Relief Society Enrichment Night

The Relief Society has a President, and two Counselors. Her first counselor oversees the education of the sisters. The lessons, teachers, Visiting Teaching, etc. The second counselor (that's me) oversees Enrichment Night. Enrichment Night is a program in the church where women meet together on a quarterly basis to learn, socialize, serve, and share their talents. So, I basically plan inspiring events- it is really fun! So far this year we have had a homemade bread-making class, a Visiting Teaching University Brunch (more on VT later!), and most recently our Canning/Gardening class.

This enrichment night started with a potluck dinner, followed by 5 mini-classes that had to do with using the surpluses from our community gardens. There was a class on green smoothies (yes, I taught this one along with my good friend Amparo who makes killer "power juices" as she calls them), sprouting, and canning salsa, stewed tomatoes, and strawberry jam.

Our Green Smoothie Demo

Our Canning Demo

Our Sprouting Demo

The Potluck

It was a very successful evening with a lot of good information and great food shared! Our next event will be a beach party with the entire ward.

July 14, 2009

The Relief Society

I am the second counselor in the Relief Society. Like all of the callings or responsibilities in the church this is a volunteer position, inspired by God and sustained by all of the members of our congregation. It has been an honor and a joy to serve in this capacity. I wanted to share some of my experiences with my calling on my blog, but since several of you may not be familiar with what the Relief Society is, I thought I would share with you first some of the background and story of the Relief Society:

In the spring of 1842, Sarah M. Kimball and her seamstress, Miss Cook, discussed combining their efforts to assist the efforts of workers on the Nauvoo temple. They determined to invite their neighbors to combine efforts as well and assist in creating a Ladies' Society. Sarah M. Kimball asked Eliza R. Snow to write a constitution and by-laws for the organization for submission to the Prophet Joseph Smith for review. After reviewing the notes, Joseph Smith commented that although the constitution and bylaws were the best he had ever seen, he said "this is not what you want. Tell the sisters their offering is accepted of the Lord, and He has something better for them than a written constitution. Invite them all to meet me and a few of the brethren in the Masonic Hall over my store next Thursday afternoon, and I will organize the sisters under the priesthood after a pattern of the priesthood.”

On Thursday, March 17, 1842, the Prophet Joseph Smith organized 18 sisters into the Relief Society of the Church in the second-story meeting room over the Smith's Red Brick Store in Nauvoo. Joseph Smith, along with John Taylor, and Willard Richards of the quorum of the 12 apostles sat on the platform at the upper end of the room with the women facing them. The Spirit of God Like a Fire Is Burning was sung, and John Taylor opened the meeting with prayer. Joseph Smith stated "that the Society of Sisters might provoke the brethren to good works in looking to the wants of the poor—searching after objects of charity and in administering to their wants—to assist by correcting morals and strengthening the virtues of the community..."

It was proposed that the organization go by the name Benevolent Society, however, Emma Smith made a point of objection. She convinced the attendants that The Female Relief Society of Nauvoo would better reflect the purpose of the organization, for they were to do great acts of "relief," not merely be "benevolent." After discussion, it was unanimously agreed that the name of the organization be The Female Relief Society of Nauvoo.

Joseph Smith then offered five dollars in gold to commence the funds of the Society and the men left the room.

Emma Smith made some remarks such as that each member should be ambitious to do good and seek out and relieve the distressed. Several female members then made donations to the Society.

The men returned, and John Taylor and Willard Richards also made donations. After singing Come Let Us Rejoice, the meeting was adjourned. John Taylor then gave a closing prayer.

Today, 167 years later, this inspired and essential organization, now know as simply the Relief Society has more than 5.2 million members in over 170 countries and territories, and is one of the oldest and largest women's organizations in the world.

In a talk given by Julie B. Beck, our Relief Society General President, she stated:

"We have sought inspiration from the Lord to know how to assist the priesthood in building up the kingdom of God on the earth. It is time for Relief Society to fulfill its purpose as never before. To move forward and achieve what the Lord desires, we must clearly understand the purpose of the Relief Society."

