and to all those who shared their experiences and testimonies with us. You brought a wonderful spirit to the meeting. 

Here are the yummy dinner recipes:

canning basics class

Last Thursday, Melissa McAfee gave a very informative class on canning basics. Melissa taught about canning equipment, preparation of jars and food, the different methods of canning and when you use each one, as well as some tricks she has learned over the years. She also shared some items that she had recently canned, black beans, green beans and jam. Everything tasted very fresh and delicious! The best resource, Melissa suggested, if you would like to begin canning is:

Melissa and her husband are avid, self taught canners and have learned a lot of things the hard way. Both of them are a fabulous resource if you have questions about canning. Melissa also shared where she gets all of her vegetables that she cans. Canning is a great way to start or add to your food storage.

In regards to food storage, there is an article in the March 2012 Ensign on food storage by Emily Jamison, "Everyday Home Storage." Additionally, the Stake has an upcoming activities that is worth noting.

On September 15th, there will be a Stake Preparedness Fair at the Stake Center, from 1pm till 5pm.

On Friday, Sept 14th at 7pm, the evening before the Fair, our Stake is bringing in a special guest speaker, Wendy DeWitt, a noted expert on home storage for an Stake Adult Fireside. There are many videos on/about/by Sis DeWitt on YouTube and she maintains a food storage blog at:

http://everythingunderthesunblog.blogspot.com/

March Book Group

Here is a recap from March's book group meeting by Anslin Ball:

Last week for book group we discussed "These is My Words," a fictional diary of a woman making a life in Arizona in the 1880s and 90s. The book follows Sarah Price from the age of seventeen, traveling across the wild west almost to the age of forty as she settles and raises her family. It was interesting to talk about the similarities between a woman in 1890 and women today. We all had some way to relate to Sarah from the way w feel about our husbands - "I love you every way there is to love a man" - to the way we learn to not worry about blue hand prints on the wall. I think most of what I got from the book was it is possible and brings us greater happiness to be virtuous and strong in that virtue no matter what our circumstances.

Thanks Anslin!

The book for next month is:

Book group will be meeting at Laurie Martin's home on Tuesday, April 17th at 7:30 p.m. Anyone looking for a great discussion on a beautifully written story should make sure to be there!

Saturday Morning of Service

Dear sisters,

Thank you so much for participating in the Saturday morning of service either by donating and/or assembling each project. We had such a success and I can't believe how fast we got everything done and cleaned up. You are all amazing and I hope you were able to learn something there as well. It was a great opportunity to serve and will truly benefit the needs of our ward! 

Thanks,

Michelle Hepworth

Sister Spotlight

Meet Lila McCleery!

Lila is an Arizona native. Hopefully you will recognize her because she teaches in Relief Society. Something you may not know about Lila is she is a convert to the church. One of the things that means the most to Lila is the relationship that she has with her family and the Savior. 

Here are a few questions we asked Lila to get to know her better:

Q: What are some things you enjoy doing? 

A: Crafts and visiting with friends.

Q:  What is something you would like to do someday? 

A: A session at the Washington Temple. 

Q:  What is one thing you would like to learn someday? 

A: To be a really good cook.

Thank you so much Lila for sharing!

Walking and Running Groups are Here!

Not everyone who looks like a running machine has always been that way or has even liked running for very long! Every person has a story and a journey towards improving their physical fitness. Below two ward sisters share what got them to start and get hooked on running:

What got you to start running? 

Lexy: I use to play softball, but it's really hard to have pick up games when you need 18 people for a game, plus it's not that great of a work out anyways.  So I wanted to find something that would allow me to have a good work out that I could do anytime and would be easy to bring kiddos with me.  So I bought a jogging stroller and decided running wasn't as bad as I use to think.

Laura: A bunch of Adam's brothers and their wives were signing up for a Ragnar and I had no excuse not to do it. So I decided if I was going to do it I was going to do it well and train properly. Plus I wanted to get in shape after having a baby. 

At what point did you realize you liked running? (You can admit if you really don't like it) :)

Lexy: I didn't start enjoying running until it was my choice to do it. So probably 3 years ago... As a punishment for losing or not working hard enough during our softball practices and games, our coaches would force us to run and we had no choice.  You had to do it or else you were off the team. So I had negative associations with running for a long time and seriously hated it.  So now that it is actually my choice, running is so much more enjoyable. I go at my pace and go whatever distance I want. It's so much better!  

Laura: I don't actually like running, but I do like how I feel after. But I think I realized I was hooked about 4 or 5 months after I started running when I couldn't run because of illness and found myself feeling jealous of Adam for getting to go on a run instead of me. 

Some people you may recognize participated together in the Ragnar Relay this year. The race is 200 miles and goes from Wickenburg to Tempe.

