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.

Third Annual Wild Women Triathlon

We had a wonderful evening at the Billings East Stake Wild Women Triathlon.

We appreciate all those who helped us  by passing out water along the paths, watching crossings at busy streets, manning the boats and watching out for the swimmers. We especially appreciate Brenda Snizek and Ranee Berg for heading things up, figuring out distances and paths, and finding volunteers.

It was a perfectly beautiful day-not too hot.

 Although our numbers were down a little from last year, we were happy to see so many familiar faces returning.

We had a good cross-section of athletes- some women just swam, or just ran, or did a partial triathlon of some combination of things. We were happy to see them all!

The whole bunch--isn't this an amazing group of women?

We appreciate our family members who came to cheer us on.

The first leg of the triathlon is swimming.

 Followed by biking.

Some of our future thriathloners testimg the water.

 We even had two incredible sisters who are pregnant participating, like Sister Oliver, there on the left, due this month.

We look forward to the Fourth Annual Wild Women Run and hope to see you there. Put us on your calendar for next August--you've got 12 months to get ready!