Additional Relief Society meetings help sisters learn and accomplish the charitable and practical responsibilities of the Relief Society. When circumstances allow, meetings are generally held monthly on evenings other than Sunday or Monday. But they can also be held more or less often.

Additional meetings supplement Sunday instruction and allow sisters who serve in Primary or Young Women to participate.

As they plan additional meetings, Relief Society presidencies give priority to topics mentioned in the handbook: homemaking, marriage and family, provident living and self-reliance, temples and family history, sharing the gospel, and compassionate service.

In all meetings, leaders focus on fulfilling the purposes of Relief Society: to increase faith and personal righteousness, strengthen families and homes, and provide relief to others.

When Tropical Storm Agatha destroyed portions of Guatemala City, Bishop Alvarez was concerned about how to help ward members prepare for future natural disasters.

As he pondered and spoke with ward members, he recognized that the mothers of the ward shared his concerns about how to protect their families. Many were severely unprepared should disaster strike their community.

In ward council meeting, the bishop invited Sister Laing, the Relief Society president, to consider how Relief Society leaders could help the women of the ward prepare their families to be self-reliant in the event of a disaster.

[SPEAKING SPANISH] Sister Laing and her presidency prayerfully considered the bishop's invitation. They knew that many of their sisters felt unprepared to face future disasters that could come upon them. Under the inspiration of the Spirit, they planned to hold a weekly Relief Society meeting to help sisters prepare food and supplies and to teach survival skills that could help them in case of an emergency.

Over several weeks, the presidency personally invited specific sisters who would be blessed by the meeting to come and participate.

[SPEAKING SPANISH] On a Friday evening, the sisters gather to learn about self-reliance and emergency preparedness. An experienced sister who had also served as the meeting coordinator taught about survival skills, preparing emergency kits, and collecting food storage. Together the sisters practiced making inexpensive homemade granola bars that could be stored for use in case of emergencies.

They were blessed and strengthened as they worked together. They felt better prepared to face the disasters that regularly visit their community. Many continued to prepare additional emergency supplies with their families in the weeks that followed.

Like Sister Laing, inspired Relief Society presidencies counsel with their priesthood leaders, seek inspiration, and plan additional Relief Society meetings to teach, organize, and inspire sisters in their roles and responsibilities. As they do, they help sisters grow in faith, strengthen their families, and provide relief for others.

In this example, you saw Relief Society leaders counsel with the bishop about the needs of sisters, seek revelation together to know how to meet those needs, and plan an additional meeting based on the inspiration they received and on principles from the handbook. You may have also noticed that the presidency made special efforts to invite specific sisters to participate in the weekday meeting. An additional meeting coordinator assisted them in their planning and presentation.

The meeting was successful as individual sisters applied what they learned in their own homes and families, fulfilling one of the purposes of Relief Society.

As you plan and conduct an upcoming weekday Relief Society meeting, you may want to consider these questions: "What needs has the bishop shared with us? And what other needs do we know about?

What kind of additional meeting could we plan to meet those needs?" [MUSIC PLAYING]