Spotlight: Andrea Harper

Andrea grew up in North Ogden, Utah.  She is the middle child of 5 children.   Andrea graduated Weber High in 1995 where she participated in choir.  Her choir teacher told her she was there more to play the piano than to sing.  She played softball and basketball and loved hiking as a kid.  She especially loved hiking with her friends up the Bonneville Shoreline trail in Ogden. 

Andrea met her husband Kevin in January of 1996 in an English class at Weber State.  Andrea says she was the quiet one and he was the class clown.  Everyday after class he walked her to her car.  He thought she was engaged the whole time because she was wearing a ring on her right hand (the wrong hand) and saw her talking to another guy after class one day.  They had a mutual friend that convinced him that she was not engaged or seeing anyone so he finally asked her out.  They dated for 10 months and were married on December 7th, 1996. 

Three years later they had their daughter Ashlyn in 1999.  It was the most horrible pregnancy and delivery! She swore she would never have any more children.  8 months after Ashlyn was born they found out she was pregnant with Connor.  Connor was born in 2001.  Ashlyn and Connor are 17 months apart.   After struggling to get pregnant and after a few miscarriages, Andrea went on Chlomid for 6 months and ended up pregnant with Brielle.  Brielle was born in 2007.  Their 4^th child Declan was born 2 1/2 years later in 2010.   

Ashlynn is 16 years old and loves to run, play softball, and play piano.  Connor is 15, he loves baseball and to goof around with his friends.  Brielle is 8 and loves everything and anything! She loves dance, tumbling, is quirky and well rounded.  Declan is 6 and he loves baseball; likes riding his bike and playing outside. 

Andrea and her family moved to Kaysville in 2014.  Her husband Kevin worked for Central, and Swift took over and Kevin was laid off.   He then had a bright idea to open a donut shop in Murray, Utah across from Murray High School.   They named it Daylight Donuts!  Andrea was not very fond of the idea at the time, but has since then become a fan! She said she used to like donuts before having a donut shop, but not so much anymore. 

Their family loves Disneyland and loves going to the movies.  A few of Andrea’s favorite shows are Hell’s Kitchen, Ramsey Kitchen Nightmares, and American Idol. 

Andrea is the easiest person to talk to!  She is a breath of fresh air and will keep you smiling!   We are so happy she is in our ward.  Oh, and they have awesome donuts!!

Meet Melissa Munn

Melissa was born in Long Beach California and has lived most of her life in Southern California. She was born into a family of 5 including her mother, father, older sister and twin sister. Her mother was a very strong woman with a multitude of talents. She was an interior designer, artist, baker, cook, beautician and skilled business woman. She would use all of these talents in raising and providing for her children and passed many on to Melissa. Melissa loved her father. He was her hero. Her sisters, especially her twin were her main playmates.

Melissa's family belonged to the Christian Scientist Church. Her mother and father always sent the kids to church but they themselves were not overly active. I asked Melissa what Christian Scientists believe. She told me they believe in not drinking or smoking or drugs. They believe that through prayer and a skilled Christian Scientist Practicianer, the body can heal itself of almost anything. This created a lot of guilt for Melissa. She herself was always sick as a child, allergic to almost all toxins.

Melissa's greatest memory of being a child is her exploration. She loved getting up before everyone else and going outside to explore the animals, bugs and nature around her. She would find spider webs and throw flies in them to watch what the spider did. She would lift heavy rocks and play with and observe the pill bugs underneath. She was in her own little world.

That ability to be happy and explore came in very useful. When she was 10 her parents divorced. Melissa and her sisters stayed with their mother. Their first move was to Running Springs, CA which is at an elevation of about 7,000 feet (we're about 4,000 feet here). Her family moved almost every year after that. For Melissa it was an adventure. She did make friends, but her greatest friend was her twin and her greatest joy was exploring nature.

When Melissa was 17 years old she met a boy and fell in love. She was a hippie and so was he. She went to the Strawberry Festival in Costa Mesa CA. She was sad after the break up with a boyfriend and was sitting down having a pity party because not only was she single, she didn't have a ride home. A boy stepped in front of her and she looked up. He was beautiful and tall standing there in his tapestry and then he played the guitar for her. She was smitten. She left home and school and married him. They moved in with his parents who were LDS.

Melissa's mother-in-law became her Naomi. She loved her. The mother-in-law gave Melissa such unconditional love. Everyday they would spend time together and she would teach Melissa the gospel of Jesus Christ and the doctrine of the restored church. Melissa felt like more than being taught the doctrine, she was remembering the doctrine from somewhere. She ate it up and loved it. She joined the church and had a still born daughter but a year later was blessed with a son from that marriage. Unfortunately, the husband was not nice to Melissa and after trying to make it work for 3 years, they divorced.

With her 6 month old baby, Melissa moved into an apartment. Here she gained a testimony of the principle of tithing. She had only enough money to either pay her rent or pay her tithing. She threw her faith behind tithing and gave it a whirl. Someone took her to the fair one night. She remembers walking around and having no money. The next day when she was checking her pockets she found enough money to pay the rent and to buy her relief society manual for the year (this is when people had to purchase them). The Lord blessed her with what she needed. After that she never struggled to pay her tithing.

