Announcements:
This Wed. is our sewing class. Please bring your material (already cut out), scissors, pins, thread. A iron and ironing board and power strip and extension cord will also be great! Also bring your sewing machine if you have one.
GO Group is Feb. 2, there is a sign up if you want to purchase the items to make personal heaters and then Chris Houghton will be doing a coupon class after. 7:00-8:00 will be a lesson on alternative forms of heat and the coupon class will start at 8:00. Also remember to get your backpacks for your 72 hour kits.
Feb. 16th we are having a master gardener come and talk about amending soil, natural pesticides, water conservation, growing bigger better tomatoes and tree pruning.
Good News Minute:
Amy Bush's son hits his year mark of his mission this week. Amy was excited because now she gets to start counting down.
Nikki Brady's grandson comes home from his mission this week.
A Big THANK YOU to Cindy Bailey for teaching our lesson last week. Her and her mother bore wonderful testimony of the blessings that come through sacrifice. You both definately touched many hearts.
This weeks lesson was from the General Conference Ensign. It was "Courageous Parenting" by Elder Lawrence. He states "What the world really needs is courageous parenting from mothers and fathers who are not afraid to speak up and take a stand." He reminds us what Elder Christensen said, "parenting is not a popularity contest." Elder Hales said, "sometimes we are afraid of our children-afraid to counsel with them for fear of offending them". If your daughter was sitting on the railroad tracks and you heard the train whistle blowing would you warn her to get off the tracks? Or would you hesitate, worried that she might think you were being overprotective?
Some suggestions that Elder Lawrence gave are: make sure that you work together as parents, stay up and wait for your children to get home, postpone children romantic relationships, let children know when they are expected to be home, and counsels against allowing sleepovers.
Being a good parents doesn't always involve saying no. Parents also need to say yes to the counsel of the prophets.
5 Fundamental Practices to Fortify Your Youth
1-family prayer
2-family scripture study
3-family home evening
4-family dinner
5-regular one-on-one interviews
"Parenting teen agers in the latter days is a very humbling assignment. Satan and his followers are striving to bring this generation down, the Lord is counting on valiant parents to bring them up. Parents "be strong and of good will (Joshua 1:9).
We love you all and make it a great week!!

We hope you are looking at the tables outside of the Relief Society Room each week. We have a lot of great projects and activities that are going to be held throughout the year. We will have those items and sign ups set up on the tables so that ALL sisters can know what's going on in Relief Society.
We are also way excited to finally be starting our GO Group. GO stands for Gather and Organize. We will be holding hands on classes each month and you'll have homework, yes homework, to do each month to get you and your family more prepared. This should really be fun!

Good News Minute:
*Sheramy Tahbo got to meet Elder Ballard when he stopped by her work. She got to shake his hand, I don't think she's washed it since.
*Kelly Robinson's daughter has passed a milestone in her pregnancy and is out of the woods and ready to deliver at any time.

Welcome to Jennifer Hoffman! Her and her family will be moving into the ward on Saturday. They are moving into the log home behind Bishop Thacker.

Today's lesson was Chapter 25 Fasting:
There are 2 essential principles of Fasting: Prayer and Purpose. Fasting is a commandment and that alone should be reason enough to do it, but of course the Lord blesses us if we follow His commandments.
*Some of the purposes of fasting are:
overcome weakness, heal sickness, guidance and comfort, know the truth of things, become humble, and feel closer to the Lord.
*Prayer is a necessary part of fasting. We should begin and end each fast with prayer. Throughout the scriptures fasting and prayer are mentioned together.
*We should be cheerful during our fasting and not advertise our fasting to others. On our fast day we neither eat nor drink for two consecutive meals. Children are encouraged to fast after they are baptized, but should never force them.
* When we fast wisely and prayerfully we develop our faith. With that we will have greater spiritual power.
Today's lesson defiantly gave me a greater understanding of the purpose and blessings that come through fasting. I will be sure to keep these in my prayers during next months fast.

What an inspirational lesson we had today! I really was motivated to come home and set some SIMPLE goals for the new year. It was also a good reminder of the importance it is to keep reading and rereading the conference addresses. I can't believe how much I had forgotten in just three months. One of my favorite things from the lesson today was a quote from Sister Hinckley,
"Stick to the task until it sticks to you. Beginners are many, finishers are few"
Let's all take some time if we haven't already to set some goals for the new year, also take some time to reflect on how far we've improved and grown over the last year, five years or ten years. If we take the time to do this I believe we will be amazed at how much we've grown and all the blessings that we have received! Thanks LaDean for the spirit that you brought to relief society today!

What a great Christmas program. Thanks to everyone for their work in both the Sacrament and Primary programs today. It always sets the spirit of the holidays.
We have several new sisters in the ward and we'd like to send out a big WELCOME to them:
Patty Gilbert, Amy Slaughter, Suzanne Stagg, Angie Harris, Jamie Hayden, and Janna Dennison.

Start recycling your dryer lint in your used cardboard egg cartons, also check the table outside the relief society room each week for emergency preparedness and canning items to order.

