Time Out for Women and Sydney!

 

Sydney Baby!

 

I was able to get away for a long weekend to Sydney last week. It was so nice. Much needed time away ~ A Girls Weekend. The best part of visiting Sydney is I realise I'm glad I don't live there!

But just as it makes me appreciate home, I also appreciate how great it is to visit somewhere else.

 

Opera House

 

 

Time Out For Women

Me snapped by the lovely Lisa King TOFW photographer!

I was inline with a friend (so short you cant see her :) to see Brad Wilcox.

I broke my 'no approaching famous people/church speakers' just for her!

Time out for women was back after two years and initially I wasn't going to attend due to The Mr's work travel schedule, time, effort, money, being a nervous traveller {when alone},  not knowing my own way around Sydney etc.

Then last month I convinced my lovely friend to drag me around Sydney again.
{Isn't she wonderful!}

And I'm glad I did!  I had a wonderful weekend.

I am truly blessed that a bunch of strangers {to me} let us use their car to pick me up from airport, another to host me at their house and cook me delicious food and sit up all night chatting to us {seriously I stayed with the best family in all of Sydney!} another set to drive us to Homebush for the TOFW conference, another to drive and take us out to dinner and our hosts to take us back to the airport at the end of it all. Truly Blessed - as all this made it possible for me to attend.

LDS women are the BEST!

The thing I love best about TOFW is just having all those church ladies in one room. Such a buzz to be with 2300 ladies of the same faith! Everyone so happy and kind. I was able to {briefly} catch up with about 30 women I haven't seen in a long time. I even met a few people I only know online. It was so much fun to meet them. Just the feeling from the group is almost worth it alone to make sure you attend.



A few people who could not attend have asked for an overview of the talks from Time Out for Women.  So here goes  ~ hopefully you can make sense of my rambling notes.


Hillary Weeks
If you like Hillary's music its almost like attending a concert of hers.
She sung around 10 songs all up I think.
So if you like her ticket price worth it on that alone probably.

The conference was based on Isaiah 55:9
For as the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are my ways higher than your ways,
and my thoughts than your thoughts

Virginia H Pearce started off by stating that:
All we have to offer eachother is our stories.
This really touched me and made me want to continue blogging even when I think it is a waste of time. And as someone who loves to talk... well.... All we have to offer is our stories! YAY!

We hear what we are listening for.
Sheri Dew recounted a story about going to watch her neice play in an orchestra of 270 people. Her neice plays Obo so they were particularly straining to hear the Obo. Noone else there may have heard the Obo alone but she did because she was looking to listen for it.
Listen. Hear what is for you. Do More, Do Less, Stop. Whatever it is find your message.


Virginia H Pearce

We all want choices but if we have too many we can stall, walk away or make a choice and end up with dissatisfaction since we could have had anything but ended up with 'this'.
Limit your choices to 3, Lower your expectations {nothing will ever turn out perfect!}
1. Chose to believe you have a choice {even in hard circumstances thrusted upon us}
2. Choose to surrender
3. We can Choose to Show up.

Surrender to God without resentment and resistance. SHOW UP for our Families, our Callings. There are no dead people here. We ALL still have something to give. When Sister Marjorie Hinckley was ageing she was sad that she felt she no longer could contribute in anyway. Her daughter said 'your presence in a room is enough mother'. She shared a story about a lady with Alziehmers and a blind lady assisting each other. One had the sight, one had the ability to make sure they got home.

We all have deficiets. If we all show up for one another this makes up the difference.

She shared a story about Pres Eyerings Dad who was in extreme pain showing up to pull weeds at a church farm and having to crawl along in the dirt as his legs didn't work. After he was finished someone said 'oh no you didn't pull those weeds did you? Those have been sprayed and will die in a week anyway!'  His Son was shocked that he just laughed and wasn't upset.
He just said 'I wasn't here for the weeds Son'

Showing up for the Saviour - so nothing is ever a loss.

She ended with a slide show of a compilation of all the words spoken by the Savior to us from the scriptures. It was very moving and I think I will try and do likewise and make a compilation of all statements made by a loving Father in Heaven and a Loving Christ. To have all those statements in one place, to show how much he loves us, was beautiful.

