Dear Daughters of God - Episode 14 -"Her Ornery Father"

In Episode 14 of 'Dear Daughters of God,' host Stephanie Eccles shares the remarkable and inspiring journey of her mother, Joy Madeline Webb. Born in 1933, Joy faced numerous challenges, from surviving a near-fatal fall and polio as a child to overcoming societal prejudice and immense poverty. This episode recounts Joy's determination to be baptized and achieve her dreams, showcasing her faith and resilience. Featuring clips of Joy sharing her own stories, Stephanie also reflects on her personal connection to her mother's legacy of faith, love, and perseverance. The episode includes poignant details of family support, divine miracles, and the unwavering human spirit.

Thanks for listening! I'm on Instagram as deardaughtersofgod. Follow me on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/invites/contact/?i=1iyjqx0cq4kbk&utm_content=qr66nqv

Transcript

Microphone (Samson Q2U Microphone)-9: 0:00

I am Stephanie Eccles.

Speaker 3: 0:02

This is Dear Daughters of God, episode 14, her honorary father.

Microphone (Samson Q2U Microphone)-9: 0:07

We are inspired by the true life experiences of those around us. My name is Stephanie Eccles. I'm a school administrator, natural storyteller, and I am a daughter of God. I tell the stories of our lives from the perspective of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Welcome, dear daughters of God. I address you that way because that's what you are to Him. To our Heavenly Father, you are dear.

Microphone (Samson Q2U Microphone)-10: 0:34

One year ago, I told you the extraordinary story of my mother's childhood and the summary of her life as she passed away in the year 2016. In the middle of her story, I said, someday I'll tell you the story of how she finally convinced her honorary father to allow her to be baptized. Well, today is that day. I'm going to tell you that story, but I'm going to do it in two ways, not just in audio, but also in video. What inspired me to do that is I found a video of my mother telling her childhood stories. That's a rare commodity to find a video of my mother. Look it up on YouTube under Dear Daughters of God, and you'll see my mom and me telling these stories. It will be the same recording as what you're listening to, but you'll see it on video. I'll use closed captioning so you can catch every word.

Stephanie test: 1:31

that my mother will be speaking. I'll also be using several pictures to help illustrate the stories that I'll be telling, so it'll be well worth viewing this on YouTube under Dear Daughters of God.

Microphone (Samson Q2U Microphone)-10: 1:45

You may notice in the story that I tell today that I changed the order of two important events in her life as a child. And that's because in these videos that I found, she used a different order than we understood them to happen. So I followed the order that she placed them in.

