The Hearts of Angels

This can be done for an Enrichment, Visiting Teaching Program or a special program anytime during the year but Feb. is a good time or Actually March and I will tell you why. On Relief Society Budgets, it is hard to decorate do cute treats and favors, etc, so if you buy them on the clearance from Valentines day... then you will be set!

THE HEARTS OF ANGELS

I put this evening together with the inspiration from Debra Oaks website. She says, "We often overlook the good people around us, not recognizing that there are many "Angels" among us. "Look around you sisters, and this room is filled with angels. There are truly angels in our midst.

This idea came from "The Meaning of "Errand of Angels" by Debra Oaks Coe http://www.of-worth.com/ea/
http://www.of-worth.com/ea/angelsin.htm

"When I think of my role as a woman, particularly as a Christian, I think of the second line of the hymn "As Sisters in Zion" which reads:

The errand of angels is given to women,
And this is a gift that, as sisters, we claim:
To do what-so-ever is gentle and human,
To cheer and to bless in humanity's name

The first time I heard this song, it struck me with great force because it expressed the true role women play. We have a quiet role of service and charity, not of power, or great honor, but something better. We have nothing less than the errands of angels to accomplish.

In today's world, it can be difficult to not only realize our true role and see it as an important one, but to recognize that it is a real gift and blessing from God. We are in His service. In our world, most of our service is not only unpaid, but it is often unrecognized and certainly not given the great value and worth it deserves. No matter what value the world places on our service, we need to realize our great contribution to society.

Through this home page, I hope to give encouragement and ideas, but most of all support to the many women who are the real backbone of our society. Women who give countless hours of charitable service -- service mainly given as mothers and wives."

INVITATION: Cut out Valentine hearts or print them up on the computer then cut them out, that give the details for the invitation and take them around to each sister several weeks in advance. If you want to incorporate the angel and heart theme, you could buy all the after Valentines Day sales cupids and glue the details on the cupid. Very cute and cheap after Valentines.

DINNER:We served Angel Hair pasta with two different kinds of sauces... Alfredo, and Marinara. For dessert, we served Angel food cake topped with strawberries and whipped cream. (Note the colors are Red and White & Pink)

TABLE DECORATIONS: Valentine theme using Red and white and tan as the colors. Each table had a white tablecloth with a red cloth napkin in the center of the table spread open and flat. For the centerpiece, we had red silk geranium plants that came from the store "Taipan" and several women in the ward had them so we gathered enough for all the tables. One each side of the table in the center were some bread baskets filled with loaves of garlic toast. Sprinkled around the table were cute red candy hearts for munching during the program. We had a cute little plastic bag for each woman as a favor filled with a variety or red chocolate wrapped hearts mixed with other red/ pink/ and white chocolate candies. We made a header for each bag that said " You are an Angel. Thank-you from the bottom of our Hearts!" We served dinner on cute paper Valentine heart dishes and napkins. We just served water, but if you wanted to get really fancy... then serve Red punch! Zowie!

PROGRAM: For the program, after dinner I made a video called "The heart of Angels". I had assigned a sister on the committee to take pictures of every woman in the ward on her digital camera and I took the photos and made it into a video. I added in between pictures some cute pictures of angels and for the background muxsic I used - "Angels Among Us" by Alabama, "Find Me an Angel" by Mindy Child's and "Each life that touches ours for Good - Hymns. Some of the photos were taken of women in action of serving in some way either with their children, or giving service, group photos or individual photos. This was very touching and there wasn't a dry eye in the audience!!!!

After the Video, our Relief Society President got up and gave a brief message of thanks to all the ministering angels (the sisters) and shared some service that she was aware of that happened the past year.

All in all, this was an amazingly wonderful evening! I highly recommend it!