It was then that I met Cameron in our singles ward. I turned 29 and thought all hope was lost. What about my plan? It was a trial to be single for so long. Still, each year as I reached another birthday, I wondered if Heavenly Father was listening to my prayers. I loved teaching high school and had many experiences that helped me grow. But I realized that I needed to be happy right then and to make the most of my life. In fact, I wasn’t to find him for many more years.

There I reaped the personal growth that comes from service and overcoming adversity.Īfter returning home, I turned my attention again to seeking an eternal companion. After much fasting and prayer, I submitted my papers and was called to the Korea Pusan Mission. The prompting took me by surprise because a mission had never been in my plan. While jogging one day, I felt that I should consider a mission. I decided to enroll at Brigham Young University to complete a degree in education, still keeping in mind my ultimate plan of being a wife and mother. But when graduation approached, I was not dating anyone seriously and didn’t really know what I should do next I hadn’t thought about other options. Then I would start a family and be a stay-at-home mom. I would attend Ricks College in Idaho for two years and earn an associate degree, by which time I would be married. Did I really accept the trial of losing my husband after little more than a year of marriage? My Desire to Marryįrom early on I knew how I wanted my life to proceed. We knew also that after a period of life we would die.” 1 Yet at times it seems impossible that we accepted the adversities of life before we came here.

Kimball (1895–1985) stated: “We knew before we were born that we were coming to the earth for bodies and experience and that we would have joys and sorrows, ease and pain, comforts and hardships, health and sickness, successes and disappointments. We will all experience times of trial and testing.

High school dreams (2005)