LDS Podcast "Latter-Day Lights" - Inspirational LDS Stories

How a Youth Group on Pioneer Trek Survived a Deadly Storm: Elaine Pence's Story - Latter-Day Lights

• Scott Brandley and Alisha Coakley

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It seemed just like any other day in Nauvoo, Illinois. But as Elaine passed a group of youth on a pioneer trek on her way to her home, she noticed some dark, ominous clouds on the horizon. Little did she know that one of the worst storms in Nauvoo's history was about to hit them, and these youth were right in it's path!

Elaine shares how these youth miraculously survived the storm, along with some personal, faith building stories of God's mercy in her life.

*** Please SHARE Elaine's story and help us spread hope and light to others. ***

To WATCH this episode on YouTube, visit: https://youtu.be/knO7_TyO4SQ

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To GET Elaine's book, "Becoming Mother Christmas", visit (direct link): https://www.amazon.com/Becoming-Mother-Christmas-P-Pence/dp/0998498041

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Also, if you have a faith-promoting or inspiring story, or know someone who does, please let us know by going to https://www.latterdaylights.com and reaching out to us.

Scott Brandley:

Hey everyone, I'm Scott Brandley.

Alisha Coakley:

And I'm Alisha Coakley. Every member of the church has a story to share, one that can instill faith, invite growth and inspire others.

Scott Brandley:

On today's episode we're going to hear how the storm of a century helped one woman to realize the importance of what we are becoming. Welcome to Latter-day Lights. Hey everybody, welcome back to another episode of Latter-day Lights. We're so glad you're here with us today and we're really excited to introduce our guest, elaine Pence. Elaine, how are you?

Elaine Pence:

Good thanks Great.

Alisha Coakley:

Now, Elaine, we were just talking before we started recording and I found out something interesting, super interesting. You are the mother of a very, very talented comedian actress on Studio C, correct? You want to tell us?

Elaine Pence:

who that is. I do claim her. She's an amazing human being. Yeah, her name's Tori Awesome. Actually, her name's Victoria, but nobody knows that. Oh well, now we know, yeah, you know, and we always call her Tori, and she doesn't like the name Victoria.

Alisha Coakley:

Oh, that's funny. Whatever Very cool. Well, that's exciting, though that's super, super exciting. So I'm sure that your holidays are probably just filled with a whole bunch of laughter and love I used to say all of our kids are as crazy.

Elaine Pence:

So I used to say we should have had cameras in our house all over the place. We would have made a fortune.

Alisha Coakley:

You would have been famous TikTokers before TikTok. We really would.

Elaine Pence:

Yeah, and it wasn't a thing back then and we would have been. Oh, too funny.

Alisha Coakley:

Well, when you say all of them, why don't you go ahead and tell us a little bit about yourself? How many kiddos do you have?

Elaine Pence:

Oh, we have eight, and of course, they're not kiddos anymore, they're all adults, and our youngest is getting married in May. Wow, yeah. So yeah, there are eight, and Tori is number six. Oh, okay.

Alisha Coakley:

Wow.

Elaine Pence:

Eight.

Alisha Coakley:

And married. Where are?

Elaine Pence:

you live All right. Well, my husband, phil, and we now live in Nauvoo, and that's where this story that we're going to talk about took place. But we are both Virginians. We both were born and raised in Virginia. He grew up in Northern Virginia and I grew up in the state capital of Richmond, virginia, and we had all of our children in Richmond, and then we moved to a town that a lot of people are familiar with and it is pronounced Buna Vista, virginia, and that's where Southern Virginia University is, and four of our children attended Southern Virginia University. So after we'd been married in a little over 20 years, we moved there so that some of them could go to school. We had an ice cream parlor, then, another time, we had a community theater, because I like theater, and so we had a little community theater for a while. So we've had our hands in a lot of things.

Alisha Coakley:

Wow. It sounds like I'm supposed to be part of your family because I like jokes and I like ice cream and I like drama. All of these things go really well in there, awesome, awesome.