Microphone (Samson Q2U Microphone)-13: 2:05

I'll start with reviewing her childhood because it's been so long since we've talked about it and it leads right into her baptism story. All right, it began in 1933. A little baby girl was born to Lola and Lolan Webb. They named her Joy Madeline Webb. She was the first of 12 children. Joy was raised in the hills of West Virginia, far outside the small town of White Sulphur Springs. But when she was very, very young, she lived in Glace, West Virginia, right across the street from her paternal grandmother. when she was About three, she was visiting her paternal grandmother named Lula Savannah Fury. And Grandma Fury, she was a stuffy lady. She would wash and iron her bedsheets and rip them off the beds and shake them out every day. Now Grandma Fury, she lived in a tall, tall house. Yellow house with dark shutters and very tall window. And there was Joy, three year old, with Grandma Fury and they were up on the top floor where the four bedrooms were located. And Grandma Fury had ripped off one of those bed sheets and was flipping it like this, shaking it out. And Joy was running into the bedsheet and running back and just having a good time like a three year old would do. And in one of these bedrooms, she ran into the bedsheet and ran backwards and toppled out of the two story window, backwards, toppling and landing in a wheelbarrow on her face, the left side of her face and body. But Joy didn't have much time to recover from these terrible injuries, because it was not long afterwards that polio came into their part of the country. And Joy contracted polio along with many others. And Joy's left side of her body became paralyzed. Well, Grandma Fury had such guilt. She was determined to keep Joy alive. So she put Joy in a warm oil tub. It was iron, oval. And she put Joy in this oil tub. And she massaged her lungs as if she, Grandma Fury, was an iron lung, but she couldn't do it herself. So she got the help of her many grown sons, and they all took rotations day and night, massaging the lungs of Joy in this warm oil. And over many days and gradually weeks, Joy's body slowly regained its strength, but her face remained completely paralyzed. The left side, meaning her left eye could not blink. The lid could not close, and her cheek was distended because there was no muscle action to hold the cheek in place, and her mouth was on the far right side of her face. When Joy was five years old, She was sent to Charleston to have surgery. The state must have paid for it because her family was impoverished. And the doctors there performed surgery. They took a ligament from the outside of her leg, from her knee up to her hip. And they put that ligament in the cheek with the effort of moving the mouth closer to the center of the face. from the few pictures that are available, it looks as if it made some improvement, maybe the distension of the cheek. But Choik had to live with this facial malady for the rest of her life. It was about this time that her family moved out of Glace and into the White Sulphur Springs area but far outside of town. they lived in a two story house on a farm, but that didn't last long because there was a horrible fire and it burned the ground, and of course there was no insurance. so they had to find some, some place to live close to the farm, and what was available was a two room makeshift home without electricity and without running water. And this is where the large family moved in, into this home. It was about this time that it was time for Joy to enroll in school. But, there was a problem. The principal wouldn't allow Joy to enroll in his school because of her facial malady. Well, they tried to work it out, but there was no working it out. There was Elihu Hoke, and this was Joy's maternal grandfather, and he was determined to make Joy's life better than it was. He made an appointment with that principal, and that appointment was to be held at the district office. Elihu Hoke went to the district office, and he took his shotgun with him. And what do you know, the principal changed his mind, and Joy was allowed to enroll in his school. Now that Joy was allowed to enroll, how would she make it through school? We're going to look at a clip now of my mom talking about the early years in her experience in elementary school. And I want to give you a little bit of background. You may notice that she doesn't talk with a West Virginian accent, and that is because when she was 18, she had earned enough money to take the bus to Utah and to pay tuition at Brigham Young University. And when she got off of that bus and walked into the dormitory, no one sounded like her. And she knew she already had enough to get past with her facial malady, and she wanted very much to fit in. So she decided she needed to sound like everyone else. And she dropped that West Virginian accent. And the only time I heard her sound like a West Virginian is when she was visiting West Virginia and she was amongst family. I was raised in Utah. Another thing to note is her look. When she was in her, maybe her mid forties, close to fifty new surgery became available, in which they put a spring and then eventually a small weight in the eyelid, of her left eye, and this helped the eyelid close more tightly, and she had that surgery performed, and that weight is in the eyelid, you can't see it, but it helped the eyelid close more. And when she was 60, she had corrective, a corrective facelift, which brought her mouth closer to the center of her face. In this clip, she's 73 years old. Let's go to that clip now. Okay.

joy: 10:32

My elementary school was a very painful memory. Because the kids were not educated in those days to be kind as they are now. And I was harassed and teased and called names and it was very difficult. teachers only had to go out on playground duty every so many weeks,'cause your teacher took turns. But that teacher who was not my teacher, she never was. My teacher would go on the playground every lunchtime to be there to keep kids from calling me names and I've never forgotten that lady name was Margaret Prickenburger cause it was very hard. Kids were very cruel. Later in my life when I was a school teacher, I had a lot of children with problems. And I couldn't but notice how beautiful the world was since I was a child. Because those children were supported and helped and the kids in the class loved them. And would, would fight for the chance to protect them and be with them or to do whatever they needed done for them. But that was not the case in society when I was growing up. That, that, we hadn't made that turn. In society to be kind to people. when she wasn't there, there was a hedge around the playground. Big green hedge, and occasionally here and there it would, the hedge would grow and there'd be a hole in the hedge. And the kids were brutal. They called me Twisted Mouse and crooked face and everything they can think of. So I would go hide in those holes. I was in the hedge. I'd stand and look out through the hedge to the street until the bell rang and then I would run back to my classroom. When Mrs. Prickenburger wasn't on the playground. That's where I hid in the hedge