She also had a powerful experience with Jesus Christ while living on her own. One night she started praying. She was having a hard time so she prayed for about an hour. She felt the presence of the Lord with her so strongly at that point that even after an hour she didn't want to end the prayer. It wasn't the Holy Ghost beside her, it was the Savior. She felt if she looked up she would see him. That he was beside her letting her know how much he loved her and that he would sustain her in all of her trials. Melissa said this experience cemented her to the Savior and the church. That no matter what would happen in her life from then on, she wanted to live in such a way that she could go back to live with him.

Melissa would need that experience. The next several years of her life were incredibly difficult. She met and married a man named Jaime and had her beautiful daughter Elisha with him. However, the marriage was not a happy one. He felt like he had made a mistake and eventually they also divorced.

She again attended another church dance and met a man named Lance. He was a genuis. He loved the Lord and this time she was married in the temple. Every week they would go to the temple and then on a little date. One day after attending the temple together, he told her, « Well, I'm never going back there again. Its all a bunch of bunk. » Melissa felt like she had been stabbed in the heart. Going on counsel from her bishop, she ended this marriage too.

Melissa was done. She figured for whatever reason she could not find a suitable spouse. She also didn't want to put her 2 children through anymore turmoil. She was barely getting by each month and wouldn't have been able to make it if it weren't for the help of her first mother-in-law who felt a strong prompting that she was to help provide for Melissa as long as she needed her.

One day Melissa was sick and requested a priesthood blessing. In that blessing she was told that the best thing in her life was about to happen and she knew what she needed to do. She was baffled by what this meant. After the priesthood holder left she went and knelt down in prayer and prayed to know what it meant until she received an answer. She was told the Lord was going to send her someone that he had chosen for her.

One night a friend and her went to an institute dance. There she met her husband Richard Munn. Once she saw him, she couldn't even wait for him to approach her. She started following him around. They danced a few dances together. They saw each other again at another dance and this time they only dance with each other. Melissa held a special interest Family Home evening and invited Richard to attend. There they filled out their 4 generation pedigree charts that President Kimball had asked everyone to do. After the group Melissa asked Richard over to listen to her read some of the poetry she had written. During the night he put his hand on hers and the spirit was so strong at that one touch that she knew he was the one. That night she asked him to wait 3 months to propose to her, which he did and they married.

They were blessed with 2 more children, both boys. They were all sitting at home one day watching conference and the camera panned across temple square. In that moment the spirit came to both Melissa and Richard and let them know they were supposed to move to Northern Utah. In fact, one of their sons, looking at the TV, said, « We are suppose to move there. » So with faith they moved to Layton Utah and eventually bought a home.

They lived here while they finished raising their children. Melissa would go back to Central Coast California a lot to visit her oldest son and her grandchildren. One time, while fishing with her son, she broke her back. Her health wasn't the best and she noticed she felt better in California by the ocean. So she and her husband planned to move back to California. The night before they were filling out the paperwork on a home, Richard and Melissa were hit in a head on collision by a drunk driver. It broke Melissa's back again and shattered Richard's knee. With Richard being unable to work, they couldn't move. They instead moved into our ward with Melissa's daugher, Elisha. They lived here a few months until Richard could heal enough to go back to work. Then they moved back out to Santa Maria, Ca. Unfortunately, After having lived there for fouryears, The job did not pan out and they returned to live with Elisha to save money to find another place for them to live.

Melissa is an incredible woman of faith. The Lord has led her througout her whole life through many ups and downs. I asked her what advice she would pass on to others at this point in her life. She said without hesistation, « Focus on the Savior and he'll get you through. » Looking back Melissa can see that although she has had many trials, things really did work out as they should. The Lord seemed to be orchestrating her life.

We are blessed to have Melissa in our ward. I hope you will all take the time to get to know and appreciate all the many talents she has to offer and if you get the chance, be sure you ask her to see some of her art work and listen to her poetry – it is amazing!

Spotlight: Holly Flake

Holly was born in Centerville, Utah.  She is the middle child of 5 kids with 2 older brothers, 1 younger brother and 1 younger sister.  Her entire family lives in Utah!  Holly was on the student council her Junior and Senior year, and graduated from Viewpoint High School in 2003.  

Holly will be celebrating her 11th wedding anniversary in a few months! She met her husband Mike through her best friend that was dating him at the time.  Her friend dated Mike up until he left for his mission to Spain and was married 6 months after Mike left.  Holly and mike continued as friends and Holly wrote him during his time away.    Mike returned from his mission in May 2005. Holly and Mike dated for 5 months and were married in the Salt Lake City Temple in November 2005!

In June of 2006 they moved to Anchorage, Alaska for 2 years so that Mike could complete his Air Traffic Control School.  Holly was unable to finish her own schooling because her credits would not transfer to the University of Alaska so Holly worked at the University as an office manager, which helped Mike with his tuition. 

After Alaska, they moved back to Utah for a short time and then went to Oklahoma for a few months for Air Traffic Academy. After he completed all his schooling they moved back to Utah and lived in East Kaysville. 

Holly has 3 children, Brinely who is 6, Judson 4, and Addison who is 9 months.  Brinely will soon be in 1^st grade she loves dancing, school, and is very artistic! Judson is ALL boy! He loves four wheeling, boating, snow moiling…anything outdoors! 

