35 years a CONVERT of Relief Society

I have actually been a member of the church since my baptism at 8 years old. I have just celebrated my 37th wedding anniversary. David and I moved to Dallas upon graduation from college 35 years ago. And it was in the Dallas 4th Ward that I learned the true value of Relief Society.
I, of course, had endured the "quasi" Relief Societies that existed at BYU. As a student I could not really afford any of the crafts and none of the other students were that accomplished in a skill set to even teach. But that all changed when I moved to Dallas.
I was desperately homesick. I was pregnant with my second child. I missed the stimulus of a college campus and all it afforded. And I thought the women in the Dallas 4th ward were much older than me and a little scary. I felt attending Relief Society on Tuesdays was a "suggestion" as opposed to a law of obedience. I did not have any money to participate in the crafts and/or contribute to the luncheons (part of the set-up back then) with the homemaking meetings at that time.
It was a Tuesday during the Fall, much like our Super Saturday on the 18th, and D4 RS was doing crafts for Christmas. I decided to bite the bullet and make a wreath. A dear woman, Barbara Dunn who is still in R2 RS, was helping to defray the costs with the fabric. I sat next to another woman with red hair and a ready smile, Karen Bateman. I had no native ability with anything having to do with decorating or fabric or symmetry. However, I sat next to my new friend Karen, who understood that this wreath was much more than a decoration. It would be something I could finish and enjoy in the days to come and she was right!
I did need a lot of help on how to tie the ribbon onto the wreath and then "fluff" it. I wish I had saved it as a wonderful memory of a testimony shift. I made some friends that day - real eternal connections. AND, I had come to the meeting feeling big and pregnant and lost in a set of grown up details and yet I came away appreciating the potential of what a sisterhood outside my family meant. A little of the fear and dread of a new place and situation began to drift away.
I do not think everyone is for everyone. But I do know that participation in Relief Society is for everyone. One can find "someone" amidst the "everyone" that will help create a mental shift in a way that will help lighten the load, or gain insight, or be a reprieve from the burdens one might carry.
I do not believe I am overstating it when I say that events such as our Super Saturday on September 18th are more than a suggestion depending on time constraints - but really an answer to our own prayers or the person sitting next to us!