And a Little Bit o' That (At Women's Conference)

The Hospitality Team are affectionately nicknamed "The Angels in Blue Vests" because of the attractive blue vest that we got to wear to make us more easily spotted in  a crowd. One thing that they stressed in the training meetings is that we as volunteers were to seek out "the one." We needed to not only be friendly and helpful to the Conference goers in general but we were to seek out those who might need a little extra help, a friendly face or a reassuring touch on the arm.

One story that Joy Flitton, one of the Directors for Women's Conference told was about something that happened a few years ago. One of the Hosts noticed two women walking arm in arm towards a venue. They didn't look like the normal conference goers. Instead of looking excited and chatting happily, they looked sad and they looked like they were holding each other up for support. The host got the strong impression that she should compliment one of them about her dress. She thought it was a strange impression but she followed through with it anyway. When she complimented her dress, the woman started to cry. She explained that for the past 17 years she and her two sisters attended Women's Conference every year and it was something that they looked forward to. One of the sisters died before Conference and the remaining ones decided that even though they didn't want to attend, they would go to the conference. To honor the sister that passed away, one of them wore her dress, the dress that the host noticed.

On Friday, I had to conduct the prayer meeting to start the day because Jill had to be at the Marriott Center for the Opening Session. Along with the scriptures I read about serving others I debated whether or not to retell the story that Joy had told a month ago, worried that maybe some of the volunteers had heard the story if they had gone to that training session. In the end, I told the story. After the meeting was over, the person who gave the closing prayer was really emotional. I just thought that maybe something I had said had really touched her and that she was excited to start. She pulled me aside later and told me that she was the woman in the story that wore the dress. She was taken completely by surprise about the story and she was really excited to touch someone the same way someone touched her.

I think that it is important to remember that although grand gestures of charity are wonderful, sometimes it is the "Small and simple things" (Alma:37:6-7) are equally helpful. You don't have to head a huge fundraiser to help victims of a disaster to make your mark in the world. Sometimes, just saying hello to someone at the store or calling a friend you know is having a hard time has a great impact as well. I will try and start every day with the thought, "How can I make someone else's day better today?"

A Little Bit o' This (At Women's Conference)

So there were many, many people that I met at Women's Conference. Here are some of my experiences with them.



This is Ann Dibb, she is the Second Counselor of the Young Women's General Presidency. That means that she is in the presidency of the Young Women's Organization for the entire world for our church. Her father, Thomas S. Monson  is the President and Prophet of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. One thing that struck me is that she looks so very much like her father. Can you see the resemblance?



So, she was one of the speakers on Thursday and I met her briefly that day when we escorted her to the concert hall to give her speech. On Friday she came to listen to the afternoon speaker, Margaret Nadauld. Friday was packed and it was a madhouse trying to find seats for everyone. She came partway through the session and asked me if there were any seats available. I lead her to the front of the auditorium where I had found one seat on the third row. She stood outside the auditorium and told me that she didn't want to make a big fuss and cause a big disruption. I asked young girl who was sitting next to the empty seat if the seat was taken and if I could sit someone next to her. She said it was fine and you should have seen her face when she looked up to see Ann M. Dibb sit down next to her; it was an expression of shock and awe. She probably also thought to herself, "I better not act sleepy and be dilegent in my note taking."

This is Silvia H. Allred, she is the Second Counselor of the General Relief Society, the women's organization of the Church. Her session was packed! The entire main floor was crammed with women lining up to see her talk. We had to try and snake the lines throughout the art exhibits, because it was too cold to have the line go outside. Because of the tightly packed quarters, some of the women were getting a little testy. At one point, the volunteer at the entrance had to stop the line from going into the theater because someone had to escort Sister Allred in and lead her to the stage. So while the volunteer at the entrance was helping someone read a map and find her way to the class that she wanted, another woman tapped her on the shoulder and kept asking her what was going on. The volunteer held her hand up to show that she was helping someone else and she would help her soon. That woman turned to her friend and said, "I don't know what's going on! I bet there are a ton of seats still! Just you watch, that girl will turn us away and we won't be able to get in, I can't believe this!"

That's when the volunteer had finished helping the other woman and she said, "The reason we stopped the line is so Sister Allred can get in." At that, she pointed to Sister Allred who was walking toward them not more than 15 feet away. The volunteer watched the color drain away from the two complainers' faces as they stammered, "Oh, I guess that makes sense," and as to try and make up for it, they said things like, "My, Sister Allred looks lovely today, doesn't she?"

Moral of the story, watch what you say.

My impression of Sister Allred is that she is very bubbly, personable and really, really tiny! I had to seek her out several times because someone needed to talk to her and each time, she was standing right in front of me.

"Sister Allred? Sure, I'll get her for you! She is right.....here...standing... right in front of me." (Sheepish grin) It's not very often when I have to look down to see an adult, I'm just not used to it.

Margaret Nadauld is a former General President of the Young Women organization. I got to speak to her the longest. She didn't seem the least bit nervous that she was going to address almost two thousand people. Her session was so popular that we had to turn away about 600 people. She thanked the volunteers for all the hard work we were doing and she and her husband were actually very chatty.