Whether you run, play tennis, hike, walk, swim, play soccer or participate in a slew of other physical activities, there usually comes a point when you need to consciously choose to make it a part of your lifestyle and what helps make it a habit is if you like it or find satisfaction in how it makes you feel.

• If you want to make running a positive part of your life and join our Relief Society running group, click HERE for more info.

• Also, our ward has a walking group which will start this WEDNESDAY, March 14^th at 7:30 AM at the front gate to on-campus housing. The group will meet every M/W at that time. If you’re driving there, there are a few parking spots, but if they're full Laura Foster can let you through to park inside the gate. For questions call Laura at 720 548 0956. If the days/times/location don't work for anyone who would otherwise like to come, let her know and you can work something out.

• If you want to start training for a beautiful, low-key nighttime 5k in seven weeks check out the Glow Run. The race benefits the Sharing Down Syndrome Arizona Organization.

Exercising (literally) Our Faith

Stephanie Bennion is our Relief Society's new Health and Fitness Group leader! She looks forward to bringing more opportunities to improve physical and mental health to our ward sisters.

There is a close relationship between physical health and spiritual development...When one’s physical health is impaired by disobedience to God’s eternal laws, spiritual development will also suffer. We have the challenge; we ought now to concentrate on developing and improving our present physical house, which tabernacles a spirit child of God, and prepare it for eternal glory” (Elder Delbert R. Stapely, Improvement Era, Dec. 1967, p. 77.)

When I was 14 and starting high school I felt like I needed to get involved in a sport. Even though it was only 9^th grade I wanted to get involved in extra-curricular activities because I knew it was important for college applications. Ha, can you say over-achiever? Being small and scrawny and not having many positive experiences in team sports, I felt lost. Some peers I looked up to as well as respected adult leaders in my life encouraged me to try cross-country. I wanted to try but I was nervous. I didn’t even like running – why would I want to do a lot of it, every day? As an anxiety-prone, awkward adolescent, my parents felt this would be good for me and my dad told me to pray about it. I did pray and didn’t feel any warning to not continue forward. “Treat it like Alma’s teachings on faith," (Alma 32) my dad said. “Try this as an experiment. Exercise a particle of faith and see what happens.” He told me to try it out and keep a prayer in my heart. Three weeks later my running shoes swept over freshly-cut grass at a park in Aloha, Oregon – my first race. During that 3.1 mile Junior-Varsity competition, as I pushed through discomfort and running’s mental struggle I rehearsed how I was going to tell my coaches I was quitting. I’ll never have to do this ever again, I reassured myself. As I entered the finish chute, wobbily-legged and red-faced, I was quickly congratulated by my coaches and teammates. For my first race ever, my time was decent and I had taken 12^th place! I was later recognized in front of the crowd and given a shiny ribbon. After that moment I realized I didn’t want to disappoint my coaches – they seemed so proud of me. I’ll do one more race, I thought, but no promises after that. By the end of the season I had become my team’s number one JV runner and improved my time by a couple minutes on one of the hardest courses of the season. I also qualified as an alternate for our varsity team and went to state with them to cheer on the sidelines (and pray no one got injured so I didn’t have to step in). That was the beginning. There was no going back after I made it through that first season. Later I went on to become a top varsity runner on a leading team in the state in cross-country and a top regional and state competitor in track. Those early decisions led to my transformation into a more confident, physically and mentally strong young woman. Especially as I transitioned through my junior year of high school I realized I was now a very different person from that nervous freshman girl. My motivation to run was now more intrinsic - much more deep than wanting to look good on college apps. That seed of faith I planted early on had come to sweet fruition and the Lord had blessed me. The decision to run changed my life.

If you’re wanting to get healthier and start moving again (and I’m not just talking about running) but feel nervous, awkward, or scared to start, treat it as an experiment. Exercise a particle of faith. Pray to Heavenly Father for guidance and strength and then if you feel it is right, start moving into the unknown. You never know how that first decision can change your life. To make it easier, our Relief Society’s health and fitness group can provide support and information to guide your journey to become stronger inside and out. And of course running isn't the only path to changing your physical and mental life. There are many options out there to explore.

Motivate

• Physical activity when you’re all alone is difficult. Exercising with others can be motivating and more fun. Come join one of our ward's fitness groups. More info on those coming soon.
• Sometimes signing up for a race or other event will be the thing to get you out the door and exercising regularly (I know it does for me). Check out these race calendars for fun events coming up. Sign up with a friend! 
• The physical part is only one side of becoming a stronger person – the eating part and the spiritual/mental side affects our outcomes as well. Focusing on those areas are crucial as we work on becoming healthier. 

As the new health and fitness group leader I’m excited to work with you and to help you reach your goals! I hope that as we increase our strength, agility and body image we also improve our faith and love for each other which will help us serve one another and grow in unity here in the Bellair Ward.