[I edited your address so the spambots wouldn't get you]

I have been RS president for over four years. Both of my counselors work. On counselor has a teenager and two small children. Her husband has been out of work for over a year and has had several operations. Her job with the state is being cut.

We go visiting once a week, and I am in awe of many of our women when I see what they are going through. I am also in a lot of homes by myself. One woman had her sister-in-law move in with her three teen daughters. The sister-in-law and her husband had to leave the girls there without them for about six months. I watched my ward member struggle to maintain law and order with those spoiled girls, and struggle to feed and clothe them, when she was just barely making it with her family.

I have watched women going through divorces, families with financial and physical challenges. I have had to work with some really different personalities. I see women cope with inactive family members, children caught up with alcohol and drugs, husbands with pornography, beligerant children, handicapped children, personal chronic health problems.

We have had several deaths. I visit the widows often and listen to them tell how they are trying to pick up the pieces and move on without their spouse

On top of this, I see the love and service given by my women to others in our ward (and outside the ward) in spite of their personal problems.

I was also RS President about twenty years ago, and I see that the challenges are very different today. I really do believe it takes a new kind of courage for women today

The Mormon woman of today –
What courage needs she still
To do her any varied tasks,
Promoting God’s high will!

New types of courage this demands –
So many strands today
Are woven in life’s tapestry
New trials mark the way.

Surely some reader here is a member of FMH…