Microphone (Samson Q2U Microphone)-14: 12:25

I didn't tell you that my mother was being interviewed by her grandson, James, and he was 16 years old in that interview. It happened in the year 2006. My parents had just arrived home from a mission in the Dominican Republic. And I noticed some hesitancy in my mother and what she was willing to share. And I think that's because she was on video. So, I will share some of those things. It was my mother's parents, and perhaps her grandparents that were involved, that arranged for some protection for my mother by having her older cousin named Carby act as her bodyguard, if you will, and accompany her to school. to help protect her from the persecution, the beatings, and the stone throwing that she encountered. I have a picture of Joy and Carby together in the last couple of years of their lives. My grandson, one of my grandsons, David Carby, is named after Carby, my mother's cousin and bodyguard. Carby was a role model to my children in their lives.

Microphone (Samson Q2U Microphone)-15: 13:41

Hoke was the one that realized Joy's life in White Sulphur Springs would always be shaded. he encouraged Joy to pray for a miracle with him. Joy followed her grandparents religion. Ailey Hugh Hoke and her grandmother Lily Bell Catherine, they were members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints. Joy says that she had an innate understanding that God was her Heavenly Father and loved her. And she knew that Jesus Christ was her Savior and that His Church had been restored to this earth. Later, but still as a child, she received a confirmation that the Book of Mormon was the Word of God. With this unwavering faith and an iron will that was made stronger with persecution and poverty, she was determined to pray for a miracle. And that miracle included four parts. First, was to graduate from high school and attend Brigham Young University. in Utah. She learned about this college with her grandfather from the Mormon missionaries, and they dreamed of her going to the Lord's University. Second was to serve a full time mission. third was to marry in the temple to a righteous man. And fourth was to raise a righteous seed. There's a question. She was told she may not be able to bear children having had polio. She told me that she always prayed for a fifth part of this miracle, and that was that she could someday live and have her own beautiful home. She would dream of what that home would look like. In the meantime, she lived in this meager two room home. As Lola and Lolan's family grew, and this type of living did not do well for Lola, who was continuing to bear children, and she was often sick. So this left a big responsibility on Joy, the oldest child. Joy, with a sun wavering faith, wanted to go to church and her father did not practice any religion and did not want to be bothered with anyone in his family practicing a religion. His wife, Lola, was Mormon, but didn't have the willpower like her daughter, Joy. So it was Joy that pushed the issue and Joy wanted a ride to church. It was far too late. a distance for Joy to walk. Joy needed a ride, as well as her younger sister, Joy's closest, dearest friend, Alma Ruth, who was 15 months younger than Joy. These two dear girls needed a ride to church. Joy was about 13 years old at the time, and Alma Ruth was 12. They wanted to go to church. Joy had agreed. With her father. She had made this negotiation that she would cook the meals and take care of the young'uns and milk the cows in exchange for her father to drive her to church on Sundays in the morning for Sunday school and in the evening for sacrament meeting and midweek for mutual. This is for the teenagers to go to their meeting. Well, Her dad replied, Oh, girl, girl, I'll take you to those Sunday meetings, but I ain't taking you to that midweek meeting. It's a waste of gas and my time, but I ain't taking you. Now this was the time during World War II and there were gas rations. So Lowland used this as an excuse, but really. They'd use anything as an excuse. And Joy was not going to lose this argument. So she backed up just a bit, and she said, Well, Daddy, then I ain't milking them cows. You can milk them cows. And then she ran. Later on, she heard him complaining to her mama, saying, Hola. You know what that damn kid said to me? Well, she wasn't gonna let that stop her. She didn't know whether her name was damn kid or Joy. What mattered was that she got a ride to church. She and Alma Ruth wanted to be baptized. They had waited. They were long past the years required to be baptized, which was eight years old. Here, they were 12 and 13 years old, and they'd been going to church and been reading the scriptures and praying and studying together, and they just knew that if they kept going to church and asking their father, that eventually he'd give way and he'd say yes. So they just had to keep doing it, but he kept saying no, but they were determined it was going to happen. Well, it was about this time, Joy was now in the high school, because she was 13 in the 7th grade, she went to high school. And Alma Ruth was in the 6th grade, so she was still in the elementary.

