Relief Society Lesson

If you know me, it's quite possible that you already know this--teaching Relief Society is one of my most favorite things. I was asked to teach the Relief Society lesson two weeks ago (May 17th), but we had a joint lesson instead. As a result, I was designated to be the teacher for the R.S. lesson last week which also resulted in a change of materials. Last Sunday was the fourth Sunday of May and on the fourth Sunday of each month our lessons are based on talks from the most recent session of General Conference. I had the opportunity to teach the fourth Sunday lessons in Relief Society for two glorious years (I'm not exaggerating here, it was an amazing experience) when I was at LDSBC, so being able to teach this week was a tender mercy for my calling-deprived heart. What follows is: 1-a comparison of my teaching experiences and 2-the actual lesson.

Teaching a Lesson to an Audience of Another Language/Culture/Country: A Comparison
During my "tenure" as a R.S. teacher I became slightly well-known for a silly reminder that went something like this, "These lessons are supposed to be discussion-based, which means there should actually be (pause, pointed look) discussion. Questions are not rhetorical unless otherwise noted." Beginning each lesson this way seemed to help break the ice and add a little humor, while gently reminding the sisters that their involvement in the lesson was wanted. One of the things about the Almaty branch and this culture, is people aren't afraid to speak up, so no reminder was necessary. It takes just a moment after the first question for one, two, then three and more voices to perk up and give a comment, and subsequent questions are followed by even shorter pauses before discussion. As I mentioned before, no preparatory reminder was needed, but I'll be honest-- when starting the lesson I felt a little like a deer staring wide-eyed at oncoming headlights--I didn't know how to begin!

My past lesson preparations have always been a little... scattered. My method for lesson preparation normally consists of a lot of reading with a vague outline. When your lesson is going to be translated, there's no point in saying things twice if you don't have to, so I had to make more specific preparations than normal. I went through and prepared a few questions, found and numbered the answers to those questions in the body of the talk, then went to the talk in its Russian format and highlighted and numbered the corresponding sections. It was good to "need" more structured preparations as it required me to be a little more on top of things.

The presentation of the lesson went a little like this:

• When I asked a question, Svyeta translated what I said.
• Sisters would comment and Svyeta translated what they said.
• I may make a comment or two, which Svyeta would again translate, and then I would have Svyeta read the section of the talk that corresponded to the next point I wanted to address. (By not reading the sections in English and then reading it in Russian, we saved a lot of time.)

It was a fun and challenging experience. I really enjoyed the opportunity to teach but have to admit that Svyeta saved the day and did all the "heavy lifting."

The Lesson
The Liahona takes a little while to travel across the world, so our lesson was based on Elder Quentin L. Cook's talk entitled "Hope Ya Know, We Had a Hard Time," from the fall session of Conference.

What are some trials we face in life?

"The challenges we face today are in their own way comparable to challenges of the past. The recent economic crisis has caused significant concern throughout the world. Employment and financial problems are not unusual. Many people have physical and mental health challenges. Others deal with marital problems or wayward children. Some have lost loved ones. Addictions and inappropriate or harmful propensities cause heartache. Whatever the source of the trials, they cause significant pain and suffering for individuals and those who love them."

Who has trials?

"...many of the trials and hardships we encounter in life are severe and appear to have lasting consequences. Each of us will experience some of these during the vicissitudes of life.

"The novel A Tale of Two Cities opens with the oft-quoted line “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.” The scriptures make it clear that each generation has its own version of best and worst of times. We are all subject to the conflict between good and evil and the contrast between light and dark, hope and despair. As Elder Neal A. Maxwell explained, “The sharp, side-by-side contrast of the sweet and the bitter is essential until the very end of this brief, mortal experience.” We know from our doctrine that good will overcome evil, and those who repent and are sanctified shall be given eternal life."

Why do we have trials?

"One of the essential doctrines illuminated by the Restoration is that there must be opposition in all things for righteousness to be brought to pass. This life is not always easy, nor was it meant to be; it is a time of testing and proving. As we read in Abraham, “And we will prove them herewith, to see if they will do all things whatsoever the Lord their God shall command them.” "

How should we face our trials?
I actually summarized the example he used of two LDS pioneer women, but here they are as quoted in Elder Cook's talk:

"Sister Whitney recorded her expectations upon leaving Nauvoo: “I will pack away all my little ribbons, collars and laces, etc., for we are going where we cannot purchase them. We are going out from the world to live beyond the Rocky Mountains where none others will wish to go. There will be neither rich nor poor among us, and we will have none but the honest and virtuous.” Sister Whitney’s words resonate with an idealistic optimism.

"Despite Sister Whitney’s optimism, her first three children died at or near birth—two of them during her extended exodus from Nauvoo to Salt Lake. Sister Whitney has blessed us with her writings in defense of our faith and was the mother of the Apostle Orson F. Whitney.
"Sister Bathsheba Smith’s recorded feelings are also full of faith but evidence some trepidation. She had seen the mobs arrayed against the Saints in Missouri and was present at the death of the Apostle David W. Patten.
"Recalling the evacuation of Nauvoo, she wrote: “My last act in that precious spot was to tidy the rooms, sweep up the floor and set the broom in its accustomed place behind the door. Then with emotions in my heart I gently closed the door and faced an unknown future, faced it with faith in God and with no less assurance of the ultimate establishment of the Gospel in the West and of its true enduring principles, than I had felt in those trying scenes in Missouri.”

