Relief Society President Release

I have served as Relief Society President in the Terrain Ward with these lovely ladies for almost 4 years. We were sustained on Memorial Day weekend 2018. Nancy Brown--First Counselor, Courtney Judd--Secretary, Me--President, and Tiffany Thompson--Second Counselor. When you serve in a presidency together, you really get to know and love each other, and these ladies will always have a special place in my heart.

Nancy has been wanting to have all of us and our husbands over for dinner. We had a date picked in January, and then Courtney and her family got Covid. Nancy went out of town and other conflicts postponed our dinner until tonight. We were released on February 13, but had this dinner planned before that. It was so fun and we wished we had done this a few times while we served together. We had pork tenderloin, roasted potatoes, spinach mandarin orange salad, rolls, and brownies with ice cream and cherry pie filling. It was all so tasty! 

Janae Coy brought these flowers and a card thanking me for my service. So thoughtful of her.

 I got this card in the mail from Jaime Cavanaugh thanking me for my love and strong testimony. I was truly touched by her message.

We were all asked to share our thoughts and bear our testimonies in Relief Society. I thought about how I had the great opportunity to be part of people's lives, to share in the happy and sad. I saw the joy as families welcomed new babies, sent their kids off to be missionaries, and saw families grow as their kids got married. I tried to provide comfort to those who had surgery, felt lonely during Covid, and those who lost family members. I really enjoyed getting to know the new families and visiting them in their homes to welcome them into the ward.

I also thought about how overwhelmed and intimidated I was when I received this calling. Most of my church experience has been with Primary kids, and women are scary. The thought just kept coming to me to love the sisters, so I did. It was pretty easy to do and I hope they felt my love and concern for them.

My life felt like something was missing for 2 or 3 days after I was released. I felt like I had lost a good friend or an essential body part, like an arm. I was quite surprised at how I felt. It took me a long time to feel comfortable in this calling and to enjoy it and I thought I would feel relieved to be done, but I felt a little empty. I've never felt this way before. 

I cried when I was released from Achievement Day leader. That was back when you taught the girls on Sunday and also did activities with them twice a month during the week. I loved those girls and didn't think anyone could love them like I did. This was different from that though. I've heard people in high leadership callings say that they felt the mantle leaving them when they were released. I don't know if that was part of it, or if it's just that I served for so long that it was a major adjustment to not have that responsibility any more. I would never have imagined that I would feel this way, especially since it was so hard for me in the beginning. I hope I fulfilled this calling the way the Lord wanted me to.

I love the Terrain Ward and the unity and friendship I feel there. I love the sisters I served with and hope we can stay close.