Microphone (Samson Q2U Microphone)-16: 19:44

One day at school, Alma Ruth had terrible abdominal cramps. She was sent to the principal's office. Well, the principal sent her up to the third floor, and he left her there all day. No phone call was made. At the end of the day, Alma Ruth was so sick, she couldn't stand or walk without much assistance. When she got to her parents, they took her straight to the hospital, and they performed surgery and Alma Ruth's appendix had ruptured. Well, Alma Ruth held on for a little while, but she died a short time after that. Joy didn't know if she could go on living without Elmer Ruth. She had so much sadness and anger.

Microphone (Samson Q2U Microphone)-15: 20:47

Alma Ruth hadn't been baptized. Well, it had It was a, a Mormon missionary that wrote home to his mother and it was his mother that did the temple work and the baptismal work for Alma Ruth by proxy. What came time that Joy, Joy had had enough time and she was going to face her father. And we're going to see a clip now when she tells us the story of Alma Ruth. and facing her father and this negotiation of going to church. Let's go to that clip now.

joy: 21:29

So I went to my father, and I said to him, Alma Ruth wanted to be baptized, and you wouldn't let her, and she died without being baptized. and we had her work done in the temple, and now she's a member of the church. So I'm asking you to let me be baptized in the church, or I too will die, and someone will do my work. So it's your choice. And, uh, I knew that was very cruel. And I saw the pain in his face and I saw the type of suffering. But, um, that didn't concern me as much as wanting to be baptized. And so he used some very choice words and he was very upset. And he put on quite a show, but bottom line was I stood and watched him and said, It's your decision. And I didn't move and he didn't move. And so finally he turned around and said, All right, I will let you be baptized. And I says, and you will take me to church twice every Sunday. Because it was Sunday school in the morning and we were sacrament at night. And I will take care of the children, and I will cook the meals, and I will milk the cow and he says, and all of a sudden I saw a look in his face. And tears came down his cheeks. And he said, I'll do it. You see that you keep your bargain. And he did. And the rest of his life he took me to church every time I went to go. And I did what he said. Took care of the house, took care of his children, milked the cow

Microphone (Samson Q2U Microphone)-22: 23:09

I want to show you one last clip of my mom. She's talking about being on the building committee, even though she's still a child. They didn't have many members in which to put on that building committee. The committee's in charge of Raising money to build a chapel. So that's where she starts. Then she moves to talking about a miracle. A man named Woodrow Taylor walks into her life and then the whole church community's life. Woodrow Taylor is raised by his mother, but just for a short time because she dies when he's young. She teaches him that he is a Mormon boy. Then she dies shortly after he's baptized, and I'm not sure who raises him, but he doesn't have an affiliation with the Mormon church and doesn't understand what it entails. So all he remembers is that he's a Mormon boy, but doesn't understand anything more than that. Woodrow grows up and becomes a successful businessman and owns stores, he moves into the whites of her spring general area, he has. come upon the newspaper and there's an article there and it says Mormon girl wins speech contest and that's Mormon girl speech contest winner is at the high school. That girl is my mother. He wants to know who is this Mormon girl so I can learn about the Mormon church. So he goes to the high school to meet the Mormon girl. And it's my mother, and they meet, and she tells that story. And it's from that meeting that they, from there, get a chapel. So, we'll go into that story next.

