Women urged to serve others
E-mail story
It's easy. Send a link to the story you were just reading to a friend. Just fill out the form on this page and we'll send it along.
Your name and e-mail address are transmitted to the recipient. Otherwise, it is considered private information; see Privacy policy.
Click here to read the full transcripts of these addresses.
Women attending the LDS General Relief Society meeting Saturday night were urged to keep their covenants and be willing to serve.
"No matter what circumstances you sisters experience, your influence can be marvelously far-reaching," said President James E. Faust, second counselor in the First Presidency of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. "I believe some of you have a tendency to underestimate your profound capacity for the blessing of the lives of others."
"Here am I; send me" was the theme of the conference, which began with a short video featuring scenes from Nauvoo, Ill., and messages from members of the new Relief Society General Presidency.
Sister Bonnie D. Parkin said that when she was called in April to serve as Relief Society general president, she answered "Here am I; send me" because of the covenants she has made with the Lord.
Keeping covenants, which are "binding promises between us and our Heavenly Father," can bless individuals and families, provide protection and help us avoid needless suffering, Sister Parkin said.
The pioneer women being driven from Nauvoo relied on their covenants to survive the tiring journey, she said. "What else could grant such spiritual and physical fortitude?" she said.
Sisters Kathleen H. Hughes and Anne Pingree, first and second counselors in the Relief Society General Presidency, respectively, echoed Sister Parkin's message on the importance of keeping covenants and being willing to serve.
Sister Hughes referred to a woman depicted in a painting titled "Pioneers Arriving" who carries a brightly colored bag as she walks with her family. She said the woman's bag reminds her of bags she often sees at church and that she herself has carried, containing scriptures, books, bottles or various other things.
"Sisters, just as we carry our bags with us at church, so do we, metaphorically, need to carry another bag with us wherever we go — and in this bag is our treasure of covenants — because we are covenant women," she said.
Sister Hughes said LDS women need to be examples of modesty and teach their children about dress standards and chastity.
"The world's ways are too often becoming our ways and our children's ways," she said. "(Children) need to know specifically, not generally, what behaviors are acceptable for a man and woman outside of marriage. If we don't teach them, then the world will, with disastrous results."
Sister Pingree recalled a message she had seen written on a piece of the fallen Berlin Wall in Germany: "Many small people in many small places doing many small things can alter the face of the earth."
Women of the church, through acts of charity within their families and homes, can also make such a difference, she said.
"I know that wherever we live, in whatever circumstances we find ourselves, we, as covenant women, united in righteousness, can alter the face of the earth," she said.
President Faust, who was the closing speaker of the meeting, said women of the Relief Society are "heaven sent" as nurturers and caregivers.
He referred to the parable of the Ten Virgins, only five of whom were prepared to meet the bridegroom and had sufficient oil in their lamps.
"Sisters, it is important that you have oil in your lamps so that when you say to the Lord, 'Here am I; send me,' you are prepared and qualified to be sent," he said. "Involvement in Relief Society can help you replenish the oil in your lamps."
E-mail: ehayes@desnews.com
