Relief Society Retreat

On Friday, October 7th, we gathered at Julie Marriott's home for a Relief Society retreat. We arrived to a beautifully decorated house and the delicious aroma of Rosemary Chicken. Dinner was the first item on our agenda. Rice, salad and homemade whole wheat bread rounded out our meal.

Our featured speaker on Friday night was Sister Evans. She gave a wonderful talk on the theme of "You may as well ask me to walk on water," talking about the hard things we have to go through in life. Her message to us was that we can do anything if we will keep our eyes on the Savior and not be distracted by the world. She told us that Heavenly Father is making something so extraordinary out of us that we can't even imagine it right now. Her message was one of hope and reassurance, delivered with her signature directness, sprinkled liberally with humor and filled with love for the Savior. We were so fortunate to be able to hear her speak.

After Sister Evans' talk, we did some mingling. It was a wonderful chance to talk to and get to know people. Some went outside to make s'mores on the patio while others talked inside. Then we had cookies and milk before heading off to our respective sleeping bags or air mattresses in the basement.

On Saturday morning, some went for a walk through the neighborhood. The rest of us politely waited for the walkers to return before eating the delicious breakfast laid out for us. There was egg casserole, bacon, yogurt with homemade granola and fruit and baked french toast with cinnamon and muffins.

After breakfast, we headed off to different craft stations. There was card making with Lindsey Jones and making a "Thankful Tree" with Jenny Bluhm.

In the kitchen Tanya Rogers was giving cooking lessons. She made 3 different soups and talked about the ingredients, saying it is not necessary to have an exact recipe if you know the

ingredients and have a general idea of proportions.

Our featured speaker on Saturday was Heather Marx. She talked about how a woman

in the scriptures touched the hem of Jesus' garment and how power flowed ou

t of him in that moment. We were reminded that we can be helpful to other people by making ourselves available in the moment when someone needs us. Heather brought her unique gifts as a creative thinker, a lively speaker and a quirky artist together in her entertaining and thought-provoking presentation. We are grateful to her for speaking to us.

After Heather's talk, it was lunchtime. The delicious soups Tanya made in her presentation were our main lunch fare: Potato leek, chicken with wild rice, and chicken noodle soups. There were homemade rolls and brownies and cookies as well.

After lunch, we started to head home. Our parting gift was a caramel apple foreach of us made by Heather Kearns. These were extremely delicious and really beautiful to look at as well!

We had fun. We were spiritually enlightened. We got to know each other better. We ate delicious food. It was a VERY successful retreat!

A HUGE thank-you to everyone who contributed to the success of this retreat. A special thanks to Julie Marriott for opening her beautiful home to all of us.