Looking for a good deal?

With the economy being the way it is right now, I'm always on the lookout for a good deal, and I bet I'm not the only one. I have had a few deals passed onto me by other members and figure the rest of you might like to know too:

First off is the easiest and probably the most obvious. MILK. You do buy milk from the dairy right? Way cheaper than at the supermarket in most cases. The dairy at the Manurewa end of Mahia Road (opposite the Mobil Service Station) sells 4 litres of milk for $4.80. Not every dairy sells the cheap brand, but almost every second one does, so it pays to have a look around and shop smart. There is no taste difference between the various brands as far as my family can tell, so we get the cheap stuff.


EAST TAMAKI FACTORY SHOP
1 Accent Drive, East Tamaki.
Open 9am-5pm Mon - Fri, and 9am-3pm Sat
The East Tamaki Factory Shop sell ice-cream firsts and seconds as well as milk and cream. A few examples are: 4 litre ice-cream seconds $5.00, a 5 litre Killinchy Gold seconds for $10, 5 litre Lucky Dip Seconds $5, plus much more.


REDUCED TO CLEAR
18 Roscommon Road (Off Puhinui Road), Wiri.
Ph: (09) 277 0518
www.reducedtoclear.co.nz
Open 9am - 5pm Mon - Sat

This shop sells a variety of items that are near or just past their use by date, for considerably cheaper than normal. The food is perfectly safe for consumption. Items you might find in the store include:
* Close to or just past it's best before date
* End of packaging lines
* Packaging misprints
* Post Easter, Christmas, and clearance lines
* Under-performing newly launched products
* Cancelled export and import orders

Reduced To Clear sells some of NZ's (the world's for that matter) most popular snack and chocolate brands, food and general grocery lines every day. The store offers a 100% money back guarantee on all products purchased, (something that not even all the major wholesalers and retailers offer). I came out of this store with WAY too many chocolates and lollies (completely rationalising that my daughters 3rd birthday is coming up, but seriously, you know it's not going to last that long).


GENGY'S MONGOLIAN BBQ
12 Lakewood Court, Manukau (Next to Rayland Hotel & Valentines)
http://www.gengys.co.nz
Ph: (09) 263 6999

Have you tried this type of meal before? I tried it once a few years ago and it was great. A whole new dining experience. Their everyday dinner prices now are 2 for 1 ($13.50 per person, all you can eat). Children cost $3 plus $1 per age up to 10 years old. They also have a 2 for 1 lunch special on Saturdays and Sundays for the same price.

The blurb from their website says: "Gengy’s originates from the name Ghengis Khan who was the famous leader of the Mongolian empire which dominated the World for most of the 16th Century. Ghengis Khan and his warriors invaded and conquered most of Europe, Asia and Africa and were ferocious warriors. After they had won a battle they would have a huge victory feast usually in the shelter of the forest. The warriors would turn their shields upside down over roaring camp fires and cook newly discovered meats and vegetables, native to the conquered lands. At gengy’s restaurant we have captured this fresh and tasty style of cuisine under more modern and hygienic conditions."

As far as I can remember,you go up and select all your meats, vegetables and sauces in one bowl. You take it to the chef who has this HUGE hot plate, and he cooks it right in front of you (kind of like stir-fry but SO much better). When he's done you take your plate over to the table and eat. You can go back for more as many times as you like. Absolutely delicious, and healthy too.


Do you know of a good deal that the other sisters might want to check out? Leave me a comment here, or email me and I'll add it to the list. My email address is in the Relief Society Newsletter). Have a great week, and look out for the November newsletter coming out this Sunday.

General Conference Oct 2009

Since this weekend is General Conference for us, I wanted to make sure you all had the links to the video/audio and online text incase you don't make it to one or all of the sessions.

CLICK HERE to view, read or listen to conference.

