For the Relief Society Birthday the District had a very nice celebration with a lovely program with all the branches contributing talent and skits and music and a slide show. There were also lovely refreshments afterwards. It was a wonderful afternoon and a great way to spend time with the sisters here. Here are a few pictures I took.
The women dressed in western pioneer and Ukrainian pioneer costumes.
The three women on the left are dressed in costumes made by one of the women in the district. They also had an old sewing machine and assorted pioneer effects to go with their skit about the origins of Relief Society. Then the woman to the right of center is in a traditional Ukrainian embroidered skirt and blouse. You cannot see the flowers in her braided hair. Next is another version of Ukrainian traditional dress but more of the country dress. The last is a modern Ukrainian woman representing the women of today as Ukraine was dedicated in 1992 and so is a very modern pioneer country in our Church. All three of these women sang and the one on the far right recited a very long poem which was fully memorized and beautifully given.
This woman had on a traditional Ukrainian head dress and sang a beautiful Ukrainian lullaby.
Here is a close up of the same woman where you can see the flowers in her head dress and the ribbons hanging down. It is taken with my phone and not a great picture but hopefully gives you a flavor of it.
Here is a traditional Ukrainian song sung by a woman in traditional clothing.
These three women in pioneer, Ukrainian and modern dress sang a beautiful Ukrainian hymn.
Visiting Teaching gone bad.
This was such a good skit. The woman standing kept going back and forth to different conversations. The woman on the left is the one that is being visited. It was so fun to see that everyone understands the concept of what is right and everyone understands what is wrong – no matter what the language.
Here are seven of the sisters from our branch. The one third from the left is the Relief Society President. The one on the far left is Sister Sheremet who has been in three times now to work with me in the office on mission histories. She told me Sunday she learned English 25 years ago and is trying to practice with her children who also learned so she can talk to me. We talk in a mix of languages but I have come to love her and when she was in yesterday she gave me a big hug. If I feel such love in four months it will be hard to leave when the time comes.
So that was our activity. It was wonderful in every way.