It appears that gone are the days of month-to-month entertaining.  We have to adjust our thinking and think anew.

As I have studied how our early sisters organized themselves, I see, readily, Sis. Beck’s vision.  She is not asking us to do anything new, she is asking us to refocus.  Times are always changing, and we adapt as we go.  It is suggested we take one meeting a year to look at our history.  Oh, please, take more time than that!!  There is much to learn of attitudes,   organization, and purpose of unity.  I offer some ideas that you might want to throw around and develop according to how you are inspired to conduct Relief Society in this new age.

Let’s say, a RS President and Bishop meet together in October, just in time to plan the new year.  Both have concerns within the ward unit.  The following could be in any ward:

1. Several people struggling financially
2. Problems with Pornography
3. Some new converts
4. Marriage/Divorce issues
5. Help couples get to the temple
6. How to unify the ward
7. The building of a Bar is proposed across the street from the chapel

I can just see Eliza standing before a group of women and telling them…These are the problems, sisters.  We need able-minded women to organize, reach out, and help those in need.  Who can I call on, and depend upon, to rescue the needy, who are all of us.

Here are just a few ideas that would incorporate solutions to these problems.  I want you to notice that numbers do not match up to the calendar.  The objective is geared toward projects/goals, not fulfilling a calendar year quota.

1. Set up a barter system with another ward, or all wards in a stake.  Hold three “Barter Day” events during the year:  Spring Clean-up, Back to School Fall, Christmas Shopping.
2. Every month, have a Service Projects Workday, or days.  Have several projects going at once: handwork for various organizations, collections for food and clothing, outside labor in the neighborhood.
3. Organize petitions and meetings to stop the Bar.  Encourage town hall meetings, become familiar with issues in your neighborhood, have a reporting system to inform neighbors.  (Obviously, we don’t want to get into Political Parties, but we should all be aware of Issues that concern our freedom.  And this should be an organized neighborhood, as opposed to being church-affiliated.)
4. Have a meeting on Internet awareness.  Form a group of people willing to go into homes to help block and teach monitoring skills.
5. Offer a Religion Class where questions can be asked in a friendly, no-pressure atmosphere.
6. As a ward, set goals for researching family names.  Offer classes, individual help, trips to the library, mini projects, have the Primary learn Family History songs to sing in Sacrament Meeting to encourage the parents, have the youth do look-ups and the baptisms, encourage temple trips, offer Temple Prep classes, invite the Visiting and Home teachers to encourage and help where needed.
7. Sunday Marriage Classes tend to have a stigma.  Hold classes occasionally for everyone interested: Better ways to communicate, Budgeting/Debt helps, help with problems that exist in every marriage.
8. Unify the ward with temporal preparedness.  Designate a large plot of land for a ward garden, or several backyard plots, with a shared harvest.  Youth project to weed and water.  Can, dry, and freeze together.  Set up a bulk buying system.  Ward carpenters can help build shelves and storage space in homes.
9. Go back to having a ward newsletter where all of these goals can be listed with activities, tips, ideas, websites, events, etc.  Use your newsletter as an information bulletin board that informs, reminds, and connects the ward into a unified whole.

All of these activities are projects with one eye single to a working ward goal.  Several activities can be going on at the same time; different levels of involvement will be demanded throughout the year.  Form several committees, involving both the Priesthood and the Relief Society.  Support one another, don’t compete.  Promote a busy beehive atmosphere.