Elaine Pence:

Well, we also all, during this time, we always had a house that we were renovating, usually lived in it while we were renovating. My husband is very talented, skilled in a lot of things, and hence he's been helping Tori build her own house. So she's building a hobbit house here in Nauvoo where people will be able to stay once she gets it finished.

Alisha Coakley:

That is so cool, oh my gosh that's awesome yes.

Elaine Pence:

She's got lots of wild and crazy ideas that include us.

Scott Brandley:

Well, you don't want to be left out, right?

Elaine Pence:

Oh, we've never felt left out. Be nice, maybe Take a break Too funny.

Scott Brandley:

Well, we're excited to hear your story today. Elaine, We'll turn that time over to you and you can tell us your story.

Elaine Pence:

Well, this past summer well, let me start here we fixed up old houses and we bought this one here and we've done some work on it. It's good in this area, but there's other areas of the house that still need a lot of work. Anyway, I'm a real estate agent and I showed this brother some houses and actually some commercial buildings and one day, months later, he gave me a call and said that his youth group from Missouri was going to be coming here to Nauvoo for a pioneer trek and wanted to know if we knew of a place where they could do the trek. Well, we also had bought another fixer upper about five minutes outside of town, but it still considered Nauvoo. We bought a part of an old farm. It was a house, some outbuildings and 13 acres and that's where Tori's building her house. We're selling her part of that land and we have the old farmhouse that we've done some fixing up to. And I said, well, we've got this property out there and it really isn't enough for you to trek on, but I'm happy to let you come to the property. And I knew that they were staying at. Well, he told me they were going to be staying at a campground that's just a mile from this house and that there's a back way from there to our property and it's about a six mile trip, whatever and so that gave them a long enough track so that they could have a good experience with the youth. They started the campground and go this back way. There are gravel roads and smaller roads and lots of ups and downs, so it was a good experience.

Elaine Pence:

I happened to have a closing that day at in town here and when I was finished I thought, oh, I want to see them track, I want to go the back way and say hi and see what it's like, and I thought that would be really fun. So that's what I did. And there's this massive it was at least 250 people, youth and leaders and these gorgeous hand carts that someone had built heading down the road and they were a couple of miles away from the farm by that point and it looked pretty cool and we could see some dark clouds off in the distance and they were just heading right for them and I said you guys better step it up, you're going to get wet, but anyway, so I had just. You know, I was two miles from my house, I just kept on going over to the farm and by the time I got there I got this what do you call it? Notice on your phone.

Alisha Coakley:

Oh, like the emergency, like the weather alert or whatever they are.

Elaine Pence:

So I got this notice whether there are notification on my phone. It said it didn't say, you know, we had no heads up that we were going to get any rain. We didn't even think we were going to get any rain and it said take cover now.

Elaine Pence:

That's what it said Take cover now, like what. And so Phil and Tori had been out working on her property and they saw that it was getting ready to rain, so they decided to stop. They were at a good stopping point and they met me at the house right at that moment and I said I just got this notification and he says we better get those kids. So he jumped in his truck and he had his trailer hooked up to his truck and I turned my van around and we went back and by then they were a lot closer. They stuck it up and they were a lot closer, but by the time we got to them already there was no visibility, and we found out later that by that point the winds were kicking up pretty bad. Eventually they had gotten to 130 miles an hour Sorry, 130 miles an hour and they were like I don't know they're going to be in the storm.

Elaine Pence:

There was a term for this. Yeah, this was a derecho and which is essentially a land hurricane. Yeah, we didn't see any funnels, there was nothing like that. So, you know, we were rolling down our windows and saying, you know, do you want to get in and drop? I said, drop your hand card in the ditch, because there was a good ditch there and nobody got in. But I mean, as soon as I said that they must have seen because I was, my back was now turned to the storm because I was going towards them and they must have seen it coming or something. They took off because there was a farm right there and they ran into the shed, one of the outbuildings, which was not a very strong outbuilding, so they have a miracle story there.