Good News Minute
Emily Branelly's husband Patrick got a role in the Hale Center Theatre's production of HairSpray

Our lesson today was Chapter 24 The Sabbath Day given by Heather Keele. We are grateful to Heather for teaching again even though she has been released. We will really miss her lessons!
The word Sabbath comes from the Hebrew word rest. The sabbath is a holy day ordained by God for us to rest from our daily labors and worship Him. In Mark 2:27 Jesus taught that the sabbath was made for our benefit. When we direct our thoughts and actions toward God we are nourished and refreshed and richly blessed! Some of the sisters shared their ideas on what they do to make the sabbath holy: listen to good music, make it a day unlike the other days of the week, visit family or just spend time with your immediate family, attend church, family history, write letters and personal journal entries.

Hope you all have a very Merry Christmas and you find the opportunity to bless someones life this week. We love you all and see you next week!

Thanks to everyone for a great Cowboy Christmas. It was a wonderful night and we couldn't have done it without the help of the couples and sisters that signed up to host tables. The food, entertainment and tables were all beautiful, it really set me in the right mood for Christmas.
I hope to have pictures of the evening posted soon!

First of all Thank You to everyone that helped with the funeral yesterday. We have such a great ward! Next money is due today for canning rice. We will be canning on Thursday at 7:00 in the kitchen. We are really excited about our Cowboy Christmas, please mark your dates for Nov. 30th at 6:30. A nursery will be provided, please sign up or call Andrea Ashley to let us know if you'll be attending.
Good News Minute
*Alli Houghton made All State Keeper in soccer!
*Laura Ashley was named Westlake High Sterling Scholar in Trade&Technology
*Evelyn Humphrerys is looking forward to a new grandchild and great grand
child coming in the next few months
*Dixie Webb just got a new grandson
*Carol Ellis got to go the the Philippines to help Sara with her new baby. This
makes 18 grandchildren for the Ellis'
*LeeAnn Jett has found a job working with disabled children
*Mary Kay Streadbeck's son was married on Friday
*Cindy Bailey's mom staying with her and will be moving in to her new home
next month.

Big Welcome to Jamie Haban and her son. They moved into the Tahbo's basement.

Today's lesson was on the Holy Ghost given by Chris Houghton. Chris started by asking "How important is the Holy Ghost?" some points were brought up that:
*the Holy Ghost is a member of the Godhead
*Receiving the Holy Ghost is one of the 4 principle ordinances of the gospel
*the power of the Holy Ghost was one of the three things that was left on earth
during the dark ages.
We spent much time talking about how the Holy Ghost sanctifies individuals as they are called to church positions. Read Alma 5:54. It is our responsibility to support and sustain those called to lead us.
Moroni 9:4 offers some parenting tips. and Moroni 8:28 calls us to repents so that we can receive the Holy Ghost.

Time was given to President Bailey at the end of class today. He was blessed to attend a training with other stake presidents and bishops. He wanted to share with us some points that the prophets and apostles gave to them.

Prophetic Principles

1. Build Faith in Jesus Christ
2. Strengthen Families!!!!
3. Rescue individuals that are lost
4. Priesthood power in the home
5. More missionary work
6. Study the handbook and put its principles into action

Thank you sisters and make it a great week!

Happy Halloween!
This week: Women At The Well Nov. 4th and 5th at 7pm

Good News Minute
*Angela Cox's daughter won her first cheer leading competition. Way to go Aubrie!
*Lisa Jone's 4th grade sons football team won their game, despite being ruled as the
"underdogs" Good job Hunter!
*Diane Tenney had a great get away in St George with a group of "old" friends.
*Karren Fairbanks' son is leaving for Japan to teach English there. She's not sure when
she'll see him again so thinking maybe a trip to Japan is in her future.
*Michelle Reeves, Christy Reutzel, Samantha Long, Tina Gast, and Ashlee Rees all ran a
half marathon in Provo this weekend. Way to GO and hope your calves are better soon!

We were blessed to hear from our new RS teacher this week, Karen Wilcken. She was given the not so easy task of teaching about the dangers of pornography. Way to jump right in with both feet Karen! The lesson was from the conference talk "Place No More for the Enemy of My Soul" given by Elder Jeffrey Holland. Self deception is something that we need to be very aware of . It leads us to believe that infrequent bits of inappropriate behavior will not lead to addiction. As women and mothers, and wives we must be ever diligent and mindful of the items and programs that are being brought into our homes. Be careful with magazines, newspaper ads and TV programs. What may seem totally innocent to us, could be very arousing to the men/boys in our home.
While men are addicted through visual pornography, as women we are more verbal. We must be very cautious in the books we read. Romance novels can also be very addictive and inappropriate.
Pornography is damaging to relationships because it brings in the element of lust into something that was once a very sacred and spiritual relationship. Lust is shame, an open appetite and shakes trust and faith. Pornography exaggerates every negative part of our persona.
The church has a website to help us combat pornography that is available if needed.
Some suggestion from the lesson today are:
*Run! Run as far away from it as you can.
*Acknowledge that you need help
*Exercise self-control, even over the most minor details. A journey of a thousand miles starts with just one step. Don't take that first step!
*Quickly banish unwelcome thoughts
*Cultivate the spirit and be where the spirit is.

We'd also like to thank Adrienne Morris for all her great lessons!
Have a great week sisters!