Holly moved to West Kaysville in the summer of 2014.  Holly has a love for reading and writing. She is creative, artsy, loves Zumba, and is a DIY junkie!   Her favorite things to do with her family are camping and boating.  Holly is super sweet, if you haven't met her yet, you need to! You will love her! We are so happy she is in our ward.

Heidi Van Wagenen Thackeray

Heidi is a Southern California girl. She was born in Fullerton close to LA at St. Jude's hospital. She was raised in El Cajon just outside of San Diego. She loves Southern California and the beach where she grew up about 20 minutes away. She has 3 older brothers and is the oldest of 3 girls that followed.

Heidi's favorite thing about growing up was her family. She loved how safe and peaceful her home felt. The spirit was there, and even her friends who were not LDS commented on the special feeling that was in their home. Because of the wonderful family she was given, she feels the weight of the scripture, « Where much is given much is required. »

She entered Middle School as any student would, happy, full of anxiety, and pre-teen angst. At the end of 7^th grade, she went in for a routine health examination that all schools used to administer. They checked Heidi's spine and realized she had slight case of scoliosis. They informed her and her parents but were told it wasn't that big of a deal at the present.

But that summer the situation with Heidi's back quickly turned. It wasn't “no big deal”. In fact it became a very big deal. She spent the summer in so much pain. Her back and stomach hurt because the bones along her back were shifting and her muscles were fighting to pull it into alignment. Heidi's mom took her back to the doctor and found out over the summer Heidi had gone from a 20% curvature to a 45% curvature. The family started looking into options. They consulted a chiropractor and 2 orthopedic surgeons. After careful contemplation and much prayer, they decided surgery was needed.

To make matters worse, because of Heidi's physical problems regarding her back, she started getting bullied at school. When the bullying started, Heidi's mom decided enough was enough. She pulled Heidi out of school a little earlier than they expected and arranged for a tutor to home school her immediately. Heidi was then home schooled until the end of eighth grade. Surgery was a great blessing to Heidi. In fact, it stopped most of Heidi's back issues until after the birth of her 3^rd child.

Heidi says the things she went through in regards to her back were a great trial but also a great blessing in her life. It humbled her from a very young age. It made her learn to completely rely on the Lord and His spirit for direction. Not only that, but the tutors she had while home schooling helped her to see things from unique perspectives as well. One was a former nun and one was a total hippie. This combined with the many friends Heidi had of different faiths gave her a great acceptance and love for people of diverse backgrounds.

After recovering from her surgery, she went on to have a very fun high school experience. She was a part of the performance choir at her High School and was recruited by the wrestling coach to be a manger for the wrestling team. She developed a great love for the wrestling coach who had graduated from BYU but was not LDS. He did however love the LDS kids. Because the wrestlers knew she was LDS, they would often ask her challenging questions about her faith. This was a great testimony builder to Heidi as well. When she turned 16, Heidi started dating a boy in her ward who had recently moved from Salt Lake City. She liked listening to him talk about his group of friends back home. He said they did everything together and really helped each other choose the right. She was even able to meet this group of friends during a summer that she attended EFY in Provo. One of them was a guy named Tom Thackeray. She thought they were all awesome and wished she had a group like that in California.

After Heidi graduated, she went to Ricks College for 2 years. She loved it. She said she made many dear memories at the school. She loved how small it was and that you could really get to know many of the people. She still has close friends from her time there.

After graduating with her associates degree, she came home to California and started working in the mailroom of a big law firm downtown San Diego. She really enjoyed it there and had a memorable time riding the trolley to and from work every day. But after a year there, she started having a great deal of restlessness. She felt she needed to move on to a new adventure. After much prayer, she enrolled in BYU's summer program and moved to Provo. It was during that summer that she reconnected with Tom Thackeray. They started dating in June and were married in the San Diego Temple that December.

After they got married, they moved to Springville, UT. Tom went to BYU while Heidi worked at a health and wellness company. After they had been married a couple of years, Tom enrolled in the Army Reserves as a way to get career training. One month after enlisting, 9-11 happened. A few months later, Tom's unit was called to be deployed to an undisclosed location. He would need to go, and spouses weren't invited to join them. At first he was supposed to go to Turkey but the Turkish government wouldn't let the troops in, so Tom ended up in Watertown in upstate NY. Heidi having to stay behind transferred to the U and finished her degree in Human Development and Family Studies.

When Heidi graduated, they were tired of being apart, so Tom got permission to fly home to UT so he and he could drive back to Watertown, NY together.  All during this time, Heidi and Tom had been trying to get pregnant. It wasn't looking good. There appeared to be infertility issues with both of them. But while in NY Heidi found out she was pregnant. They were so excited. They planned a trip to Utah where they would share the news with their families. Unfortunately while in Utah, Heidi felt something wasn't right. Tom's brother who was an OBY/GYN brought her in for an examination only to find out there wasn't a heartbeat. They were grief stricken. Later in NY Heidi would miscarry the baby at a military hospital.

Tom finished his assignment in NY and they moved back to Utah and Heidi took a job as a Kindergarten teacher at Challenger school.  They were at the point in their baby quest where they had to consider IVF or adoption. She went in to start the process of IVF, but first she had to take a pregnancy test. Imagine her surprise when a nurse left a message on her voice mail delivering the good news: she was pregnant! Nine months later they welcomed Savannah into their home. Heidi then quit teaching and started her dream job of being a mother.