Elaine Pence:

But anyway, they went to. A lot of them went into there and I could not see. I had a really hard time turning around to go back. As I turned around, I saw several men standing. I could just barely see them standing in the road. I rolled my window down and I said, do you want to get in? So they did, they got in and I took off and I started driving and I didn't get very far and I started to creep. I said I have zero visibility. I don't even know if I'm on the road. What do you want to do?

Elaine Pence:

Well, it turned out that the brother that was sitting in the seat next to me was the state president that was there with the youth, and in the back seat was a youth leader and then a young man that was just getting ready to leave the next week for his mission, and the state president said we're facing into the storm, let's stay put. So that's what we did, and we rode the storm out in my van and that was. We were all very quiet and that was just a very tense time. But at the same time I was at peace and all I could say to everyone was this is in the Lord's hands and we are in the Lord's hands. We don't know what's going to happen. I kept thinking how is it going to feel for my van to get lifted up and to become one with metal and glass? That's the kind of things I was thinking that could happen, and I didn't know if my husband had made it back and what had happened to him couldn't see. And I wanted to know, and I wanted them to know what was happening to me, but my phone never had good reception out there if it got overcast, so I was sure I wasn't going to be able to get anybody. But actually, after sitting there for a long time and I guess that we rode the storm out for at least 20, maybe 30 minutes before I felt safe enough to drive, I could see. So as I was sitting there hoping and praying that there was some way to know, my phone rang and it was Tori and I said guys, I don't know if we're going to make it.

Elaine Pence:

I said and I explained what we were experiencing and she said that they made it home that she was standing at the door when he pulled up with his trailer full of kids and we don't know how many got in the back of his trailer, but his trailer was full of kids. He made it home, he couldn't hardly see, but he pulled up next to the house as close as he could to this side door where the quickest access to our cellar was, and as soon as he got everybody in he held the door and when the last one got in he heard a great crack and he shut the door and he looked out the window and a huge limb you know tree size limb off of a massive tree from our front yard landed on his truck. And then another one hit his trailer right where those kids had just gotten out. And so they would go. They were all in the cellar, tori and my husband would creep up and check things out, and but it was a real tender mercy to get that phone call, to be able to know that they were safe and that they knew that I was safe. And I told him.

Elaine Pence:

I said I know when it was over, I said I don't know who in my van saved us from disaster, but somebody in that van needed to live. We were just grateful because there was a turnover vehicle not far from us. And but anyway, when I could drive again, I I told the state president he was anxious to get to be with his youth. He was anxious to be with them. I said I tell you what I need to be where my family is. Why not? I dropped myself off. You can have my van and you can use it for the rest of the day, do whatever you need to do. So that's what he did. I dropped myself off and as I so the street I was on.

Elaine Pence:

I had to go down about a mile and turn right onto my street and there's a winery there and they have grape vines, and I could start to see the damage as I approached our property. And we have three well yeah, three large outbuildings, a three car garage and an old garage that was built about the same time as our house, which was built in 18, I'm going to say it wrong 1880. These, both of these houses, were built at the same time. So, anyway, it's an old house and every door to the three car garage and all of the outbuildings had been sucked in and a portion of one of our buildings out have. A large portion of the roof had been taken off. The house had minimal damage and it was just interesting to drive past and see the damage as I approached the house and I couldn't see the house shut and I was like, oh, my goodness, what am I going to find? There were some broken windows in the house and some missing siding and roofing, but the worst of it was our little garage which was housing Tori's furniture for her Hobbit house was totally destroyed and the roof is still laying there Because, since this happened, we were able to clean up some of it after it happened, but we haven't done any of the repairs yet.

Elaine Pence:

We were going to take care of that, but you know, tori's trying to get hers done and she had to go away and do some things for Studio C and while she was gone we cleaned up what we could, but when she got back we got to work on her house, and then I've written this book and I was getting ready to go on a tour. I'm a part of a group called author ready, and it's a group by Richard Paul Evans, and so I was supposed to go to his Michael Vane nine launch party and bring my book and be a part of his launch party with some of the other author ready authors. And two days before that event, about five little over five weeks ago, my husband started having chest pains, and so the day we were supposed to be at the launch party he was having open heart surgery, and so the work isn't going to get done any time soon. So we still have a big mess out there, but we're all here.

