Life is Easier When I Pray for Others

Leah Keigley

“I was diagnosed with CML Leukemia on December 23^rd of 2015. When they told me I might have it, I sorta knew I was going to. It explained my symptoms. I’m on lots of drugs at the moment. They make me feel like I’m an invalid. Sometimes I wake up and my eyes are so swollen that I can’t see. I stumble around. I miss work. My bones are inflamed. If I sit still I’m fine or if I keep moving I’m fine. It’s the in-between part that’s difficult.”

“When I was little I thought I would die before I hit eighteen and when I was eighteen I thought I would die before I was twenty-one. When I was twenty-one I thought I would die before I turned forty. I finally gave up and decided I wasn’t going to die. I can’t die. I was never issued dog tags when I went to Boot Camp so I guess that means I’m immortal.”

Reign Grace and Leah Keigley

“It was sad when my Mom got diagnosed. I was scared. The word “cancer” usually means that it’s over. My best friend in sixth-grade died from leukemia. Her name was Kennedy. I was worried the same thing would happen to my Mom.”

Reign Grace

"I know there’s a God, but I’m pretty sure He doesn't care if I'm Reign or Brandon. I feel like we should be more open. We should respect each other for our differences, because if you look close, we’re not really that different. If someone is polite and kind, that should be what matters. I think God is like that."

“That child is still your child. There’s so many people who think that they don’t want to be associated with someone so different. They ask themselves what they did wrong raising their child. I say, you did nothing wrong. I say, God don't make mistakes."

“Since I’ve been diagnosed, I pray more often. I pray for everybody. Sometimes myself, but life is easier when I pray for others. It feels easier.”

I Think I'm Like Nephi...

Henry Harker - Age 10

“My favorite primary song is "Nephi’s Courage". Nephi is my favorite prophet because I know the stories about him and the difficulties he had to go through. Not just with himself but with others - like, the people around him.”

“Having a brother with autism can be very difficult. It’s difficult because sometimes I can’t find anything that he likes to do together and when something is supposed to be fun, he sometimes starts screaming. Like, I try to get him to do something, but the second I mention it, he starts running away.”

“The good thing about Clyde having autism is that he doesn’t get very embarrassed. That can be a down fall too. He could go out in the rain and strip naked and he wouldn’t care. Even if it was public. He wouldn’t care what other people thought of him. That would be kind-of fun. Doing what you wanted without worrying what other people thought. I don't think I'll try it though.”

"I think I'm like Nephi because he had some brothers that did stuff he didn't like, but he loved them anyway and tried to help them understand what was going on. Even if they didn't want to listen."

Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ Are On My Side

Sister Emily Ellison served as a missionary in the Grand Mesa Ward from January 2015 until late March 2015

"Something from the Grand Mesa ward that has reflected in my own life, is how strong of a ward family that can be created and can work together to bring people into the gospel. The Grand Mesa Ward is prepared for converts and can help them to stay active. Not just be baptized and go away. You guys really know how to welcome people into the gospel."

“There’s nothing greater on this earth than the Spirit that touches our hearts – that testifies that Christ is real, He’s living, and that He’s our brother and He died for us. My faith – definitely since I turned eighteen – my faith has driven me to do the things I’ve done. To go on a mission, to go to school, to receive my endowments in the temple, to live on my own. The only way my life is possible right now is because I know that Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ are on my side.”

I Go With The River That It Gives Me

Kassandra (Kassi) Van Roosendaal

“I served my mission in the Washington D.C. Visitor’s Center. There was this man who was anti-Mormon - his name was Orlando. We were teaching a woman he lived with. Her name was Alicia. We would teach Alicia a lesson, and later that night, Orlando would pretty much annihilate what we’d taught her.

“I think we went about three times where she was still interested. She still cared. She still asked questions. After the third meeting though, I could kind-of tell that she’d been ‘gotten to’. I realized that Alicia had basically no chance at conversion because of Orlando. God, Christ, religion, it was all just a fairy tale to Orlando, and I could tell Alicia was starting to agree.

“Luckily she was Spanish. She was too polite to turn us away. So… I stopped teaching her, and instead, I started teaching the man who was sitting on the stairs, just out of my view – Orlando. Once, I was showing Alicia our scriptures. It was basically a triple - the Book of Mormon, the Doctrine and Covenants, the Pearl of Great Price - part of that is the Bible Dictionary. As soon I mentioned the Bible Dictionary, he peeped down below and he was like, “The Bible? Like, the Bible, Bible?” He finally walked over and asked, “Is that free? Can I have that?”

“It took him three days. Three days to read it all. Not just the Bible Dictionary, the whole thing. After that, we didn’t really see Alicia. We started teaching Orlando instead. Within three weeks he went from an atheist, anti-Mormon, to a member.

