Time out For Women

Recently, I was able to attend Time Out for Women with my mom and sister, Sandra. My sister in law, Kara, joined us Saturday with her mom and sister visiting from Idaho. It was a great weekend and I was very happy to be able to share it with them. Friday night, we were privileged to hear John Bytheway and the musical entertainment segments were done by Jenny Oaks Baker. There was also a video presentation by Sherri Dew. I felt uplifted and edified as I left that evening and who knew that Saturday would be just as edifying and uplifting. Emily Watts, Michael Wilcox, Hilary Weeks, and Mary Ellen Edmunds were on the venue for Saturday. There was also another lady (Amanda Dickson) on there but I was unable to listen to her due to a mishap at lunch. The theme this year was infinite hope and the key speaker to portray the message was a young lady from Africa, Mariama Kallon, with an amazing story that saw her family murdered right before her eyes. They were mutilated and shot and the only reason she survived is because soldiers came to chase down the rebels. There was a movie based on her people. It's called: "Blood Diamond." Anyway, because her family died she was left to care for her sister's children. She didn't know how she was going to do it so she moved in with a friend. An LDS family lived next to her friend and she started taking the discussions. She had to walk 3 miles every day both ways to listen to the discussions. She said some days it was raining so hard that she would put her Book of Mormon in a plastic bag and walk the 3 miles anyway to hear the words of the Lord. She knew after she was baptized that she wanted to serve a mission but she didn't know how she could leave the 2 children. The Bishop said he would keep the children while she served her mission. She was called to serve her mission in SLC at temple square. The one thing that scared her most was wearing Knee highs because she never even wore shoes. She saw many of her companions receiving letters while she did not have any family to send her letters. The missionaries wrote back to their parents and asked that they send her letters. She was so grateful to be loved by so many strangers. Then she was asked to go see the mission president. She was scared to be around so many white people that she thought she was in trouble. When she got to the office she was asked by a young couple if she knew of any African boys that needed to be adopted. She was overjoyed that the Lord kept his promise that he would would provide for them and not forget about them. She only had one picture to show and they saw the little girl in the picture too. They wanted to adopt both of them. What a miracle! They even asked her to stay as a nanny for their family of 8 children when she was done with her mission. She was blessed to be able to stay in the United States and remain with her sister's children.

The speakers and artists were all very approachable and I loved that the setting was a little laid back. It was like an EFY for women. Usually, I find myself to cheap or cost efficient to pay $50 for tickets to anything like that but after participating, it is something that is well worth the costs and just makes you feel good. Here are a few of my favorite lines that were shared. Jenny Oaks Baker was preparing to perform after the Sherri Dew video presentation and her comment was “Oprah is leaving, maybe Sherri Dew can replace her.”. How cute is that. John Bytheway shared a great quote from Jeffrey R Holland that made a lot of sense to me “The future of this world has long been declared; the final outcome between good and evil is already known. There is absolutely no question as to who wins because the victory has already been posted on the scoreboard. The only really strange thing in all of this is that we are still down here on the field trying to decide which team’s jersey we want to wear! Source: Cited in John Bytheway, When Times are Tough, (Deseret Book, 2004), 30." He is exactly right, the end has been determined, I just need to play for my team live the gospel….I just need to enjoy the game and my playing time. We need to not let our team lose and play for the name on the front of the jersey, not the back. Sherri L Dew said the following: "No one knows the quantitative influence of a woman. No one but saints can be happy under any circumstance. There is no way to measure or limit influence of a woman of God. If people are going to see what latter day women of God look like, we need to be that." Hilary Weeks made this comment: "Gratitude gives us proper perspective." When everything says you can't, believe in the part of you that says you can!

I think every women needs the opportunity to experience an even such as this, not only does it edify us but unifies us.