From the land down under, Wendy Cohen agreed to give us her thoughts on the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
Wendy is a stay-at-home-mom of four living in Australia. Her oldest child just started university away from home, this year and is greatly missed. She is a second generation Latter Day Saint, Mormon with her parents being baptized when they only had two children. She is the fifth child of twelve and has been married for twenty years. Wendy loves to laugh and can pretty much find humor in anything…even when she fell down cement steps leading to the beach and cracked several ribs. She says:
I cannot sing to save my life…although I love to sing. I cannot play a musical instrument. I can’t garden. Every Mother’s Day plant I’ve ever been given has died within days. I can’t…well the list just goes on and on. The talent, or gifts I have been blessed with have taken me many years to recognize. I am a good listener. . .or cheap therapist. . . according to my friends. I have also inherited the gift of storytelling from my father. I could sit and listen to him share stories from the scriptures, or church history, all day long. People tell me I have inherited this gift from him.
I asked my friend how to answer this question because I’m not good at knowing or recognizing much about myself. Here’s what she had to say. I don’t know how to use it but it sure is nice. “You lose yourself in service, and are dedicated to practicing the gospel principals in your home. You are a loyal friend and trusted confidant. You try to keep a positive outlook on things, even when there isn’t much to be positive about. You are resilient with the trials that you have faced, always learning and growing from them. You are a gifted teacher.” (Wendy Cohen, 28 July, 2008)
And now that we know a little more about Wendy, please come with and learn a little about the Gospel of Jesus Christ from the viewpoint of Wendy Cohen.
Candace: Wendy, Elder M. Russell Ballard charged Latter-day Saints with battling the onslaught of anti-Mormon sites on the internet. He asked us to blog and gently, but firmly, set the record straight. Will you please share with us your thoughts on this and what you’ve done to answer that call?
Wendy:I was thrilled when this was suggested. I have always felt that technology had a higher purpose than just to find craft ideas, (one of my purposes for it) chat to friends long distance and have fun. I always thought it would be a marvelous tool to build the kingdom of God. I have come across many blogs and video clips that not only uplift me but they also testify of Christ and what we truly believe in. If I am finding these things online then others who are not ‘technologically inept’ like myself, must also be coming across them.
My little piece of this is that I have started my own blog, Motherhood Matters. It is my hope that I have interesting enough articles that others will come back or at the very least go to the other wonderful blogs that I have linked to on my page.
Candace: In an ever changing and increasingly dangerous world, will you please share with us what is most important to you and why?
Wendy: What is most important to me can change from time to time. As I have teenage children and nearly teenage children, the most important thing to me right now is to NEVER give up and NEVER let my guard down. I understand how easy it is to say “Fine…then do what you like”. But if I do let my guard down for something that may seem minor now, then I know I could be dealing with something major at some future time.
Candace: Will you please share with us your “conversion story”? Each of us, whether we are born in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints or not, have a moment of conversion. Please tell us about that:
Wendy: I’m glad you mentioned that even those of us who are born in the Church are also converted. I had always had a testimony of the gospel. That was never in question but I became truly converted when putting that testimony to action was all up to me.
I had married and moved from Brisbane, Australia to Logan, Utah. I was away from my family and their watchful care. Nobody knew me or my background. It was easy to fall into the cracks. At one point a member of the ward I was in did something that was extremely hurtful. I was so offended by this that I was going to avoid her at all costs. I decided I was not going to go to church if she was there. As I was dealing with this anger and hurt I started to think about the reasons I went to church anyway. I started to ask myself if everything I believed was really what I believed. The answer was YES. Then I thought if I truly did believe it then it didn’t matter what happened or who was around, I should continue going to church. I focused on doing everything I should be doing. No one was going to interfere with what I knew to be true. It was as if the roots of my testimony grew stronger with each Sunday that I chose to go instead of harboring hurt feelings.
Within a few months or even weeks…I just know it wasn’t long….my feelings for this woman subsided and I felt that change of heart.
Candace: What is your favorite scripture and why?
Wendy” I have a great many favorite scriptures. One that comes to mind is in Alma 32:27.
But behold, if ye will awake and arouse your faculties, even to an experiment upon my words, and exercise a particle of faith, yea, even if ye can no more than desire to believe, let this desire work in you, even until ye believe in a manner that ye can give place for a portion of my words.
These words have given me great strength during some difficult times. To simply have a DESIRE to believe is all we need to have to begin with. Miracles have happened because of the desire to believe.
Candace: Who is your favorite prophet and why?
Wendy: I love the Relief Society/Priesthood manuals which contain the teachings of the prophets. I’ve come to love and appreciate the prophets we’ve already studied because of these books. But my favorite would have to be President Gordon B. Hinckley. Because I love to laugh I truly enjoyed President Hinckley’s sense of humor. I also felt of his love for everyone, and not just those who are Latter Day Saints, often referred to as Mormons. People say they love you but President Hinckley was one that you FELT loved you.
Candace: The youth of today face such great challenges, the greatest any youth of any generation have previously faced, what advice do you have for them?
Wendy: Hold on! Although you may not understand ‘why’ you’ve been asked to avoid..or do… certain things right now, in time an understanding will come and you’ll be glad you ‘held on’.
And to Remember: You are sons and daughters of a Heavenly Father, who LOVES you . . . and you love Him. You are needed to stand as witnesses of God, at all times, and in all things, and in all places.
Candace: To women, torn between raising their families and going to work, what advice do you have for them?
Wendy: I only worked for a short time when my children were just babies. It was only for a short time but it was difficult to get phone calls from the day care provider saying “Christian just took his first step” or “Aaron cut his first tooth.” It was heart wrenching. You do what you have to do.
I haven’t worked outside of the home for over ten years now so I don’t know that I have any real advice. I do believe that if it’s the right thing to be at work then the Lord will help. Whether you need ideas on how to be better organized in meal preparation or to have the energy to deal with baths and bedtimes in the evening.
Candace: You stand, as it were, on a world stage. What do you have to say?
Wendy: Friends, Romans and countrymen, lend me your ears! Okay, so maybe not that exactly. I would love to tell everyone that we have a living prophet, Thomas S. Monson, on earth today. A prophet! Just as Abraham, Moses and Elijah! How exciting is that??!! That the same organization that Christ set up when he was on earth is in force today. We have apostles who witness of Him. They speak to us. Hear them!
Wendy, thank you for sharing your thoughts about the Gospel with us.
