After studying the history of our Relief Society, I am amazed at how industrious these women were. Granted, there was nothing in the Salt Lake Valley, when they got here. They literally had to reinvent whatever they needed. But the women were there to help the men every step of the way. The women took care of one another, provided food, medical care, schooling, all kinds of temporal necessities.

As well, they provided spiritual nourishment. They obeyed with complete faith. If a gospel principle needed living, women organized a way to teach it, live it, and broaden it. And above all, it was the women who taught the next generations to believe.

We have a glorious heritage in our Relief Society. Women used this organization to unite themselves, to combine their gifts and talents to bless the lives of the Saints. The sisters needed one another.

With the Church growing so fast, we need to be reminded of our origins, so we can know how the Relief Society worked so closely with the men. So many of the projects started, and carried, by the sisters for 50, 100, and 170 years have made the Church what it is today. The Lord has blessed us, sanctioned us, and urged us to be useful.

As I have studied the history of our organization, I have been thrilled to see the great success our sisters have had. Growing and storing wheat was a 100 year project. It was Relief Society wheat that supplied the beginnings of the Welfare Program. It was also the selling of some of that Relief Society wheat that built the first hospitals in the valley and started the medical and social services to teach mothers about cleanliness, nutrition, and child care.

Genealogy was originally women’s work. As our sisters traveled back east to medical school, women’s rights conferences, or just to see family back home, they collected information of their own ancestors, so they could do their work in the temple.

Eliza, Zina, and Bathsheba were temple matrons of the Salt Lake Endowment House (forerunner of the SL Temple), while they served as our Relief Society Presidents. They spent many hours in the temple doing the work for the dead, as well as lovingly guiding their sisters through. We can see Bathsheba Smith in her beautiful lace shawl around her. She made that shawl with silk she harvested, and spun, herself (The RS silk project lasted 50 years in the valley). This shawl was worn in and out of the temple as her regular clothing attire and Pres. Young described her as a “high priestess of righteousness arrayed in her simple white gown of home-made silk”.

Relief Society dues allowed sisters to buy wheat fields, send women to medical school, help the poor and needy, pay for school teachers, etc. Relief Society bazaars continued this tradition on a larger scale.

I understand the reason why the Church streamlines so many things. Correlation is important to keep us working on task, using our time well, and bringing us together as families. The Church literally takes care of us, and all of our welfare needs, whenever necessary.

But that has left us women with little to do. Or so we think.

For you Relief Society Presidents, I urge you to round your sisters together and design a project, or two, or four, that will bless their lives, their family’s lives, and the lives of the ward family. There is still much to do and we tend to allow worldly concerns to pull us away.

Our early Relief Society sisters surrounded themselves with things pertaining to the Church and the gospel. We must do the same as we continue the tradition of Relief Society work.

Charity is our second name. But what projects can we begin in our wards to supply the needs of our members? How can sisters be more involved in Church? How can we be like our early sisters? Here’s a short list:

1. The Humanitarian Center always needs supplies.
2. The community we live in has needy people. We can find organizations and individuals that need our help.
3. Genealogy work is a service that reaches the past as well as the future.
4. We still need to train our young women how to be strong mothers. Our young mothers need help and guidance. And all children need extra care in this day and age. We can use our strength to combat evil influences.
5. Hurt feelings are rampant all around us. We need to show love and kindness unconditionally. We need to invite, reassure, and visit everyone over and over again.
6. Our marriages and families need to be strengthened. Sharing ideas and encouragement can be a great blessing.
7. The young need to be involved and the elderly need to feel needed. Both can learn much together if given the opportunity.
8. We don’t have to rely on tradition, or invent something new to do. We can look at our homes, our wards, and our communities and be flooded with inspired projects if we will but act upon that inspiration and do something good today.
9. The Lord is with us today, as he was with our early sisters. We can make ourselves available to be instruments in His hands. May we strive to do so.
10. We believe in a living gospel. We must involve ourselves in the growth of this Church as it rolls forth filling the earth. Don’t miss out on its momentum.

Women need projects of value to stay close to the Lord. Start a worthy project today. Involve everyone you know to participate. Invite the Lord’s blessing. Set a goal, move forward…and repeat.