Just meeting these remarkable women made it all worth it.

Better Than Herding Cats.

I got a call from my friend Jill the back in January.

Jill: Winnie, I was just asked to be a Project Leader for Women's Conference in April. I was wondering if you would be interested in being a team leader. We will be in charge of the hospitality team at the De Jong Concert Hall in the Harris Fine Arts Center at BYU.

Winnie: Uhhh., I've never been to Women's Conference.

Jill: I just think it would be really fun to work with you and I think that you would do a really good job. (The undercurrent was, "We've been friends since third grade and I would REALLY like your help.")

Winnie: Uhhh, what do I need to do?

Jill: We need to find forty volunteers, set up a schedule, attend training meetings and oversee the venue. I really want to you do it, but no pressure.

Winnie: Uhhh, oh, alright.

It actually turned out to be a really fun. Jill and my other lifelong friend Becky found volunteers (well, mostly Jill - I found out that I'm not really good at soliciting help). We figured out the rotation schedule and we made sure that the forty volunteers got all the information that they  needed.

I was in charge of the "survival kit" for all the volunteers. Becky and I found some canvas bags at Hobby Lobby. Oooh, I love that place, except there is so much there that I get overwhelmed. Then another friend of mine helped cut out petals and leaves from wool. I assembled the flowers in the car to and from California (between the flowers and knitting Rachel's blanket, I had plenty to do.)

I think Brad was getting tired of me squealing and exclaiming, "Oh! Look at this flower! It's so cute!" I attached the flower to the bag with a safety pin, so it could be easily removed in case someone wanted to use it for someone else (like a headband or a brooch, perhaps?).

Inside each bag, I put some band aids, safety pins, a small bottle of water, gum and some anti-bacterial gel. I think they turned out really cute and I got many compliments on the bags.

The two days of the conference was a lot of running around and trying to help conference goers find their way. I found that the busier we were, the more fun I had. I have many stories to tell but I think I'll save them for other posts, just to break it up a little.

 

Trying to keep the lines orderly and finding seats got a little difficult sometimes.



I had a really good time and I wouldn't mind doing it again next year. Wait, did I say that out loud?

Hey I Didn't Know You Quilted...

I didn't know I could either. Every year, Brad's brothers and sisters exchange Christmas gifts to the family of one of their siblings. This year, we had this cute family:

Dan, Abby, Kate, Lucy and Sadie

Then I came up with the ambitious project of making them a quilt. I have never pieced a quilt before, the whole idea scares me. There is so much precision and exact measuring involved, the whole idea gave me hives. I asked my hurricane-of-creative-energy-friend Kristen if she would be willing to teach me. Before I knew it, I was sitting on her floor looking at dozens of cute fabrics and making trips to specialty fabric stores and trying to figure out endless combinations of how the fabrics would go together. I also decided to make this my Individual Worth project for my Personal Progress. In the end, I came up with this:

I love the colors, I call it the happy quilt. I spent about a month and a half working on the quilt, fininshing just days before Christmas. Kristen made a similiar quilt excecpt that she had it machine quilted and I hand quilted mine (with a LOT of help from my dear mom). I even stitched Dan and Abby's initials on the center of the quilt. I thought it would give it a little more personal touch. Plus if I had their initials on the quilt, it would make it harder for me to keep the quilt for myself (which I was sorely tempted to do).

(I don't know why blogger keeps rotating this picture)

I was hoping that taking the picture without a flash so it would show the colors more true to life.

Back of the quilt.

I have always admired and respected someone that could quilt but now that I've actually done one, my admiration and respect has increased tenfold. I don't think I could have finished this quilt without Kristen guiding me through the process. Plus those rotary cutters scare the daylights out of me. I had a lot of fun making the quilt, piecing it with Kristen was a laugh a minute and I really liked talking with my mom while we sat around the quilting frame. Will I quilt again? Probably, but not right now.

Feather and Fan Baby Blanket

Still no word yet on my hard drive. To tell you the truth, it makes me a little bit nauseous when I think about it. Hopefully Brad will be able to get the hard drive back and we'll be able to recover something.

On a much lighter note, I just finished my latest knitting project. It took me about two months to complete and elicited the exclamation, "Mom, you are always KNITTING!" from Caleb. This completes experience #2 in the Knowledge value.
The body of the blanket was knit on the bias (good practice for increasing and decreasing), and the trim involved reading a crazy lace chart that I never thought I would be able to decipher let alone execute. I got the pattern from a knitting blog I frequent, brooklyntweed, I love his style and I think he's a genius!


Funny story, I took the blanket with me to Southern Utah to work on during Spring Break. I was about 90% done with it and I left it at the hotel we stayed in at Springdale. Luckily they found it and kindly shipped it back to me. I would show you other pictures of spring break ...but...*sigh*.

At any rate, this is the most challenging knitting project I have done to date and I'm quite pleased with the results.

Someday I'll knit something that I will actually keep.

Project: New Beginnings

For my Individual Worth project, I was in charge of and organized our ward's New Beginnings program on January 19.