4th October update

So who went to watch the Relief Society Broadcast last night? I hear it was wonderful. I remembered all during the week, and it was even on my calendar, but completely forgot about it on Saturday until it was already half way through. Ugh. So I went online and read the transcripts on the LDS.Org website. The talks are great and I really wish I'd attended last night now! Click HERE to read them for yourself.

An interesting paragraph I found was this one by Julie B. Beck, Relief Society General President. She says: "All of our meetings and activities are meetings of Relief Society sisters. For the past number of years, we have called additional Relief Society meetings home, family, and personal enrichment meetings. In response to concerns about the complexity of that title and the different interpretations about the purpose of those meetings, a decision has been made that the name “home, family, and personal enrichment” will be discontinued effective now. In counsel with the First Presidency and the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, it was determined that rather than give these additional Relief Society meetings a new title, all such meetings and activities will now be referred to simply as Relief Society meetings. Individual Relief Society meetings that are held during the week can be called whatever they are: Relief Society service, classes, projects, conferences, or workshops."

So there you go. Easy huh. She also talks a bit about Visiting Teaching and the importance thereof: "Visiting teaching becomes the Lord’s work when our focus is on people rather than percentages. In reality, visiting teaching is never finished. It is more a way of life than a task. Faithfully serving as a visiting teacher is evidence of our discipleship." Go read the rest of the talk - it's a good one.

We have more to announce today. Sister Elva Gallagher has been released as our Mountfort Ward Relief Society President. She is off to a new ward and a new home in Howick, and we wish her all the very best. Her tireless devotion to the Relief Society under her care was an inspiration to the rest of us in the Presidency and I'm sure the whole ward. We will miss her very much. The departure of one president means the arrival of a new president and counselors. Sister Charlene Otene now fills the position of RS President, with Sister Ioanna Leelo as first counselor and Sister Iunisi Vakaukamea as second counselor. We are beyond excited to welcome the new presidency, and look forward to serving the sisters of the Mountfort Ward.

Our RS Activity night on Tuesday 13th Oct will consist of 3 mini classes. Family History, Sewing, and Crafts. A little something for everyone, but especially for our younger sisters who are still building up their repertoire of homemaking skills. We all learn it somewhere - why not in a loving environment with your fellow sisters! If you happen to have some of the following items at home, please bring them with you. If you don't have them, then don't worry, just bring yourself along: Scissors, needle & thread, fabric and sewing patterns. The evening starts at 6.30pm as usual, and you are welcome to bring a plate of supper if you're able. Again, no pressure if you can't.

You can buy tickets directly from Jennis. There are only 20 available, so get in quick. Remember all proceeds go directly towards helping our youth attend EFY next year. If you don't know Jennis' phone number, call me (RS Secretary) at home (number is on the front page of your October newsletter) and I will give you her number. We don't like posting phone numbers on the internet for obvious reasons.

Whew, OK, I think that's it for now. Go have yourselves a fantastic week, and we'll see you at Conference on the 10 and 11th, or at the activity on the 13th. :)

Mountfort Ward Primary Page

We're pleased to announce that our Primary now has their very own web page! It's all up and running and ready to go. Go check it out and investigate the various links we've put on there. Make it your first call for up-to-date info on primary activities.

Mountfort Ward Primary Web Page

There's also a permanent link to it in the sidebar under "Church Links"

Photos from Movie Night

Update 15 September

Hey everyone, I may have been away a few days attending a family wedding, but the Ward keeps on moving, and I have several events to add to the blog now. First up I've added a YouTube video of the young mens performance at the Fathers Day Luncheon, to the original blog post HERE. Go check it out - they did a great job.

By all accounts the Relief Society Movie night on Friday 11th was a big success too. Over a dozen sisters attended, which is great to see. I guess they enjoyed each other's company so much they didn't want to part, because I hear most of them ended up at Jennis' house afterwards. :D

The EFY fundraising on Saturday was also very successful. Bishop says $3000 was raised from the food sales in just a couple of hours. Thankyou so much to the Talisa family for providing their home for the activity base, and to all the families who contributed their food, their love and their time to support the youth. Someone is emailing me some photos taken at the fundraising, which I will upload in the next day or two. The next EFY fundraising activity will be on Saturday the 3rd of October. Mark your calendars now.

