Happy Birthday Relief Society!

Tonight was our Relief Society birthday party/Enrichment meeting. Relief Society is 165 years old! It
It was so much fun!
We did not do buffet style tonight, we had everything on our tables. We had a batch of spaghetti on every table, a birthday cake, garlic bread, salad and some type of soda/drink.
We based our evening on an article in the 2006 Ensign titled "In the Arms of His Love", written by President Hinckley, addressed to the women of the church. He says, "Today membership in the Relief Society is somewhere around five million. It is organized in many nations and teaches in many tongues..."
He goes on to talk about 5 things that Relief Society stands for.
Relieve Society stands for love.
Relieve Society stands for education.
Relieve Society stands for self-reliance.
Relieve Society means sacrifice.
Relieve Society means faith.
I'd asked 5 women to talk about each of these points, and they did such an amazing job. Truly inspired women. The spirit was sweet.
I ended with President Hinckley's closing of the talk...
" This is what the Relief Society does for women. It gives them opportunity for growth and development. It gives them status as queens in their own households. It gives them place and position, where they grow as they exercise their talents. It gives them pride and direction in family life. It gives them added appreciation for good, eternal companions and children.
What a glorious organization Relief Society is. There is nothing to compare with it in all the world.
May the Lord bless each of you with these marvelous qualities that come of activity in the great Relief Society organization. For this I humbly pray, in the sacred name of Jesus Christ, amen."

For the activity Sandy and I had brought all kinds of fun odds and ends stuff. At each table we'd placed a speaker for the evening, so in the end she ended up helping her other dinner mates. We asked them to take 10 minutes and come up with a script about the quality that the speaker had spoken about. And then we asked them to use the props. All the props got swooped up in the first 2 minutes.
It was a hoot!
We have such great sports in our ward... oh they were so funny! We all had a really great time.
I'm so lucky to be part of this wonderful program for women. My life has been so richly blessed by my relationships with them and by their testimonies. Relief Society is truly an inspired organization.