December Presidency Message/Spotlight

I grew up on a farm in Washington state. I was the youngest of three children and loved helping my Dad on the farm. He had me driving a tractor by the time I was 6 years old. My Dad told the neighbors that I was the best hired man he ever had.

Even though I liked where I grew up, after high school I could not wait to get away from the farm. I attended college for 2 years. Then I decided to move to New York City to work. Living in New York was more of a challenge than I had expected. While I was there, it was difficult for me to attend church and make good friends. I realized that I needed a job and live in a place where I could attend church every week. I returned to Brigham Young University where I met my husband, Phyll. I was introduced to Phyll by his cousin who was in my ward. After a year of dating we were married in the Idaho Falls Temple. Phyll graduated from BYU and we moved to Stillwater, Oklahoma for Phyll to work on his Ph.D. in Agriculture. While we were in Stillwater, I was able to complete my degree.

Phyll's first job was in Lubbock, Texas. We really liked Lubbock and were sad when Phyll was transferred to Kansas. From Kansas we moved to Illinois and then to Nebraska. With each move we felt our Heavenly Father had a reason for us to be in a new place. We have three children, Ashley (25), Aaron (18), and Amanda (13). Ashley lives in Kalispell, Montana with her husband, Mark, and 2 year old son, Noah.

One year ago the company my husband worked for wanted us to move to Johannesburg, South Africa. We thought that this would be a great adventure for our family. As we prepared to go, we began to have some uneasy feelings about the move. Phyll decided that he needed to check into some other job opportunities. He finally decided to take a job in Ralls, Texas with Triumph Seed working on developing new varieties of corn. So in November 2009 we moved to Lubbock, Texas.

As we have moved from place to place, I have been involved with the youth program. I have served as Relief Society President in a singles ward, youth Sunday School teacher, Primary Counselor, Ward Young Women's President and Stake Young Women's President. I felt like I spend alot of time planning and hoping activities would run smoothly. Then a few years ago while we were planning a Stake Activity, the President stated that what made the youth want to attend these activities was the spirit they felt when they were there, not necessarily the activity we did. I began to think about this statement as I planned other activities and talked to the young women. The activities they seemed to enjoy the most were not the elaborate activities but the ones where they felt the Spirit the most. What the young women remembered was how they felt. They kept coming back because they knew their leaders loved them. All of us need to feel that we are accepted for who we are and loved for being the best that we can be at the time. I know that all of our activities will not happen as we have planned them. But I do know that if we do our best, and turn the rest over to the Lord, the activity will be a success. I love working with the youth. I look forward to getting to know the young women and, you, the leaders.

Kathy Cammack

November Presidency Message

Hello you wonderful & faithful YW Leaders!!
I sit to write this after our amazing Stake Conference Feast!! I felt so inspired and challenged by the speakers to apply what I learned, or was reminded of, in my life.

I loved all of the speakers’ calls to action!
to have a Temple recommend and use it now;
to change our lives through ordinances;
to infuse Gospel happiness into our lives through the power of missionary work;
to pray for those we love, receiving an answer of whom to approach with the Gospel;
to feel love for others more deeply through Temple service;
to bring & fill large vessels from the Temple’s Living Waters;
to develop more faith in Priesthood blessings;
to dream of standing before God with the Savior’s image in our faces, & live so that it is;
to express the things we know to be true;
to be busy in service;
to live by the teachings of the Gospel so as to truly be free;
to fulfill our responsibility in God’s work;
to support and lift each other;
to start by redeeming self, then redeeming neighbors, and with them redeem the dead;
to hear the Savior comfort us-“It’s ok, try again”, and to keep trying again;
to remember that God cares about all of the big things in our lives as well as the small;
to read the Book of Mormon under the influence of the Holy Ghost, taking ‘time’ out of
the equation, so that we feel what the writers felt;
to determine necessary goals and commit to improve ourselves;
to become like Joseph Smith-powerful beyond measure-through two words ‘I obeyed’-
developing a stronger covenant relationship with Heavenly Father.

The talks reminded me of my favorite J Reuben Clark statement. “Thus God made clear that the gaining of knowledge is not to be like the commonplace work of earning a livelihood. He who invades the domain of knowledge must approach it as Moses came to the burning bush; he stands on holy ground; he would acquire things sacred; he seeks to make his own the attributes of Deity, the truth which Christ declared He was which shall make us free, free of the shackles of time and space, which shall be no more. We must come to this quest of truth-in all regions of human knowledge whatsoever, not only in reverence, but with a spirit of worship.” (Improvement Era, January 1946).

The Savior told Hyrum Smith “first seek to obtain my word, then shall your tongue be loosed; then, if you desire, you shall have my Spirit & my word, yea, the power of God unto the convincing of [young women] J (D&C 11:21). I know that as I strive to apply the messages of Stake Conference, and obtain the word of the Lord for my life, that the Spirit will guide me in every endeavor. I loved President Shumway’s statement, “I am not perfect, but I am worthy!” Each of us can have the confidence to know that because of our willingness & worthiness, we can call on the powers of Heaven in behalf of our precious young women!!

We believe in you and pray for you in your crusade for the salvation of souls!!
~Delisa

October Presidency Message

Dear Sisters,

We are so excited about our new Lubbock Stake Young Women Leader’s Blog! We are really working hard to make communication accessible and easy for all of us. This will help us to all be on the “same page”. First and foremost I want to throw all kudos and praise going Cami Clifton’s way. She is the one who has masterminded and put this whole thing together. We are so blessed to have her!

It was so uplifting for me to meet with you at our Stake Auxiliary training in October. It was humbling to be amidst the best the Lord has to offer our youth. I felt of your strength, support and your deep desires to serve faithfully. I can hardly wait for March 6th when all leaders and advisors will meet for our next Auxiliary Training.

President Uchtdof reminds us, “Individual recognition is rarely an indication of the value of our service. We do not know the names, for example, of any of the 2,000 sons of Helaman. As Individuals, they are unnamed. As a group, however, their name will always be remembered for honesty, courage, and the willingness to serve. They accomplished together what none of them could have accomplished alone.

I know this to be true. I testify that it does “take a village to raise a child”. I depend on you, your bishop depends on you, the sisters you serve within your presidency depend on you, the parents of our beautiful young women depend on you, and particularly our young women depend on you. I know this is not an easy task. I know it takes many hours of your time, thoughts and possibly precious sleep. I do know that together with the Lord we can do it.

Simply, I send you my love and appreciation,

Marti