Each spring, Latter-day Saint women across the globe commemorate the founding of the Relief Society by the Prophet Joseph Smith on March 17, 1842. But Sister Linda K. Burton, Relief Society general president, wants women to know that they are celebrating so much more than just a birthday for the organization.
“What are we celebrating?” she asked. “We are celebrating who we are and what our work is. We are celebrating those who have gone before. And we are celebrating our purpose.” Sister Burton and her counselors, Sister Carole M. Stephens and Sister Linda S. Reeves, met this March with the Church News to talk about Relief Society and the organization’s history and relevance today.
Sister Burton said as Latter-day Saint women think about the history of Relief Society, “we appropriately celebrate being taught by Joseph Smith in our early meetings. But I wonder how often we stop and celebrate the blessing of having the teachings of modern-day prophets in our day. We have the opportunity to learn together their words in our meetings, just as our sisters in Nauvoo were taught by the Prophet Joseph, the living prophet in their day.”