From Juliann Wheeler:  this is a beautiful story about my friend/former roommate Rachael. Perfect example of someone who exemplify the qualities of the Relief Society. Rachael is a wonderful friend, and the kind of person who says ten inspired things every time I see her.

Band of Sisters

When I think of women who have exemplified the principles of Relief Society in my life the most, I don't think of just one woman, but a very special group of women who banded together to help me during a very difficult time in my life. I think of the women in my ward at BYU in the fall of 1998. I was in my first semester of graduate school when, during mid-terms, my youngest brother got sick and died suddenly. After I returned from home and being with my family for a week or so, I was faced with the huge challenge of getting myself together and finishing the last month of the semester and taking finals. One of the Relief Society's representatives asked what the Relief Society could do for me and I felt prompted to ask them to bring me dinners for the rest of the semester because the hour I was spending each day  that I was cooking for myself was precious time that I needed for my studies. And those wonderful sisters did! The Compassionate Service Committee did a wonderful job organizing them and I think they only missed one, maybe two, evenings in that whole month, despite their own busy schedules. I was well nourished not only through the great food they brought me, but through their kindness, understanding, compassion, smiles, and hugs when I needed them very, very badly. That has been a long time ago now, and I don't remember many of their names at this point, but I will always remember the blessing they were to me.

From Mary Frances Colebank

A True Neighbor

The greatest examples for me are the women in my own family, whose lives are intertwined with my own.  However, for your purposes, I wish to share another example – a woman who is not directly related to me, who I have known but had only sporadic interaction with over the years, and whose example reminds me of the Savior in how He constantly went about doing good.

This woman and her husband were our next door neighbors throughout my childhood.  I remember how she cared for her mother who lived across the street, and how she used to go up and down the street helping neighbors.  She was the stake Relief Society President at the time I received my mission call and she invited me into her home and taught me about the Relief Society organization.  Little did I know that I would need to “go and do likewise” in the mission that I served.  Several times during my mission I was responsible for teaching new Relief Society leaders in small units of the Church.

It has been many years since I lived in my childhood home, but whenever I visited, it was a treat to see my neighbor and her husband.  They were very good to my mother after she became a widow, and they always treated me as if I was someone special.

My sister and I bought our parents’ home after they both passed, and I had the opportunity to go out last Fall to prepare the backyard and garden for winter.  The weather was threatening, but I had only a few days in which I was there and could work on the place.  The last morning, I looked at the amount of work still unfinished, and thought to myself, “well, I’ll just do as much as I can and the rest will have to wait until next year.”  That’s when the miracle occurred.  I was able to complete each of the remaining tasks, with the exception of tilling the soil.  I stopped over at my neighbor’s house to ask if I could get in touch with her daughter and pay to have that done.  Instead, she, her son, and daughter came over and helped me haul 23 bags of trash to the curb for the city’s garbage pick-up that day.  As I drove away, her daughter was finishing the tilling, at no charge to me.  Reflecting back, I am still amazed at how the impossible was achieved, but know that once again I had experienced the grace of God “after all we can do.”  It is most humbling to have that kind of support.

But that’s not the end of the story.  Early this month, I got a card from this neighbor and her husband.  I’d given her my address in case she needed to get in touch with me regarding our renters.  The note was brief.  It included President Eyring’s statement in the October 2011 General Conference, “Spiritual staying power comes from working past the point when others would have taken a rest,” along with the comment that this statement reminded them of me.  Their card  came when I was preparing for a major conference and was having difficulty pulling my thoughts together as to what to say.  It was exactly what I needed  to encourage me to stay focused and meet my current responsibilities.

There’s still more.  Tonight I called a brother who I have been concerned about and have been praying and fasting for during the past couple of months due to the incredible pressure and deadlines that he is has with his work.  I learned that this good woman and her husband had sent a similar card to my brother.  It has sustained him, as it did me.

How grateful I am for such a woman in my life and the life of those I love.  She is an example of Proverbs 31:10, 31 – “Who can find a virtuous woman? for her price is far above rubies…  Give her of the fruit of her hands; and let her own works praise her in the gates.”

From Helen Chipman

Barbara: A woman of faith, optimism, and energy

My mom's cousin, Barbara, married Elder L.Tom Perry when she was 42. She had been single her whole life before that. I knew her growing up because she was so interested in/concerned about her family. And that didn't change when she got married. For as long as I've known her she's been married. Nevertheless she knows me, always knows me by name when there are family gatherings and always knows what's important in my life. I know she has been very active (and was before she got married) in all of her nieces' and nephews' lives--and she has a very large family! She was successful in her career in nursing and became a professor at BYU while she was single. I used to look at her as an inspiration because I thought no matter how long we're single it will definitely pay off in the end. Besides I often think that it's easier to be single in our generation--I think it would've been harder for her in the '60s & '70s.

As I've gotten older, I've been very concerned about polygamy and marrying a man who is still sealed to another woman even if she is dead. I emailed Barbara to ask her how she feels about it. She told me that she has definitely wondered about that same thing. But she says that Tom makes her feel like the most important person and has definitely always made her feel like the only one. She is very encouraging to me. Her faith and optimism and energy are encouraging for me to think about. Her husband is very respectful of her; I remember once when they were at my mom's house and were about to leave. I was in the other room doing something, and he came in where I was and demanded that I come to say goodbye to Barbara because he thought it was disrespectful not to--and of course Barbara just said "oh Tom" like she always does. She gives me hope that I could actually stomach the thought of being married to a man who was married to someone else. She is always doing good and making time for the things that are important.

From Anne-Marie Waddell