"Sister Smith recorded the poverty, sickness, and privation that the Saints suffered as they made their way west. In March of 1847 her mother passed away, and the next month her second son, John, was born. Her record of that is brief: “He was my last child, and [he] lived only four hours.” Later in her life she was the matron of the Salt Lake Temple and the fourth general president of the Relief Society."

Obviously these sisters faced their trials differently. Was one better than the other? No. While they faced their trials with different attitudes (one optimistic, the other uncertain), they both had faith and continued through their trials with faith.

"Both of these LDS pioneer women remained strong in the gospel throughout their lives and provided wonderful service in building Zion, but they faced many additional trials and hardships, which they both faithfully endured."

How can we face our trials with hope and faith?

"We know from the scriptures that some trials are for our good and are suited for our own personal development... Regardless of the challenges, trials, and hardships we endure, the reassuring doctrine of the Atonement wrought by Jesus Christ includes Alma’s teaching that the Savior would take upon Him our infirmities and “succor his people according to their infirmities.” "

We can find hope as we remember that our trials are for our good and that the Savior can draw us closer to Him in these times of difficulty and spiritual need.

"Regardless of our trials, with the abundance we have today, we would be ungrateful if we did not appreciate our blessings. Despite the obvious nature of the hardships the pioneers were experiencing, President Brigham Young talked about the significance of gratitude. He stated, “I do not know of any, excepting the unpardonable sin, that is greater than the sin of ingratitude.” "

We must remember in spite of hardships that we are greatly blessed (and focusing on blessings can help ease the weight of burdens).

The last point of the lesson drew on the experience and testimony of an Ellen Yates from Grantsville, Utah. Her story is in Elder Cook's talk, but in brief, her husband died in a car accident on the way to work some 10 years ago. His best friend happened to be acquainted with the family of the young man who was responsible for the accident (and also died) and arranged a meeting between the grieving spouse and parents:

"When Brother and Sister Willmore arrived, they expressed their great sorrow that their son was responsible for Leon’s death and presented her with a picture of the Savior holding a little girl in His arms. Sister Yates says, “When times become too hard to bear, I look at this picture and remember that Christ knows me personally. He knows my loneliness and my trials.” One scripture that comforts Sister Yates is “Wherefore, be of good cheer, and do not fear, for I the Lord am with you, and will stand by you.”
"[...] Sister Yates concludes, “Through this trial, I have felt the love of my Father in Heaven and my Savior in greater abundance than I had ever felt before.” She testifies that “there is no grief, no pain, no sickness so great that the Atonement of Christ and the love of Christ cannot heal.” "

There are times when our burdens may seem overwhelming but our Heavenly Father will never require us to take on more than we are able. If we will turn to him he will strengthen us and although our trials and their consequences may persist we will have the strength of the Lord with us and we will be able to endure with faith, hope, and love.

I have a firm testimony that our Heavenly Father knows us individually and cares for each of us. We will each be called upon to bear trials and burdens which we likely can't yet imagine, but I am certain that He can be with us through those tough times and help us carry those burdens. He will never leave us comfortless.

Charlie Chaplin Meets Visiting Teaching

This past Saturday we had a Relief Society mini-conference. The focus of the conference was mostly visiting teaching. The visiting teaching coordinator (and also a counselor in the R.S. Presidency) is a very talented pianist. She came up with a brilliant idea to illustrate "good" and "bad" examples of visiting teaching. I was only able to get one complete video, and it is of the "bad" version (you're in luck, since that's the funny one).

Chris mentioned once that Charlie Chaplin is still pretty popular here--people love the silent films. I guess it may have been that familiarity with that genre of films that helped create this presentation. I am going to see if we can do the performance again after church on Sunday so that I can have Chris record it. I love how appropriate the music is for the action, and it seems to me it works better than words ever could.

It was a lot of fun to be in this and the best part about it: No verbal language. It was nice to really participate!

In case you aren't familiar with visiting teaching: It is a program for the women in our church, wherein we are assigned a companion and together with our companion we have sisters from church that we "visit teach". The goal is to visit each sister at least once a month in her home and share a spiritual message. It is a way of establishing friendships as well as making sure the spiritual and temporal needs of that sister and her family are being met. Because we are women and we like to talk, sometimes it is easy to be side-tracked while visiting and spend time talking about things of lesser importance and not actually helping our sister. I'm not sure it's completely clear, but in the video we don't bring a spiritual message, we bring a magazine similar to that produced by Avon (with beauty products galore) and we spend our time talking about beauty, makeup, hair, etc.

Lagman **pronounced lawg-mawn**

A few weeks ago our Relief Society had an activity. We met at the church at 11:00 a.m., then left a little after noon, to go to the home of our branch president and his wife. (If you thought "Mormon Standard Time" was bad in the States, just imagine what it is like when you rely on public transportation!) Our branch president is Uyghur ethnicity, and although his wife, Elmira, is Ta-tar, she has learned some of the Uyghur dishes from her husband's family. This activity was so she could teach us how to make lagman.

