Read or listen to Hayley Battye’s full oral history. Available in English.
And I think sometimes it’s good, sometimes it’s bad. But as a whole, I think Relief Society is just amazing, because it really builds up the importance of women, it gives women a chance to be together and support each other. I often actually say to my friends Relief Society like, “I wonder how other women meet people and make friends, because I’m so blessed to be able to do that through Relief Society.” Yeah, like we have our mums and bubs group, or we have our activities, and we have the opportunity to serve together. And we have, you know, when someone goes through hardship, there’s always a network there to help and you can just have that immediate feeling of love and support.
And, you know, just like if I miss a Sunday, I’ll often get a message from someone saying, “We missed you,” and if I’m sick, you know, people will just know because there’s that network, and you’ll get a nice message or, you know, someone might bring something around. Like, I just think Relief Society is such an amazing organization. And I don’t think people even realize what goes on behind the scenes and even just with ministering and how about network, if it’s running and working the way the Lord would, like, you know, if it was running perfectly, just that in itself is so amazing in how it can support people. And so like, if only everyone could just be a part of Relief Society, even if they didn’t want to come to church, just come and, you know, enjoy Relief Society. And yeah, like being able to go, and talk and bring things up that are happening in the real world. And we have a network of people to talk to and who are striving towards the same goals. Yeah