Lord, I Believe

We recently visited Forsyth as a Stake Relief Society presidency, and enjoyed the lesson, which was from the April 2013 General Conference message by Elder Jeffrey R. Holland entitled, "Lord I Believe."

Here are a few favorite quotes from the lesson:

"When problems come and questions arise, do not start your quest for faith by saying how much you do not have, leading as it were with your 'unbelief '. That is like trying to stuff a turkey through the beak! Let me be clear on this point: I am not asking you to pretend to faith you do not have. I am asking you to be true to the faith you do have."

"Brothers and sisters, this is a divine work in process, with the manifestations and blessings of it abounding in every direction, so please don’t hyperventilate if from time to time issues arise that need to be examined, understood, and resolved. They do and they will. In this Church, what we know will always trump what we do not know. And remember, in this world, everyone is to walk by faith."

"... be kind regarding human frailty—your own as well as that of those who serve with you in a Church led by volunteer, mortal men and women. Except in the case of His only perfect Begotten Son, imperfect people are all God has ever had to work with. That must be terribly frustrating to Him, but He deals with it. So should we."

To read (or listen to) the entire talk go here.

LDS.org Search

Have you noticed that LDS.org has a new and improved search? I used to find it easier to locate talks and articles using google rather than searching by using the LDS.org search.  Now "[t]he Church has revamped the search function and features to include Google’s powerful search technology, harnessing its signature ability to find relevant information." Here's the article describing the change.  Give it a try--you'll love it!

Storm Sandy

Click here to read about the church's efforts to help with the aftermath of Sandy.


Click here if you would like to make a donation.

Service Opportunities

Are you looking for a way to give meaningful service this holiday session?

Billings Family Service is looking for workers to help with their Christmas programs  

Dec 17-21

9-12 or 1-4.

Volunteers will be helping families choose gifts for their families for Christmas

at the AMR building on 4th Avenue near the Metra.

  If you are interested, call 259-2269 and ask for Linda.

Family Service is a wonderful charitable organization in our city. They stress "hand up" aid, not "hand out". They were one of our most favorite area charities to work with when we were still doing Hearts and Hands.

 Check them out at http://famserv.com/

 

 

 

General Conference

The messages from our recent General Conference are now available to watch, listen to, or read. Go here to find it on lds.org.

Relief Society Dinner Recipes

Wasn't the Broadcast amazing? It was the perfect evening of fun, food, and spiritual feasting as we came together and enjoyed a meal and each other's company, then watched the Broadcast. We appreciate those who baked cakes and helped out in the kitchen when we ran into some last minute surprises. Here are the recipes from the evening. If you think you detect a theme of "quick and easy" recipes, you are right!

The first recipe comes from Lillian Nehring:

Stroganoff

1 lb LEAN ground beef

1 (10 oz) can cream of mushroom soup

1 small onion, chopped

4 oz cream cheese (or less, depending on taste)-you can use light cheese if you want

salt and pepper to taste

Brown the meat in a frying pan, adding 1/4-1/2 teaspoon salt and pepper or to taste until well-cooked for best flavor. Remember that the canned soup is salty, so don't get carried away with the salt. Add onion and cook till soft. Add soup and 1/3 cup water, heat through and add cream cheese. You can add more water if it's too thick. Serve over potatoes, pasta, or rice.

Pretty easy!

 Many of you asked about the tossed salad-we just thought it up, trying to imitate a salad from that unnamed Italian pasta restaurant. 

We used:

 romaine lettuce

cherry tomatoes

marinated artichoke hearts, chopped (they come in a jar)

 peppercini, chopped (they also come in a jar)

black olives

grated Parmesan cheese

We just eyeballed ingredients--add more or less of individual ingredients according to your own taste. 

Serve with Italian Dressing.

The dessert recipe was from Six Sisters' Stuff, a blog with lots of yummy recipes.

Pumpkin Dump Cake

15 oz can pumpkin puree

10 oz evaporated milk

1 cup brown sugar

3 eggs

1 tablespoon pumpkin spice

1 cup butter (melted)

1 cup graham crackers crumbs

1/2 cup toffee pieces (you can find these by the chocolate chips at the store)

1 yellow cake mix

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 9 x 13 pan with cooking spray.

Combine pumpkin, milk, sugar, eggs, and spice. Stir to combine. Pour into prepared pan, sprinkle with cake mix, followed by graham cracker crumbs, and toffee pieces. Pour melted butter evenly on top. Bake 45-50 minutes until center is set and edges are brown. 

Serve with ice cream or whipped topping.

There are many needs in the families of our Relief Society sisters.  Please remember them in your prayers, asking for comfort and understanding and love.  Sweet is the peace of sister's praying for one another's welfare.

The Billings East Stake Relief Society Presidency invites you to this wonderful General Relief Society broadcast.  We will begin the evening with a dinner @ 5:00 p.m., and the broadcast @ 6:00 pm.  If you are in the Billings area, please come join us and meet, via satellite broadcast, our new General Relief Society Presidency.  We will look forward to their wise council along with that of one of the General Authorities of the Church:

Relief Society sisters worldwide are invited to view the satellite broadcast of the general Relief Society meeting, which will be held on Saturday, September 29, 2012, at 6:00 p.m. mountain daylight time and will be broadcast to many areas of the world.

All women 18 years of age and older are encouraged to view the broadcast. They are also encouraged to invite friends and neighbors who may benefit from the meeting.

Linda K. Burton, Relief Society general president; Carole M. Stephens, first counselor; and Linda S. Reeves, second counselor, will speak, along with a member of the First Presidency. This will be the first Relief Society broadcast since the general presidency’s reorganization in spring 2012.

Live video streaming of the broadcast will be available at conference.lds.org in 16 languages: ASL, Cantonese, Cebuano, English, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Mandarin, Portuguese, Russian, Samoan, Spanish, Tagalog, and Tongan.

Archives of the broadcast will be available in those same languages at the same site within 24 hours. Live video and audio will also be available in English and Spanish at mormonchannel.org.

Those wishing to attend in person can contact the ticket office for more information.

Those wanting to invite friends and associates to participate in the meeting can use the general Relief Society meeting event on the Church’s Facebook page.