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SALT LAKE CITY -- Latter-day Saint women throughout the world heard words of encouragement about their service Saturday night in their annual General Relief Society Conference. The meeting originated from the Conference Center in downtown Salt Lake.
Latter-day Saint women call their sisterhood the largest women's charity organization in the world. In Saturday's meeting, the president announced even weekday gatherings will be called simply Relief Society meetings.
"These meetings also provide a wonderful place to bring our friends of other faiths and to include Relief Society sisters who do not actively participate in the Church," said Relief Society General President Julie B. Beck.
"We invite you to minister with your powerful influence for good in strengthening our families, our church and our communities," said Silvia Allred, first counselor in the Relief Society General Presidency.
To those who are discouraged, Barbara Thompson, who is single, expressed her gratitude for Church membership.
"One work colleague who was not a member of our church said to me, ‘Why do you continue to go to a church that puts so much emphasis on marriage in families?' My simple answer to her was, ‘Because it is true!'"
They heard of the accomplishments of women who went before them: the creation of a hospital system in the West; a grain storage system that once aided the federal government, organizations for children and young women and humanitarian work.
"Leaders of nations now, when they visit Utah, express awe and admiration for what the Church is doing for the poor and the victims of natural disasters across the world. Those remarkable gifts to the children of God are part of the enduring legacy of Relief Society," said President Henry B. Eyring, first counselor in the First Presidency of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
President Eyring urged the women to pass their legacy on to generations to come.
The semi-annual General Conference of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints will take place next Saturday and Sunday, Oct. 3 and 4.
E-mail: cmikita@ksl.com
