By: Heather

I am 38 yrs old, married to my college sweetheart now for 15 yrs and have been blessed with three children.  My main job is being a mother and wife, something I didn’t predict for my future had you asked me in college as I was focused on my career path, physical therapy.  Todd and I were married just before we both began our graduate degrees and had a great time living in San Francisco while we attended school.  I worked until I had my second child and though I miss the hospital setting and helping people heal and move again, I know that the work I am doing within my family is where I am meant to be at this time in my life.

Being married to Todd is full of surprises…one of the things I fell in love with was his spontaneity and adventurous streak.  But I couldn’t have predicted that one of the blessings that would come from the union would involve my love of dance.  His sister, Mindi, a dance major at BYU formed a dance company and created, with a few others, a Christmas dance production for the Oakland Temple Hill’s Days of Christmas.  The show, Behold the Gift, has been a testimony builder, a faith-sharing tool and an opportunity for personal fulfillment and meaning in my life.  I have been so deeply affected by it that I count this as one of my greatest blessings.

I discovered my love and talent for dance in high school and continued to take classes in college until the dance dept. was closed at our university.  After returning to the Bay Area with Todd, his sister invited me to audition and since that time, I have had the privilege of dancing in many productions and have had many spiritual experiences.

My first year in the show I had many insecurities about my talent or lack thereof.  Mindi and others involved in producing assured me that our desire to share our testimonies through movement was the most important factor in what would come across to the audience.  I have a strong testimony of this now.  A dear friend dancing that year was injured and just hours before that evening’s performance, I learned her part and went onstage in her place.  It was humbling to feel the power of the Holy Spirit guide me to fill this role.  I know that Heavenly Father’s plan was moving forward and that I was able to do this because of it.

We typically perform three evenings and have a cast testimony meeting just prior to the last performance.  I always look forward to this because everyone is on a spiritual high and is ready to share and build one another through testimony.  Our relationships that have grown through 4 months of rehearsals are the foundation for being open with one another and sharing how the show has affected our lives.  I will never forget one year in particular, a teenage girl in the cast shared her testimony and had me in tears.  She had been withdrawn and often didn’t even seem to want to be at our rehearsals although I could see her dance talent when she was moving.  She shared her testimony that final night, holding back tears and told us of her parent’s divorce and her struggle with her testimony.  How coming to rehearsal each week would give her the strength she needed to get through another week.  I had been so focused on the choreography and physical preparation for the show that I had failed to consider that for some dancers, the more important thing happening was with their spirit, their testimony.  I have witnessed this over and over through the years.

Every year when auditions come around, I think of the sacrifice that my family has to make in order for me to be involved in this production.   Weekly four hour rehearsals, commutes into Oakland and an absent mom and wife during performance week.  It is never an easy decision as priority is family.  Last year I did dance but could feel my body’s age affecting my recovery time post rehearsal.  I felt slower and my body didn’t seem to move as quickly as the younger dancers.  I was 20 years older than the average dancer so what did I expect, right?  I was really struggling with whether or not to even quit.  And then I had a rehearsal where I learned a piece set to “Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing”.  I have loved this hymn for many years and when I was dancing to it, I could feel the spirit so strongly, I knew that I was meant to be a part of the show.  The movement felt effortless, it was like I had a power inside me that filled my extremities and gave extra grace to what I was doing. The words to the hymn were a part of my body and I felt like I was dancing my prayer.  And then onstage during this particular piece, I would feel my eyes fill with tears and my body fill with light.

I love to dance and knowing that I can dance my testimony and share it with others has been an amazing experience for me.  I have a greater appreciation and reverence for our physical bodies because of it.  Heavenly Father has given us talents, dance being one of them,  to be developed and used to strengthen each other.  We are here with purpose and I am so lucky to know that one of my favorite things to do is also a way to testify of Christ.  I know He lives.

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Quando estava no colegial (high school) eu tinha uma amiga na sala de aula que é mórmon. Estudamos juntas por 2 anos e um dia ela me convidou para um baile na Igreja, pois sabia que eu adoro dançar. Frequentei o Seminário, mas não me formei pois não era batizada ainda. Aos 19 anos decidi me batizar e logo no mesmo dia fui entrevistada para ser Secretária na Organização das Moças na Ala. Quase 3 anos após meu batismo, estava me arrumando para a Conferência da Ala quando convidei meu pai para ir à Igreja (pois ele já conhecia um pouco vendo os missionários almoçarem em casa e eu ensinando português para eles e eles inglês para mim). Na hora ele recusou, então fui embora quando poucos metros de casa ouvi o Espírito dizer: “Volta, senta e espera!”. No mesmo instante olhei para trás não vi ninguém, então voltei para casa e quando cheguei encontrei meus pais arrumados para irem à Igreja, mas quando iriam me avisar eu já havia ido embora. Rimos um pouco naquele momento e fomos os três, meus pais e eu, para a Igreja. Nessa época eu namorava meu ex-marido, com quem tenho um filho chamado Gustavo de 4 anos; ele foi quem meu pai escolheu para batizá-lo e poucos meses depois, meu pai batizou minha mãe.

Meu amor e testemunho pelo Evangelho me ajudaram para servir em uma “mini mission” pois não pude servir missão de tempo integral por motivo de saúde. Hoje, mesmo usando cadeira de rodas, sou fiél aos convênios do Templo, o local mais especial que pude estar.

Amo Jesus Cristo; amo nosso Pai Celestial e sei que o que passo aqui nesta Terra não é para me entristecer, mas sim ser grata por ser a Filha de um Rei.

I am happy, ´cause I am child of God!

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When I was in high school, I had a friend in my class who was Mormon. We studied together for 2 years and one day she invited me to a Church dance because she knew that I love to dance. I went to seminary [youth scripture study class for those 14 and up), but I didn’t graduate because I wasn’t baptized yet. At the age of 19, I decided to get baptized and later that same day I was interviewed to become the ward Young Women’s secretary. About 3 years after my baptism, I was getting ready for Ward Conference when I invited my father to go to church with me (he was already somewhat familiar with the church since he had seen the missionaries having lunch with us at home and had seen me teaching them Portuguese and them teaching me English). He initially said no, so I left, but had not gotten more than a few meters from the house, when I heard the Spirit say, “Turn around, sit and wait” I looked behind me and saw no one, so I returned home and when I arrived, I found my parents getting ready to go to church. They had come to tell me they’d changed their minds, but I had already left. We laughed about that a little and went, the three of us, my parents and I, to church. At the time, I was dating the man who is now my ex-husband, with whom I have a four year old son, Gustavo. It was he who my father chose to baptize him a few months later. And then my father baptized my mother.

My love and testimony of the gospel help me to serve a mini mission because I was unable to serve a full-time mission for health reasons. Today, I use a wheel chair and I am faithful to my temple covenants, the most special place that could exist anywhere.

I love Jesus Christ; I love Heavenly Father and I know that what I go through in this life isn’t supposed to make me sad, but instead to be grateful to be the daughter of a King.

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