Here is a super long post on my TOFW experience! I was so happy to be there...with 2599 other women (they said there where 2600 there!) I went with my mom, Jami Bushman, her sister in law Julie and Skye Dugger!
I was thrilled to get a big hug from Miriama Kallon (turns out her adoptive family is in Angela's ward in Austin, TX....and Mariama was visiting Angela's ward last week! I am so glad Angela got to hear her story first hand since she wasn't able to come to TOFW.)
I was just so happy to be at Time Out For Women and hear words of HOPE wash over me. I prayed to be able to remember the things I heard...because there was no way I could write down everything I heard or felt. But I know that is why we have the gift of the Holy Ghost. He will bring things to my remembrance as I need them in my life.
I thought I'd share my notes with you. They are a bit scatter-brained....but maybe I heard and recorded something that might help you to feel hope, to feel loved...to feel like allowing yourself to make changes in your life that will bring you closer to the person you are meant to become!
I have to record something else first. We were asked to bring items to donate. Lotion, body spray, mints...etc. to put in "Hope Kits" that we would assemble during our lunch break on Saturday that would be taken to a local women's shelter. (Turned out we made a record amount of almost 530 when their goal was 150! AMAZING what can happen when we all give a little! Seriously...they were all put together in less than 2 hours!) So anyhow! Friday my sister and I were at Target...and I was trying to find the items that I needed to take. I was tired after not getting much sleep and in a hurray and I was looking where I thought the items would be and they just weren't there! Instead of getting frustrated, (like I am sometimes inclined to do in those kind of situations) I said a little prayer in my heart, "Heavenly Father, you know what I am looking for and why I need them and I know you know where they are at...please help me find them."....and of course...I did! I mean really....I could have went and asked someone working there and found the things I needed that way. But then I wouldn't have had the experience of receiving help and an answer directly from my Heavenly Father. It reminded me that we need to rely on Him...even for the little things in our lives because He cares.
So, back to my notes! I didn't write down things from all the presenters because I had Connor on my lap...or was off feeding him...or just wanted to listen...but here they are! (click on the names to learn more about the person/people)
Virginia Pearce: Pres. Hinckley's daughter...I read her book, "A Heart Like His" when Addie was a baby....it's an amazing book and I was so excited to get to hear her speak!
She talked about success...and how we measure it and how we should measure it. ("Am I doing things like everyone else and measuring myself by what THEY do...or am I measuring myself by what I do and what I am becoming as a daughter of God?")
"Death is a part of life"
"Lower your expectations"~Sister Hinckley said this...and it's so true!
"Survival is success" (have you ever felt like you are in "survival mode"? this happens to me from time to time and I feel like a slacker because I am just getting the basics done....not moving any huge mountain like I think I need to be doing...so this was something I loved to hear...."SURVIVAL IS SUCCESS!")
"Good women always have the desire to know if they are succeeding"
Ask yourself "Am I stretching myself and working hard?"
"Reach a Little Higher"
How to know if you are making progress: 1. you are beginning to lose your disposition to do evil. 2. you are beginning to see things as Heavenly Father sees them.
Being Successful=Don't compare yourselves to others
"Comparison is the fast track to misery"
When you find you are comparing yourself to others tell yourself, "She has her mission and I have mine"
Wendy Nelson: (wife of Russel M. Nelson...she was at the TOFW Angela and I went to in Huston last year....and she's still amazing!)
My new favorite quote! "One size fits all really means 'this doesn't look good on anyone'!" LOL!
"There will be a tailor made message for each of us" (we need to listen for it)
"Holiness to the Lord"
This dispensation=the final leg of a race. Don't lose focus.
Brad Wilcox: (he spoke at a stake youth conference when I was a youth...loved his message then and I loved it again. He is seriously funny!)
"We can't do ALL we can do ALL the time"
He said that there is nothing wrong with being mediocre...he said to "Be easier on yourself. What's wrong with being half way to your goal?"
"God is more interested in YOU than in where you are in your 'mountain climb'"
?What can you do without God? (Give Him credit. A jockey who wins a race may think he is the winner...but who really race the race and got him to the finish line?)
