Perth Australia Southern River Stake and Birthing Kits

Packed 1000 in an hour we did! It was a tremendous effort by us all of the Perth Southern River Stake, a wonderful afternoon where we learnt just how these small and unusual kits were used in third world countries. No western would-be Mum has had to go through such an ordeal in modern times. I was both proud and humbled to have been part of it. The news was published by The Church Of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saint's newsroom on April 15. Many friends were gathered in the great hall which we affectionately call The Barn to pack these kits. The event was followed by a scrumptious afternoon tea. I am so blessed to be a member of the Lords' Church and the oldest worldwide Women's organisation - Relief Society of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints!


Relief Society sisters of the Perth Australia Southern River Stake packing birthing kits in the Stake Centre's 'The Barn'

A few busy fingers....

We sisters with our packed boxes of birthing kits. I am fourth from the left in the front row and my friend Aileen is second from the right in the front row. A great effort

The Newsroom stated:
They joined more than six million women in Church congregations worldwide in honouring the establishment of the Relief Society.

Relief Society began on 17th March 1842 in Nauvoo, USA. Today, its work continues in building faith, strengthening home and family, and providing relief.  This is reflected in its motto, “Charity Never Faileth”.
Latter-day Saint women join its ranks beginning at the age of 18, mingling with women in all stages of life.

Amongst the Australian service projects, members in Adelaide and Perth observed the anniversary by assembling and then donating 1200 birthing kits to new mothers in developing countries.

The 171st Anniversary called for “a meaningful service project,” said Jan Addis, Adelaide’s Firle Ward Relief Society President.  “A really important part of the work of Relief Society is to provide relief and give compassionate service, not just as we celebrate this milestone but right throughout the year.”

“Often the needs we meet and the help we give are focused within our own community, but for our anniversary project we looked at broader humanitarian concerns,” she said.
“We felt that the 200 birthing kits that we created would benefit women who are in great need of supplies and education. The women in our ward (congregation) were very interested and happy to be involved.”
While the Adelaide birthing kit project was conducted on a ward level, nearly 100 members of the Relief Society of the Perth Southern River Stake gathered in Thornlie to pack 1,000 birthing kits as part of their service project.
The Relief Society members in both cities were supporting the work of the Birthing Kit Foundation (Australia), an organisation dedicated to improving conditions for women in developing countries who give birth at home, often on dirt floors.
The foundation provided the strict hygiene guidelines for assembling the birthing packs as it does for all community groups wanting to support its aim of reducing childbirth-related deaths.
An estimated 385,000 women die annually in childbirth, many from infections acquired during labour.
The kits contain a plastic sheet, soap, gloves, sterile scalpel blade, cord and gauze squares, and are principally designed for home birthing in remote and rural areas where the maternal death rates are much higher.

“As well as providing the kits, the foundation trains local women in the recipient areas to assist in safe childbirth delivery which has an enormous impact,” said Adelaide’s Jan Addis.
“We found it really uplifting knowing that an initiative like this is literally life-saving; we felt connected with women across the globe.”

“It was also good to remember that among Relief Society’s six-million-strong membership throughout the world, many similar service projects took place in conjunction with the anniversary.”

Elder M. Russell Ballard, a member of the governing council of Twelve Apostles has said, “Latter-day Saint women, strong in faith and testimony, have truly been given the errand of angels.  Every sister in this Church who has made covenants with the Lord has a divine mandate to help save souls, to lead the women of the world, to strengthen the homes of Zion and to build the kingdom of God” (Daughters in My Kingdom, p. 25).

Relief Society is one of the oldest and largest women’s organisations in the world.

Members of the Twelve Apostles speak at the Saturday afternoon session of April General Conference 2013

 

 

Some homes have a father who is a worthy priesthood holder joined by a faithful, devoted mother who together lead in righteousness. Many homes have a different configuration. Regardless of your circumstances, you can center your home and your life on the Lord Jesus Christ, for He is the source of true peace in this life. Be certain that every decision you make, whether temporal or spiritual, is conditioned on what the Savior would have you do. When He is the center of your home, there is peace and serenity. There is a spirit of assurance that pervades the home, and it is felt by all who dwell there........Doing all we can to invite the gentle, guiding influence of the Holy Ghost into our lives is critical in our attempts to center our homes on the Savior. Acting obediently on those promptings strengthens us even more......We need not worry if we can’t simultaneously do all of the things that the Lord has counseled us to do. He has spoken of a time and a season for all things. In response to our sincere prayers for guidance, He will direct us in what should be emphasized at each phase of our life. We can learn, grow, and become like Him one consistent step at a time....

