Women's Conference Recap

We were thrilled to have more than 120 women join us on October 15 for the 2016 Seneca Maryland Stake Women's Conference. The keynote address and information about the service project are described in postings that follow. That information, along with handouts from two of the breakout sessions, is also available as a PDF download here.

Thank you to everyone who participated in making the Women’s Conference a success!

• Promotions Committee
• Helene Thornton and Lunch Committee
• Janet Schiller and Service Project Committee
• Doorly Winegar and the Decorations Committee
• Nieves Costa and Maria Ranjbar for translation
• Instructors and speakers
• Everyone who attended and added to the spirit of unity we felt together!

Service Project Results

Our Women's Conference service project was organized in conjunction with Days for Girls, an international organization that provides reusable feminine hygiene products to girls in communities all over the world. There are over 400 chapters throughout the world that create kits to send to these communities. For more information, visit http://www.daysforgirls.org.

We had five sergers and five sewing machines running for three hours non-stop, with many sisters rotating in to help complete the bags and liners for these kits. More than 50 women stopped in throughout the day to help cut out fabric, iron, pin, thread ribbon, and organize the dozens of donations of Ziploc bags, panties, washcloths, and soap that were delivered.  In the end, we completed 27 kits in full, with at least two dozen more in various states of construction.

We heard today from our Rockville DFG contact about the destination of these kits: "In the last few weeks, we made a connection with a missionary group in New Jersey that is leaving for India in a few days.  They are taking 178 kits with them, including the 27 your team completed on October 15. The kits will be distributed at Grace Home, an orphanage in the greater New Delhi area that serves both boys and girls.  The Home has about 100 residents (half girls), but also serves other nonresident groups in the community.  The kits are being transported and distributed by missionaries from Joy Christian Fellowship in Englewood, New Jersey.  Joy has missions in 22 countries.  The missionaries travel frequently, and would love to carry additional kits in the future."

We will hold a follow-up activity to complete these kits on Saturday, November 19 from 9 to 11am at the Stake Center. This will be held in conjunction with the Stake Young Women's Craft Day, so we'll likely have Young Women join us in finishing this project. Please contact Andrea Affeltranger at aaffeltranger at gmail dot com if you are interested in participating in this second session and would like to lend your machine or donate additional fabric.

Thank you to everyone who participated!

Keynote Summary: Fostering a Commitment to Unity

Address given by Neylan McBaine, Author and Founder of the Mormon Women Project

Mosiah Chapter 18 describes that each soul is brought to the knowledge of their Redeemer, and so the Waters of Mormon become "beautiful" to them (vs 30).  Where is my Waters of Mormon, where contention fell away, where I felt connected to others and to eternity? What are those beautiful moments and places for us?

• Is it easier to have these experiences with people you don't know well?
• The early Christian church demonstrated how hard it is to come together in Christ. Acts Chapter 15 describes the Jerusalem Conference when disciples came together to argue over appropriate worship practices, and in the end the apostles couldn't agree and went their separate ways.

What are the factors of unity, the elements that can make a gathering beautiful to us? A discussion with sisters in the congregation identified some of the following ideas and personal experiences.

• Vulnerability, and the expectation that if you share, it will be received in an embrace and not in judgment.
• A feeling that "I belong here," and acting in a way that assumes that belonging is true for us and for others.
• Recognizing the tension between obedience and agency; we may have shared principles and faith in the gospel, but the practice of obedience may look different in our choices.
• Our ability to connect with others is linked to our willingness to serve others.
• We have agency to choose to feel charity and love for others, and to choose to feel confidence in God's love for us individually.
• Being compassionate in acknowledging that it's okay to be on the path to knowledge or belief; we don't have to always emphasize "knowing" as the only acceptable condition in the church.

With respect to the tension between obedience and agency, where individuals may make different choices in response to their faith in shared truths and principles, can we appreciate the variety and beauty of choices made in faith?  Prayerfully ask ourselves, am I choosing the path of obedience that is right for me? And am I allowing others to choose obedience in the form that is right for them, without judgment?

Social science research demonstrates that it is easier for people to accept and love "strangers," those who are very different from ourselves, than it is to form friendships with those who are very similar to us with slight differences. This psychological tendency results from feeling that those differences are a judgment on our own choices. We naturally would choose to gather with like-minded individuals who reaffirm and not question our choices, so it is a gift and a privilege that our church is organized into geographical wards that force sharing and vulnerability in groups that are not self-selected. It is as we serve, love, and come to understand our Relief Society sisters who share our faith but not our exact life circumstances that we can build unity in Zion.

A Promise from President Arnold

President Darren Arnold also shared some remarks during the opening session. He told the story of Emily Woodmansee (1836-1906), who was converted as a young girl after a short meeting with missionaries and was baptized four years later against her family's wishes.

For two years she saved up money to journey from Europe to America, and she traveled in the Willie Handcart Company to Utah. She was promised in a priesthood blessing that she would influence millions through word and poetry. She experienced many difficulties in her life, but the words that continue to influence a hundred years after her death are the hymn "As Sisters In Zion."

Women claim the errand of angels, to do whatsoever is gentle and human, to cheer and to bless in humanity's name. President Arnold expressed God's love for His daughters and promised each of us that if we will go to the Lord and inquire about our divine purpose and of His love for you, He will make it known unto us.

Conference Schedule