Alisha Coakley:

Well, and just just so, I mean, I had to look it up a little bit because I kind of was wondering, like in relation to a hurricane, you mentioned that the winds were like about 150 miles per hour in the storm 130 130.

Alisha Coakley:

Yeah, okay. So I'm a little bit off then. So let me just I'm just gonna look real quick. But I grew up in Florida and so I've had my share of hurricanes that I've been through, and so at that point that is like a high category, three low category for hurricane, just so anybody is like thinking, oh, it's just a storm. It's not just a storm, it is intense. And in Florida we know the hurricanes are coming and we spend you know the better part of a week or two preparing for it. Yeah, like putting up you know boards on the windows and taking inside furniture and trimming your trees. That would have been nice, yeah, no warning, no warning.

Elaine Pence:

We I mean, we didn't even have a forecast for rain. Yeah, we didn't. Crazy it was, it was intense, and we had a little, a very small orchard of apple trees and we lost all of them. Wow, they all got uprooted. Yeah, except for I'm sorry, except for one except for one huge trees get uprooted.

Alisha Coakley:

Oh yeah, I mean we did.

Elaine Pence:

We had a massive tree landed on our garden so our garden got wasted and it's still laying there and the roots are still intact in the ground at some points and so it's growing as it's laying in the yard Really interesting. But as I we drove around afterwards there was a house at the end of the street. If you've ever been to Nauvoo, the River Road is a beautiful drive from here to Nauvoo or from here to Keokook or you know other areas, but anyway, so you go from Nauvoo, you would drive the River Road to come to this property. It takes five minutes to drive there from, like the historic district or from my house. Anyway, there's a house on the corner where you turn to go up to our farm on the River Road and it was totally demolished the whole house and, and a lot of people in that area lost a lot of property here in town with.

Elaine Pence:

They had like 80 mile an hour winds and there were, I mean, at this house we had a lot to clean up. We had down limbs and everybody in town had limbs down and some trees down, but not there were a couple of cars, I think they got hit, but pretty, pretty good, it was pretty good here and the nice thing, the kids that were here that stayed in our basement, the ones that got to come and stay in the cellar, wanted to come to our yard and help clean up. So they helped us clean up the trees in this yard, which was really nice. My husband was doing okay then and he he handled the saw and he did this, the sawing, and they helped me drag it all to stack it up or to the curb because the city was going to pick up the limbs. So that was really really nice that they did that for us. We were so grateful to have that help.

Scott Brandley:

Do you know? All the kids were okay.

Elaine Pence:

Yeah, I asked about the kids in the back, yeah, and they have some miracle stories that there's some video and there are some pictures like there's one picture of them from the very back. Someone got behind the whole group and took a picture of them walking into that storm. Now that picture really impacted me because every time I look at it I get emotional. Because years ago, when I was a young women's president and award in the Richmond area, when we were raising our kids, I was praying over my calling and had some concerns and wanted some inspiration. And one night I had a very vivid dream and in the dream we were at what looked like a youth conference setting, but we were outside and there were all these tables set up for like a meal and All of a sudden a storm was coming up and the wind started whipping and Harold B Lee, who had been the Prophet ate, one of the prophets when I was a teenager, appeared near me and near those tables and said to get the youth inside, and so, and then I understood that he was going to meet us inside and so I started to clear the tables and someone said Not to clear the tables. That was for the youth to do. They had to do that for themselves. And so I started collecting People and and we got inside, and once everyone was in there, it was a long, narrow room, kind of like this, and and but there were windows all along the side, on this side, and there there were boards, vertical boards that had gaps in them, and when you I looked towards the window, the storm really went crazy, kind of like what I was seeing in the derecho, and the water would come through those cracks and the Prophet appeared in the front of the room and as long as we kept our eyes on him, the storm didn't bother us, and, but as soon as we looked out that window and looked towards the storm, it would rage and we feared that it was going to come in. And and when I woke up, I had Impressions of what some of that meant and, of course, clearing the table was.