As there is no Priesthood in my home I can pray for guidance, seek Heavenly Father's help and strive to listen to the Holy Ghost. I can obey Christ's commandments and have faith and hope that one day the Priesthood will be in my home! I am so blessed to have a home, somewhere to lay my head, to participate in service activities, seeking out more names for the Temple of my family, to attend to my calling and to love my family, doing what i can with my limited means for my grandchildren...great blessings indeed

and in times of trials and disasters...

Confused about what they had witnessed and concerned about further attacks, they made their way to a safer area and then to the Manhattan stake Church building at Lincoln Center. When they arrived, they found that dozens of other members in lower Manhattan had made the same decision to gather at the stake center. They called to let us know where they were. I was relieved that they were safe but not surprised at their location. Modern revelation teaches that the stakes of Zion are a defense and “a refuge from the storm, and from wrath when it shall be poured out without mixture upon the whole earth.”^2...In contemplating these events, I have been impressed with the doctrinal difference between universal or world peace and personal peace.³...Agency is essential to the plan of happiness. It allows for the love, sacrifice, personal growth, and experience necessary for our eternal progression. This agency also allows for all the pain and suffering we experience in mortality, even when caused by things we do not understand and the devastating evil choices of others. The very War in Heaven was waged over our moral agency and is essential to understanding the Savior’s earthly ministry....Think not that I am come to send peace on earth.”⁷ It is clear that universal peace did not exist on the earth during Christ’s mortal ministry, and it does not now....

In the Lord’s preface to the Doctrine and Covenants, a number of very important principles are taught. With respect to those who do not repent, His Spirit (the Spirit of Christ), which is given to every person who comes into the world,⁸ “shall not always strive with man.”⁹ Also, “peace shall be taken from the earth.”¹⁰ Prophets have declared that peace has indeed been taken from the earth.¹¹ Lucifer has not yet been bound and exercises power in this dominion.¹²

The heavenly aspiration of good people everywhere has and always will be for peace in the world. We must never give up on achieving this goal. But, President Joseph F. Smith taught, “There never can come to the world that spirit of peace and love … until mankind will receive God’s truth and God’s message … , and acknowledge his power and authority which is divine.”^13...

This principle is succinctly captured in the Doctrine and Covenants: “But learn that he who doeth the works of righteousness shall receive his reward, even peace in this world, and eternal life in the world to come.”¹⁴

President John Taylor taught that peace is not only desirable, but “it is the gift of God.”^{15...President Heber J. Grant described the Savior’s peace this way: “His peace will ease our suffering, bind up our broken hearts, blot out our hates, engender in our breasts a love of fellow men that will suffuse our souls with calm and happiness.”17}

The peace to which I am referring is not just a temporary tranquility. It is an abiding deep happiness and spiritual contentment.¹⁶

 

 

I can find peace by praying and doing my best to dissolve contention between us in the home and by visiting the Temple as often as I can, attending Sabbath day meetings, giving service and striving for a loving and caring nature.

Conference for me!

I said I would write and post more conference information after reading. I was looking for comfort and strength because I do not have the sealing power or the Priesthood power in my home, which I share with non-members!

Elder Boyd K. Packer of the Quorum of the Twelve recited a beautiful poem that had taken half his life to write and copied here. When he finished he spoke of the finches in his garden that were attacked by snakes and he wondered if evil had penetrated his Garden of Eden and thought yes, we have been warned time and again, and he added this statement that I hold to myself about my family:
'We live in a very dangerous world that threatens those things that are most spiritual. The family, the fundamental organization in time and eternity, is under attack from forces seen and unseen. The adversary is about. His objective is to cause injury. If he can weaken and destroy the family, he will have succeeded. Isaiah said, “The work of righteousness shall be peace; and the effect of righteousness quietness and assurance for ever.”That peace is also promised in the revelations in which the Lord declares, “If ye are prepared ye shall not fear.”...The consummate power of the priesthood has been given to protect the home and its inhabitants. The father has the authority and responsibility to teach his children and to bless and to provide for them the ordinances of the gospel and every other priesthood protection necessary. He is to demonstrate love and fidelity and honor to the mother so that their children can see that love.' Well I have no Priesthood in the home, so its go it alone with me and Heavenly father. I think perhaps that is why Kemp and Martha were trying to get me to be sealed to Les. But that will not bring the Priesthood power into my home as the Temple President said. The priesthood holder needs to be living; marriage and sealing. After reading that bit of his talk and thinking no Priesthood holder here for me, I went around the house, room by room, except Danny's room which was locked, and banished the evil one as Moses did. I used the back veranda for Danny's room. But I do have my Heavenly Father and I know I have His protection. And I know that my family is being attacked by the adversary and making my life miserable, or it could do if I allowed it. And here is Elder Packer's beautiful poem:
“Unfinished Composition.” The first
part of that work goes like this: By Boyd K. Packer and read at the 183rd
General Conference April 2013
I had a thought the other night,
A thought profound and deep.
It came when I was too worn down,
Too tired to go to sleep.
I’d had a very busy day
And pondered on my fate.
The thought was this:
When I was young, I wasn’t 68!
I could walk without a limp;
I had no shoulder pain.
I could read a line through twice
And quote it back again.
I could work for endless hours
And hardly stop to breathe.
And things that now I cannot do
I mastered then with ease.
If I could now turn back the years,
If that were mine to choose,
I would not barter age for youth,
I’d have too much to lose.
I am quite content to move ahead,
To yield my youth, however grand.
The thing I’d lose if I went back
Is what I understand.