She continues: "Just as the Savior invited Mary and Martha of the New Testament times to participate in His work, women of this dispensation have an official commission to participate in the Lord's work. We know through the Prophet Joseph Smith that Relief Society was a formal part of the Restoration and that a similar organization for women existed in the Church anciently. Through Relief Society, women have an official role in the church with great responsibilities."

So, what are some of these responsibilities? Or in other words, what is the mission or purpose of the Relief Society?

The official purpose of Relief Society is to "assist priesthood leaders in carrying out the mission of the Church by helping sisters [women] and families come unto Christ."

In support of that mission, I would like to mention five specific purposes:

· Build faith in the God, and our Lord Jesus Christ and His Atonement. To teach the doctrines of the kingdom of God, encouraging Sisters to live and share the restored gospel.
· Emphasize the divine worth of each sister.
· Exercise charity and nurture those in need; Our motto is "Charity Never Faileth" and through providing Relief, Sisters offer a support system to individuals and families in and out of the church.
· Sustain the priesthood; Sisters are taught to understand the purposes and blessings of the priesthood and to look to priesthood leaders for guidance in individual and Relief Society matters.
· Strengthen, uphold, nourish, and protect families; Sisters are taught the eternal nature of the family. They are encouraged to participate in temple and genealogy work. Training in home-making and nurturing skills is offered to strengthen the individual and the family.

In those early meetings of the Relief Society, Joseph Smith declared, "The Society is not only to relieve the poor, but to save souls."

I know that this true. I testify to you that the Relief Society is an inspired and necessary part of the Restored gospel of Jesus Christ and is a powerful force among the world providing relief and administering in the saving of souls. I would like to end by sharing with you the Relief Society Declaration which states:

We are beloved spirit daughters of God, and our lives have meaning, purpose, and direction. As a worldwide sisterhood, we are united in our devotion to Jesus Christ, our Savior and Exemplar. We are women of faith, virtue, vision, and charity who:

Increase our testimonies of Jesus Christ through prayer and scripture study.

Seek spiritual strength by following the promptings of the Holy Ghost.

Dedicate ourselves to strengthening marriages, families, and homes.

Find nobility in motherhood and joy in womanhood.

Delight in service and good works.

Love life and learning.

Stand for truth and righteousness.

Sustain the priesthood as the authority of God on earth.

Rejoice in the blessings of the temple, understand our divine destiny, and strive for exaltation.

Avila Beach- Day 2 with the Wagners

Next we headed to Avila beach. It was busy, but really beautiful. Ben finally somewhat overcame his fear of the ocean and actually got wet! Brad loved it, and Savanna could be a beach bum every day of her life. James had a blast with Ken building tunnels and sand castles. He got a crazy sunburn though. He blames it on my "natural" sun block, but I put it on all the kids and myself, and HE was the only one that got burned. My sun block? I think not!

We're not sure what he is doing here

That's better

July 22, 2009

Young Love

Bradley has a serious crush on Kendyl. He is thoroughly enjoying her visit and will be very sad when they have to leave. He asked me if Kendyl could spend the night. I said we could ask her mommy. Then he said, "I want her to sleep in my bed." I told him there wasn't enough room in his bed for the two of them. He gave me a very indignant look and replied, "Yes there is. I have two pillows!" Just for the record, she did not sleep over, and definitely did not sleep in his bed!


Our two favorite places in the county have to be Avila Beach and Morro Bay. Whenever we have visitors we try to take them to at least one of these places. So, we spent the day in Avila with Jackie and Ken and the fams. We started off at the barn and fed the animals, and then we had to pick berries too.

Two Drama Queens

Ben, tasting the berries- notice his basket is empty!

Cutie Pie, Taryn

My Best Bud, Jax

July 22, 2009

The Champion!

Our friends Jackie and Ken came for a visit with their two adorable daughters, Kendyl and Taryn. They brought their Wii. My boys had never played, and Ben rocked at the boxing game. He just kept winning and, as you can see from the video, he is very proud. Ken taught him a new phrase, "Yea, I took them down!" It's nice that he is doing this in the virtual format for a change.

