On 27 September 2014, women, young women and girls eight years of age and older gathered at The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints’ meetinghouse in Winnipeg, Manitoba, to provide service to women in their community.
The women collected hundreds of baby and children’s items, clothing, handmade blankets and hygiene kits, which were assembled and boxed up to be given to local women’s and homeless shelters. Younger girls spent time cleaning and beautifying the trails in a local community park.
| Temple Square is always beautiful in the springtime. Gardeners work to prepare the ground for General Conference. © 2012 Intellectual Reserve, Inc. All rights reserved. | 1 / 2 |
That evening they joined hundreds of thousands of other women, young women and girls around the world via Internet broadcast, gathered for the second general women’s meeting of the Church. The new combined meeting is held twice a year and replaces the separate general Relief Society and Young Women meetings that were held in March and September. The inaugural general women’s meeting was held on 29 March 2014.
The general women’s meeting concluded the day’s events in Winnipeg, as mothers and daughters sat side by side to receive counsel from their leaders. Speakers were leaders of the Church’s women’s auxiliary organizations, including Sister Linda K. Burton, Relief Society general president; Sister Neill F. Marriott, second counsellor in the Young Women general presidency; and Sister Jean A. Stevens, first counsellor in the Primary general presidency.
President Dieter F. Uchtdorf, second counsellor in the First Presidency, also addressed the women, young women and girls. He reflected on the women who have helped shape his life, including his grandmother who took her family to a Latter-day Saint sacrament meeting decades ago, as well as the single, elderly German woman who extended the invitation to her. He also expressed his gratitude for his wife, daughters and granddaughters and the millions of faithful sisters worldwide. “I am grateful to you for the countless ways you inspire, nurture and bless those around you.”
Women leaders of the Church’s worldwide auxiliary organizations conducted the meeting at the Conference Center in Salt Lake City, Utah. The meeting was broadcast live in 55 languages to Latter-day Saint chapels around the world, on television and radio and over the Internet.
Local Winnipeg Relief Society president Susan Paunins remarked about the service rendered, “An event of this magnitude would not happen without the help and work of many people.”