This weekend our Region had an amazing opportunity. Sister Beck, the general Relief Society president came into town to speak to us. She happened to be coming to our church building, and it was being broadcast all over the city to different stake centers so everyone could have the chance to hear from her.
I'm ashamed to admit that I hadn't given much thought to going to listen to her. And frankly, since my foot was in so much pain I really wasn't very enthusiastic about going (It was also really rainy and using crutches in the rain is just that much harder!). Mike came home from church and told me that I should expect a call from Angie because he and Steven set up for us to go together. At this I changed my thinking and was a little excited to go. I love hanging out with Angie, and a couple hours away from the responsibility of being a mom was enticing enough. So Angie called and came to pick me up at 4. The fireside started at 4:30 so we thought we had plenty of time to get there and get a seat.
We couldn't have been more wrong. The place was PACKED. I've never seen a building more packed. Every chair in the whole building was taken. People were sitting on the little kids chairs from primary, There were even people sitting on the floor! It was insane. Every seat on the stand was filled and it wasn't a choir, they were just there to hear her speak. It was incredible.
We found 1 seat and started to look around for a chair to put at the end of the row so we could sit together. We decided to look up by the bishops office where they usually keep a dozen chairs or so (they were all gone). There is also a door that leads right into the front of the Chapel. We opened the door hoping to score, but no luck. There were some women there who suggested finding some chairs and just sitting in that foyer with that door open so we could at least have a good view. So Angie went on a hunt for some chair (I was pretty much useless at this point and just stood there holding the door open-with my crutches). She returned with no luck.
Right at that moment a woman from our ward came up and told me that she was saving a seat for her daughter but she didn't think she was coming and offered me the seat. She had room for Angie too. We looked in and our jaws dropped as we saw the seats she was talking about.... FRONT ROW!!! And the seat she was saving for her daughter was one of the wingback chairs from the foyer. I believe it was the most comfortable seat in the house!!! Now I didn't need this treatment, I would have been fine on the floor, but I took it! Angie and I sat down and looked at each other and squealed! We couldn't believe our luck. Not more than a few minutes passed and I realized what a blessing my sprained ankle actually was. I never would have received the sympathy of that sweet woman and been offered that seat.
We got to sit about 5 feet from Sister Beck for 2 hours! She made eye contact directly with me several times during her talk. While we were singing we looked at each other and smiled (I know I blushed) and she waved at me (And no! like mike asked, she wasn't waving at someone else. I was close enough to her to know she was waving at me!). After the fireside was over we got to shake her hand and give her a hug. It was truly amazing!
I learned so much from this woman too. A couple of things that stuck with me~
A few tools that the devil uses to get us are anger, apathy, and entitlement. Anger is mine...I'm working on getting anger out of my life.
Our visiting teaching needs to become a new mission. We need to watch for the needs of our sisters, not just wait for them to call on us. We need to not just have a number we are checking off each month. We need to help our Relief Society know the needs of every family in our ward.
We need to have a checklist of these 4 things to do first thing in the morning
1. roll out of bed and directly on my knees (pray)
2. Spend some time in the scriptures. And when commenting on how long to spend in the scriptures she said "spend some time in the scriptures every day... period. Somedays it will be a few seconds, some days it may be hours"
3. Make your bed, it tells the Lord that you aren't going to get back into bed
4. Get dressed. It lets the Lord know that you are ready for what he has in store for you
I loved this opportunity and blessing that I was given. I will truly cherish this memory.
I'm ashamed to admit that I hadn't given much thought to going to listen to her. And frankly, since my foot was in so much pain I really wasn't very enthusiastic about going (It was also really rainy and using crutches in the rain is just that much harder!). Mike came home from church and told me that I should expect a call from Angie because he and Steven set up for us to go together. At this I changed my thinking and was a little excited to go. I love hanging out with Angie, and a couple hours away from the responsibility of being a mom was enticing enough. So Angie called and came to pick me up at 4. The fireside started at 4:30 so we thought we had plenty of time to get there and get a seat.
We couldn't have been more wrong. The place was PACKED. I've never seen a building more packed. Every chair in the whole building was taken. People were sitting on the little kids chairs from primary, There were even people sitting on the floor! It was insane. Every seat on the stand was filled and it wasn't a choir, they were just there to hear her speak. It was incredible.
We found 1 seat and started to look around for a chair to put at the end of the row so we could sit together. We decided to look up by the bishops office where they usually keep a dozen chairs or so (they were all gone). There is also a door that leads right into the front of the Chapel. We opened the door hoping to score, but no luck. There were some women there who suggested finding some chairs and just sitting in that foyer with that door open so we could at least have a good view. So Angie went on a hunt for some chair (I was pretty much useless at this point and just stood there holding the door open-with my crutches). She returned with no luck.
Right at that moment a woman from our ward came up and told me that she was saving a seat for her daughter but she didn't think she was coming and offered me the seat. She had room for Angie too. We looked in and our jaws dropped as we saw the seats she was talking about.... FRONT ROW!!! And the seat she was saving for her daughter was one of the wingback chairs from the foyer. I believe it was the most comfortable seat in the house!!! Now I didn't need this treatment, I would have been fine on the floor, but I took it! Angie and I sat down and looked at each other and squealed! We couldn't believe our luck. Not more than a few minutes passed and I realized what a blessing my sprained ankle actually was. I never would have received the sympathy of that sweet woman and been offered that seat.
We got to sit about 5 feet from Sister Beck for 2 hours! She made eye contact directly with me several times during her talk. While we were singing we looked at each other and smiled (I know I blushed) and she waved at me (And no! like mike asked, she wasn't waving at someone else. I was close enough to her to know she was waving at me!). After the fireside was over we got to shake her hand and give her a hug. It was truly amazing!
I learned so much from this woman too. A couple of things that stuck with me~
A few tools that the devil uses to get us are anger, apathy, and entitlement. Anger is mine...I'm working on getting anger out of my life.
Our visiting teaching needs to become a new mission. We need to watch for the needs of our sisters, not just wait for them to call on us. We need to not just have a number we are checking off each month. We need to help our Relief Society know the needs of every family in our ward.
We need to have a checklist of these 4 things to do first thing in the morning
1. roll out of bed and directly on my knees (pray)
2. Spend some time in the scriptures. And when commenting on how long to spend in the scriptures she said "spend some time in the scriptures every day... period. Somedays it will be a few seconds, some days it may be hours"
3. Make your bed, it tells the Lord that you aren't going to get back into bed
4. Get dressed. It lets the Lord know that you are ready for what he has in store for you
I loved this opportunity and blessing that I was given. I will truly cherish this memory.
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