Women of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints heard counsel to “care for one another and to teach each other” from President Henry B. Eyring of the Church’s First Presidency. “In our time, bands of valiant sisters across the earth have turned their faith into action.” President Eyring said, “What you have done remarkably well together is to cherish, watch over and comfort each other.”
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The general Relief Society meeting, held annually, convened in the Conference Center in Salt Lake City, Utah, on Saturday, 29 September. Satellite broadcasts to locations in the United States and Canada and a cable link from BYU television provided additional coverage of the proceedings. The meeting is currently available on LDS.org. In addition to President Eyring, members of the recently called general Relief Society presidency — Linda K. Burton, Carole M. Stephens and Linda S. Reeves — spoke. A choir of young single adult women from Salt Lake City provided music.
“Each of you is in a unique place in your journey to eternal life,” President Eyring explained. “Some have years of experience, and others are early in their mortal discipleship. Each is unique in her personal history and her challenges. But all of you are sisters and beloved daughters of our Heavenly Father, who knows and watches over each of you.”
Understanding the role and the Atonement of the Savior in our personal lives, said Linda K. Burton, Relief Society general president, allows us to “strengthen home and family, cleave unto our covenants and work in unity together with other auxiliaries and with the priesthood leaders to seek out and help others progress.” In the midst of challenges and difficulties, an understanding of the Savior’s Atonement also reassures us that “all that is unfair can be made right.”
Carole M. Stephens, first counselor in the Relief Society general presidency, talked of “awaking to our duties” through covenant keeping. “We are changed. We look and act differently. The things we listen to and read and say are different, and what we wear is different because we become daughters of God, bound to Him by covenant,” Stephens explained. Such spiritual awakening can help women face adversity, strengthen others and draw closer to the Savior.
In a tender and candid expression based on personal experience, Linda S. Reeves, second counselor in the general Relief Society presidency, testified “of the compassion, empathy and love that our Savior and our Heavenly Father feel for each of us every time we are weighed down by the anguish of sin, adversity and pains of life.”
Relief Society is the women’s organization of the Church and offers weekly instruction and fellowshipping, as well as opportunities to serve others in a myriad of ways, to its worldwide membership.