Hearing the same old thing....and learning something new!

So yesterday on my agenda I had an auxiliary training meeting downtown at the Tabernacle. I'll be honest, I didn't really want to go...I was a little bit tired, and some friends were planning a girls night that I wanted to go to, and the last thing on my mind was going to a training meeting for 2 hours. But alas, I didn't have to guts to tell my RS President that I couldn't or wouldn't go, so off I went. I find fairly often that the meetings you really don't want to go to, tend to be the ones you really need to be there for. This auxiliary training was taught by the RS General President and her counselors, and they did the most wonderful job.The Tabernacle wasn't very full, so they got down on our level, and taught us pretty much face to face. Now how often does it happen to be 2 rows away from the general authorities? They talked about the purpose of Relief Society on a very basic level, and it brought a whole new insight for me. I think it's amazing how you can hear the same things over and over in church meetings, but every once in a while you hear that same old thing, and think oh ya! that really makes sense! I get it now! I think a lot of that has to do with hearing it from a different voice. In our wards, we hear from the same people week after week, and I know for me, I tend to tune them out more than I should, with the thought of 'I've heard this before from this guy'. But listening to Sister Beck talk about ministering, serving, and loving the sisters peaked my interest. She said RS isn't about table cloths, decorations, and parties, it's about bringing sisters unto Christ. We don't have to have 30 different activities in a month, it may only take 1 to strengthen one another. I loved how they reminded us to use the spirit to make our decisions, and if it tells us we don't need a scrapbooking club in our ward, then don't make one! Sometimes it feels like the church has rules that are black and white, and those can be overwhelming, but I walked away feeling like there is room for the spirit to interact in our lives, allow it to work for us and everyone can benefit from that. I am so thankful to have heard the testimony of Sister Beck and her counselors, often I hear the apostles and think 'they are truly men of god,' but not nearly enough for women. But after hearing them speak, I know they were called of God, I know they care about the women of our church, and I know they have a vision for how best to serve the Relief Society. So it is now my goal to be more supportive of RS, and specifically enrichment, because that's where I tend to be the most negative. And hey, lucky for me the meeting ended just in time to meet up with the girls at the Melting Pot for some of the greatest chocolate fondu in the world! All in all it was a great evening!