Sister Beck is Awesome!

I had the opportunity to attend a huge Relief Society meeting in the BYU-Idaho Center yesterday. Sister Beck was the ONLY speaker for the 2 hours (with a musical number thrown in.) It was set up as a question and answer session. And it was awesome. I've never known Sis. Beck to look scared, but she sure did yesterday as she stood up to speak to us. It's one thing to give a talk, but it's completely different to open the floor for questions, I mean, you could have to talk about any number of things! She was definitely prepared, and I think the questions were all inspired and relevant for all Relief Society sisters.

These are the things I liked the most. Some are kind of direct quotes, but some aren't because I couldn't write that fast. :)

1. We should have no greater goal than to help the Lord with His work.

2. Random fact: The RS worldwide is composed of 1/3 to 1/2 single sisters. (I thought it would be much lower.)

3. We live in difficult times, and the Lord isn't apologizing for that.

4. Lessons from the story of Mary and Martha: Invite the Savior into your home, serve Him, and accept His invitation to be part of His work. That's what the Savior was doing when He asked Martha to stop and listen.

5. Prepare to serve a mission, and you will be prepared for any life event.

6. Everything we have belongs to the Lord, so He can help us manage all the things we need to do. They are either essential (scriptures, prayer), necessary (household chores), or just nice (developing talents, hobbies). Prioritize.

7. Don't ever assume that a person you're talking to doesn't need something too. Serve them, and your problems will seem much less great.

8. Our talents have been given to us to help build the kingdom, not to be selfishly used.

9. Having a family is not a lifestyle choice, it's a Gospel choice.

10. We don't have to be worried, we just have to be faithful.

11. We expect to have children that are kind, obedient, and always loving. That's not going to be the case when we are being sent some of Heavenly Father's strongest spirits! They need examples of strong leadership from us.

12. My personal favorite: All of you can find issues with Visiting Teaching. The Lord doesn't care about your issues! Get over it! :)

I love her strong testimony of the family and the Gospel in general. She isn't afraid to be bold in telling us what's right (as seen by no. 12). :)