This year Latter-day Saint women across the Pacific Islands, Australia and New Zealand are celebrating 180 years of Relief Society — one of the oldest and largest women’s organisations in the world — with service.
Sharon A. Eubank, first counsellor in the Relief Society general presidency, wrote recently on social media: “What better way to honour [Relief Society’s] mission of extending the pure love of Jesus Christ into the world than by joining a service project in your community?”
The first meeting of Relief Society was held on 17 March 1842 in Nauvoo, Illinois, USA. Emma Smith was named as the first president.
She declared to the small gathering: “We are going to do something extraordinary.”
Today, there are branches of Relief Society across the world with women leading, teaching and providing care for one another, families, and local communities.