A few years later, the Thackeray's became pregnant with their son Benjamin. However, this time the delivery became a problem. Things were progressing normally for the most part, except the epidural they gave Heidi didn't appear to be working. After many hours, the doctor checked Heidi to see if she was fully dilated. A few seconds later, Benjamin's heart flat lined.

Luckily for Heidi and Benjamin, they were at a level 1-trauma hospital (one of only two in the state of Utah at the time). They immediately took Heidi in, opened her up to find out her uterus and uterine artery had ruptured. She was bleeding out of all her internal organs. They got the baby out, and immediately intubated him. Every 20 mins the doctor's assistant would bring back word to the family and it wasn't looking good. Finally word came back that Heidi and the baby would live. The doctors however told her not to expect much in the way of mental development for the baby. He had been deprived of oxygen for too long. But Benjamin surprised everyone. He met every milestone like any other baby and there appears to be no problems at all from his delivery. What a miracle he is!

The doctors told Heidi she probably shouldn't have any more children. But Heidi and Tom felt differently. They felt there was another baby that was supposed to join their family. So 2 years after Benjamin was born, Heidi became pregnant with Jacob. About 30 weeks into the pregnancy, Heidi started getting pains like she had had while delivering Benjamin. They immediately put her in the in hospital. They gave Jacob steroids to develop his lungs and delivered him at 34 weeks. It was particularly wonderful that Tom's brother was able to deliver Jacob.

Heidi’s interests include a love of writing, looking at family pictures (she can spend hours doing this), and helping people work through their problems. One day she hopes to be a counselor to at a Junior High or High School because she also loves working with the youth. 

What a great lady Heidi is. Her traumatic experiences have given her a wealth of life experience to draw on. She has learned that all these trials she has faced have be given for her growth and even though while she went through trials she couldn't see a reason, she has learned there is always a reason. She also has learned to consult and read carefully her patriarchal blessing. She said everything she needed to know and went through was in there. We love Heidi and are so grateful to have her in our ward.  

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Meet Cristi Millard

Cristi was born in Colombus Ohio. Her mother was LDS and her father was not. Their family lived in Colombus because her father had been stationed there with the air force. After Cristi's older sister was born, her dad tried being a musician, but after Cristi's birth, he could see that music wasn't going to pay the bills, so he re-enlisted with the military. From here on out Cristi was an Air Force brat.

Their first assignment was Clovis New Mexico. Cristi and her family lived there the next 8 years. The branch in Clovis was very close. Even though Cristi's father wasn't a member of the church he sang in the choir and helped build the new meeting house. Also while living in Clovis, Cristi's mom had 3 more baby girls. Cristi's dad struck a bargain with the Lord. He told the Lord if he had a son, he would get baptized. The next baby that came to their family was a little boy. Cristi's dad, being a man of his word, was then baptized.

Finally, after 8 years, a new assignment came. The family was transferred to Okinawa Japan. Cristi's parents had a gift for helping their children love wherever they lived. She thought that Japan was so fun, all the Japanese school kids would stop by their house and practice their English with them. They also loved trying all the food and being part of the Japan Obon Odori. It's the Japanese biggest celebration of the year. She remembers collecting little coins in origami type envelopes and dancing.

After 6 years, her parents came back to the states. However, they then divorced. Cristi's mom remarried a man who worked for the military as a civilian. After their marriage, he was assigned to Okinawa Japan, so back to Okinawa Cristi and her siblings happily went.

Cristi then spent most of high school years at a big military school on the island. She was involved in drama and sports. She loved sports. She played volleyball, softball and track. She also was the statistician for the baseball teams. Her Junior year she was also a cheerleader. There was another Junior young man named Art Millard who was playing football for the same team she was cheering for (the high school was so big they had 4 football teams). Crisit's parents had told their girls they could go ahead and date non-members as long as they had high standards (they realized otherwise they girls would have no one to date). Cristi and Art started dating. Art became interested in the gospel, took the missionary discussions and was baptized. Shortly after that, he and his family left Japan and went back to their home in Florida.

After dating Art the athlete, Cristi met another young man named Keith a musician. She started dating Keith. He too became interested in the church, met with the missionaries and got baptized. Their relationship ended when Cristi's family were transferred to Korean in January of her Senior year. Their family tried to figure out a way Cristi could stay with friends to finish up at the high school she had attended since 9^th grade, but the military wasn't having it and her parents really wanted her to come with them, so she moved to Korea with her family.

Cristi says she loved everything about Korea but Kim-Chi. She said being at eye level with all the Korean's she could smell it on everyone's breath. She also said the women would always come up and pull on her arm hair, because Asian's don't have any. She however loved working there. She got a job on Saturdays working at the mission home helping the mission recorder imput information because she could type really fast. She would hang out there and have lunch with the missionaries. It was so much fun for an 18 year old girl.

After graduation, she got on a plane and headed to Rexburg Idaho. She did a year at Ricks. While there she mainly worked with the Dean of student's office and she also waited tables at JB's. She finished up her year and went home to Korea for the summer. But once back in Korea, she was offered a really good job working at a drug and alcohol rehab center. She decided to stay in Korea for a year or so and saved money. After that, she headed back to Ricks.

