Book Club

Looks like a book club enrichment activity could get up and running soon. Jill has offered to be the specialist for this group.

So if you are interested in being part of a book club (we may start with being involved with the Deseret Book Club) please come along on Thursday 5th March to Jill's home to discuss how we will do this.

Please contact Jill for more information.

Visiting Teaching

Sorry sisters that the January link to the Visiting Teaching message for the month was not up on the blog. It is now and so is February's so hope this helps you all out and reminds you to send your love to your sisters this month in some way that is appropriate for them.

Enrichment Activities coming up

We all had a little holiday from Enrichment Activities over the Christmas holiday break but we are starting up again for the new year.

So far we have the following activities starting but if you want to do something with other sisters please let us know and we will see what we can do.

1. The Service Craft Activity group will commence again on the 2nd Tuesday in February - 12 noon at Sister Yvonne's home. Please contact Yvonnie for more information.

2. Quilting Activity group will be held on the 2nd Thursday in February - 7 pm at the Chapel. From March onwards (unless clashing with any meetings) quilting group will be held on the 3rd Thursday of the month. Please contact Wendy for more information or details.

3. Gourmet Girls are starting up again. Maryanne will be the specialist for this group. Please contact her for details of when the group will be meeting and what will be happening.

4. Family History Activity will be held on an interest basis. Please contact Rebecca if you are interested in this group.

5. A book club will be starting shortly. More details to follow. Keep checking the blog!

What happened on Sunday

1. It was lovely to see so many sisters in Relief Society today. Welcome back to Sadie.

2. Announcements:-
a. Stake Conference 6 - 8 February
- Family Activity Friday evening
- Saturday session 7 - 9 pm
- Sunday session 12 noon

3. Enrichment Activities starting again - see separate post.

4. Brother Steve came in and talked to the sisters about ordering wheat and containers. Please contact Steve with details of how much wheat you are interested in purchasing.

4. Belle will be the only member of the Relief Society Presidency in our Ward next week. Please look after her. Janet will be teaching Lesson 26 of the Joseph Smith Manual as Bishop wants to have a special combined Relief Society and Priesthood meeting on the 15th February, so we have swapped lessons around. Sister Diana will be conducting Relief Society next week - please be kind to her!

5. 5 Minute Music with Diana this week helped us learn about Hymn 185 Reverently & Meekly Now. It is the only Sacrament hymn that the words are written as if the Savior were speaking. She shared with us some information about Joseph Townsend who wrote the words to this hymn, and Ebenezer beesley who composed the music.

6. Sister Kristie led us in the lesson today from Elder Oak's talk entitled "Sacrament Meeting and the Sacrament". Elder Oakes reminds us of the way in which we need to remember to dress and behavior as we attend sacrament meeting and partake of the Sacrament. He reminds us that it is the only Sabbath meeting the entire family can attend together. We were reminded to be seated well before the meeting begins and prayfully meditate as we prepare to partake of the Sacrament. What a blessing it is in our lives to partake of the Sacrament each week.

BOOK TODAY FOR VISITING THE TEMPLE IN JUNE

We have found flights to get us to Melbourne and back for less than $100.00!!!!! But it would mean leaving on Wednesday 3rd June at 6.00 am (so we would need to be at the airport by 5.30 am!) and returning on Thursday 4th June around 6.00 pm.

This means we could do the whole trip (with accommodation and petrol etc.) for just under $150.00.

We would also be able to get two sessions in on the Wednesday morning, another session in on Wednesday evening, three sessions on the Thursday morning and then plenty of time to travel back to the airport to catch our flight home.

THERE IS A CATCH HOWEVER - WE NEED TO BOOK FLIGHTS TODAY. If you are interested please log onto Virgin Blue for the going over flight at 6.am and Jetstar for the 4.40 pm flight home and BOOK YOUR FLIGHT. Then let a member of the presidency know that you have booked and we will organise car hire and accomodation.

This is such a blessing for us sisters to get such cheap flights - please spread the word for anyone that you know may be interested.

Storage Containers

Brother Guy has been very busy of late checking out lots of food storage items. He is looking into storage cans that will hold a 25 kg bag of wheat. These food-grade drums will sell for around $11 per can. They are similar to the cans in the middle of the above picture with a sealed lid that is on the left hand side at the front.

If you are interested in ordering any of these cans please contact Guy.

Want to visit the Temple in June?

Our Ward Relief Society Presidency will be attending the temple on the 5 - 6th June this year. Any sister who would like to attend with us is most welcome to come.

We will probably fly out of Hobart about 1.45 pm, on the Friday, arriving in Melbourne around 3 pm.

If enough sisters are interested we will be hiring a mini-bus that we will collect at the airport and will travel to our accommodation. We will then be able to do two sessions that evening, and several sessions on the Saturday morning before flying home on the Saturday evening.