Since the Young Women's theme this year is taken from the scripture Joshua 1:9, "Be strong of of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with the whithersoever thou goest". I along with my advisors and the beehive presidency decided that we would have the theme of the program be Courage.

We came up with the idea of the Cowardly Lion (a la 'The Wizard of Oz') as she is journeying along the yellow brick road that will lead her home to Heavenly Father. As she walks along,she encounters other travellers that give her advice and tokens that will help her have the strength and courage to go home.

I wrote the framework of the skit and I had each one of the girls write about the specific elements that would help a person which are: have a positive attitude, confidence, do your best, pray, be teachable, and be prepared.

Kristin, one of my advisors is super creative and she was in charge of the decorations and making everything look nice. She made a hood that looked like a lion's mane and paws. She also put up yellow squares along the front of the room so that it wood look like a yellow brick road. We got Rachel to be the lion and she looked sooo cute!

Sheryl, my other advisor was in charge of the refreshments and the creation and printing of the programs

The evening went really well. I learned from past experiences that it is important to really delegate the responsibilities and not step in and micro manage. It is important to let people really have ownership of their task and although they might not necessarily have done it the way you would have, it turns out just fine, if not better.

I was really impressed with the things that my twelve and thirteen year old girls came up with for the skit. They were well prepared and they had fun writing their own parts.

By letting everyone have real responsibilities, their sense of self-worth is increased.

I am very proud of everyone who helped with this program.

Qualities

Experience #1. What are some of the divine qualities of a daughter of God? Read "The Family: A Proclamation to the World"; 2 Peter 1; Alma 7:23-24; and Doctrine and Covenants 121:45. In your own words, list the divine qualities discussed in your reading. Think about how you can discover and develop each of these qualities. Record your ideas in your journal.

After reading the selected scriptures, I found that some qualities that are divine are: charity towards men, virtue, humble before God, submissive and gentle, patience, long suffering, temperance in all things, and diligence.

Some things I feel like I'm pretty good at, others I need serious work. Actually, I probably can do a lot better in all the areas, except humbleness. I am the most humble person in the world and I doubt you can find anyone that is as humble as me. (Ha! I kid, I kid.)

I think that some of these qualities might not necessarily been seen in the World's point of view as strengths such as submissiveness, gentleness, long suffering and temperance in all things. However, I think if viewed in the proper light, these things are strengths and not weaknesses.

For example, it takes much more strength to be gentle in a difficult situation than it is to willfully assert your own will. And if being long suffering doesn't require (sometimes superhuman) strength, I don't know what does.

I keep praying for more patience and yet lately I've been in more situations where my patience is tried. Great.

We are all works in progress.

Gifts, pt.2

The second part of completing this experience is recording the thoughts I have on the matter of Spiritual Gifts. In Moroni 10:8-18, it lists some of the spiritual gifts that have been given. They include; wisdom, knowledge, faith, healing, miracles, prophecy, ministering spirits, and speaking of tongues to name a few. These gifts are big!

They are also not any of the gifts that others have noticed that I have.

People have noticed that I am kind, I have a good sense of humor, I'm really good with kids and that I'm patient and loving, and creative.

Before I despair that I don't have any of the "big gifts" that was listed in the scriptures, I know that everything good comes from God and although maybe being good with children isn't as dramatic as healing the sick, it still is a gift and that there is a reason I have it. Many times, it is these small gifts that help us obtain the bigger ones.

I've also learned that if there is a gift that you want to have and maybe you don't, you can work on it. First, observe others with that gift and try to learn what they have done to cultivate it. Second, pray for help. Third, work hard and try and develop it.

The Lord will not make us do what we are not capable of doing and he will give us all that we need if we but ask.

Gifts, pt.1

I am working on an experience in the value of Divine Nature involving spiritual gifts. I am so supposed to ask friends and leaders to write down some positive qualities that the Lord has given me.

I am also going to read several scriptures pertaining to that subject.

After I get some responses, I'll add to this post my feelings on the whole experience.

So friends and people that I admire, what do you think? Thanks for your help.

I'm Baaaack...

Hello, did you miss me? (Maybe you shouldn't answer that one.) Life is busy and I've come to realize that the more you have to blog about, the less time there is to blog. But I hereby announce that I'm going to try and catch up. I'm also going to include a new topic: Personal Progress.

The Young Women's Organization of my church has a program where all girls from the ages of 12-18 has a Personal Progress booklet where there are projects and experiences that they do in order to receive a Young Womanhood certificate and medallion. It's a little bit like the Boy Scouts program where they work on specific goals and get recognition for them.

Since I am in the Young Women's presidency of my ward, I've decided that I'm going to try to earn my Young Womanhood recognition. Even though I haven't been a young woman for some time now, I'm going for it. One of the responsibilities I have is to encourage the girls to work on there Personal Progress. If I go through this with them, then I think that I will understand it more and what I have to say will carry more weight.

From time to time I will blog about my experiences and I might even ask you for some input. Thanks for bearing with me and keeping me honest. (Hey, I think this might fulfill a Choice and Accountability Experience.)