Eric Fairbanks New Bishop's Counselor

   

      Sunday, March 21, Eric Fairbanks (left) was sustained as first counselor to Bishop Eric Holden and ordained to the office of High Priest.  He replaces Tyler Burton who is moving with his wife to Las Vegas. Brother Fairbanks and his wife Suzanne have three children. Suzanne is first counselor in Relief Society.    

   Brother Fairbanks was ward mission leader before being called to the Mokelumne River Ward bishopric. Previous callings he has held in his adult life are executive secretary, young men's president twice, and ward mission leader several times.  When asked how he felt when he was called to the bishopric he said "shocked and overwhelmed! But I know that my family will be blessed for it," he added.

    When Bishop Holden announced in Sacrament meeting that Brother Fairbanks would be his new counselor, he said he had prayed about who the counselor should be and it was very clear who Heavenly Father wanted it to be.  As first counselor, Brother Fairbanks will be over the Teacher's Quorum, Primary, and parts of Relief Society and Young Women.

Amazing Genealogist Dolores Hansen Dies

       Ward member Dolores Hansen passed away February 28 at the age of 88.  She had been a first grade teacher for 24 years.  According to her friend Priscilla Quanstrom, her moto was that all children must learn to read before moving to the second grade. She believed that reading is the key to success.  Joyce Dickerson added that she told  her students "When you learn to read, you can do anything in life that you want, but you must be able to read.  Your report card is like your paycheck."

   As a young girl Dolores became interested in family history and at about age 20 she began genealogical research.  After settling in Lodi she was able to volunteer at the Family History center in Stockton. Even when she became ill, Dolores did not give up on her family history and with the help of a few sisters made trips to the Lodi Family History Center where she entered names into Family Search.

This picture taken by her friend Ardell Gillingwater is just part of one room holding her many finished family history books.  If you were to go into her house, you would see stacks and stacks of genealogy binders, all through the house with only a path to weave your way to another part of the house. She had Loren Perry build extra bookshelves to contain some of these binders. She had stacks of binders for each branch of the family. "Her volumes speak loudly of her zeal to go until she dropped," Priscilla said. At the library over the years she had read miles and miles of microfilm. in her later years she was mostly known for her genealogy work which she pursued with relentless energy.  

     After her death, another friend, Rita Caldwell, was invited along with Priscilla and Ardell to help dress Dolores in her temple clothing before being sent to Seattle to be buried  near her father and mother. Saana Boyer and Marcie Ramos also helped as well as Lisa Clegg and Tami Woods from the Relief Society presidency.  Left to right: Dolores's close friends Rita Caldwell, Priscilla Quanstrom, and Ardell Gillingwater.

  Rita wrote expressing what it means to help dress a friend for burial.  Here is what she said:

   Being invited to help dress a dear sister in her temple clothing is a sacred opportunity to do one last service and say one last farewell. It is seeing her beyond the cares of this life designed to give experience to refine our character so that we can become more like Jesus Christ. With loving hands we dress her in garments representing eternal life. Our hearts are full as we remember her high goals of teaching every first grader to read, to prepare records of generations of her family, to protect her sons from whatever threat she perceived, and to be grateful for all the help she received.

   The dressing completed, Priscilla suggested we sing a song.  We stood together and sent Dolores home with "God Be With You Till We Meet Again," --by His counsels guide uphold you, with His sheep securely fold you, God be with you till we meet again.

Sisters Celebrate Relief Society's Birthday

    The celebration birthday party for the Relief Society is usually a highlight of the year.  Normally it consists of a formal dinner in the cultural hall with the Elders and High Priests cooking and serving.  There's always a nice program after.  But this is another COVID year and none of those things are possible.

   Ward RS activity director, Christy Mecham, came up with a great solution.  She planned a Zoom program that was all video previously recorded and put together on PowerPoint to be shown on the evening the normal celebration would be held.  Here is a brief outline of the program. 

     Spiritual messages were delivered by Sister Bronwyn Webb (left) and our sister missionaries, Hermana Flores Rendon and Sister Caldon.

Ann Kerr (left) gave a demonstration on how to make homemade bread and cinnamon rolls. Cindy Parker (center) showed how to make strawberry freezer jam, and her daughter Cayman (right) shows frozen rolls to use with her mom's freezer jam "because it's quick and easy" she says. Yum!

Young women, future Relief Society members, added a spiritual dimension with their beautiful singing.

    Cathy Leonard says the cinnamon rolls are extra delicious with cream cheese added to the frosting recipe.  Three sisters who have each been vaccinated for COVID decided to watch the celebration together.  They finished with a sweet treat in  the kitchen.

On the screen is Tami Woods, second counselor in the Relief Society, who gave some closing remarks and said the prayer.

Young Women Complete Service Project

     Twenty-five young women put on their masks and met in the cultural hall to put together kits and blankets needed by the Ronald McDonald House in Sacramento.  The purpose of the RM House is to improve the lives of sick children and their families.

    Lisa Holden, second counselor in the Mokelumne Ward Young Women, looked on the "Just Serve" website on the Internet to possibly find a project for the girls.  This turned out to be perfect. Word was put out to ward sisters to contribute needed items identified by the staff of Ronald McDonald.  Many items were collected and some people donated money to buy other things that were needed.

   The picture above shows the girls working to put the kits together.  Sister Holden said, "It was a huge success. The Young Women were awesome! We were completely done with the service project in 30 minutes."  The girls assembled 50 hygiene kits, 70 laundry kits, 25 grab & go food bags, and tied three fleece blankets.  The food bags included such things as fruit leather bars, milk, wrapped pastry, and protein items.

   Finding service projects  can be difficult during the COVID-19 pandemic with its many restrictions.  The girls enjoyed being of service. Sister Holden and her husband, Bishop Holden, delivered the bags and blankets to the Ronald McDonald House and said the staff there was surprised and thrilled by what was accomplished.