BYU Women's Conference

Natalie and I just enjoyed two days at BYU Women's Conference. We had a good time and it never ceases to amaze me how the Church can pull off these fantastic and HUGE events. There were somewhere around 20,000 women - they traveled, parked, they were fed (spiritually and physically) and they participated in a huge service project to benefit the Church humanitarian efforts. It is astonishing to see something come together like this. There was even an instant choir as well as other fantastic musical presentations.

Assembling Newborn Kits
Assembling School Kits
The service project consisted of mass production of Newborn Kits, Hygiene Kits and School Kits which are sent to nations throughout the world where there is need due to poverty, tragedy, or natural disaster. It give individuals a personalized kit to help them feel better, perform better and be comforted at difficult times. The Newborn Kits go to mothers in countries such as Africa where the mother may give birth but have nothing for the child. She gets fluffy, soft diapers, gown, shirt, blanket, diaper pins. When the project happens, it is a sea of yellow softness that looks a little like baby duckling down. Women lovingly assemble the kits with thoughts of a new mother giving birth in difficult conditions somewhere in the world. It is all very touching. For more of the projects the Church is involved in such as neonatal resuscitation, wheelchairs, etc. go to www.lds.org, click on the words About the Church, then choose menu item, Humanitarian Services

Sheri Dew's comments were especially profound to me:

"The notion that the world's most powerful women must have money, fame or a title, "is a big, fat lie! Sisters, we're smarter than this. We know too much to fall for Lucifer's lies. If the world can't look to us for a true definition of womanhood, where can it look?"

Women often fall victim to lies that say men are smarter, have all the power and are more important, and that in order to have influence women must be more like men, she said.

Other misconceptions: that marriage and family are confining,; that motherhood is menial and a waste of women's best time and talent,; that women are perpetually frazzled; and that a woman's value is based on her size, shape and what she accomplishes outside the home."

You can hear the MP3 of the address by clicking on the title of this post. Sheri is one of my heroes. I love her straightforward, no-nonsense, no-excuses style. Julie Beck (General President of the Relief Society) also did an amazing job. The conference closed with an address by our prophet, Thomas S. Monson.