I did not intend to participate in the annual "Time Out for Women" conference in Orlando this year due to the cost, but the Lord had other ideas in mind. A good friend felt prompted to purchase two day tickets for me, and followed her prompting. I was delighted that she thought of me and unselfishly purchased the tickets as a "surprise." We arrived on Friday and got great seats. I also had the pleasure of attending with other members that I had not seen in a few years due to their move into another ward. I was so excited and happy just being able to spend time with these awesome women. We got to meet Hillary Weeks, hug Chieko N. Okazaki, and laugh with Mark Mabry. Mark is an excellent photographer..best I have seen. He shot "Reflections of Christ" and it is a beautiful display of the life of Christ. Amy and I felt impressed to do our YW lesson this Sunday on this topic very strongly.Well back to the story...so...we finish with the first day of this awesome event, and it is nearly 11:30 pm before I pull in the driveway. I am exhausted and I have to still do a bit of work before retiring for the night. I have to get back up at 6am to get ready for the 7 hour event tomorrow. I just did not want to go, but I kept thinking of my friend buying me the ticket, and my other friend cranking out 6 loaves of bread that very night for her mother-in-law to sell at the farm the next morning. I felt like I just got to sleep when the alarm went off. We went, and got settled in our seats when I opened the agenda pamphlet. I saw a very familiar face, but could not place the name or the face, but I kept wracking my brain to try and remember. I read Kris Belcher's bio and discovered that she served a mission in the Louisville Kentucky Mission! My brain connected and I realized it was Sister Warner!! Minus the 90's mall hair and a married last name!At the first break I approached her. She was not able to see very well on her mission, but had sight in one of her eyes back then. She lost the rest of her sight after her mission due to tumors in her retina and other areas of her eyes. Even through all of that she remembered my Mom, Oma, and me as well as "baby Vanessa." We wept and hugged each other. We also laughed about our mall hair. She told me of how she remembers my Mom and grandma and even adopted one of my Mom's famous saying of "poopsie" ha ha! I could just feel the love again of my family through our memories of our times together. Kris knew that my Mom had passed. I tried in vain to find her and tell her when the event happened, but I was only able to locate her companion, Sister Ratliff. Sister Ratliff is in Cincinnati and will be seeing Sister Belcher in May when they tour there. What an awesome reunion it will be! Sister Belcher also said, "Diana, I feel prompted to tell you this...when we taught your Oma, she told us that the Gospel is true. She knows that it is the truth. She believes the Book of Mormon, but she could not kick her 65 year habit of smoking. I felt peace at that moment and knew that my grandma accepted the ordinances of baptism that Vanessa had done for her as well as the endowments!What a tender mercy of the Lord! What a gift He gave me. Sister Belcher went on to say that she was glad that we got to reconnect and her heart was full when she realized I married well and, most importantly, got sealed in the Temple. We cried tears of joy! The Lord was not finished. On Sunday I was able to see the Fergusons. They are from my old ward in Indiana! We had a great reunion with their family. They were so good to me while I was a single parent. Vanessa's good friend, Jaime, came over to spend the afternoon. More still to come...Amy presented the lesson to the girls in YW. A small, timid hand was raised and a visiting Beehive girl said "Sister, my uncle is in those pictures." We said "Oh how nice..which one is he?" She said with a small smile that looked eerily familiar, "He is Christ." We were in awe of the love of the Lord. He really touched us all that entire weekend. I feel especially blessed!
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