Hillary Weeks
shared a new song which will be in her coming soon new album called 'I found me'.
It was very good. She asked us to make a mantra to share with ourselves.

I am.... { I am refined, caring, dynamic person ... enter your saying here}


Brad Wilcox

The Atonement is a vicarious gift. The Atonement means we survive mortality but any growth is really up to us. A gift is valued if it is used. We will see who values baptism, the atonement etc.

Seek His power not Willpower.
Perfection is a long term journey. Covenants are part of the process. They are like petrol that keeps us going in our journey. He used an example of a lovely girl who said that she knew what the Atonement was but that she hoped she will never have to use it {by trying really hard to be perfect} He said that is like saying I'm going on a cross country trip but I'm not going to buy any petrol on the way.

Instead of just Come Unto Christ ~ BeCOME like Christ

We don't always pray because we are worthy{perfect} we pray because we need it
We serve missions, go to temple not because we made it {perfect} but because we need it
We don't take Christs name ~ he gives it.
It creates us.

Week after Week, Weakness after Weakness we are using the Atonement.

Abandon sin to get comfortable with God ~ however many
Abandon God to get comfortable with Sin

Without endurance to the end it would all be about the here and now.
We are saved by Grace and Transformed by Grace.

No If Only. If only I had a saviour. Because of the Atonement we won't face mortality alone or have the 'whens' or 'ifs' destroy us.

Heaven is not a prize for perfect people but a home for anyone who uses and values the Atonement.

Laurel Christensen

She spoke about different fears. Asked us to think of a fear we have and keep it in mind.

Fear of disappointment
Fear of failure
Fear of success {This! really spoke to me! Aha!}

Life is not meant to be lived in our comfort zone.

Formula for life/everything is

desire, believe, experiment, receive

When we stop praying for things needed so we don't have to suffer disappointment when we don't get it, then there is no desire and this is a tragedy. The tragedy no longer lays in not getting what you wanted. The tragedy is not wanting it anymore.

Wanting to know God's will can become wanting God to make all your decisions for you.
Sometimes we use God's will as a cop out {ie if God wanted it to happen for me it would have. If God loved me he would help me out, If God wants me to have a man/job/life he would have given it to me}

We need to MOVE, MAKE CHOICES and ACT LIKE GOD

He will not command us in all things

There is alot of room in Gods will. He will make room for OUR WILL to be HIS WILL.

God loves our agency more than he loves our happiness {which must be very sad for him}

There is peace on the other side of brave.

What will the Lord have me do to live HIGHER?


Sheri Dew

She had the sister missionaries come up on stage and they and the whole crowd sang a new arrangement of Janice Kapp Perry's 'As sisters in zion"  called The Sisters of Zion

The sisters of Zion are called to God's labor,
We willingly serve Him with spirit and might.
We go to the nations with truth everlasting,
We teach of the Savior, our Lord Jesus Christ.

We thank thee, O God, for a prophet to guide us,
We trust in his words and our purpose is clear.
The angels of heaven are walking beside us,
We'll share our glad message with all who will hear.

We go forth enlisted with Helaman's Army
In numbers much greater than ever before.
With power and spirit we'll faithfully witness
The heavens have spoken and truth is restored!

IT was very moving to have 2300 women all singing this song.

Sheri recounted a couple different stories about her travels and life as a strong LDS woman.
What Mormon women know. While following Pres Hinckley around reporters always wanted to know about the poor downtrodden repressed Mormon women. Pres Hinckley quipped
'We get out of their way that's what!"
She said no organization in the world has so many women be able to teach, preach, lead, direct, reach out, serve.

We are powerful women.

Do we know what we know? We have access to the most remarkable privileges on earth.

Often as a leader she prayed 'Lord just tell me what to do' Alas he always wants us to come forward and present. The language of revelation is in the scriptures. Proper study opens the conduit to heaven.

Each woman has an impact on about 1000 people in their lives.

Collectively all of us at TOFW can impact 2 million people.


And there is my report from Time out for Women. I hope it makes sense to those who weren't able to attend and I hope you can feel of the spirit that it was imparted with. Notes rarely do just service.

Thank goodness for wonderful friends! Without her I wouldn't have gone!

It was such a full weekend 3 days of late nights that I promptly went to sleep at 7pm Sunday night.