2018 Back to School Celebration

In front of the garage with their favorite outfits:

And our annual first morning of school Belgian waffle breakfast!

p.s. words from women relatives

Linda

When I was a young girl none of my church friends went to the same school as I did.  That was sad for me but I looked forward to seeing them at church and at Mutual.  At about the age of 14 years, my friends chose not to attend Mutual anymore.  However their parents didn’t know that. All of our parents would drive us to the church, drop us off and then return later in the evening to pick us up.  When my girlfriends were dropped off they would walk through the building and go out the other side and some would walk over to the corner and hang out while a couple of the girls would go get in the cars of their older boyfriends who had driven over to see them.   This left me the only girl in the class with our teacher.  That was very awkward for me and very frustrating to sit there and get a lesson while I knew my friends were laughing and having fun.

 They would often try to coax me to skip out with them.  They would even tease me for being such a “goodie girl”. As much as I would have preferred to hang with them, I knew that my parents trusted that I was in Mutual.  Sometimes I felt pretty angry with the situation but I knew that what I was doing was the right thing.  There have been many times in my life that I have had to make hard and embarrassing decisions to do the right thing.  I am glad I learned that when I was a young girl.

Frances

When Great-grandma Brown had two young boys she decided she needed to divorce her husband for the benefit of her little family.  She had to work to be able to take care of them.  She got a job in a different state in Idaho working in the train station.  Since she had no money and no way to take care of her two young boys, she left them with her mother.  She missed them very, very much.  I don’t remember how long she had to do that but she met Great-grandpa Brown and they got married.  Just before they got married, when she was planning on bringing her boys to live in Idaho, her mother died.  I think that was very hard for her to leave her boys, go to another state and try to earn money to take care of her family and then lose her mother.  She was a very strong woman and did whatever it took to get the job done.  I loved her.

Helen

About 58 years ago grandpa Willden was diagnosed with Cancer.  It was just before your Moms aunt Susan was born.  When we would go into the hospital they would ask

who was the patient.  It was a hard time because the doctors didn’t think he  (Grandpa )would make it and if he did they didn’t think it would be for long.  We were told that we should never

have any  more children.  We followed our Heavenly Father and received so many marvelous blessing.  We had 5 more children and now Grandpa will soon be 85 and we

have been married almost 60 years.  Just moving forward, following the Spirit helps us be strong and miracles always happen daily.

Love Grandmother Willden

Jeanne

After all 4 of my children were out of the home, I went back to school.  Almost all of the students were younger than I; in fact I sat next to one of Paul’s good friends.  I took a number of classes just because they sounded like fun.  The one class I needed to get my AA degree was an English class.  I dreaded it because I didn’t like writing about myself, but I finally did. and got an A in the class.  I had graduated from high school as Valedictorian so it wasn’t because it was hard and I didn’t want to go the graduation or make a big deal out of it; I just wanted to do it.  I didn’t go on but took some Adult Education classes instead; I had other responsibilities that I wanted to do.    One of my biggest frustrations now in getting older is my memory loss.  Each age has it’s challenge.

Rebecca

I am going to tell you about when Rex was sick. I bet you remember that he had a hard time growing when he was a baby. He had to go to the hospital a couple times, and there was even a scary ambulance ride. I know you know your parents love you sooooo much, so I know you can imagine how much I loved my little Rexy baby. It was very hard that he was so sick and didn’t get better for a long time. 

At first, I didn’t feel strong. Rex’s doctor yelled at me and spoke rudely to me when he saw how sick Rex was the first time. I cried, and then spent a few days trying to get Rex to eat. He didn’t eat enough and he got even sicker, so we had to take him to the hospital. When I saw the doctor again, he yelled at me again. But this time, I felt stronger because I had spent those days praying and getting encouragement from my mom and your mom and Ryan and my friends. 

So I put on my mama voice and said, “You cannot talk to me that way. I am trying to help my son.” He apologized for being rude and began to work WITH me, instead of bossing me. 

This happened in lots of situations. Lots of doctors wanted to boss me around, and I had to firmly tell them they were out of line. Do you know how I got the courage to stand up to them? I spent a lot of time praying for Rex and studying about the things he was experiencing. Little by little, Heavenly Father would give me help and information. Little by little, he would tell me I was on the right path or to try something new. This made me feel very strong so that when I went to doctors, I knew if the doctors were right or not, and I could change the conversation to one that would help Rex. 

