Girls are alright, I guess.

Let's flashback for a bit to the time when I was called as relief society president in my BYU singles ward. I wasn't 100% surprised by the call. I think God was preparing me to be ready for the big blow. The previous relief society president was getting married so we all knew a new one needed to be called. I was told by friends and had the impression myself a few times before bishop issued the call that I would be next. So I guess you could say I wasn't exactly surprised when Bishop pulled me into his office after church one Sunday to drop the news. What was surprising, though, was how completely inadequate I felt in that moment. I foolishly hadn't been expecting that. I felt so overwhelmed as realization of what this calling entailed hit me. "Wait a minute," I thought. "I can't do this. I don't know anything about relief society! I don't even like girls!" Really, I was never that girl that enjoyed relief society activities and making small talk with the other girls in my apartment. Now suddenly I had to be all of their friends and be an example and plan those activities myself?! How hypocritical. It was interesting to me then that when I was set apart I was told that I would make some of my best friends while serving in my calling. "Girl" friends, up until then wasn't my thing.

Fast forward to today (over a year later), and I can honestly say that I love serving in the relief society, I have been blessed through friendships made while serving in my calling, and I love going to relief society activities. I am so impressed with the girls I serve the more I get to know them, and relief society activities are a great way to do just that. 

Last night, my awesome relief society meeting coordinator, Ariana, planned a simple but awesome activity where we met up in her apartment and enjoyed a little bit of summer together. We ate corn dogs and funnel cake, drank lemonade, and played games, with summery music playing in the background. My plan was just to make an appearance to show my support, but I ended up staying there until 10:00 at night because we were enjoying ourselves so much. I was so happy that a lot of people came, and I hope they enjoyed themselves as well. But my favorite part was getting to talk with just the few girls that remained after most of the people cleared out. That's when I felt like I got to know people better. We sat around and talked about all those funny things that girls talk about. Our conversation progressed from swapping dating stories and advice, to sharing the gospel with our friends, to waxing. It was so random, but so awesome to see how conversation about the most pointless things always seemed to come back to the gospel somehow. I decided to just sit back and listen, instead of dominating the conversation like I have the bad habit of doing, and what I heard impressed me so much. These girls are amazing and their testimonies are amazing and the difference they are making in other people's lives is amazing. I am so glad I get to be around them.

And my life was blessed because I was there. I learned about Onesie Wednesday's at Sammy's. What?! How had I not heard about this before?! And I made some other plans that will be fun. Also, I was told some really nice things that helped me feel a lot better about certain decisions I have made lately. It is so nice to feel supported.  

I guess my point is that God knew what He was doing when set up the Relief Society. We get cocky sometimes and think that there is nothing that relief society can do for us, but in reality we need the associations we make with the other women of the church. We all have different strengths and talents and when we work together and share we all are blessed and uplifted.