From Arkansas:
“The biggest thing our Stake RS does is the RS Broadcast. The RS Presidency usually has a chairman in charge of a dinner for all the sisters in the stake. This time, about 14 men were asked to serve us. I have to tell you, it was incredible. The man in charge of the dinner was the husband of one of the counselors and he loves this kind of thing. The decorations on the tables were just a canning bottle with wheat stuck in them. Then they had colorful plates and napkins. All the men who were serving wore red ties. The stake presidency, stationed in the kitchen, wore matching aprons.
The sisters sat down, filling all of the place settings…then the parade began. Seven men came out and circled around the tables, one behind the other all dressed alike with white shirts, red ties, and black slacks. They had a matching red towel (waiter like) hanging from their arms. It was hilarious. Then the next group of 7 or 8 came out and did the same little parade, with more applause. When they started back to the kitchen, the first group came out with a plate of food in each hand, and circled around a table. They would look each other in the eye and put them down at the same time. And so they served us table by table. We felt like queens. I asked my husband if he would do that at home for me.
They did the same with dessert after they cleared away the main dish. They were all standing around the cultural hall if we needed anything, and would watch for sisters finishing and come to take away their dishes. At the end, both lines of men, and the men in the matching red aprons, came out in two lines. They stood in the middle of the cultural hall back to back and bowed one way and then the other to our applause. It was very entertaining.
After the meal, a choir of women, led by the Stake Music Director, sang for a half hour before the broadcast to get us all in the right frame of mind. It was beautiful. Then it was great listening to the broadcast as sisters. We could have all stayed at home and watched it on TV, but it brought us closer to be together.
Other activities include gathering twice a month at the stake center to work on Humanitarian projects. The Stake Humanitarian leader is in charge of it. We have a great turn out. It’s a come and go thing for 2 hours. If you can’t come the whole time, come to what you can.
Every unit celebrates the birthday of RS. Some wards have a lot of mid week activities, others not so many. Some wards have a RS meeting every month (like enrichment was) because they feel the need to be closer. We have a fun stake. Our stake is growing leaps and bounds. It was split by Elder David Bednar three years ago and has doubled in size. He said he would be back many times to split it again. He was our former Stake President.
The Stake Primary is planning a stake-wide Humanitarian Day with all the Activity Day Girls and their mothers. Part of it will be combined with the girls, and then we will split off and let the girls attend some workshops. It should be fun. We also do a Stake Emergency Preparedness Clinic for the whole NW Arkansas Region. 4,000 people plus come and it’s been fantastic.”