November Relief Society Newsletter
A couple of weeks ago, when my children were out of school for Fall Break, my daughters and I decided to make a trip to Salt Lake City. Our plans included watching the newly re-made Joseph Smith movie, touring the Beehive house, going to lunch, of course…J and visiting the Relief Society Building. We were in for a real treat! I thought I would share with you our experience at the Relief Society Building…
As we entered the building, we were met by a sweet sister who became our guide. She encouraged us to go downstairs to the Resource Room, where we were able to learn more about the women’s auxiliaries of the church… my daughters enjoyed seeing all the things pertaining to Primary and Young Women’s. The spirit in the room was inspiring, and incredible. As we walked through the Relief Society area and looked at the beautiful pictures and quotes from our church leaders, I felt humbled and blessed.
We finished our tour of the Resource Room and headed upstairs to once again meet our guide. She gave us a quick history of the Relief Society building, telling us that in 1947, Sister Belle S. Spafford, ninth Relief Society general president, had asked each member of the Relief Society, (which at that time numbered 100,000 women) to donate five dollars to build the Relief Society building. She told us how women all over the world had sent in their donations. She told us that some of the sister’s who could not send money from their country, instead sent beautiful pieces of art to decorate the interior of the building. She took us into a room and showed us many of these works of art and talked about the sacrifices the sisters made to do this. She then led us into a room which had a long table, with many large binders. She told us how the names of every Relief Society sister who donated to the building were in those binders! She then encouraged us to look through the binders to see if we could find any of our relatives who may have donated. Needless to say, we were excited to see if we could find any! What fun it was, when together with my daughters, we came across the names of some of our grandmothers and great grandmothers!
This experience was an unexpected, sweet, faith – filled moment in time! Immediately I felt gratitude, admiration, and love for my relatives, and all of those sisters who had faith and sacrificed in a time when five dollars probably meant a week’s worth of groceries! These women and this story are examples to us all. These sisters understood the purposes of Relief Society and new this building was needed in furthering the work of our Heavenly Father.
In reference to this building, Sister Spafford declared: “This achievement represents great monetary value, but not monetary value alone. Herein are represented many intangible values-values of supreme worth-appreciation for the honored position accorded women in the gospel plan; testimony of the divinity of the work of the society; and gratitude for the opportunity given the sisters of the Church to serve…; loyalty to leadership; unselfish devotion to a great cause. It is a reflection of the greatness that is inherent within the society.” (Daughters in My Kingdom, pg.88)
As I have come to know this part of the history of our organization, I feel a deep appreciation for the sisters of our past. I feel a greater responsibility and loyalty to this incredible organization of Relief Society… We are truly blessed!
With much love,
Sister Jocelyn Walker
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