In November, my church ward Relief Society presidency went out for a fun girl-night treat at Kneaders! We love serving together and have loved becoming close friends! So whenever we can steal a minute away together we take it! We love to have an evening of just laughing and catching up on each of our lives. Each of these girls has gone through (and still going through) very hard life-traumas. My 1st counselor lives with progressing Multiple Sclerosis, as well as trying to balance the busy life of mothering two little girls, and being a loving wife to her busy hubby - who's father just passed away from Cancer. They are helping to take care of his widow mother now. The doctors have tried every medicine out there for my friend for her MS and none have helped to slow down the progression of this disease. There was one thing left to try, it is a trial drug that has not been out long enough to know the damages it may cause to the body. They do know that death has occurred on a few of the patients that have tried it...but with her symptoms progressing as quickly as they are, she decided to try it anyway. She has been so worried about it affecting her negatively, and she wants to raise her family. We are praying it does her good. She is a very beautiful violinist and is starting to lose her feeling in her hand, so she is trying to play in as many orchestra performances she can, as well as, play in church. I have played violin duets with her and feel like soul-sisters in our love for the violin. My heart hurts for her.
She is an amazing counselor to me and she serves with
all her heart! She runs our Compassionate Service committee
and is extremely busy with all that that entails too.
We have loved working along side each other
with all the families in our ward. She is more than
"on top of things" and in tune with all the needs of
each sister and family.
We worried with my secretary this past year as she discovered she had Thyroid cancer. She went through surgery and as she recovered she discovered she had lost her ability to sing (she is a gifted singer and sings every chance she can get). The doctor said he had clipped a tiny part of her vocal chord on accident in removing the cancer during surgery in her neck. She is still praying and fighting to get her voice back fully one day she hopes. It's miraculously coming! We have asked her to sing in our relief society lesson a couple months ago and my eyes teared up as she sang in a whisper through some parts and some notes came in and out. I love her, she has so much faith. Her voice is still beautiful! We also had her sing at our Relief Society Christmas dinner. Her voice is so naturally beautiful. It is getting stronger. She also just recently went through emergency surgery for removing her gall bladder. She is also a very busy mother of 3, and is helping a close family member with addiction problems which has been very painful for her to go through.
She has been a rock star in her calling as secretary
and has us ultra organized, she is so amazing!
She is so genuine with all the sisters and cares
so much for each of them.
My 2nd counselor has just recently started to get her health back from this full past year of daily pain from a very rare case of having a bad reaction from the flu shot. This entire past year, she has been very sick and in a lot of pain. She has numbness in many parts of her body, then painful tingling, and then intense pain all day long ...for months. She has feelings of foggy-thinking, and extreme exhaustion. She is a mother also and is a trainer at a local Gym,
and couldn't work because of her health decline for an
entire year. She has been trying to keep life going in
the midst of so much discouragement and not knowing
if these symptoms will be life-long. She also was stressing
from her husband being out of work for a period of time
this past year. She keeps a strong positive and happy
outlook though, and chooses to be happy... no one else would
ever know she is suffering.She is such a positive strength
to everyone that she comes into contact with.
She is so positive and so sweet and makes all
the sisters feel like a good friend. She runs our
Activities committee and is so much fun!
Each of my presidency members are such amazing strong examples to me of love, service, happiness, and joy...even in the midst of struggle. They each live deeply committed Christ-like lives. And they have each even served me as
I have gone through a couple of my own health crisis this
past 2 years...of falling and taking my knee out of commission
for 7 months with lots of pain and slow healing, and
also my horrible case of pneumonia which lasted 2 months
and put me out of work for a time. Our car
was totaled during the time I was sickest with pneumonia
when our cute daughter had an accident and luckily she
was safe. But,a few other big stresses happened within
this past year that dropped our family to our knees.
My presidency took completely over for me with my
relief society president work when I needed. It has been
big stress for Jay and I with Jay being out of work
(Jay has had 4 jobs in the past 3 years). My 2nd counselor
can relate with us since her hubby was out of
work for a time, and we were able to encourage each other
through those tight times. My 1st counselor can relate to
Jay and I in losing a parent. We are still missing
Jeannette so much! She has been gone less than 6 months,
and it still feels so fresh. There is strength in being able
to relate and support each other in hard life experiences.
These awesome girls have helped me greatly in serving
the other families in the ward who have gone through so many health challenges and financial crisis, and spiritual
loss, etc of their own. I love these amazing women
and the special friends they have become !! |