After dinner, we watched this video in honor of the founding of the Relief Society 174 years ago, and heard a brief history, which can be found below.
In the spring of 1842, members of the Church in Nauvoo were busily occupied with the work of building the Nauvoo Temple. Two such members were Sarah Granger Kimball and her seamstress, Margaret A. Cook, who, while talking together one day, decided to combine their efforts in order to help the temple workmen. Sister Kimball said that she would provide fabric so that Sister Cook could make shirts for the men. The two women decided to invite other sisters to join them in forming a ladies’ society to further their benevolent efforts. Sarah Granger Kimball recalled: “The neighboring sisters met in my parlor and decided to organize. I was delegated to call on Sister Eliza R. Snow and ask her to write for us a Constitution and By-laws, and submit them to President Joseph Smith prior to our next Thursday’s meeting.”
After looking over the proposed constitution and bylaws, the
Prophet pronounced them the best he had ever seen but then said: “‘This is not
what you want. Tell the sisters their offering is accepted of the Lord, and he
has something better for them than a written Constitution. I invite them all to
meet with me and a few of the brethren … next Thursday afternoon.’”
So on Thursday, March 17, 1842, 20 sisters were present in
the upstairs room of the Red brick store when Joseph Smith, the prophet, announced
the creation a women’s organization.
The prophet taught those who were present about the purposes
of the new organization. He told them
that the purpose of the organization was to give relief to the poor, the
destitute, the widow and the orphan, and for the exercise of all benevolent
purposes. Not only to relieve the poor,
but to save souls. Joseph also told the sisters that, “The Church was never
perfectly organized until the women were thus organized.”
It was at this first meeting that the sisters elected Emma
Smith as the President of the Relief Society. Emma told the sisters, “we are
going to do something extraordinary!”
Since those early days of the Relief Society, the women of the Church have remained a tremendous force for good. At a meeting held a week after the Relief Society was organized, Lucy Mack Smith, the Prophet’s mother, gave the sisters counsel that extends to millions of women in the Church today: “We must cherish one another, watch over one another, comfort one another and gain instruction, that we may all sit down in heaven together.”
This month the Relief Society will turn 174 years old. It is
the oldest and largest women’s organization in the world. The Relief society is in over 170 countries
and has over 6 million members.
Relief Society clarifies our work and unifies us as
daughters of God in defense of His plan. In this day of mistaken identities,
confusion, and distraction, Relief Society is meant to be a compass and guide
to teach the truth to faithful women. It’s purpose is to build faith and
personal righteousness, strengthen families and homes, and help those in need.
The Relief Society motto "Charity Never Faileth", describes the kind of organization that we strive to be, and the kind of sisters we hope to become.
The scripture passage this motto is taken from can be found in 1 Corinthians 13: 3-8
“And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing.
Charity
suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself,
is not puffed up,
Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh
not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil;
Rejoiceth not in
iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth;
Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth
all things.
Charity never faileth: but whether there be prophecies, they shall fail; whether there be tongues they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away.
