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A look back at the past year of the Fayetteville North Carolina Stake
Let the Numbers Speak!
The stake has exceeded many goals this year, including familysearch.org indexing! The goal for the stake was to index 10,000 records, and the stake ended up indexing a total of 38,905 records! Great job! Included in that work was the total number of records reviewed for accuracy by stake members. This total was 15,779! That's a lot of work!
Our stake Facebook Page reached a total of 52,260 people! That's what you call spreading the good word!
Our top three posts were:
"What is #HearHim", featuring a custom painting by a youth in our stake. This post reached 4734 people.
Primary Children Serving the Cliffdale Food Bank. This post reached 3549 people.
Honoring Black History Month. This post reached 2925 people.
Stake Conference
In our stake conference in February, President Quick invited us to reflect on these questions from President Nelson's talk, "Let God Prevail," before we partake of the sacrament.
Are you willing to let God prevail in your life?
Are you willing to let God be the most important influence in your life?
Will you allow His words, His commandments, and His Covenants to influence what you do each day?
Will you allow His voice to take priority over any other?
Are you willing to let whatever He needs you to do take precedence over every other ambition?
Are you willing to have your will swallowed up in His?
At our stake conference in October, President Quick gave us three invitations.
Look at a picture of Christ both morning and evening and reflect on Him and His redeeming role in your life. And ask the question, “What can I do today to please Him?”
Read John 8. It is loaded with wonderful doctrine. This really aligns with President Nelson’s invitation to study the life of Christ.
Reread the talk by President Nelson from the last conference entitled: Christ is Risen; Faith in Him Will Move Mountains.
Serving our Community
On April 1st, a 53-foot truck filled with non-perishable food arrived in Dunn. The food is a donation from our church to Dunn United Ministerial Association (DUMA). Members of the Dunn ward participated in the transfer of food off the semi and into the DUMA trucks. DUMA provides food and financial assistance to individuals in Dunn, Erwin, Plainview, and other surrounding communities. To learn more about this organization and how you can help, visit http://dunnunited.org
Primary children of the Fayetteville North Carolina Stake worked hard at our Stake Primary service project, preparing 200 meal kits for the Cliffdale Food Bank. These kits were delivered to children in need in the community. Great job, everyone! A big thank you goes out to the children, parents, and leaders for your remarkable service. We would also like to thank all who contributed food and the Relief Society who worked hard to prepare the cute tote bags for this service activity.
Temple News
On May 10th, the Raleigh temple began phase 2-B of reopening. In this phase, the temple opened for all living ordinances and baptisms for deceased individuals with restrictions. The temple baptistry opened up for small groups. This was wonderful news for members.
Our Youth
On May 1st the Stake Youth Council hosted a Stake Youth Skills Day activity. Youth rotated through groups to learn the skills of scripture study, mission prep, automotive repair, emergency first aid, & family history. There was a huge turnout and it was a successful afternoon of fun. A big thank you to the Stake Youth Council, leaders, and the teachers of each event.
Stake Youth Conference was held on June 18 & 19th… It was a great success!
On Friday, the youth were split into two groups and provided much-needed service for two great organizations. At Fayetteville Urban Ministries; they organized their food store, picked up the grounds, and washed 4 of their white buses. At the Fayetteville Transportation Museum; the youth went to a warehouse where they helped reorganize old, large wood and metal items, haul away the trash, and place the items back into the warehouse. Afterward, they went to Arnette Park, where a delicious cookout by Brother Randy Pope and Brother Phil Allen was waiting. After dinner, the youth had the opportunity to get together after a year apart and enjoy a kickball game, cornhole, large Connect Four, pick-up football, Rock-Paper-Scissors game, etc.
Saturday was full of a variety of challenges, games, and spiritual feasting! Rotating through 3 classes based on D&C 64:33-34- making minor adjustments in your life, Social media & misinformation vs. disinformation, and Zion. Then an Amazing Race to test their knowledge and skills (they all know how to make butter now!), a very cool presentation on Symbolism in the Scriptures by Brother Sundwall-Byers of the Fayetteville 1st Ward, a quick game of Jeopardy, and an etiquette dinner with delicious Asian cuisine. A talk from President Quick capped it all off as we ended with a wonderful testimony meeting!
Organizational Changes
The Cape Fear River Young Single Adult Branch is born! Phillip Allen accepted the call to serve as the Branch President with Randy Pope as his First Counselor and Erik Kunz as his Second Counselor.
It is exciting to have this new addition to our stake. President Quick assured that "This small branch of the Church will allow the Lord to grow His Church in miraculous ways, and you can be a part of this work from its start. We all resist change, and that's okay. Be humble. Lift where you stand. The more you put in, the more you will get out of it."
The Gillis Hill Ward and the Hope Mills 2nd Ward merged in September of this year. This decision was made by President Quick based on inspiration and the needs of members in our stake. The members from both congregations serving in church positions were released prior to the merge, and a Bishopric was called for the Gillis Hill Ward.
Read More: Hopes Mills 2nd Ward combines with Gillis Hill Ward to form one ward (fayncstakefriends.org)
Missionary Highlight
We have had several missionaries leave on missions and a few have returned this year. Brother Luke Edwards, from the Hope Mills Ward, recently returned home from serving a mission in the Samoa Apia Mission and the Utah Salt Lake Mission.
Brother Edward shares, "I had the awesome opportunity to serve the Lord for about eight and a half months in the beautiful islands of Samoa! I am eternally grateful for what I learned while serving in the Pacific Islands. I learned so much about patience, diligence, and God's timing. I chose to share this picture because this Samoan family in the picture taught me so much about charity and showing love to others just as Christ did. I would like to bear my testimony to everyone that Jesus Christ is not only our Redeemer, Savior, and Messiah. He is our best friend, brother, and someone who was willing to die so that you could feel peace and happiness. I know His gospel is the only way we can feel peace in our lives and have hope. It is through Him that we will be able to see our loved ones again and live with our Heavenly Father again. In the name of Jesus Christ, amen"
Interfaith Gathering
With around 150 people in attendance, the Monday evening devotional held in Fayetteville, North Carolina in November, was a wonderful reunion for our Interfaith community that couldn't meet last year due to COVID-19 guidelines.
Participating this year was The Reverand Nancee A. Cekuta from The Holy Trinity Episcopal Church, Pastor John P. Locke from The St. James Lutheran Church, Clerk Michelle Downey from The Fayetteville Friends Monthly Meeting, Religious Society of Friends, Rabbi Dov Goldberg from the Beth Isreal Congregation, and President Jeff Quick from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Read More: Keeping the Traditional Alive At Our Thanksgiving Interfaith Devotional (fayncstakefriends.org)
In closing, the stake has done some amazing stuff this past year despite the challenges we have all faced! Through it all, we continue to serve our community and each other.
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