July 21, 2009

The Good Gopher

The boys discovered a gopher in the dirt perimeter around our little patio today. Out in our garden gophers are despised, and even referred as the anti-Christs. But somehow here in our patio, with nothing of value in danger, this furry, lone creature seemed cute and friendly. The boys decided to make it their pet. They fed it, and even named it. Check it out... :)

Fun in the Sun

We went to visit our new friends Maia, Aiden, and Billie Jean from our home schooling group. They live in a beautiful community out on the mesa with a killer pool! The kids had a blast. Bradley is pretty much swimming on his own, and Benjamin is pretty close! My goal is to have both of them swimming by the end of the summer, so we can do more water activities. :)

Check out those goggles!

The 7 Keys to Great Teaching

There are many different ways and philosophies that families use to home school their children. James and I were lucky to be introduced to exactly what we were looking for as far as our vision for the education and growth of our children. It is referred to as a Thomas Jefferson Education. I know I have blogged about this in length (I'm sure many of you did not read my long sermon!), but I came across this article online that is a great overview of what a Thomas Jefferson Education is, and why it hit home with us on personal, educational, and even spiritual level.

A Thomas Jefferson Education
Leadership Education for the Twenty-first Century

"Almost everyone agrees that modern American education needs to be improved, but almost nobody agrees on what the 'fixes' should be or how they should be implemented." These are the words of Oliver DeMille in his revolutionary book A Thomas Jefferson Education [George Wythe College Press, 2006]. DeMille draws a distinct difference between education and teaching and says "Teaching, and not educating, should be our focus, because great teaching inspires students to educate themselves." According to DeMille "teachers teach and students educate".

Three Educational Categories
In DeMille's book, he categorizes "schooling" in three ways: Conveyor Belt education, Professional education and Leadership education. DeMille explains that a conveyor belt education prepares the student for a job by teaching them what to think and he places most public schools in this category.

A professional education, according to DeMille, is one that is received through apprenticeship, trade school, law school or medical school, creating specialists and teaching a student when to think.

DeMille's final category is what he calls Leadership education or Thomas Jefferson Education which teaches students how to think, thus preparing them to be leaders, entrepreneurs and statesmen. DeMille does an excellent job of not only presenting the reader with a thorough history of education but also in analyzing the historical data in a clear and concise manner.

The Key to Leadership Education
According to the author the " fundamental difference between leadership education and the other types of learning, is that the leadership curriculum is individualized". DeMille's opinion is that in order to provide an individualized education to the student, teachers must first understand the developmental stages and process which accompany a great education. In A Thomas Jefferson Education, these four developmental stages are called the Phases of Learning: Core Phase (approx. 0-8 years old), Love of Learning Phase (approx. 8-12 years old), Scholar Phase (approx. 12-16 years old) and Depth Phase (approx. 16-22 years old).



The Key Elements
Great men and women throughout history studied other great men and women. Throughout the book, DeMille states "find a great leader in history, and you will nearly always find two central elements of their education – classics and mentors". DeMille describes a Thomas Jefferson education as including the following seven key elements:
· Classics, Not Textbooks
· Mentors, Not Professors
· Inspire, Not Require
· Structure Time, Not Content
· Quality, Not Conformity
· Simplicity, Not Complexity
· You, Not Them

Leadership Education
The great leaders of history, both men and women, were educated in the manner that author Oliver DeMille proposes in his book A Thomas Jefferson Education. According to DeMille to achieve greatness and leadership “all it takes are classics, mentors and hard work”. The author includes a list of 100 classics as well as a list of classics for youth and children. Also included in the appendix are sample discussion questions, where to find the classics, recommended readings and an appendix titled "Putting Thomas Jefferson Education to Work". The author has written a second book titled A Thomas Jefferson Education Home Companion [George Wythe College Press, 2006] which guides parents through the process of implementing this educational philosophy at home.

Thomas Jefferson said "If a nation expects to be ignorant and free, in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be". The American educational system and it's "conveyor belt" method have proven to be inadequate in preparing its students to be the leaders of tomorrow. The key elements of a Thomas Jefferson, or Leadership, education can be implemented in public, private, charter and homeschools alike, however the home and family are always the key elements to any education. For more information visit TJEd Online.