The pictures below are of some of the sisters in our Relief Society. It took us a while to get started as there was another car of sisters on their way. (President Sultan drove from his house into the city to pick up the rest of our group from the church--it's at least a 30-45 minute drive.)


Lagman is a noodle soup. The soup has meat in it, but it is fully of veggies and noodles. These noodles are not your standard macaroni. They are homemade and yummy! They are also a lot of work.

The large picture in the collage below shows us working on step 2 (or was it 3?) of stretching the dough into noodles.


To be honest, I can't remember exactly how many times we stretched the noodles. It was at least four times, but may have been five. The dough starts out as one very thick "noodle" (they compared its size to a sausage), then you stretch it and divide it into a few noodles; the resulting noodles are thicker than a hot dog, and can be divided. The process of stretching the dough is similar to making snakes with play-dough except it is much more difficult. {The dough takes much much more work to stay in the stretched snake form than play-dough, I'm not sure why or what causes it, but it has a much different texture (more dense/tougher??) than play-dough and needs more "encouragement" for formation}

The picture in the upper left of the collage below shows Elmira standing behind me a little to the left. She is stretching the noodles in this picture, and doing it speedily with great precision. Watching her makes it look like a cakewalk... she was kind enough to reassure me that she used to stretch the noodles with as much difficulty as me.


One of the amazing things about stretching the noodles was becoming aware of the muscles in my fingers and arms that I apparently don't work very often. Although I wasn't sore later, these muscles were telling me they were tired long before we were finished.

You boil the noodles and then divide into bowls:


Then you top the noodles with the veggie-meat part of the soup and broth. Then, serve.


These are the women of our Relief Society. While a few are missing, these are most of our sisters. These women are amazing! They are simply so committed to the gospel of Jesus Christ and have great faith in Him and this work. I believe most, if not all, have had to gain faith in not just a few of the principles or doctrines of the gospel of Jesus Christ, but in Jesus Christ himself. It is humbling to see and hear these wonderful sisters bear testimony of the change that has come into their lives as they have heard the good news and embraced it with full purpose of heart. Their desire to learn and live according to the Lord's commandments is amazing. Their love for each other is quite an example as well. These gatherings are more than just a bunch of women getting together, it is truly a bunch of sisters getting together and the bonding and exchanges shared are proof of that unity and sisterhood.


When it was time to depart we were divided into the two cars according to the regions of the city so the drivers could save on gas. As we left the neighborhood I saw two wild dogs that both looked like wolves. I gasped and said something like, "Oh! Look at those..." and then realized (and said aloud) that none of the other passengers in the van knew English! It took me another second to remember that President Sultan does know English, and we both started laughing. It was an interesting experience, and a first for me. Never before had I been unable to communicate with people I knew.

Relief Society Activity

A little while ago we had an all-day Relief Society activity. We started out with some games and then had breakfast... there were little sausage sandwiches, cabbage-filled piroshkis (so good!), olive and cheese toothpicks, and plenty of juice.
We had some more games and activities, and then LUNCH. We ate salad, soup, and manti.
One of the activities before lunch was an activity we can do with our children for FHE. The activity was a lot of fun! It consisted of using a bag of gummy bears to re-create a scripture story.

These were the final products! They were pretty amazing!!! Can you guess which stories are depicted??

The days before the activity I committed to go, but was uncertain of how things would go with Addie. I kept having images of my toting around all day an increasingly unhappy Addie. I happened to forget one thing: half the time we're at church we don't even hold her ourselves! Plus, this child is amazingly social! She loved the activity!

After lunch there was another lesson and then the sisters split up to practice songs. Then we had the privilege of hearing from Elder and Sister Vincent. They are the senior missionary couple here from the States. They have been here a little more than a year and will depart in April. After their talks we had another "meal" of fruit, salad, and other leftovers. We then cleaned up the rooms we used and departed! It was about 5:30 p.m. when we got on the road. It was such a fun day!

Visiting Teaching

I don't know about you, but I love visiting teaching. I can't say that I'm perfectly consistent, but I do my best. I love how different visiting teaching is in a family ward... there is such a variety of sisters...

Anyways, I just have to say that tonight I visited one of my sisters, named Harriett. (My companion is with her husband while he does his graduate internship during the summer, so I made the visit by myself.) Harriett is the best! She is a grandmother (but still very youthful herself) and has made a point to make sure my companion and I knew how glad she was to have young visiting teachers from the day we were assigned to her. =) Her husband was out tonight, and she knew Chris was working, so I ended up visiting with her for two hours! I honestly can't tell you who was visiting whom... she is such a doll and so concerned about making sure I'm well taken care of with the baby coming and all.

I just love the way visiting teaching works... I know Harriett loves our visits, but honestly, I think we may love them probably even more! And it's like that with all the sisters I am now or ever have visited. I love how you can be paired up with a companion and "assigned" to sisters you never have the opportunity to get to know well otherwise, and then you just grow to love them so much, so quickly...