November Message

I love fall! I love the change in the air, the brilliant colors of the leaves falling from the trees! I love it when the clouds break apart after a rain, and there’s that beautiful blue in the sky that you only see in the season of fall! It seems to me a more brilliant blue, which coordinates so beautifully with the whites and grays in the clouds, and the yellows, oranges, reds, golds, browns, and greens of fall! This time of year always is a significant time of change for me. Summer is over, school has begun, the holidays are just around the corner, and another year is winding down to a close. It signals to me that a new routine is needed to get into the swing of the things of life.

I don’t know about you, but I have felt overwhelmed by all the changes in the ward in the past few months! As I think about the “new 3rd Ward”, I can’t help but compare it to this time of year! This “new ward” is like the arrival of the fall season! It is here! The “old ward” is gone away! It was beautiful, and it had its time and season. Now we are in a “new season”, full of beautiful color and bursting with possibility! It is a significant change and a needed change! And most of all we are so blessed to be a part of this wonderful change!

I pray that each one of you sisters would recognize that you are a significant part of this beautiful ward Relief Society, no matter where you serve and no matter what your circumstances! Each one of you is one of those brilliant “colors of fall”, which coordinate so beautifully together! We are not strangers! Recognize that each of you are daughters of our Heavenly Father and you love him! We are sisters in Zion, sisters in the gospel, beautiful Relief Society sisters, and friends, belonging to an inspired and powerful organization of unity, compassionate care-giving, and love!

We can strengthen ourselves individually and as a “new ward” family through these beautiful principles. We can do this with a phone call, a visit, a smile and “hello” on Sunday or wherever you are, or just simply introducing yourself to or sitting by someone new. Think about your visiting teaching “sister friends”, and ask Heavenly Father how you can get to know them better, and serve them more fully. Even though we all appreciate a plate of treats or a meal (and I do!), be willing to pray and be sensitive to the promptings of the Spirit, and then go outside yourselves and your normal routine, and follow the Savior’s example:

“‘Come Follow Me’, the Savior said,
Then let us in his footsteps tread.
For thus alone can we be one,
With God’s own loved Begotten Son”. (Hymn #116 – Matt 22: 36-40)

He did not give one pat answer or a loaf of bread on every occasion, but he did give the kind of service that precisely fit the needs of those he so sensitively perceived. “If the people had a physical need he fed them. Sometimes he healed them or calmed a storm. If they had an emotional need that was crying out, he listened or taught a principle. He prayed with them, and sometimes wept with them.” (Lori Boyer, Compassionate Service: With or Without a Casserole”, Jan Ensign 1985)

Please know we are here for each of you. Please reach out and be there for each other, for that is the great work of our Father in Heaven and inspiration of Relief Society. Please know that you are a special daughter of our Heavenly Father, with unique spiritual gifts that will help you grow in your testimony and help you to strengthen the testimonies of those around you! We love you, we are praying for you, and we appreciate all that you do!

With love, Sister Robbyn England