Ten years later, I decided to add a
few more lines to that poem:

Ten years have flown to who knows where
And with them much of pain.
A metal hip erased my limp;
I walk quite straight again.
Another plate holds neck bones fast—
A wonderful creation!
It backed my polio away;
I’ve joined the stiff-necked generation.
The signs of aging can be seen.
Those things will not get better.
The only thing that grows in strength
With me is my forgetter.
You ask, “Do I remember you?”
Of course, you’re much the same.
Now don’t go getting all upset
If I can’t recall your name.
I would agree I’ve learned some things
I did not want to know,
But age has brought those precious truths
That make the spirit grow.
Of all the blessings that have come,
The best thing in my life
Is the companionship and comfort
I get from my dear wife.
Our children all have married well,
With families of their own,
With children and grandchildren,
How soon they all have grown.
I have not changed my mind one bit
About regaining youth.
We’re meant to age, for with it
Comes a knowledge of the truth.
You ask, “What will the future bring?
Just what will be my fate?”
I’ll go along and not complain.
Ask when I’m 88!

And last year I added these lines:

And now you see I’m 88.
The years have flown so fast.
I walked, I limped, I held a cane,
And now I ride at last.
I take a nap now and again,
But priesthood power remains.
For all the physical things I lack
There are great spiritual gains.
I have traveled the world a million miles
And another million too.
And with the help of satellites,
My journeys are not through.
I now can say with all certainty
That I know and love the Lord.
I can testify with them of old
As I preach His holy word.
I know what He felt in Gethsemane
Is too much to comprehend.
I know He did it all for us;
We have no greater Friend.
I know that He will come anew
With power and in glory.
I know I will see Him once again
At the end of my life’s story.
I’ll kneel before His wounded feet;
I’ll feel His Spirit glow.
My whispering, quivering voice will say,
“My Lord, my God, I know.”

And I do know!

Its a beautiful poem of a good man's life, one that believes in and loves the lord with all his heart, might, mind and strength! I am inspired to try and write one myself!

183rd General Conference in Salt lake

My hearing is so bad now that I have taken to watch and read this 183rd General Conference online as I did the last conference session in October last year. In the Saturday morning session President Monson spoke in his opening remarks of the conference of all the travelling he had done in six months since the last conference. Of special significence was the opening of the Tegucigalpa Temple in Honduras for the dedicated Saints in that land. Further Temples were announced to be constructed in Cedar City and another in Rio De Janiero. It seems at each copnference now more Temples are announced. I think we now have 158 Temples built around the world.

Ground was first broken for the Tegucigalpa Honduras Temple on Saturday, June 9, 2007—one year from the date of its announcement—at its originally chosen location adjacent to the institute building on the eastern side of the city. President Spencer V. Jones of the Seventy presided at the event, which was attended by invited priesthood leaders and their families—several of whom participated in the first ceremonial scoops of dirt with gold-colored shovels. Stake presidents from Nicaragua expressed gratitude that the temple would be only four hours away, allowing them to spend more time doing ordinance work than traveling, as had previously been the case.
President Monson went on to tell us that there are now 65,634 full-time missionaries now serving, 20000 who had calls issued and a further 6000 in the interview process since he announced the lowering of the missionary age in October. He marvelled how many of the youth had sprung forth to serve missions after that announcement. Because of the sudden spirt in growth, a further 58 mission fields have been prepared! We have all been asked to contribute to the mission fund and I am thankful that I have already started doing that about three pensions ago. I am awed that I anticipated our Prophet's words and the Spirit had been whispering to me and I heeded his whispers. There may be more conference addresses written in this blog as my reading progresses!
And as I write this, because of the rain  we have had, the perfume of the bush drifts through my front door. It is deligthful and I want to jump in the car and head for Jarrahdale to wander through the trees near Wungong Brook as in my junior years.