The next announcement I have to add is that we will be adding a Primary page to the blog soon. Yay! How exciting huh?! We will have a link you can click on to see what Primary activities/notices there are, and keep up to date with changes to Faith in God activities, firesides, etc. We're working on it now and plan to have it up and running by the end of the month, so keep an eye out for that.

Don't forget the Stake Musical Fireside/Presentation at Rowandale Chapel,on Sunday 20th September starting 7pm.


Iunisi is hosting a morning tea at her place on the 24th. Kids are welcome, and her address if you don't have it, is in the September newsletter.

Whew, I think that's it for now. Oops, no, one last thing. You all do know you can leave comments here on the blog don't you? At the very bottom of each post is the word COMMENT. Click on that, and a pop up box should appear (you may have to allow cookies if this doesn't happen). Write your comment in the box provided, then choose an identity. The easiest way is to choose the "Name/URL" option. When you click on that another little box will appear. Put your name (or initials, or whatever you want to be known as) in the name box. Don't worry about the URL box. Now click on the orange "Publish your comment" box. Voila! Done! Go on, try it out....you're itching to, I can tell.... :D

Line Dancing and Volleyball

What a great turn out we had tonight for our Enrichment Activity! Daphne, our Line Dancing Instructor did a superb job of teaching various dance sequences, each a little harder and slightly more complicated than the last. I was alright to begin with, but once she introduced turning in different directions, well.....my mind and my feet are just not designed to work together you know, and I was virtually an accident waiting to happen. LOL! Oh the poor sisters next to me. I think I was the only one that didn't have the co-ordination gene. God blessed me with many talents, but unfortunately dancing wasn't one of them. So to mask my lack of ability, I grabbed the camera and tried to capture the fun the sisters were having. Now keep in mind I am NOT a photographer by any means.

We were especially thankful to have the Laurels join us tonight. They brought a real energy to the evening, and their joyful spirit was contagious. (Gotta say it helped mightily that they were all pretty much guru's at co-ordination and dancing!) :D How wonderful too, to see several new faces at our activity. Sisters we loved having you join us, and hope to see you again.





After the line dancing, we divided into four teams and played volleyball. Who knew it was such a hilarious game! Going by all the laughter echoing throughout the hall, it was obvious everyone was having a blast. It was also great to see how much sporting talent some of the sisters and young women have.










Thankyou so much to Daphne for teaching us line dancing, and to Iunisi for organising the evening. I can't wait to see what's in store for Octobers Enrichment Activity.

Don't forget, those going to the movies on Friday night, meet at the chapel at 6pm. Don't be late, because they'll be leaving for the mall at 6.05pm. If you're already in Manukau, you can meet at the movie theatre in the Mall. The movie STARTS at 6.40pm, so give yourself plenty of time to buy your ticket and popcorn.


Don't forget the ward is fundraising for our Youth on Saturday. Please bring your food and whatever else you have to donate to the Talisa's home no later than 9am, so they can repackage it all and get it ready for sale by 10am when the stalls open. Tell your neighbours, bring your friends - lets all get behind our youth and help them raise money for their camp.

Father's Day Luncheon

About 30 RS sisters took part in the “Karanga” to welcome the Fathers to the Fathers Day Luncheon on Saturday 5 Sep at the Rowandale Chapel. Fathers were so impressed with this that there was a request to do it again. Later in the programme the sisters did another item and danced to the Venga Boys music. The young men also performed for the Dads, and did a wonderful job of it. Here is the video of their performance:



All in all it was a very successful day and the fathers knew that they were special and spoilt – but as Sister Tupou said to the dads – “It was a special treat for Fathers Day don’t get used to it!" (haha)

Thanks to all the sisters who attended the practices to make the event a special one.