Elaine Pence:

The youth have to be prepared with their own Testimonies and they have to do the work, they have to read their scriptures, they have to be obedient, they have to do those things, and then the other thing that they have to do is to keep focused on the Prophet. And so when I saw that picture of them heading into the storm, and I remembered that dream and that Our youth are in a storm. We're all in a storm in these last days. We are in a storm and what's important for us to To do is to build Zion and the and the only way to build Zion is by building ourselves, and that's where this becoming has been a focus of mine for many years, that it's so important what we as individuals are becoming. Yes, we're supposed to be obedient, we're supposed to do keep the commandments and we have these trials, but the whole purpose of it all is to help us to grow and to become like the Savior and what our Heavenly Father knows and wants us to be, and and and. That has been a powerful thought and message For many years for me, and that that's why I wanted to write this book.

Elaine Pence:

I was just going to call the book Mother Christmas, but it had to be. Of course, it's about how she became Mother Christmas, but it's about her becoming. It was kind of like my journey of becoming and and having to humble myself and see myself, and see myself and see that I needed to change and that my experiences. I was one of those that thought if I just kept the commandments and obeyed and went to church did everything that I was supposed to, that I would have the perfect family and that my life would be perfect and everything would be wonderful. And so when it didn't turn out that way, I was not happy and I didn't handle things well. And when I realized that it was all about what am I becoming and what I want to make of myself, am I really willing to allow my life experience to help me to become the person that Heavenly Father knows I can be? Because we all can. We all have that potential as His sons and daughters, and that's the message I want to be able to talk about more and why I want people to read my book, because I hope that they will see some things there that might open their eyes to what I see and have seen in our society and how hateful we have become, how greedy we have become, how Well.

Elaine Pence:

I was so grateful, so grateful for the Prophet's talk on contention, because that's huge and keep our eyes on the Prophet. He's telling us what we need to hear, and what we need to hear is that we're contentious within the church and between ourselves and other faiths and people of no faith, and we feel like it's our job to tell everybody what they're doing wrong? And no, we've got to love everyone, and the only way to get to share our message is if we love people enough that they want to listen to it. When I was a youth, one Sunday school lesson that I remember was the Sunday school teacher brought a beautiful piece of cake and he said this is the gospel. Now we could take this cake and I could shove it in your face, or I could put it on this beautiful plate and make a beautiful presentation and show you how wonderful it is and how delicious it is, and you're going to want to eat it. I don't need to shove it in your face.

Alisha Coakley:

Right.

Scott Brandley:

I like that.

Alisha Coakley:

Yeah, I like that a lot. That's really cool. I love that. Well, this involves a track, right? I guess one of my thoughts that I had was one I never got the chance to go on track For one reason or another you know, it's like every four years.

Alisha Coakley:

And so it was either, you know, I didn't do it because we were young and I just didn't want to, and growing up in Florida, or that I got married and then I had kids and then I didn't have anyone to watch the kids. Then the next time it was like oh, I have leukemia.

Scott Brandley:

I was like I don't think that's, I don't know.

Alisha Coakley:

I didn't think it was a time. But now I'm finally at this point where I'm like the next track I'm going. I don't know when it is or where it is or what's happening, but, Scott, I remember you telling me about this. Well, not me directly, but, like you, you shared I don't know if it was in testimony meeting or what it was about an experience that you had at Trek where the women had to push the hand carts and stuff up this hill. Do you remember that?

Scott Brandley:

Yeah, it's in my book.

Alisha Coakley:

Is it Okay? So, yeah, so it was. I guess, when you were telling me this, I was thinking about from the perspective of the kids and how you had that dream that they needed to have their own testimonies, and I thought, like I love that our Heavenly Father has inspired so many different parts of this church to be able to provide opportunities that can help build those testimonies, because sometimes it is going to happen by doing the routine you know, get up and go to church and then read your scriptures and go to seminary. But sometimes it's going to happen in, like you know, in a youth group where it's going to happen at FSY or during a conference or a Trek or something like that. And I think that you know, like what you were saying and becoming, the more that we choose to put all of these experiences in our life, the more opportunities we have to be in places where our testimonies can grow.

