Enrichment

[dahlia]

Are there still enrichment meetings? This has come up with a former member and I wonder if these meetings have stopped recently. I've never heard of them, nor have I heard the sisters talk about them. The only thing I've heard is that there used to be meetings about sewing and canning, etc., but not any more. Were these Enrichment?

Thanks. I looked around the net but haven't found anything and need the information.

[pam]

There used to be what we called Homemaking nights which might have changed to Enrichment nights that were held during the week. I do know that a few years ago, the emphasis was to get away from that and do more spiritual type things.

When I think of Enrichment meetings, I think of when I was a Primary President and we had enrichment night once a month where we met as a presidency and teachers. We had spiritual thought and went over things that were of concern in our primary and some possible solutions.

[classylady]

What used to be called homemaking meetings or enrichment meetings have now been changed to just Relief Society Meetings.

Edited November 22, 2012 by classylady

[dahlia]

Thanks. We have 'self improvement' type meetings once a month, so maybe that's what's left of Enrichment. It might be learning some new recipes, family finances, exercise, etc.

[Iggy]

It is now called RS Evening Meeting. Some of our Evening Meetings have been on:

Grains/Beans/Seeds ~ They aren't just for grinding anymore - Sprouting them and how to serve them. Herbs ~ infused in oils, vinegars. How to harvest and store them. How to cook with fresh and dried herbs.

Couponing - How to make your food dollar go farther

Framing ~ How to frame, on the cheap or quick. How to clean up your frames and re-mat family "heirloom" pictures.

Around the World in 90 minutes ~ Three return Missionary Senior Couples presented slides, pictures, souvenirs from their missions. Johannesburg, SA; San Paulo, Brazil, and Cove Fort, UT. It was more than just a See the pictures presentation. It was, this is what you could be expected to be doing. We had 3 women who are investigating the church and they were totally awed by this. One is a widow and she wanted to know if Single Elderly Women are allowed to go on missions.

We also have a Humanitarian night - where the women gather to do quilts for the Women's shelter and for Samaritan House (for displaced families who are working towards gaining employment and securing permanent housing), knitting/crocheting caps for premies, and sewing premie jammies. These are patterns that our local hospital has requested we make. Seems our area has more than the normal premature births.

We also sew together sleeping pillows for the animals at the shelter. These pillows are filled with fabric scraps, and are quite cushy & full. These pillow/beds go with the animal when they are adopted out. We started out making them for small to medium dogs, then us cat lovers wondered if some couldn't be made smaller for cats - well seems that other churches ( Nazarene, Baptist and Pentacostal to name just a few) are doing the other sizes.

Every Sunday after the block, for one hour the sisters work on one of the many, many quilts we provide for the families that successfully leave Samaritan House. Every member of the family gets their own quilt. Samaritan House gets the fabric donated to them from JoAnns Fabric and WalMart. Also, there are two Quilting stores that donate fabric. Our branch puts them together.

The wives of the Branch Presidency, Financial Clerk, & Membership Clerk had to wait for their husbands to finish up with Branch business - so they set up the quilting to work on. One of them brought her scriptures on CD, and they listen while they sew.

As a branch, we produce more than any two of the wards in our stake!

NOTE: I did the Grains presentation. We had a Salad made from 6 different sprouts (Garbanzo's, 5 different Lentils, Mung Beans, Adzuki Beans, Alfalfa, and Radish) I also made 100% Whole Wheat soft bread sticks, served with herbed butter. The Herb lesson was also taught that same night. We had two sisters visiting us from SLC- One of whom is a RS Pres in her ward. and our Stake RS President. They were so impressed with our lessons, that they asked if they could present our lessons to their home wards. We were thrilled to give them copies. Actually, I scanned them and sent them via email.

Sometime next year, we will be giving the same lesson to ALL of the RS Presidencies at the Stake Center.

Edited November 22, 2012 by Iggy

[dahlia]

Iggy - do you do that every week? We only have stuff once a month and just call them 'activity night.' They don't have fancy titles.

Personally, although I enjoy being with the ladies, they are mostly 20+ years younger than I and at very different points in life. They also have more children than I had and have parenting issues I didn't face as the mom of an only. I don't find the nights that useful, but I come for the company.

[classylady]

Our ward has evening RS once a month. We don't get a huge turnout. Only about 20 to 30 women. I'm on the Relief Society Committee, and we try to find things to do that will cover a wide range of interests while trying to incorporate service/humanitarian needs. It's hard. We have a wide range of ages in our ward. We have young married women to elderly and a wide diversity in education and interests.

[pam]

As with any activity, you can never make everyone happy.

[Iggy]

Iggy - do you do that every week? We only have stuff once a month and just call them 'activity night.' They don't have fancy titles.

Personally, although I enjoy being with the ladies, they are mostly 20+ years younger than I and at very different points in life. They also have more children than I had and have parenting issues I didn't face as the mom of an only. I don't find the nights that useful, but I come for the company.

Once a month. I am 60 years old and I really enjoy being around the younger sisters, and those few sisters who are older than me too.

[dahlia]

As with any activity, you can never make everyone happy.

Part of the issue, for me, is that we are a ward in a university town. Most of our members are in their 30's, with husband either going to grad school or doing a fellowship at the hospital or dental school, or a few new faculty. So, the activities are geared toward their interests. If it were more of a mixed ward, I would probably be more blase about what was offered, knowing that at some point something I was interested in would come around.

Still, I go because I like the women and it gets me away from the computer.

[Guest]

I'm still in the young mom category, at least for a couple more years I guess. :) I love having sisters older than I am around. I wish they'd comment more in the meetings, especially at church. They have experience that we could really learn from.

[dahlia]

I'm still in the young mom category, at least for a couple more years I guess. :) I love having sisters older than I am around. I wish they'd comment more in the meetings, especially at church. They have experience that we could really learn from.

I've heard from several sisters that they are happy I'm in RS and that my comments are so different from the usual.

I don't know what to make of that. Surely,*I* could not be controversial.

On parenthood - I agree that the younger sisters would benefit from the older ones, and I think in my ward people are quite sharing and open, but I'm not sure the young ones want to hear. I see a lot of people who are happy to be martyrs to their family, or who question themselves so much, you wonder how they leave the house.