Stake Women's Conference - year 2

Brian Kershisnik is the artist of this beautiful oil on canvas called "She Will Find What is Lost."  Of his oil painting Brian wrote: "many unseen forces are interested in you, love you, and work to influence matters for your profound benefit.  Most of what we all do is resist it, misinterpret it, or mess it up, but my experience indicates that these unseen efforts persist impossibly. 

 I thank God for that."

 We got the artist's permission (and paid him a small commission) to use this picture on our invitations and throughout the conference as we talked about the scripture found in 

John 14:26-27

Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you.

Not as the world giveth, give I unto you.  

Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.

I can't say enough good about these women!  They all served with heart and soul and carried out their responsibilities above and beyond that was needed.  

Melinda was over the decorations (she worked with a woman in our stake who owns a catering business and she graciously let us BORROW,

 free of charge, all of the beautiful decorations you see below!),

Kathleen was over the printed invites, programs, publicity and signage,

Dana was over all the set up, take down and technology needs,

I was over the luncheon.

Our stake has had the tradition for 22 years of organizing and offering a half-day conference for the women in the stake that is planned and carried out with their needs in mind.  Last year, this was the conference, and this year we decided to go a different direction. We had a general session first with a beautiful musical number (Come, Ye Disconsolate), an intro of our theme (which was taken from John 14: 26-27) and short talks by our stake president and his first counselor and then we divided into the break out sessions.  

We wanted this conference to provide real help for real latter-day saint women who are living in 2018.  We hoped that the presenters would share experiences from their own lives and how those experiences relate to the gospel of Jesus Christ and how we can feel peace and comfort in our lives, even amid challenges and difficulties.  Each presenter had 45 minutes to speak and the women who attended the conference chose three of the classes to attend.  It was a very difficult choice for them to choose only three classes! The teachers were all so well prepared and the classes were excellent.  These were the topics of our classes:

1.  Helping children find happiness living the gospel
2. WWJD: Christ's example of radical inclusion
3.  Hope and resources for those dealing with depression
4.  Finding peace and joy amidst life's challenges
5.  Living with a grateful heart
6.  Feeling God's peace through music
7.  Finding peace and hope when a loved one chooses to live an alternative life style
8.  The Family Proclamation: A battle worth waging
9.  Keep on the covenant path - tips for the trail
10.  Sean creyentes y felices y no se desanimen todo saldra bien
11.  Is happily ever after a fairytale in marriage?  No!!
12. Education for life: finding peace by preparing you, your daughter, and granddaughters for their unknown futures
13.  Accessing the Holy Ghost in times of trial
14.  Combating loss with creating: service and charity (especially) during the rough times
15.  The miracle of family search

BYU take-out food did an excellent job preparing the shredded chicken and seasoned ground beef for our build-your-own taco salads.  We had all the trimmings and everyone could choose their own preferences.  We also had a huge bowl of Clementines (cutie oranges) and key lime tarts for dessert, also prepared by BYU food-to-go.  We had priesthood men help set up the chairs and tables, serve the luncheon and help with clean up.  They were wonderful!  Rick was a huge help in picking up the food and being a over all great helper that day.  Our High Counselor over Relief Society was wonderful as well.  The saying that many hands make light work was very evident this day.  I'm so grateful to ALL those who served, who attended and who shared their personal experiences and their lives.  We felt like the conference was time well spent and we received great feedback that the conference was helpful to many sisters.  We estimate that over 300 attended that morning, as their time permitted. This was our goal - give our sisters concrete ideas of how to find peace, joy and comfort in their lives.  We feel like this goal was accomplished! Success!!