Eventually, I even became strong enough to fire the mean doctor and find a new one. The new one listened to me and worked with me, and helped me to feel my strongest. Together, we figured out how to save Rex. It took many months and lots of doctors  until Rex was all the way better. But through it all, I learned to trust my instincts. I learned to stand up when someone was being unkind to me. I learned to tell a doctor I didn’t think she was right and to work with her to find something better. This was all very hard for me, but now when one of my children are sick or when things aren’t fair at school, I am very good at speaking up for them. Heavenly Father helped me learn to trust that I know what I’m talking about. 

We all have that thing inside that tells us when things aren’t right. It’s very hard to pull it out sometimes, but it’s always there. You will have lots of experiences to help you listen to it. Sometimes you won’t listen, like when the doctor first yelled at me and I cried. But if you learn from those times, you’ll know how to listen the next time. And each time you listen, you’ll get better and better at it. Listening to ourselves is part of what makes us stronger. I love you girls!

Sarah

I can do hard things

High school made me so nervous. For months everyday I would be so worried about who I would sit with at lunch, talk to in class, worry if I would get bumped off my seat on the bus. Daily I would let my worries make my body feel sick. I finally found a true friend that wouldn’t ditch me her name was Brooke. One night it was the homecoming football game I wanted a friend to go with badly. I called a few friends and asked if they were going. Sadly no one invited me to go with them. I got down on my knees and started crying and praying and then the phone rang! My neighbor Brooke called and invited me to go to the game with her. She helped me so much by being my friend! It was hard getting on my knees with a broken heart and pleading in with God for a friend. It made me see how He is with us. I can go hard things with God.

Sharon

When I was about eleven or twelve, my mother so wanted me to learn how to play the piano.  A very good friend of hers let us keep an extra piano at our house. So one day the piano arrived!  I was so excited to start learning how to play the piano.  My teacher was my mother’s good friend that let us borrow her piano – Joyce Elsberry.  She was a tough teacher!  But I learned so much.  

I would ride my bike to my teacher’s house each week.  I loved playing the piano and even liked practicing!  I eventually learned how to play all the Primary songs and Hymns.  As time passed, my life got busier and I decided to stop taking piano lessons.  I graduated from high school and then attended Brigham Young University.

At BYU I was asked to play the piano in sacrament meeting. I said okay, but I had never played the piano in public. I was scared to death!!  I was so nervous, my hands would shake, and my eyes would tear up and I could not read the music.  The first few months were pure torture for me and everyone attending sacrament meeting, as I stumbled through the music each time I played.  But, I got better over time.  But I did not enjoy playing for sacrament meeting. 

Many years later, I was asked to be the pianist for Primary.  By this time I was a mom of three little girls!  Well, I thought I guess they must be desperate, so I agreed to play the piano for Primary.  I was so out of practice and could only play the easiest Primary songs out of the songbook.  But the chorister was so nice and patient with me. Thankfully, by this time we had our own piano and I could practice the Primary songs at home.  Well, a new chorister was called to Primary, and she was tough!! She pushed me to play better.  And this time I was determined to do well. I think part of it was, I loved being in Primary – hearing the children sing brought such happiness to my soul!

I wanted to improve my piano skills, so I started taking piano lessons again as an adult.  I would bring Bryan to my piano lessons and he would play with fun toys during my lesson.  This worked quite well, but then along came Jonathan and then it just got too complicated.  But I kept playing the piano a lot!  As I was asked to play the piano in our little branch in Edgewood, Maryland.  I was finally comfortable playing in public.  And I also was the ward pianist in our ward in Texas.  

And I even started teaching other children how to play the piano in our neighborhood. And taught Vanessa, Sarah and Laura how to play the piano.  Playing the piano has brought a lot of joy to me in my life.  I think I have forgotten how much!  And I need to start playing again – I am so out of practice!  I think it will be like starting all over again.  

But I learned, that through consistent practice and determination I could overcome my fear of playing for others.  Some things just take time and hard work!

Carolyn

My mother was the first in her family to graduate from college.  She worked so hard to accomplish this goal.  Her mother, Genevieve and her Aunt Phyllis, encouraged her and helped her in any way they could.  She graduated from Brigham Young University as an elementary teacher.

This accomplishment meant a lot to Carolyn and she mentioned it often.  And she encouraged others to get their educational degree.  

She went on to teach school for two years, while her husband Paul Richard Rencher finished school.

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