"There's never been just one set of foot prints in my sand"
"You are NOTHING!...Nothing doesn't mean worthless. Nothing means 'powerless' and we are powerless without God"
"We are not call humanDoings...we are humanBEings" (measure self by what you are becoming...not what you are doing)
KNOW-DO-BECOME
"Use the atonement not to be cleansed but to be changed"
Emmanuel~God with us
He+Me=Us
"Come as you are"
"He doesn't love us because we are good...He loves us because He is good"
"Heaven will not be heaven for those who have not chosen to be heavenly"
D&C 123
We should "Cheerfully do all things that lie in our power"
"God with us"=Grace
"Jesus doesn't make up the distance...He is the difference. What he makes of us is the distance."
"Jesus isn't just saving us, he is transforming us"
"You don't pay Jesus back {for suffering for us} You appreciate it. He can forgive what justice never could"
"If we think that His requirements are too hard...then we don't see what he can make of us"
Mariama Kallon: (I seriously want to be her friend! She's been through a lot...growing up in Sierra Leon...losing all of her family because of the terrible wars over diamonds...finding the church, serving a mission...and being full of happiness and hope!)
Ester 4:14 D&C 120
"The Lord has purposes for our lives. The only way we can find it is if we open up our hearts and our minds."
"Because we have life, we have hope"
"I had no shoes of my feet but I had faith in my heart"
"Where there is life, there is hope in Christ"
2 Nephi 4:26
"Scriptures are my therapist"
D&C 84:87-88 D&C 31:6 (put name in)
Listen+Obey+Do=Blessings
She has a DVD...I bought it and love it...here's a link to it: Blessed By Hope
(oh and to menchen my wonderful dagther kaitlyn!!!!!!!! she is so sweet)(Kaitlyn typed that while I was away..silly girl)
Amanda Dickson: She didn't mention until like half way through her presentation that she is not LDS. I would have never known! She talked a lot about how we resist change...and how much we worry about bad things that can happen. We hear the phrase often, "What's the worst thing that could happen?"....and we think of the worst possible scenario and then we base our decision on that when it might not even happen! She said: "You may LOVE the worst thing" She talked about being pregnant in her 40's and fearing all that could go wrong...and then learning that her 2 month old baby had a heart condition...and it was okay! She still loved him and life and what she learned. One of the "worst things that could happen" DID happen...and it was okay.
"Change. We fear it, so we don't do it."
We need to change (and have opportunities for change) so that we can see different (new and better) things and have different ideas.
"DO get your hopes up" (how often do we hear the opposite? "Don't get your hopes up..." Well why not?! Because things might not turn out like we thought they would or want them to?)
"If you never change your mind...why have one?"
"The spirit you bring to whatever you do will change your experience" (it'll change you and those around you)
"God is watching. Give Him a good show" :)
Oh...another favorite! "Women think that breast come in two sizes: too big and too little!" (how true is that!?) LOL!
Merrilee Boyack: While running for re-election for city council, heading the promotion against gay marriage (getting "hate mail" for that from members and non-members), doing TOFW tours, being wife and mom and Relief Society President...and found out she had breast cancer...then her husband lost his job.
"I screw up.....the Lord teaches me and I help others"
"I can chose my attitude" (a choice we all have no matter what situations we are dealing with)
Definition of "trials": Strengthening opportunities
"Be of good cheer for I the Lord thy God and with thee"
Hope= having optimistic positive experiences
She said she'd get up to go to chemo or where ever and she would "decide to be cheerful no matter what happened that day"
*Cheer*Positive*Faith*Hope*
"He knows what we do not know
He sees what we do not see
Trust in Him.
He will answer our prayers perfectly
and at the perfect time" ~Pres. Uchtdorf
"Abraham was being tested for Abraham"
Other Presenters were: Dallyn Bayles (holy cow his voice is amazing!), Sherri Dew (I love hearing her speak!), Mercy River (Loved their songs...their voices and the stories they shared!), and DeAnne Flynn (I can't remember what she talked about...but I know I will if I ever need to!)
While I was gone, Brandon told his brother Travis that I went to Time Out For Women. He explained to Travis what it was and he was like, "Isn't that like paying to go to church?!" Why would someone want to PAY to go sit and listen to speakers? :) Gotta say, if I had never gone, I'd feel the same way. I guess for me, I look at is as therapy! :) I wish I could go to TOFW every other week! Thanks for taking care of the kids so I could go Honey!
