I attended the General Relief Society Session on Saturday night. Granted, most people wouldn't find it the coolest way to spend a Saturday night, but I thought it was great. Sister Beck, the President, spoke first. She discussed being strong in our faith, our family, and providing relief to others. After a song, the 2nd counselor in the General Relief Society Presidency spoke about the two reasons the Relief Society was founded: to relieve the poor and to save souls.
One way we can do this is through visiting teaching. I must admit that I do not always do my visiting teaching, but I am recommitting to 100% for October. Barbara Thompson, the 2nd counselor, was especially helpful for me. As a single woman in the church, Sister Thompson discussed how we can support families despite not having children of our own. The final speaker of the night was Pres. Thomas S. Monson. He honored the women of the church and discussed three goals: studying diligently, praying earnestly, and serving willingly. One thing that Pres. Monson said that really stuck with me is this: "pray for the abilities equal to your tasks instead of tasks that are equal to your abilities."
After the session, our stake provided a light dinner and we walked around looking at the art. A few weeks before the session, the Stake RS presidency asked for us to bring art to share. Sarah took some paintings and I took two skirts, a book I had made, and a box I had painted.
I love Sarah's paintings. She decided to take her swirly painting, her brown, green, and white striped painting, and her streaked painting. One of the coolest pieces of art there was made by a member of my singles ward. Amy Pectol had drawn a wonderful picture of Mary and Christ. I have included a picture of it in this blog entry.
Saturday. Luckily, I succeeded. On Saturday morning, I drove up to Salt Lake to see Ryan. We had lunch at Litza's Pizza. We then went to see Thriller, an amazing dance performance by the Odyssey Dance Company. It was at Kingsbury Hall and it was as good as last year. My favorite dances were "Curse of the Mummy," "Jason Jam," "Salem's Mass," and "River of Blood Dance." I would recommend the performance to anyone over the age of 12. Since it had been so long since we've seen each other, Ryan and I caught up. Afterwards, I drove to my parent's house for a Halloween party. I was horribly late and everyone had almost finished eating. Mom made a great meal of hamburgers, French fries, and rootbeer floats. For dessert, Sidney and Mom had made "dirt" cups. With chocolate pudding, crushed Oreo Cookies, and gummie worms, who could ask for more? Next came the games: eating donuts off strings, pin the nose on the pumpkin, and the candy toss. As I have said before, I love being with my family. I am sad that I was late and missed taking pictures of all the kids in their costumes. Hopefully my father and siblings will post their pictures of the event.
