This year we celebrated the 172nd birthday of the Relief Society, the largest women's organization in the world. In a stake training in February (2014), our Stake RS President (Sister Anderson) emphasized that, "We are not a social organization, we're not even a service organization. We're a salvation organization!" Around the same time, I was reading Daughters in my Kingdom when I came across the following quote:
"We must cherish one another, comfort one another and gain instruction that we may all sit down in heaven together." - Lucy Mack Smith
For some reason all of this really stood out in my mind. I know that this was The Lord's way of giving me some inspiration and helping us to plan our relief society birthday celebration. While doing some online research, I came across a blog that really stood out. This is exactly what we needed to do for our ward. The idea was presented to our ward relief society presidency and we ran with it.
Therefore, we met again as a Presidency and decided that our theme would be As Sisters in Zion with an emphasis on Lucy Mack Smith's quote above. We scheduled our weekend and assigned a member of our presidency to each day:
Friday, 3/14/14 - Blood Drive & Dance (Winona Alusa & Ikatonga Uluave)
Saturday, 3/15/14 - Temple & Dinner (Ana Hemaloto & Teli Hikila)
Sunday, 3/16/14 - Spiritual Journey (Lavinia Vaitai)
Due to a funeral that weekend, we didn't have our relief society dance as planned, but that was fine. That was the least of our worries and was for pure entertainment purposes. Saturday morning, we had a 7 a.m. endowment session at the Dallas Texas Temple. That was followed by our dinner at the chapel at 5 p.m.
The dinner was catered by Emeline Maile with the help of her husband, Aisea, and Sister Hemaloto. During the dinner, we acknowledged the 30+year history of the relief society in the Euless 2nd Ward, highlighting each of the former RS presidents. Based on interviews with our sisters, here's the list of Relief Society presidents who have served since the start of the first Tongan branch here:
- Halatono Netane
- Melesiu Katoa
- Tiloulou Va'ai
- Katea Naeata
- Ana Ita'aehau
- Kasinga Faletau
- Kafoatu Toafa
- Laungaeiki Vaitu'ulala
- Palu Ngungutau
- Nanise Uluave
- Seletute Alusa
- Lolohea Vaitai
- Langaola Tonga
- Seilaine Falahola
- Akesa Paongo
- Lolohea Hola
- Tiloulou Va'ai
- Ana Hemaloto
All except one of these sisters (Melesiu Katoa) are still living and in contact with our ward members. We had a few of these sisters share their experiences of relief society during their timesand some of the lessons they learned. What a blessing it is for our ward to share the wisdom of these sisters.
Our final day was my assignment and thankfully, my little sidekick here is always gungho about jumping on board "fun projects". We didn't have much time to work, but we had some pretty awesome helpers who needed a Choice & Accountability project for their Young Women's Personal Progress. I'm grateful for all their hard work and efforts because they definitely dedicated more than the required 10 hours.These 2 young women really worked hard and were diligent in their efforts. Here are a few pictures of their pre-work. I hope you 2 really enjoyed working on this Tiulipe Ahau & Lavinia Kioa. Because of y'alls hard work and efforts, those who attended the fireside were able to really feel the spirit of Lehi/Nephi's vision of the tree of Life.
As our ward meets in the afternoon (1-4p), we knew time would be tight for setting up. So, we gathered our resources (young men, young women and a few of the relief society sisters for the refreshments) and went to work immediately after church. Here are a few pictures from the setup.We were ready to rock n' roll about an hour early. I must say, the set up crew was pretty awesome and I couldn't be more proud of how accurately and efficiently everything went up. THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU to all those who lent a helping hand.
Just as the clock hit 7:30 p.m., we were ready to begin. Our stake relief society presidency, Bishop Ahau and members of our ward were all present. The evening began in the chapel with an opening hymn, The Spirit of God, and an opening prayer. I then gave an introduction talk on the purpose of the night and our focus, as a presidency, for the weekend.
Everything has a beginning, a middle and an end. The beginning of our Tongan relief society here in Euless was intimate and small, but no doubt there was a vision and a hope for the future. We are that future! We have grown tremendously, both physically and spiritually over the years. This is not the end though. There is a home in heaven waiting for all of us. And just like Lucy Mack Smith said, we hope to all be sitting in heaven together.
The journey ended at the Tree of Life where our Bishop welcomed us all home. If we stay faithful, our Heavenly Father will surely do the same. I know it's in Tongan, but I know that one can still feel the spirit of his talk just from listening. It was heartfelt and the spirit truly testified (at least to me) of the truthfulness of his words.
Our closing speaker for the evening was our Stake Relief Society President, Sister Anderson. It was a blessing to have her present and we really appreciated the thoughts she shared with us.
As we move forward, our hope is to truly live and work towards all that Lucy Mack Smith shared, "We must cherish one another, comfort one another and gain instruction that we may all sit down in heaven together" - Lucy Mack Smith. If we can do so, how happy and proud our Father in Heaven will be to welcome us home with open arms.