“It was a hard transition for him. He left his family. He was in America working and sending money home, and they wanted nothing to do with him. They took his money, and that’s all he was good for. We told him, “You’re going to make a family here.” That man brought more members into the church than I did. He talked to everyone.”

“I’m sure that people question me all the time. They must be thinking, “Are you sure you’re a member? Are you sure you represent the church?” But I always feel like I’m representing the church. Always. I mean, I guess there are times when I’m rebellious, but as a person, I feel like I represent Christ.

“I colored my hair because I wanted to do something different. My daughter and I decided that we were going to do ‘My Little Pony’. My first one was the most important pony - Twilight Sparkle. That was purple and pink. Then I did Apple Jack, which was caramel blonde, then Pinky Pie, which was a very deep pink. Then I did Shutterfly, which is the faded, very light pink with lots of yellows. Then I did the rainbow hair for Rainbow Dash. I finished with Rarity, which is blue and purple.”

"My faith is what moves me. Through my challenges, through my great days - I have always moved through my faith. My faith has moved through me. I accept it as it is. I go with the river that it gives me."

My Faith is My Life

Charles William (Bill) Willard

“I trained and rode race horses. I was a trainer, a jockey, and an owner. War Crescent was my favorite horse. He was a beautiful Bay horse with a small white crescent shape on his forehead. He was man o’ war breeding, which is how he got his name. We bred and raised him since the time he was a colt. He liked to tease my wife. He’d stamp his foot on the ground until she came out and told him to quit.

“We had him in a pen. He moved the pen clear over to the middle of the neighbor’s driveway. They couldn’t get out. He broke the water line off. There was water squirting everywhere and he was in there running around and playing.

“My son used to throw pellets at him. War Crescent hated him. He tried to come after him once and I beat the snot out of him. We had him gelded. My son felt so bad. He felt like he’d caused it all. After that they were best friends. My son would sleep in the stall. He’d lay down with his head against his side.

“He broke his sesamoid bone during a race and we had to sell him. He went to Mexico and they match raced him down there.”

"I was married in 1947. My wife and I are married for eternity. My favorite life experience was when my wife and I served a mission together in Chile. It was a temple mission. I loved working in the temple. It was wonderful. I know all my ordinances in Spanish but I can’t speak it. I can say a few words, but if somebody talks to me, I can’t answer them."

“My wife never complained about anything. Ever. She lived in a tack stall at the end of a barn with three kids. She was so patient. She had an open heart. She followed me wherever I wanted to go.”

“How has my faith impacted my life? It is my life. If it wasn’t for my faith I’d probably be in prison.”


** The day of this interview was only one day after Brother Willard's wife, Cleola, died. He was remarkably open and composed. When he walked me out to my car he said, "I have faith that I'll see her again. That's what keeps me going."

Then Will I Make Weak Things Become Strong Unto Them

Kristen Suzanne Black

"I was diagnosed with bipolar disorder three years ago. Everything has changed since I got my diagnosis. My whole life. Actually, it makes sense now. Behaviors, thoughts, and actions from the past - they all make sense now."

"If I wouldn’t have left the house that day, I would’ve committed suicide. I thought for sure my life was over. I felt like I wasn’t made to be in the world. There was definitely a spiritual prompting telling me to reach out for help. For some reason, that help was for me to have a priesthood blessing. When I had the blessing Brother Gardner and Brother Potter didn’t even know me. They didn’t know my background. They didn’t know my family. None of my other family is LDS. They didn’t know I had raised my niece, and during the blessing they said it wasn’t my time, my niece still needs me. To say something so specific like that - that they knew nothing about... I knew. I knew it was real."

"When they anointed me with oil, my mind went quiet. It was peaceful. It was like all the chaos and the hurt and the torment were gone. That’s how I knew this was where I was supposed to be."

A picture of the plaque on Bishop Redd's wall

“It started with suicidal idealizations. I was having another cycle and I wasn’t able to pull out of it like I usually do. It was the middle of the night. It’s hard to reach out in the middle of the night. I took as many pills as I could because I knew it would shut my brain down. It didn’t work. I lived.

“Telling somebody else about that, and letting them see that hurt and that pain… to see somebody else hurt just because you’re hurting is actually a special thing. Talking to Bishop Redd about that – him just seeing the raw emotion – made it real for everybody.

“He has a plaque hanging on his wall. He handed it to me and it really struck a nerve. I think I want to tattoo it on me somewhere. As soon as I saw it… it was exactly what I needed to hear in that moment. I couldn’t even talk to him anymore. I just put my head down and cried.”

Elder Bergeron and Elder Speidel

Elder Martin Bergeron and Elder James Speidel

Elder Bergeron: "Elder Speidel is a hard worker. That’s really cool because when we have dinner, after dinner he’s always asking for referrals. He’s always searching for opportunity to find new people to teach and new people that we could help."

Elder Speidel: "Elder Bergeron loves everyone. He has an unconditional love, no matter who it is. He doesn’t have a mean bone in his body."