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Joy Fields (Wardleigh)
Hi every one, To start out I was outside this morning giving my thirsty plants and trees some of our precious water. While out in my back yard with a gentle breeze, beautiful blue sky and so many shades of green on all of the many trees, my thoughts went back to 2012 just after I bought my little house. That day I was watching TV while the shuttle Endeavor was on its way to LA. The announcer said it was flying low and slow so many people could see it. He said it just passed over the Capitol and would soon be flying over the Golden Gate bridge. I thought to myself, I wonder if I could see it from here? I stepped out onto my deck just in time to watch it fly barely over the tops of the trees. It was so low that I felt I could almost reach out and touch it. What an awesome experience!
Now I want to say thank you to all of you who do not discriminate against those who don't share the same religious background and belief's as you do. I personally grew up in a very toxic environment when it comes to religion. My Dad was not of the same faith as my mother. He was born and raised in Virginia and probably never even heard of the Mormons. As any of you who are active members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Later Day Saints know, when you have something as wonderful as this, and you have friends and family whom you love, you naturally want to share it with them. This is what happened to my Dad, he was a very likeable man who had many friends. Of course being in Utah, most of them were members of the Church, so what did they do? They all (not at the same time) wanted to introduce him to the Church so he would have the same blessings as they did. After a few years of this friendliness he began to get his back up and resent the "pushiness" of everyone. They soon learned that you do NOT EVER talk religion with Dad. Religion was absolutely a Taboo in our home. Mom would send us to church every week, but I only remember one time in my growing up years that she went with us. When my sister Nadine was baptized, my Dad had a fit and told my Mother that she better not even think about doing that to my little brother. My older brother Don, was an active member all of his life. He was a High Priest and always had callings. My older sister Jeanine, has always been active, shortly after her husband was baptized they were sealed in the Oakland Temple. My younger sister Nadine, married a man who was a Catholic, and because she never wanted to have the contension in her home like we grew up with, after a few years she became Catholic and has been a Ukeris Minister for several years. My younger Brother Brent, or Father James, never did attend the Mormon church after my Dad put his foot down. He is The Priest in the Russian Orthodox Church in Placerville.
Moving right along, two weeks before our graduation from BLHS I married Bob Wardleigh, he was an inactive member of the church. Silly me, I just assumed that my husband would embrace the church. I soon found out that it was very much like the situation that I grew up in. Although we were sealed in the Logan Temple almost to the day, four years after we were married, those promises we made in the Temple that day May 9, 1966 lasted him abut 3 or 4 months before he started to pull away. In 1990 he left me, the children, (two still at home) and California. Since then among many other wonderful experiences, I was blessed to serve a Mission Iowa. So my point in all of this is that yes I do embrace my church,and am relieved in the fact that I don't have to live it in secret any longer. Moreover, I respect everyones right to worship how, when and where they choose, or not at all if they choose to. I hope and pray that we can all be friends for the time we have left here on this earth. I also hope that I never offend anyone. Have a wonderful day, every day.
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