joy: 24:59

So I was on the building fund committee. Uh, well, me and a couple other girls my age were just about the building fund committee, because we didn't have any priesthood owners. I had my cousin who had been drafted in the army, and he was gone. And so there was just us again. So we had bake sales. And we had ice cream suppers. And we had, uh, we, we rented halls and had dinners. And, and, and I was the, I would be the, the chairperson for these things. And, and we raised money, and raised money, and raised money. To, to build that, to build the chapel. It was a pretty, uh, It's a very helpful situation. I can't remember the little amounts we would raise, but we kept doing it. We had bake sales. We did everything. County Fair. County Fair. We went over and had ice cream booths. My dad was so funny. He was left handed. He couldn't do anything. He was so awkward. So I would go over and build a booth at the State Fair to have an ice cream booth. And dad would come over and he would Try to, with his left hand, try to nail up these things. And it was so funny to see him do it because he was so awkward. So he would, he would hit it a nail and swear and keep building the booth. But he did it. He helped me build the booth. He helped me do the whole thing. And he said, if you worked as hard at helping me as you did at this church, I'd be a rich man. But we raised money to, to get the church started. Then, we got a blessing from heaven. Um, I was sitting in a class one day, and I don't know what year I was in school. Probably a freshman, somewhere in there. And the principal came in and said, Um, may I speak with Joy Webb? And the only time he ever took a child out of a class was because they did something wrong. So, my heart And I stopped and I thought, what did I do? And everybody in the class turned around and stared at me wondering what I had done wrong. I walked out and there in the, in the corridor, in the foyer of the building was a big, tall, handsome man in an overcoat with dark hair. And the principal took, took me over to him and said, There's a gentleman here who wants to meet you. Mr. Taylor, this is Joy Webb. And I said, Hello, how are you? And he says, I'm a Mormon boy. And I said, I'm a Mormon girl. And we sit there and shook hands. This man had been baptized in the church when he was 8 years old. He had never been to church. He went to a church. Since then. His mother died. His father was an alcoholic. And he was raised by, I don't know who. And he had become a very, he had gone to college and become a very successful man. And he had a chain of stores. He opened one of those chains of stores in the town next to ours. A town called Louisburg. And he, his little daughter came to him one day and his mother had died when he was a little boy. And all she did was hold him in her arms and say, Woodrow, don't forget you're a Mormon boy. Say it again, Woodrow. And he would say, I'm a Mormon boy. I'm a Mormon boy. Woodrow, don't join any other church. You're a Mormon boy. So Woodrow, every time he went inviting to join a church, he'd say, I can't. I'm a Mormon boy. Hadn't a clue on earth what a Mormon boy was So I had won a speech contest. And they put my name in the paper and put my picture in the paper. It says, Mormon girl wins local speech contest. Don't know who decided to put in Mormon girl, but that's what they did. Brother Taylor in the next town picks up the paper and it says, Mormon girl wins speech contest. So he came over to my school. He didn't know who this Mormon girl was, but he knew Mormon, because his little daughter had come and said, Dad, I want to join my little friend's church. And he said, Oh, you can't do that. I'm a Mormon boy, so you're a Mormon girl. But he didn't know what that meant. And he read the paper that said this kid who won the speech contest was a Mormon girl. So he came to school and said, I want to meet your Mormon girl. And the principal says, Oh, that's, we do have a Mormon girl here. So he sent in the class and got me. I came out. There's this handsome man. He says, Oh, I'm so happy to meet you. I'm a Mormon boy. I can still remember it. I said, Oh, I'm so glad. I'm a Mormon girl. And when I looked at him, I thought, Our branch president, we're going to have a branch. That's exactly what happened. He was a very wealthy man. And finally we got that church because he had the money to help us raise our part of it. And we raised all that we could. So we got our first chapel. Brother Taylor came along. The Mormon boy.

30:32

I'm 14 years old in this picture with my mother. The Mormon boys story was one of my favorites at this time in my life.

Stephanie test: 30:40

you will notice in future pictures of my mother, that when she poses for the camera, that most of the time she chooses a profile shot. And when she does face forward, she does not smile because it brought her Mount to the far right side of her face, but she has happy.

Microphone (Samson Q2U Microphone)-13: 30:56

Okay.

