Additional Relief Society Meetings

[WillowTheWhisp]

Has anyone got experience of restructuring in their Ward following Sister Beck's talk at the last Conference where she said that "Home Family and Personal Enrichment" meetings would no longer exist and that all Relief Society meetings would go by the name of Relief Society meetings?

I have been newly called to be a "meetings co-ordinator" but there seems to be a lot of confusion and misunderstanding as to what a meetings co-ordinator actually does. From reading, re-reading and praying about Sister Beck's talk I keep getting the same answer that my role is to help the RSPresident carry out the planning and co-ordinating of any additional meetings (other than the Sunday meetings) which she and Bishop have counselled together about and feel are required by the sisters in our ward.

Does anyone else see it differently?

I've had one sister tell me that I'm just a 'homemaking leader' with a different name and we should just carry on doing what she did before, another tell me that I'm the activities board member and should be planning Christmas parties etc, another tell me that I am supposed to liase between Primary, Young Women and Relief Society, and the RS President tell me that it is my responsibility to pray for revelation for what meetings are necessary. (I thought that was supposed to have been done by the RSP and Bishop before I even got involved) The more I read the talk and pray about it the more confused I become because I am still getting the same answer that I am supposed to be the one who helps out on the practical side of organising things once the plans and decisions have been made and yet my Bishop tells me that I do not have enough faith if I'm not getting the right answers.

I have tried to 'get the right answers' and now feel Heavenly Father is losing patience with me saying "How many times do I need to keep telling you the same thing before you will listen to me and stop asking?" In particular the story of Joseph Smith, Martin Harris and the lost manuscript comes to mind. Joseph got his answer from Heavely Father but kept pestering until he got a different one, then it proved to be wrong.

I'm at my wits end over this and just feel like walking away from the church altogether.

[WillowTheWhisp]

Has no-one else got experience of this calling?

I just don't know how to cope with the inadequacy of not getting revelation for something I don't actually believe I'm supposed to get revelation for.e

[WmLee]

I’ll admit up front that I understand little of what the RS does. My wife was served on a number of RS boards and committees and was once called as RS Pres. After Sister Beck’s talk the Stake RS pres came in during Stake Council and said she was advising the sisters to cut all the ‘fluff’ outtalk the program and get back to basics. That didn’t mean much to me until she also said she felt the men shouldn’t be playing basketball in the church (once a week at 5:00 am and one evening at 7:00 pm). She felt the church should simply be a place for spiritual growth. There are a lot of people here that disagree with this one.
This sister has been a member since before Joseph, (yep, she is not a young thing) and people respect her thoughts and ideas. But I feel she may have taken this one to an extreme. We have cultural halls with basketball and volleyball equipment for a reason. Part of what we do is developing physical and cultural interest.
Good luck. I know this hasn’t been much help. Perhaps a sister can be of more help.

[WillowTheWhisp]

Thanks Wm. That sounds a bit like something else someone was quoting about "we are in the business of saving souls not in the entertainment business", but I can't find the original talk unfortunately to put it in context. However, I do recall that when Joseph Smith was chastised for having fun he told his critics that a bow is not effective if it is kept permanently under tension.

I think the 'clearing out the clutter' idea comes from President Uchtdorf (I think it was) talking about the noble art of leaving things undone, as in not over-burdening people with this that and the other that they are expected to do when they are not at all necesary to do. Sometimes I have so much to do I've felt like I was meeting myself coming back!

[mightynancy]

Willow, the bishop and the RS Pres need to give you guidance here. I would do nothing until I'm told what the objective of your position is.

I'm becoming the one in my ward who asks "Is this necessary?" about each thing we do. Time is so precious that I hate to waste it.

[WillowTheWhisp]

Thank you Nancy. Unfortunately it wasn't that simple. When the Bishop called me he told me he hadn't the foggiest idea whjt I was supposed to do and to go away read Sister Beck's talk and pray about it, which I did.

On Sunday the RSPresident came to me and told me all that she was expecting of me which was certainly not what was in Sister Beck's talk so that threw me and I tried to tell her what I had read in the talk but she said I was just trying to pass the buck and avoid doing what I'd been called to do.

That got me even more stressed, but then on Tuesday one of her counsellors came to see me, having read and prayed about Sister Beck's talk too and said she had met with the RSPresident and explained to her that I was right and she was wrong and she (RS Pres)went away and prayed about it and finally agreed that she had been wrong.

So now I am feeling a lot more secure in what I'm doing and that at least 2 of us know where we're going with this!

[mightynancy]

I'm glad to hear that, Willow! Anxiously engaged should not mean freaking out! I'm glad things are made clear.

[Dravin]

There are a lot of people here that disagree with this one.

Yeah, like the Church who designs their buildings with cultural halls and basketball hoops.

[WillowTheWhisp]

Originally Posted by mightynancy

I'm glad to hear that, Willow! Anxiously engaged should not mean freaking out! I'm glad things are made clear.

I think it's because this whole concept is very new and there is no-one who has had experience of it before nor is there anything laid down in any manual or book of instruction so it was all down to personal interpretation and a lot of people were doing that rather than asking Heavenly Father if they were right. It became incredibly confusing but now I feel that we are all heading in the same direction because we have all listened to him and know what he want us to do.

It does make life a lot simpler.

[Wingnut]

The way I understood Sister Beck's talk was that nothing was changing except for the name. It didn't sound like you should have to liase between auxiliaries or that you are part of the activities committee (that's completely separate altogether). I took to just be "we're changing the name" though for what purpose, I didn't understand, since they just changed it 5 years (probably more, but not very long) ago.