Once she got back to Ricks, she started dating a young man seriously and they got engaged. However, before she could graduate, they got unengaged. That did it for Crisit. She didn't want to be at Ricks any longer. By this time her parents had moved back to Utah so Cristi moved to Salt Lake and got a job at the church office building in the finance division. She worked there a year and a half. Then she decided she was ready to go back to school. This time she enrolled at BYU.

While at BYU she roomed with her younger sister and worked on campus doing registrations for conferences. She helped with the registration for any conferences going on, workshops, athletic camps, EFY, pioneer trek, women's conference, etc. She was studying English and she LOVED it. She also met a young returned missionary who recently had returned from Argentina and they got married.

Cristi started working more seriously to put her husband through school. She took a job at UVU (UTC at the time) but she wanted to finish her bachelor's degree. She approached her work at UVU and told them she would probably have to quit. They didn't want to let her go though, so they offered her a special contract that made a way for her to continue working there. It allowed her the freedom to work as her schedule permitted. Sometimes she might have to work part time or not at all for 2 months or so. With that job she continued working until she and her husband graduated from BYU.

After her husband graduated she and her husband wanted answers about why they weren't being able to get pregnant. They went to the doctor and found out Crisit had a small growth on one of her ovaries. She went into surgery and found out the problem was bigger then they thought. They had to remove one of her ovaries and remove her fallopian tubes. So at this point, they knew that Crisit would never be able to get pregnant. They told her she could try IVF but it was on the cutting edge at the time and cost around 40,000 dollars. It wasn't even a possibility. They then looked into adoption with LDS Family Services.

Before they could even get their paperwork in however, they had a miracle. A cousin of Cristi's called to tell them about a birthmother she had living with them. The birthmother had seen them and liked them. She wanted to meet. So Cristi and her husband flew out to visit the birthmother. While they were there, she went into labor. Cristi was able to be there for the delivery! This was 1989 and almost unheard of.

After the birth of their daughter Cristi kept working at UVU. In 1989 she moved to a job at Salt Lake Community College as a financial aid advisor. Their family also bought a home in Bountiful Utah. When her daughter, Jessica was 6 months old she had to find a new babysitter. She found one in Taylorsville, a family that would watch Jessica in their home. This allowed Cristi to take Jessica to work with her and drop her off at the babysitter. So even though Jessica was raised in Bountiful, she didn't attend Bountiful schools. She would go to school in Taylorsville by the babysitters house. When Jessica was old enough to babysit herself, she did start attending South Davis Jr. High, but found she didn't really like it, so instead, they got a variance and Jessica attended school at Eisenhower Jr. High with her friends from elementary. She went on to graduate from Taylorville High School. Cristi loved that time everyday of driving back and forth to work and school with Jessica.

In 2004 Cristi decided she wanted her master's degree. She started doing classes through the University of Phoenix to get a degree in Office Management. She finished her degree which allowed her to move up in position at SLCC. Currently she serves as the director of financial aid.

In 2006 Cristi and her husband decided to divorce. It was a difficult decision but they were very committed to making it as cordial as they could for their daughter. Today, Cristi and her ex-husband still are very polite to one another and are willing to attend family events together for the better of everyone involved.

In March 2007, Cristi's sister told her she had been on a social network site and that Art Millard, Crisit's boyfriend from high school had been on and he was looking for her. She connected with Art and they exchanged Christmas cards. Then in January of 2007 Art and his wife came to Utah for a visit. They met with Cristi and had dinner together. Art's wife wasn't feeling well at the dinner. After their visit, Art and his wife went up to Wyoming to visit some family. In Wyoming, Art's wife suffered an aneurism and died. It was shocking to say the least. She was buried here in Utah and Cristi attended the funeral.

A few months later Cristi had a feeling she should call Art up so she did. He was very sad and missing his wife tremendously. They started talking. Three months later they decided during a phone conversation that they would marry. It felt like the right decision. So Art brought his youngest daughter and moved out to Utah. They had a blended family with Art's daughter and Jessica living together for about a year until Jessica graduated and moved out. It took some time for Art's children to heal from losing their mom and come to accept Cristi, but now they have accepted each other and really like one another. Cristi is also the only grandma most of them know. She says being a grandma is so much fun!

In Cristi's free time she likes to crochet and cross-stitch. She also likes watching mysteries on TV. She loves listening to music – all kinds and even enjoys many of today's popular bands (Imagine Dragons and Killers). The thing Cristi loves most of all is reading. She belongs to two book clubs. One she has belonged to for 17 years. Her very favorite books are the Lord of the Rings series. Some of her other favorite authors include JD Robb, Tammy Hoag and Orson Scott Card. She enjoys reading mysteries, fantasy and science fiction.

Cristi is a very accepting person. She is interesting and can discuss a lot of subjects. I asked her if she had any advice she'd give to others what it would be. She immediately responded, « Enjoy your children. » She says so often we get so focused on correcting and training them to be people of good character we forget to enjoy them. She says its so important to take time to play with them because soon they will be too old to play with and enjoy. » Wise words from a wise woman. I hope you all have the opportunity to get to know Crisit better, you will be greatly rewarded!