Microphone (Samson Q2U Microphone)-21: 30:56

I want to tell you one more story about me and my mom. I was in junior high, in the seventh grade, and I was twelve years old. I was in class, and I was having a conversation with a girl named Debbie, and it became controversial. Debbie was saying to me, amongst many other things, you really don't know whether or not your religion is true. You're only repeating what your parents have told you. I was taken back by her rude manners and very strong language. And I did wonder if this was the way that her father spoke with her. As the school day went on, that conversation played back through my mind, and I began to question my own self. Did I know for myself that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints was the true church on this earth? Or was I relying just on my parents testimonies? Because I certainly was old enough to know for myself. So I decided, by the time school had ended, I was going to take it upon myself to know for myself. I went home and I didn't tell anyone about this plan because this was all about me knowing for myself and my own maturity level. So I thought quite a bit during that day about a prayer that I would say that night before going to bed. How would I approach this with my Heavenly Father? I went to bed that night. I had my own bedroom. I knelt down, and I, I started with telling Heavenly Father how much I loved Him, because I did love Heavenly Father. And I told Him how much I loved my Savior, Jesus Christ, and how much I loved the Gospel. I loved the Gospel, and the Church, and so much about the Church. And then I told Him that I thought it was true. And I felt in my heart that it was true, but that I'd had this conversation with this girl named Debbie at school, and she said I only knew it because my parents told me so. So I thought, it's time that I should know for myself. So I'm coming on, in a humble way, and asking if he would let me know. So, I might know for myself if this was the true church of Jesus Christ on this earth. In whichever way was best, if he would let me know, I would just kneel and wait. And I planned on being there for however much time was needed, but a thought came into my head. Crawl in bed, and your answer will come. So I did, I crawled in bed, but with much anticipation, thinking, I'm not going to fall asleep, because I'm waiting for this answer. But I did fall asleep, because the next thing I know, I'm awakened by a pleading voice. And eventually, As I gain consciousness, I realize it's my mother's voice, and she is praying next to my bedside. And I feel a warm and peaceful feeling as she prays. My back is towards her, and I keep still. The only phrase I remember in her prayer is towards the end, when she said, Dear Father, would Thou please bless Stephanie, that she might know for herself that this is the true Church of Jesus Christ on this earth. Bless her with that testimony. And as she said that, the Spirit bore witness to me, in my heart and soul, that this indeed Christ was His Church. My mother ended her prayer and left my room. In the morning, I thought back on that sweet moment, and in my prayers I thanked Heavenly Father and again received that confirmation. I decided this was just the beginning. of a moment just for me. I couldn't share it with anyone because now I knew for myself and I was mature enough to know and it would be just for me. So I didn't say anything to anyone. And two or three weeks passed. And then we were having family home evening, and I can't be sure what we were talking about, but I wonder if we were talking about prayer, because what was on my mind, and so strongly on my mind that was filling my mouth, was that experience, the experience at school with Debbie, my decision to come to this prayer, and my mother kneeling at my bedside and hearing those words and the confirmation. And the next thing I know, I'm just telling the story. When I'm finished telling the story to my family, there's a moment of silence, and then an audible gasp from my mother as she almost slips from her chair. And then, she gives a knowing glance towards my father, and then says, It was that night. It was that night. I tried to go to bed, but I knew something was wrong. I knew I had to go downstairs. I was supposed to check on the girls and all six of her daughters rooms were downstairs. So she went downstairs, she says, and she went to every bedroom and all six of her girls were asleep. So she thought everything is fine. And she went back to the stairs to go back upstairs. But she stopped with a feeling. The thought was, go back to Stephanie's room. And she said, alright, I'll go back again to Stephanie's room. And she walked in and saw again that I was asleep. But this time she knelt down and prayed. And prayed with the words that came to her mind. And after her prayer, she felt at peace. And went back upstairs and was able to sleep. And she thought, something will present itself to help me understand why I had this unusual occurrence where I couldn't sleep and yet everything was fine downstairs. And yet I went back to Stephanie's room, but nothing presented itself because I didn't say anything until about two or three weeks later. And when my mother had said that, then she thanked me. She said, thank you, thank you for sharing this moment. Now I know why the spirit urged me to go downstairs and to check on my girls and to pray at your bedside. And I, in that moment, felt such elation and joy that I had shared this moment with her. Because I then realized that it was not just my moment, but it was my moment with my mother. And the Lord just had to get me to that point that I was ready. to share it. As I have reviewed these stories that I've shared with you today and studied them and retold them, it's brought me back to the original prayer asking for a miracle. My mom's original prayer from when she was a child, the one that asked Help me, Father, to go to Brigham Young University and get a degree. she did get a degree and became a teacher. the second part, and help me to serve a full time mission for the Lord. she did. she served in Australia. she met another missionary, Odell Franklin Rigby.

40:41

My dear father.

