Relief

We must prepare ourselves and all those we have stewardship over, to have experience in serving others and providing relief within our families and all other realms within our circle of influence.We must also be willing and anxiously engaged in working to enlarge the borders of our circle so more can be blessed by our influence and so we can be blessed by all the good around us.

I love this excerpt from a talk by Sister Julie B. Beck (Ensign November 2007):
"…Latter-day Saint women must be strong and immovable in relief. We are a Relief Society, and we should be the best women in the world at providing relief. This has been our special province from the beginning. The word relief means “to lift up, lighten.” It means “a raising [up].” “The notion is ‘to raise (someone) out of trouble.’” Our service and the relief that we offer are a sign that we are the Lord’s disciples and we are members of His true restored Church. It is a privilege to be part of this worldwide organization for women, whose name describes what we are meant to do: provide relief.

Joseph Smith said that the women of this Church were organized to provide for “the relief of the poor, the destitute, the widow and the orphan, and for the exercise of all benevolent purposes” and “not only to relieve the poor, but to save souls.” That relief effort was further defined by Elder John A. Widtsoe as “relief of poverty, relief of illness, relief of doubt, relief of ignorance—relief of all that hinders the joy and progress of woman.”