Meet Marcia Burell

Marcia's family lived in Ridgeland South Carolina when she was born. It was a small two stop light town. The nearest hospital was 30 miles away in Savannah Georgia, so Marcia was born in Georgia. She grew up a small town southern Mormon girl. Her mother joined the church before she was born and her father, although not active in the church, always supported her mother in taking the kids to church.

Growing up in Ridgeland was the stuff country western songs are made of. They lived 30 miles from the coast. Next door to them lived Marcia's grandma who was raising 4 of her grandchildren. This was great fun for Marcia and her 3 siblings. They always had someone to play with and when they wanted to get away, they would just go next door to grandma's. They would spend the evening catching fireflies and playing Hail Over. This game was played by half the group of kids standing on one side of the house and half on the other. They would yell, "Hail over," The ball would be throw over the house. Then the other team would catch the ball and try to run to the other side without getting caught. (clearly the homes were smaller back then )   

The weather is very warm in the South part of South Carolina so most of time Marcia lived in shorts and bare feet. They would pack up pineapple sandwiches (white bread, mayo and pineapple) and go eat them at the beach. There was always a fair amount of sand mixed into the sandwich, but they were kids and starving after swimming so they didn't care. Marcia also remembers taking pine straw (the pine needles) and creating the outline of a house. She and her cousin would play house there for hours.

Then there was the big oak tree, Marcia would spend hours up there reading. They didn't have a very big library in Ridgeland, so whenever her mom would go shopping in Savannah, Marcia would beg her for a new Nancy Drew book. Once she got the book, she's head right out to the tree. The book would be finished by sundown. Marcia's mom would shake her head and say, «You read too fast. »

Marcia's parents also had a farm and a big garden. She and her siblings spent a lot of time working. They would sell the watermelon, squash and cucumbers they grew to buyers up north. They shipped the produce in 18 wheelers. To get the squash ready to be sold they had to be washed. Not one speck of dirt could be left on the squash or it would get embedded into the flesh and ruin the product. The family had a large vat type tub. They would fill the vat up with water and pour in the squash. The squash would float and they would clean them off. After all the cleaning, they'd empty the vat and refill it with water. They Marcia and whoever helped that day would go swimming in the vat. It was great fun.

Marcia went to Jr. High and High School in the late 60's and early 70's. It was a time of great changes in the south. Segregation was coming to an end and the schools were experiencing forced integration between black and white students. When Marcia entered the 9th grade, total integration of black and white schools began. Black and white teachers were put into different schools, as well as students. During this time, many private schools came into being in the south. Marcia's parents really wanted to support what the government was doing with integrating the races. They weren't prejudice and wanted to see the experiment work. They sent Marcia to public school. Unfortunately, the experiment did not help Marcia's education. She spent most of the year grading papers and writing tests for teachers instead of being taught while the teachers wandered the halls. (She's not sure why) Also during that year the school received many bomb threats. During the bomb threats, the students would all go outside on the lawn and wait until they were cleared to go back into the building.  There was never a bomb and it became so common that the students would all laugh and play around outside on the lawn while the always MIA bomb was looked for.

Because Marcia wasn't getting an education at the public school, her parents enrolled her in a private school for the rest of her high school years. It was very small. She graduated with a class of 30 students. She played basket ball one year of high school and the rest of the time, she worked as a waitress saving money for college. However, her class opened a concession stand every day at school. They saved the money and at the end of the year they had enough money to pay for all of them to go to Disneyworld and the Bahamas!

After high school Marcia went to Ricks College for a year. She like the school, but the weather was so COLD! The wind would blow all the time and there were 6 foot snow banks along the sidewalks. It was more than a southern girl could handle. The next year she went to BYU. She really like Provo but she needed money to keep going to school. So after a year she quit, got an apartment and started saving money. She quickly realized she could save more money if she lived at home without living expenses so she went on home to South Carolina.

She started waiting tables again. One day a very handsome young man walked in. She found out he was new around and was working at the Piggly Wiggly grocery store. So she would frequently volunteer to run errands for her mother to the Piggly Wiggly. After about 2 weeks he asked her out. He wasn't a member of the church, so even though Marcia really liked him, she just didn't see the relationship going anywhere. In May, she and her sister packed up and drove back to Provo to enroll in summer semester. She stayed at BYU clear up until the last day when you could drop your summer classes. Then she found out her young man was getting baptized. She immediately dropped all her classes and headed home. She was smitten. A year later they went to the Washington DC temple and were married.

For a little while after they were married, they lived on Marcia's parent's farm. They had a pond on the farm. Well a big old alligator made his way from the swamp into the pond. He was mean! One day he even chases her husband up into a tree. They started wondering if the alligator was possessed when one day he was out swimming in the pond and her husband came walking toward the pond. The Alligator stood up on his tail and hind legs and started circling the pond. (Marcia said she has never seen an alligator do that and in fact, didn't know they could.) He then started coming out of the water so her husband got out of there quick. Since Marcia had a little boy at this time, and even though it was against the law, that alligator met an untimely death by facing the end of Marcia's daddy's shotgun. Any mother can certainly understand the relief that brought to their family.