Microphone (Samson Q2U Microphone)-21: 40:43

And her third Bless me that I might marry in the temple, the house of the Lord. she married that other missionary. they were sealed and married in the Logan Temple. And fourth, bless me that I might raise a righteous seed. she bore six daughters. And she loved teaching us the gospel. And the fifth, she Keep that part to herself. I don't think she shared that with her grandfather, Elihu. Bless me with a beautiful home someday. And now you've seen the backdrop of her interview. That was her beautiful home. I found a couple of random journal pages in a photo album, misplaced, of my mother's, and there are just a few lines that I'm going to read to you there. But before I read them, I should tell you something that she did not know as she wrote them that you'll know ahead of time. She's going to talk about taking a drive back to her childhood place, Tuckahoe Road, where that home burned down, and where they lived in that two room home. she's going to notice that all of these places that should be there are gone. The structures are gone. And why they're gone, which she doesn't understand, is the county had decided to turn that area into a construction site to repair it, to turn it into what they called Tuckahoe Lake and Dam. So It's abandoned, looking abandoned, but I want you to listen to it from her viewpoint, watching it, looking at it, wondering where has my childhood gone?

Stephanie test: 42:51

Quote. I did not see a living soul or structure on the entire day's journey. I found myself utterly silent inside and out. It was as if someone had deliberately wiped away my history, as if my past life was only something I had imagined. The silence of the place seeped inside my body and mind. I wanted to yell out, where is everything I remember? Fear was floating around me, but I could not turn back, so I kept driving, knowing something would show up that I would remember. But nothing was there. Not a building stood anywhere. Everything was gone. I gathered my courage and decided to turn on the radio. Nothing but static was heard I began to control my breathing to deep steady breaths, telling myself, everything is alright, just keep driving. A thought started to form into my mind, but I rejected it. I heard myself speak out loud for the first time on the trip. What are you afraid to remember? Nothing, I told myself, don't be silly, but the other me, that obnoxious part of me that does not allow me to get by with anything that is not quite right or honest, stood by unrelentingly staring me down. I drove on in silence. Slowly as I drove, came the prayer in my heart, why? Perhaps, this trip was was not about you. Perhaps this trip is about them. I changed the direction of my thoughts and removed myself from them, so this is not about me. It has been a trip to remind me of my responsibility to them, to those whom I had been born among. Most were relatives. A few had no blood relations but were tied to my memory and my heart. There surely is a reason that I made that trip that day. That those who lived there when I was a child may complete their journey from this world back to where they came, to their Heavenly Father. How wondrous it would be to be allowed to open some of the doors along the various paths back to Him for them. Please help me do this. If that is part of the reason I was born, where I was born, please help me to complete my calling and my journey. My mother demonstrated such faith in the plan of salvation. She knew this life on this earth was temporary. Yet, It could seem like everything. My mother's faith made it simpler for me to see the eternal view of life. She taught me that we could return to our Heavenly Father and be like Him. The Prophet, President Nelson gives a sermonette called Choices for Eternity. He says, quote, Second Know the truth about what God the Father and His Son Jesus Christ have offered you. In short, they have offered you everything. Heavenly Father's plan for His children allows us to live where and how He lives, and ultimately to become more and more like Him. His plan literally makes the richest blessings of all eternity available to us, including the potential for us to become joint heirs with Christ. Through His Atonement, the Lord Jesus Christ overcame the world. Therefore, He is mighty to cleanse you from all unrighteousness. He will deliver you from your most excruciating circumstances in His own way and time. As you come unto Him in faith, He will guide, preserve, and protect you. He will heal your broken heart and comfort you in your distress. Amen. He will give you access to his power and he will make the impossible in your life become possible. Unquote. I bear witness that God is our Father in Heaven, that he sent his only begotten Son, Jesus Christ, to atone for our sins. As we follow his words, he will make the impossible become possible in your life, in his own way, As he has for my mother and for me. I appreciate you listening to these stories that have shaped my life.

Microphone (Samson Q2U Microphone)-1: 48:01

please subscribe and share this podcast. Let us know what you think about the video portion being added. Thank you for your support. For now, I will say farewell until we meet again.