Women’s Conference in New England Fosters Belonging Through Service

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By Jacke Asher, Church News

After two years of planning and praying, Valerie Earnshaw watched as nearly 600 Relief Society members gathered in Manchester, New Hampshire, on May 31 to find belonging at a women’s conference with the theme “Joy in Christ.”

Earnshaw, who is the Concord New Hampshire Stake Relief Society president, and other stake Relief Society presidents in New England were searching for a way to help women feel connected to the global Relief Society, which has nearly 8 million members worldwide, when someone suggested holding a women’s conference.

“We wanted people to feel connected to the larger group of Relief Society and the joy and power that comes from truly being a disciple of Christ,” said Earnshaw.

Earnshaw explained that many wards in New England are spread far apart, sometimes making gathering difficult.

With this challenge in mind, the stake Relief Society presidents reflected on the last time a women’s conference was held in the New England area — in 2019 — and decided a similar event would meet the needs of current Relief Society members.

“We just wanted to help women create joy through inclusion,” said Earnshaw. “This place where everybody can come. Everybody can belong.”

Earnshaw accepted the role of director of the conference and spent the next two years coordinating service projects, finding speakers and choosing class topics with the help of seven other stakes in Vermont, New Hampshire, Maine and Massachusetts.

Service was an important part of the conference, according to conference committee member Ellen Pack.

“In Relief Society, we work together to minister to each other, no matter what our circumstances are,” she said. “We are truly trying to be like Jesus and minister as He would do.”

In the year leading up to the conference, Relief Society members from Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Vermont donated over 1,000 blankets to My Very Own Blanket, an organization that distributes blankets to foster children. They brought an additional 200 blankets to the conference, which were draped over the railings of the gym where the conference was held.

“It felt wrapped in the love of all of those women who had made all of those quilts,” Earnshaw said of the venue.

The day of the conference, Relief Society members assembled homeless kits — drawstring bags filled with items such as water bottles, socks, personal hygiene items, feminine products, sunscreen, rain ponchos, bowls and utensils. Each bag also held a note of love and encouragement written by one of the conferences attendees.

Pack delivered the 700 assembled homeless kits to HOPE for NH Recovery after the conference. This service project was especially meaningful to Pack because her youngest daughter was homeless for a time.

“This service brought us closer to God because we felt His tender mercies upon us and truly felt how intimately He knows of our personal struggles and sorrows,” she said. “We were happy to be part of the solution for others who were in a similar situation that our daughter had been in.”

In addition to participating in the service project, Relief Society members chose three breakout classes from 24 options, including finding joy through physical health, enhancing temple worship, navigating differences without contention and finding unity in diversity.

The women also heard from several speakers and ate lunch together.

One of the first parts of planning the conference was choosing a theme, according to Earnshaw.

She said many members of the committee felt the theme should be “Joy in Christ.”

“I think it kind of mirrors what we’ve been hearing from the Apostles in conference, and it speaks to a lot of the struggles that people are having,” she explained.

According to Earnshaw, the committee recognized many women in their stakes were experiencing intense struggles — everything from marital problems to dismal health diagnoses. Without diminishing the heartache that comes from these trials, the committee wanted to show that Jesus provides joy during pain.

“People need to know that it’s not a placebo, but it really is the answer to all of the struggles that we have,” said Earnshaw. “And we find the joy in Christ not when we’re done with trials or we have no trials; we find the joy in Christ in the midst of our trials, because He is in the midst of our trials with us.”

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