Marcia's husband kept working in the grocery store industry. He became a trouble shoot manager, so anywhere there was a problem he was moved in. That made for a lot of moving for the family. They moved every year the kids were small. They lived in South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Texas, Nebraska and South Dakota. In the all the southern states they lived in, they lived in many different cities. Moving around was hard and especially on the kids, but Marcia says it was good to be exposed to so many different situations. They also met some very wonderful people and became very good friends with some.

Living outside of Utah most of her life has given Marcia some wonderful opportunities to serve in the church. She has had a church calling ever since she was 12 years old when she was called to be the Sunday School Secretary. Also commuting to the church was a little more challenging. At one point they lived 13 miles away from the church. She was commuting there for church, mutual and to teach early morning seminary. One thing she loved about church in the south was that no one ever called each other brother and sister. They called each other Aunt and Uncle because everyone became very close.

After 31 years of marriage, Marcia and her husband got divorced. They were living in Rapids City South Dakota. Marcia wanted to live somewhere around family. Her children were all spread out, but she had 2 sisters in Centerville Utah and her daughter Tarrah Randall was living here in Davis County. So Marcia moved to Centerville to live with her sister. She took classes at the DATC and got her CNA license. This has lead to some very interesting and rewarding jobs and opportunities.

At first Marcia worked tending 2 Alzheimer patients. She then started working at Tony Burger as a cashier. From there she started working at the IHC hospital in Murray. She moved into her own apartment and was enjoying her life.

One day Marcia noticed a quarter sized red spot on her breast. She went to the doctor and they gave her an anti-biotic but did tell her there was a possibility it could be a rare form of breast cancer. When the anti-biotic didn't clear up the spot, they did a biopsy. It came back not only as breast cancer, but stage 3 and it had moved into her lymph nodes. That started some very rigorous treatments for Marcia.

She took 6 months off of work. They started chemo. Then she had a mastectomy  and followed everything up with radiation. With the radiation her hair started falling out in bunches. One day she looked down at her lunch plate and found it covered with hair. That was the last straw. It was okay to lose her hair, but not to have it fall in her food. She had Tarrah shave it all off.

She never wore a wig. Instead she embraced the fact that she had cancer. She took great faith that if the Lord wanted her around, she would get better and left it in his hands. She got many priesthood blessings. Sometimes while at the store women would see her bald head and approach her. They would tell her they had been where she was and they got their hair back and were healed. This gave her tremendous hope.

Marcia's cancer did go into remission. She went back to work after 6 months and moved into Tarrah and Rod's basement apartment. She also was promoted at work to Health Unit Coordinator at the hospital where she still works. She loves it and especially the people she works with. She knows she has been preserved for a purpose because she should've died from the cancer. She feels she has a special calling to stand up for families and let people know how important they are.

I asked Marcia is she could impart some advice to everyone what would it be. She said,  "Be grateful everyday you have and let the Lord know it." She also said, "Judgin' is not for us. We don't know what people have been through. We will all pass through the refiner’s fire. Its part of life and there is no room for judgin'." She feels so grateful for the trials she has had in her life because they have made her look at herself and change things.

I had a fantastic time talking with Marcia. She is loving and quick to love everyone. I hope you get the time to hear her stories and be around her southern hospitality. What an asset she is to our ward.

Elizabeth Kemeny

 

Elizabeth's story began in Mexico before she was born, where her mother and father met and married. Her father converted her mother to the church. Her mother knew she wanted a better life for their children so they legally immigrated to the United States which was not nearly as difficult back then than it is now. Elizabeth was born in San Antonio, Texas and she is the 7th of 8 children. When she was 6 months old, their family moved to Corpus Christi, Texas which is right on the Coast of the Gulf of Mexico. They lived until Elizabeth was in 7th grade.

Elizabeth has very fond memories of her childhood in Corpus Christi. Her parents ran a photography studio. Her father was the photographer and her mother would help him by retouching the negatives and painting the colored pictured with oil paints. They were gone a lot running their business. This gave Elizabeth and her sister a tremendous amount of freedom, which wasn't that unusual back then. Her parents would often give her and her sister a nickel for the day and they would entertain themselves by going to the candy store or the Mexican bakery and playing to their hearts content. It was a very different world than today. Elizabeth and her entire family would also go to the beach all the time. Elizabeth LOVES the beach.

When Elizabeth was in 7th grade her parents decided their children were all growing up and they wanted them to go to Brigham Young University (BYU). So they moved to Provo, Utah. Throughout her teen years Elizabeth did everything with her older sister. In Jr. High, they played in the Dixon Jr. High band. Elizabeth played the clarinet and her sister played the flute. They did this all the way through until they graduated from Provo High School.

In 1969 and 1970 When she and her sister graduated they went to a school called ECPI. It was a school where they learned how to use computers. In those days the computer would take up a whole room. It would print information on long index cards. She finished with that schooling a year later.

So now that she was done with high school and had gone to computer school, at the age of 18 she moved away from her family to Tucson, Arizona. Her brother was living there and she moved in with him and got a job as a medical receptionist. She loved the job! However, she missed her family and her sister terribly. So after a year, she quit and moved back to Provo.

When she came home, she and her sister joined a BYU student ward. One Sunday her sister performed a flute solo and a young man in the ward named Luis Kemeny was very impressed by her. Later they found out that he was in their student family home evening group. Luis came to the group and met Elizabeth after that, he only had eyes for Elizabeth. They had a quick courtship and became engaged.

