This is Gladys. She is a Mormon Woman, lives in Canada, and today is her 87th birthday! (This picture was taken nearly 5 years ago with one of her great-grandsons.)

Gladys was born the youngest of 11 children –today, she is the only living sibling in her immediate family. Her parents came from Utah and settled in Canada before she was born. She has been a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints her entire life, and she loves the gospel.

Gladys worked as a phone operator for 10 years, in a bank for 1 1/2 years in Salt Lake City (Utah), taught in schools as an aid in Idaho and Canada, and managed an LDS (Mormon) bookstore for 12 1/2 years. She retired at the age of 70! But her longest career so far has been that of a mother. She has 6 children, 21 grandchildren, 30 great-grandchildren (with 2 more on the way), and 1 great-great-grandchild.

For 43 years and 8 months, Gladys was married to the love of her life. He died nearly 11 years ago, but she says she still feels close to him in the Temple. One time, a grandchild asked her why she didn’t visit her husband’s grave at the cemetery. Gladys responded: “I know he is not there in the cemetery. His spirit is elsewhere; that’s just his body. When I want to feel close to my husband, I go to the Temple. That is where I can feel him and feel his love for me. Going there reminds me that I will see him again, soon.”

Gladys has many hobbies and talents. Some of them include: playing the organ and piano, singing, dancing, making angel food cakes and chocolates from scratch, and traveling. Dancing was always a part of her life. For decades, she would attend dances nearly 3 times a week. She even met her husband at a dance. “That was a different time,” she says of the dances. “We danced real dances back then; it was exercise!” Another hobby Gladys enjoys is visiting as many Temples as she can. To date, she has been to 19 different Mormon Temples. She loves to travel and has been to Lima, Peru; Jerusalem; Hawaii; and all over the United States and parts of Canada.

When Gladys was in her late 20’s, she had the opportunity to serve a mission for the Mormon Church. She was called to labor for 20 months in the Eastern United States Mission from 1948 to 1950. Of this experience, Gladys says, “Serving a mission strengthened my testimony greatly. We would track every day and usually I was the only one who could play the piano in the branches and wards (congregations). I served a month in Philadelphia (Pennsylvania), and then did the Hill Cumorah Pageant (A Witness for Christ) in Palmyra, New York, and practiced every day. Being around the Sacred Grove and places where the Church was restored really strengthened my testimony. Afterwards, I went to Norwich, New York for a year to serve…”

Recently, Gladys was a Visiting Teaching supervisor in her ward [congregation], and she served as a Temple Patron for 2 years (Temple Patrons are asked to attend the Temple twice a week during their call). When asked what she loves the most about being a Mormon Woman, she said: “Families can be together forever because we have Temples. I know I’ll see my family again. Also, we are taught from a young age the law of health (Word of Wisdom) which has given me health for life. I truly believe I am healthy because of it!

I’m 87 years old and doing great. I’m still active. I still love to be in my kitchen dipping 50 pounds of chocolates a year. I also make 150-200 cakes a year. Also, because we were taught to stay physically active, I was able to dance for many years. I know the gospel is a gift, and I’m grateful to have it in my life.”

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For more Portraits of Mormon Women, please click here.

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We all breathed a sigh of relief as we turned onto the highway;  we were down to the last sixteen miles of our six-hour journey. It doesn’t sound like much, but six hours of driving had worn us out. [This was no ordinary drive on straight, you-can-drive-75-miles-an-hour freeways. After navigating through the winding, treacherous roads in the majestic Colorado mountains (with children who had never been in a car long enough to cross our state border), we were ready to be done.]

At sunset, we arrived at the place we called home for a week of vacation. I have to admit that the thought of getting up early to drive another hour and a half to get to church was hardly stomachable. But on Sunday morning, we dutifully readied ourselves (packing a cooler since the round-trip drive would be as long as the meetings) and headed off to worship with people we had never met.

Should I even say that we made it earlier than we usually do for our meetings that are less than five minutes away? (Go figure.) Seriously, though, that was the first evidence of blessings from heaven, because we left later than we should have (and there was that camper that was going so slow…). We considered it a little miracle that we were there for the sacrament. The other specific blessing was that the topic in the third hour of our meetings (a combined Relief Society/Priesthood lesson, not uncommon on fifth Sundays) was on a topic my father-in-law was pondering for his new church responsibility (calling).

But we didn’t need specific tender mercies to know that being at church was simply the right place to be. My mother-in-law leaned over to me in Sunday School and whispered that she had been tempted not to come. I confessed that I had felt the same way. We looked at each other and both shuddered to think of what we would have missed.

We felt the Lord’s Spirit strongly as these good, kind, welcoming people shared their thoughts about spiritual and temporal preparedness (the combined lesson topic), read quotes from our beloved leaders, bore their testimonies about various gospel principles, and inspired us to be better people. I felt a love and kinship with these strangers. But they weren’t strangers. They were my brothers and sisters, and I felt that strongly as we worshiped together. I left the meetinghouse spiritually filled–and so very, very grateful.

As I wrote that evening in my journal about this experience, I was reminded of a scripture I have always loved:

And after they had been received unto baptism, and were wrought upon and cleansed by the power of the Holy Ghost, they were numbered among the people of the church of Christ; and their names were taken, that they might be remembered and nourished by the good word of God, to keep them in the right way, to keep them continually watchful unto prayer, relying alone upon the merits of Christ, who was the author and the finisher of their faith.

And the church did meet together oft, to fast and to pray, and to speak one with another concerning the welfare of their souls.

And they did meet together oft to partake of bread and wine, in remembrance of the Lord Jesus.
Moroni 6:4-6

This experience was a reminder to me that it’s worth a little sacrifice (which I know many people make every Sunday) to attend our meetings. I’m sure we could have had a lovely day together as a family doing Sundayish things. But it would not have been the same. I was reminded of why we are commanded to meet each week. There is a power and Spirit associated with meeting together, renewing (and keeping) covenants, and nourishing each other with the “good word of God.” I am grateful to my brothers and sisters in Montrose, Colorado who nourished me and my family. Our vacation would not have been the same without the blessing of gathering with them to worship.

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Read more about Mormon Sunday worship:

Remember the Sabbath Day, to Keep it Holy

Visitors Welcome

What to Expect at a Mormon Church Service (from this post)

Inside a Mormon Chapel (photos)

The post We Believe: A Sabbath “Sacrifice” appeared first on Women in The Church of Jesus Christ.

Whatever the answer, we’d love to hear where you would like to go if time and money and other cares and concerns (such as: Who will take care of the kids? or How could I travel with my health issues?) were not on the table.

The post Mormon Women Share: If you could travel anywhere, where would you go? appeared first on Women in The Church of Jesus Christ.