There are many ways to serve in life. We don’t have to look far to see someone in need of a helping hand. I am a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, the organization for women in our church is called “Relief Society”. The Relief Society was formally organized on March 17, 1842 in Nauvoo, Illinois, and is now one of the largest women’s organizations in the world. The purpose of Relief Society is to provide temporal and spiritual needs to anyone in need whether they are members of our church or not.

It is important to provide needs to those suffering throughout the world and our church does a lot of that; however, it is just as important to provide service and friendship to our neighbor across the street. This apron is one of five made for a Relief Society Presidency who recently served voluntarily for five years! Relief Society presidencies are comprised of a president and two counselors, assisted by a secretary and possibly an assistant secretary (depending on the size and needs of the ward-or congregation). Members of our church are called to serve voluntarily with no pay in the many positions that comprise the church. Each congregation is know as a “ward”. Each ward is lead by a “bishop” and he has two counselors to assist him. These three men are what comprise what we call a “bishopric”. Wards are also part of a “stake”, a small group of wards - generally eight to twelve. Each stake is also led by three men - the stake president, and two counselors. A secretary is called to assist each bishopric or presidency.

As Relief Society sisters, we help provide many needs which can include many different things including organizing meals for families in need due to surgery, a mother having a baby, sickness, etc. It can also include organizing groups of women to go in and help with house cleaning for people going through difficult times such as sickness or the death of a close family member. We meet as a Relief Society group every other Sunday and discuss important topics women face in today’s challenging world. These lessons are chosen from Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints General Conference Talks, by the Relief Society Presidency according to the needs of the women in our wards.

Currently I serve as the secretary in our ward Relief Society. We are in our third year of service. In the time we have served, we have organized the compassionate care for four funerals. A funeral in our church is generally held at one of our church buildings, and the Relief Society is assigned the responsibility to care for the flowers, as well as a luncheon for the family/close friends after the dedication (prayer) over the grave site at the cemetery. Each of these four funerals have been totally different in the needs of the family members. The first was a large funeral for a beloved man not only of the ward, but in the community. Brother Belnap was in his 90’s and a medical doctor who attended medical school with Russell M. Nelson, now prophet of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. President Nelson spoke at this funeral.

After the family went to the cemetery, the Relief Society sisters prepared to serve a meal when they returned to the church following the graveside. Through the years, in Utah and the surrounding area at least, this meal has become the traditional “funeral family meal”. It consists of - warm sliced ham, “funeral potatoes” (these are a delicious delicacy), Jello salad (did you know Utah consumes more Jello than any other state in the nation?), tossed green salad, rolls, and brownie/cakes to serve 150 people.

The second funeral was for an older gentleman who was not a member of our ward, but had recently been moved to a care center close by from Oregon. He and his wife had a large family, and his son along with his family are members of our ward. So although this man was not a member of our ward, we hosted the funeral and dinner. However this family chose to have the food catered. So the Relief Society sisters picked up the food the family had ordered, and brought it back to the church to have others assist with the serving and clean up.

The third funeral was for an older lady who has lived in our neighborhood for many years, but was not active in ward activities. This did not matter. The family chose to hold the funeral at the mortuary, but accepted the offer for us to host their family for a dinner after the graveside services at the cemetery.

The last funeral we recently had was for a young seventeen year old who passed away in his sleep while attending a track meet in Idaho. This too was a large funeral, as Thomas was a beloved young man in the community and at our local high school.

To pull of something of this magnitude it takes a lot of volunteer help. Generally an email is sent out indicating the needs, and people sign up to come and help. Each funeral requires help from many of the men and young teen age boys in the ward to go to the church and set up chairs for the funeral. There were so many helpers that came to help with Thomas’ funeral, 700 chairs were set up in twelve minutes!!! When the family left to go to the cemetery for the graveside services, those same men put most of the chairs away from the funeral, and set up 6 serving tables for food, 18 tables with 8 chairs at each to feed 150 people. As soon as the tables were in place, Relief Society women and young teenage girls placed white tablecloths on each table, along with beautiful centerpieces of floral arrangements (arranged by women in the ward), photos of Thomas, and votive candles. In the 45 minutes the family went to the cemetery, the gym at the church was transformed into a beautiful dining area for the family to come back to eat and reminisce about Thomas, surrounded by memories of him.

To feed that many people in a buffet line, we set up four rectangular tables down the center of the gym, and had enough food for people to fill their plates from each side of the four tables - for a total of 8 stations. This made it so that in 15 minutes all 150 people were sitting at the round tables and eating. The kitchen was a busy place! An email had been sent out earlier in the week for “funeral potatoes’, Jello salads, green salads, fruit trays, and brownies/cakes to feed 150 people. The sign-up was almost completely full by the end of the day! Many men, women, teenage boys and girls came and helped with set-up, kitchen duties, serving, and clean-up. It is a humbling experience to see so many people come together in the service of those in need. With no compensation other than the blessings from Heaven for their sacrifice of time, talents, and donations to make it all happen!

“Death is not the end. It is putting out the candle because the dawn has come.” -Thomas S. Monson

May we all look for ways to be the light in other’s lives by serving and ministering to them as our Savior Jesus Christ would do.

Below is a list of food items and amounts if you are ever in need of knowing how much food you will need for a luncheon of this type:

Hormel Cure 81 Ham (1/4 pound per person) We order ours from our local grocery store here in Kaysville - Bowman’s Market. They have it all sliced, in heavy tin foil pans, and heated ready to serve. This is paid for by the ward. (Funded by donations from ward members)
25 Dozen “Homestyle” rolls - also from Bowman’s. These rolls are like a small dollar roll, only slightly bigger. Also paid for by the ward.
13 pans of 9” x 13” Funeral Potatoes (search for recipes online - but the best ones include corn flakes!)
9 large fruit platters
6 large Jello salads
10 tossed green salads with dressing
10 Jelly Roll size pans of brownies or cakes

Serve

Many ways to serve