When Elizabeth got engaged to Luis, her sister also announced she was engaged. So they decided the logical thing to do was have a double wedding! They were married in December at the Salt Lake Temple. Both couples sat together in the sealing room. Elizabeth's sister was married first at 9:28, because she was the oldest and Elizabeth and Luis were sealed at 9:32. Afterward they had a joint reception with two cakes and two lines. They had a marvelous band and a fantastic dinner for all. It is a treasured memory for Elizabeth.

After getting married Luis completed his last year at BYU and Elizabeth worked at a car dealership as a receptionist until she had their first son. From there Luis entered a master's program at Thunderbird International School of Management in Arizona and taught Portuguese there (after all he is from Brazil). Elizabeth worked at the nursery in the school with her little boy and eventually became the director.

After graduation Luis took a job in Buchanan, Michigan. Elizabeth however, wanted to live in the city so they found a home in South Bend, Indiana. They loved it there. The thing Elizabeth remembers most was the severe winter weather. They would have ice storms and blizzards in the winter and they lived there during the infamous Blizzard of 1977. One winter they were at their stake center which was an hour and a half away. When they came out of the building they were having an ice storm. They got in there car and drove home. By the time they got home the armor of ice on their car was so thick they couldn't get out. They had to punch the door of the car before it would budge. One time they went to church in -25 degree weather.

Luis wanted to move up in his career so he took another job in Palo Alto, California (the Bay Area). By this time their family consisted of the two of them and 3 boys. They LOVED California. Being in the mission field brought such a sense of inclusion. They also had a fantastic activities director in their ward and the ward did plays and road shows every year which really brought the ward together. Elizabeth's children grew up performing.

In 1993 Elizabeth had a life altering development in her life. It is something she does not talk much about because she doesn't want people treating her any different. She has not wanted it to define her and how people relate to her. I asked her if I could share this part of her story in hopes that it might help someone else going through a similar situation. She agreed hoping this will give comfort, help and answers to anyone else.

She knew something was not right with her health. She was exhausted all the time and her body was not functioning correctly. At this time she had had 3 more children, all girls. The youngest was 4. Finally she went to the doctor and after eliminating all other causes the doctors gave her the diagnosis of Multiple Sclerosis (MS). MS is a condition that can severely limit the quality of your life and in some cases can even be disabling. Elizabeth was very scared. She had 6 beautiful children and they were all young. Elizabeth decided she wasn't going to give in. She would fight!

First, Elizabeth petitioned her Heavenly Father. She expressed that she had 6 beautiful children and wanted to be able to do all the things necessary to raise them. She read through her patriarchal blessing and realized a line jumped out at her. That the Lord had many things that he needed her to do to be useful to him and his work. She then sought a Priesthood blessing. She sat in her bishop's office and it was filled with so many men from the ward who she loved and admired. They all laid their hands on her head and gave her a blessing. They were spiritual giants. The ward also held a special fast for her. She used all of her spiritual resources.,

From there Elizabeth did all she could to study MS. She also learned about the food we eat and how the additives and hormones effect our bodies. She then started doing all she could to clean up her diet and eat in a way that would give her the best quality of life. She remained proactive and decided she wouldn't give into self pity, that if she needed something done, she would find a way to get it done. With all these things together, Elizabeth was the recipient of a miracle. For 13 years she lived symptom free of MS. Not one flare up. She knew her Heavenly Father answered her petition so she could raise her children.

The year after Elizabeth was diagnosed with MS, she and Luis decided to move. Her father had passed away and her mother was living in a great big house in Provo all by herself. It was decided that they would buy her mother's house and move in with her. This way they could take care of each other. Elizabeth says moving to Provo was absolutely the best thing they did for her children. Living in Provo gave their children a very family friendly environment to live in. It also allowed her children easy access to BYU, Utah Valley University and the University of Utah. She is so grateful they chose to come to Provo.

They lived in Provo until last year. They decided with her daughter, Leah Rangel that they wanted to find somewhere to live together. Elizabeth has 24 grandchildren and dreamed of living close to them. She has 2 sons living up here in Kaysville. So Leah and Joe and Elizabeth and Luis all looked for a home here. That is when they came upon the home they are currently living in.

Elizabeth loves living here. She feels like it is a dream come true to live so close to her grandkids and be a part of their lives. She babysits them all the time and can now attend all her grandkids events.

I asked Elizabeth what piece of advice she might give others. She said, “The only thing that matters in life is your family and especially being a mother and raising your children.” She hopes young parents will embrace the idea of actively raising their children, building their character and teaching them the gospel. She knows the importance of providing more than the physical necessities of life and teaching them how to become self-sufficient physically AND spiritually. She says raising kids is like putting money in the bank. Every minute you spend with them, teaching them, helping them is money in the bank. The deposit is the only deposit that really matters. Later in their lives they will reap the benefits of rich character. She also says work hard, but be sure you play hard together too and laugh.

We are so lucky to have Elizabeth Kemeny in our ward. She has such a wealth of experience for us to draw on. She is kind and loving and loves to help and teach others when she can. I appreciate Elizabeth's willingness to open up and share her story so we can all be lifted. Take the time to get to know Elizabeth, she is a beautiful and rich spirit.