From Jennis Lawrence

Enrichment Activity

Have you heard about our next Enrichment Activity? We're going to have some fun with Line Dancing and then play some Volleyball. If you're not an active kind of person, come along anyway and you can laugh and cheer from the sidelines. We'll have a supper afterwards, so if you have something in the cupboard to bring that would be great. Hey, maybe you have a friend or a neighbour that would like to come along? Or one of the sisters on your visiting teaching list? By all means bring them too - it's shaping up to be a great night.

In Transit

The Relief Society Fireside tonight was beautifully presented. The theme was "In Transit", and was focused on helping the Young Women transition into Relief Society. The music was beautiful, the talks were well thought out and delivered, and the activity was lots of fun. All the things you want in a fireside.

A couple of points that really stuck with me were:

1. Relief Society is more than just a class you ATTEND. It is an organisation you BELONG to. Get involved.

2. It is not just up to the Presidency to make new sisters feel welcome. It is up to every single sister in Relief Society to open their arms, welcome the new sisters and make them feel at home.

3. We need to get to know the Laurels BEFORE they walk in the door to Relief Society.

4. We need to watch over the new sisters and show our love for them for as long as it takes them to really settle in. This may be a few weeks, a few months, or a few years. Everyone is different, but everyone needs to feel loved and wanted. (This goes for all new sisters to the ward, not just the young women).

So with those points in mind, I got to thinking. What can we do in Mountfort Ward to help our Young Womens transition easier? Can you remember back to your first time in Mountfort Ward Relief Society? What would have helped you? What would you like to have happened? What do they do in other wards that you think might work for us? What could you do now to help someone else? If we had a welcome pack, what would you like to have in it?

I would LOVE to get some thoughts/opinions/suggestions from you all. And from the Young Women. We're all for new ideas here. I have enabled the post comments option (at least I think I have), so you can reply below.

The Influence of Righteous Women

President Dieter F. Uchtdorf, Second Counselor in the First Presidency, gives a wonderful talk on the influence of righteous women in this month's Ensign. It is the First Presidency Message for September and I have quoted a small part of the talk in our monthly Relief Society newsletter, but you should really read the whole thing - it's so uplifting and I just know you will love it as much as I do. Here are a couple of my favourite parts:

"As we look at the history of this earth and at the history of the restored Church of Jesus Christ, it becomes obvious that women hold a special place in our Father's plan for the eternal happiness and well-being of His children. Though we often speak of the influence of women on future generations, please do not underestimate the influence you can have today. President David O. McKay (1873–1970) said that the principal reason the Church was organized is "to make life sweet today, to give contentment to the heart today, to bring salvation today. . . . Some of us look forward to a time in the future—salvation and exaltation in the world to come—but today is part of eternity."

"May I invite you to rise to the great potential within you. But don't reach beyond your capacity. Don't set goals beyond your capacity to achieve. Don't feel guilty or dwell on thoughts of failure. Don't compare yourself with others. Do the best you can, and the Lord will provide the rest. Have faith and confidence in Him, and you will see miracles happen in your life and the lives of your loved ones."

"We are living in a great season for all women in the Church. Sisters, you are an essential part of our Heavenly Father's plan for eternal happiness; you are endowed with a divine birthright. You are the real builders of nations wherever you live, because strong homes of love and peace will bring security to any nation."

Click HERE to read the whole message.

Friend online

For those of you with Primary Children, did you know the Friend magazine is now online too? There are games, stories, music, interactive activities, colouring pages.....you really have to check it out. A nice little touch I liked was that Primary Songs play in the background while the child does the activity. Click HERE to be taken to the site.

How cool was that!

Are you still buzzing about our activity on Tuesday night? I know I am! I couldn't believe how much laughter there was, and it was so wonderful to see all the smiling faces and happy sisters. For those who couldn't make it, you really missed out on a fantastic evening. We started off with an M&M game. We each chose several M&Ms, then had to answer get-to-know-you questions depending on what colour we held up. Once the question was answered, the M&M got eaten. You should've seen how fast our group whizzed around the questions so we could have more M&Ms! LOL - it was so hard case.