We think we can do this trip for approximately $200 - $250.00 per person. This includes all travel and accommodation but you will still need to cover your own food costs.

Because this is the long weekend in June (the Queens Birthday) we need to know numbers very soon if we are going to be able to book suitable accommodation.

There is also a possibility that at the end of the Saturday sessions we may be able to be involved in the cleaning of the temple - this is only a possibility at this stage but a great blessing for us all if we are able to have this privilege.

Please contact a member of the Presidency before next Sunday if you are interested.

What happened on Sunday

1. It was nice to have Lyn, Coral and Tony's sister in law (sorry, can't remember her name!) visiting with us today. It was also lovely to have Libby with us as she has been serving in Primary and we don't get to see her in Relief Society. It was great to have you visit us today Libby.

2. Stake Conference will be held on the weekend of the 6 - 8th February. Details of Friday night activity on the notice board. The Saturday night session of conference will be held at 7 pm at the Stake Centre for all members 18 and over. The Sunday session of conference will commence at 12 noon. We have been asked to be seated by 11.45 am, prelude music will commence at 11.00 am.

3. Reminder about Enrichment Meeting on the 19th February for all sisters.

4. Sister Diana for 5 minute music handed out pieces of paper with the lesson titles for the next few months on them. Between two or three sisters we came up with suggested hymns for those lessons by searching the index pages of the hymn book. Lots of discussion and good learning experience for us all.

5. Jill taught our lesson today, lesson 25 from the manual. We discussed some of the Savior's parables and Jill shared a personal experience from her mission regarding understanding the scriptures. She did a great job filling in for Piret who normally teaches this lesson. We hope all is well with MariAnna and hope to see you both at church again next week.

Wheat grinders

Brother Guy has also obtained information about wheat grinders that may be available to members at wholesale prices. If you are interested please contact Guy (who's phone number is on the Stake Website).

To look at the types of grinders that can be purchased go to www.retsel.com.au or www.grinmaster.com.au

Are you interested in purchasing Wheat?

It appears that it may be possible for the good quality South Austalian hard wheat to be available to us here in Tasmania if there is enough interest from members.

Brother Guy is looking into it and at this stage if you are interested in obtaining some wheat you need to speak to our Ward Welfare Specialist to indicate how much wheat you would like to purchase. At this stage no exact costs can be advised - however, not including shipping it may be around $20.00 for 25 kg. That is much, much, much cheaper than can be purchased at the local health food shop.

Of course, here in Tassie we do struggle with the problem of shipping costs and it will also depend on how much interest there is. At this stage two wards in the stake are both looking at about 2 tonne - of course, that is not an individual, that is a whole heap of families.

So if you are interested in purchasing wheat please see our Ward Welfare Specialist.

Next Enrichment Meeting

"...Prepare Every Needful Thing" is the title of our next Enrichment Meeting.

There will be a real mixture of things we can prepare for such as death, technology, financial preparedness plus things like homemade washing powder, dehydrating, sealing food. It might sound weird just reading it like this but come along and check it out. There will be free time to look at the things you are most interested in plus a demonstration to help us all!

So now I know you are all dying to know when it is on. OK, I won't hold you in suspense any longer - put in your diary now

Thursday 19 February
Rosny Chapel
7 - 8.30 pm
Bring a friend!

We are really hoping this year that you will all feel comfortable to bring someone along to Enrichment (who normally doesn't attend or a non-member -or both would be fantastic!). We are trying to make them comfortable and non-threatening and interesting enough for everyone to bring along a friend. If you have any suggestions as to how we can improve our Enrichment Meetings in any way please let us know. We are always keen to do better.

Thanks for those who have given us suggestions for Enrichment Activities - looks like a bookclub is going to happen this year - (I can hear Bron and Marianne saying - 'about time too'!!!)

Enrichment Activities

We will be starting our Enrichment Activities again soon. Please contact a member of the Relief Society Presidency if you are interested in presenting or participating in an activity of any description. Remember two sisters who are interested in a similar thing can make a really good activity!

What happened on Sunday

1. We had several visitors, one from Victoria, one from Queensland (who served a mission with MariAnna) with us and we hope they felt welcomed and comfortable.

2. Stake Conference is coming up on February 7th and 8th. The Sunday session will be a nation-wide broadcast and will commence around 12 noon. Please keep checking the blog as we need to confirm this time. We will keep you posted.

3. Miriam took our lesson today. There was a bit of confusion as to what lesson we are teaching from. Please keep checking the blog as we will keep you up-dated on the situation with the lessons. The lesson was taken from Chapter 24 - Leading in the Lord's Way. Please take the time to read this lesson if you haven't done so already. A really inspiring one to help us all. Miriam generated lots of class discussion and the experiences of Joseph Smith can be a strength and an inspiration to us all. "I teach them correct principles, and they govern themselves."