The second activity was a service swap. We randomly got given a sister's name and some info about them, and had to come up with a service that we would personally provide them within the next 3 months. It was completely up to the individual as to what that service would be. What a great way to get to know someone, and at the same time receive a blessing for providing an act of charity. We will get feedback on this activity at the Home, Family & Personal Enrichment Activity in November. I'm really excited to serve my nominated sister (though she may have second thoughts once she actually TASTES my baking! Hahaha).

The third activity was conducted like Speed Dating. The sisters were given a list of topics, and 60 seconds to ask/answer them with the person opposite. After 60 seconds they had to stop, move one seat to the right, then speak on the next topic on the list, with a new person. This continued on until you had spoken with everyone in the room. Now most of these questions were quite serious get-to-know-you questions, but you wouldn't have known from the laughter and hysterics echoing around the room. This was SUCH a fun activity, and you just KNOW every single sister came out of it knowing a whole bunch more about each person there. Here are a few photos from that activity:

The photos don't do it justice I assure you. After all that fun we followed up with a delicious supper, milo & marshmellows. Absolutely no good for anyone dieting, but hey everyone needs a sweet reward now and then don't you think? Thankyou to everyone for bringing along such tasty goods - I know next time not to have dinner first :D

We have more activities in the works, and will let you know of them very soon. Until then, keep the 2nd Tuesday night of every month free - that's our big activity night. We will have a variety of smaller daytime activity groups throughout the month as well - watch out for those details here and in next month's newsletter.

Midnight Madness

Bring along your friends and inactives too - the more the merrier. We as a presidency feel that the better we get to know each other, the closer we will grow and the better we can serve one another. So with that in mind, the evening is all based around getting to know each other and having fun in the process. All you need to bring is yourselves, and a small supper plate to share. Can't wait to see you there.

Everyone is welcome

"Everyone is welcome in Relief Society. There is no one kind of acceptable Latter-day Saint woman. It matters not where you come from, what your weaknesses are, what you look like—you belong here! The Lord loves you—each of you, collectively and individually. We are not ordinary women. We are women of the covenant, women who have recognized the truth, accepted the gospel of Jesus Christ, and made covenants with the Lord to follow Him and do His will. And He needs us—each one of us—to do our part in bringing to pass His great latter-day work among the children of men. We need Relief Society, and Relief Society needs us." Virginia U. Jensen

Spencer W Kimball said: "It is a great blessing to be a woman in the Church today. The opposition against righteousness has never been greater, but the opportunities for fulfilling our highest potential have also never been greater.

The Prophet Joseph Smith pronounced these blessings upon the [Relief] Society:

1. This society, a society of sisters, is organized “according to your natures. … You are now placed in a situation in which you can act according to those sympathies which God has planted in your bosoms.”

2. “If this Society listen to the counsel of the Almighty, through the heads of the Church, they shall have power to command queens in their midst.”

3. “If you live up to your privileges, the angels cannot be restrained from being your associates.”

4. “Knowledge and intelligence shall flow down from this time henceforth.”

We're all go!

Welcome to the Mountfort Ward Relief Society Blog! You will see on the sidebar to the right, links to the current visiting teaching message, Relief Society Lessons for the month, upcoming activities and also some links to helpful church sites. If you click on those links, you will be taken directly to the relevant page on the official LDS.org website. We will endeavour to post interesting articles and inspirational messages that will educate and uplift you, and the odd recipe or two so the belly is being fed while the soul is being nourished :D

Feel free to email or call the Relief Society Secretary (contact details in the monthly newsletter) if you have suggestions or ideas for the blog. We are excited about this new method of communication for our sisters. It will not replace the newsletter, but complement it, and we hope you will find it useful in the months to come.

Serving you with love,
Mountfort Ward Relief Society Presidency