Alisha Coakley:

Right, yes, Like they really really can grow and I think it's awesome when, like you look at it, you have your perspective and your testimony was able to be grown in a certain way. But then I'm sure the men that you were able to pick up and keep in your van during that time, they probably all have their own perspectives, as does your husband and your daughter, and all of those youth who got on the trailer, and all of the youth who had to run to the outbuilding, and then anybody else in town who, whether they were in a dangerous position during the storm or if they were in a position to help clean up after the storm, I think it's so powerful that our Heavenly Father can use everything Absolutely. You know worst of the worst and the best of the best. He can use everything to help so many people at the same time who are on all of our own different journeys. You know, and I I don't know I just it was cool.

Elaine Pence:

Well, I know that, from what I've heard, there were some definite testimony builders in that experience. I mean, this was is one that they will never forget. Yeah, and those kids that were in our basement will never forget us. And they had an infant. Okay, the mom got separated from the infant because the kids, you know, were taking turns with this child and when they jumped in the back of the trailer they had the baby and the mom had no idea where the baby was. And she's like, when she came to the house, when she, you know, found out and she got the baby and she was like we had done something so magnificent, you know that we had done something so wonderful. I said we didn't do anything. You know, heavenly Father did everything, you know, and, um, and he did. There were definite miracles. I believe that the fact that my van didn't blow away was a miracle. I know that being able to talk to my daughter on the phone was a miracle.

Elaine Pence:

And I looked around and I have a video on my PE Pence author page of immediately following this experience. I took my phone to see, as I was seeing, what happened. I hadn't seen it yet at all, so I started walking around and I was holding my phone and getting video of everything and talking about. You know, this is crazy. You know I couldn't believe that all this happened and, at the end, the realization that we were all safe. I knew that we had all been protected. You know, those kids were in our cellar or maybe I mean that garage was so close to the house, you know and so much other of our buildings got blasted, but the house was really intact, except for the windows and some new siding. So we really saw the Lord's hand and those kids stories. I can't wait till the video comes out because we'll hear those stories. Wow.

Scott Brandley:

Yeah, oh man. Well, it's interesting how God puts trials in our lives to help us grow and sometimes they're not expected like a, like a storm coming out of nowhere, right.

Elaine Pence:

Well, I that's. It makes me think about Faith. You know, I believe that we had faith, but I think that that trial and the fact that we haven't been able to clean it up haven't been able to do the things that we wanted to do, and then my husband having to have open heart surgery, and how terrifying that was, you know, that was more terrifying to me really than sitting in that van. Now that I think about it, you know that I'm sitting there and we find out that his widowmaker is called that's what they call it. They call it that for a reason, and I've had to really think about how strong is my faith. Yeah, the miracles did happen. I none of us died in that, and my husband is still here. Do I have? Would I have the faith if the opposite had happened in either of those situations? And I we just remembered that the Prophet told us that we were going to see great miracles, and I believe that the greater our what's the word? Holiness, the greater our miracles.

Elaine Pence:

Here's another story years ago, at Southern Virginia University, we would have visitors from leadership of the church that would come and I heard that artist cat I believe that's who it was and I had heard her speak in Virginia Beach Williamsburg slash Williamsburg area, I believe, is in when Williamsburg wants and she had given a message that I needed to hear and she gave a similar message at this one and I needed to hear it and I was so grateful to be able to hear it. But I had been experienced severe pain in my right hand and I'm right handed and it had been bothering me for quite a while and I, when I drove there that day, it was hurting me. I remember it hurt to drive, but I sat there and I heard the message and I was so grateful. But I knew that this thing was for the school and I was just visiting, and so I held back and got in the end of the line so that, if there was time, I could speak to her and share my gratitude for what the message that I had gotten and she took. I was able to talk to her and she took my right hand in hers and just held it while I talked to her and and I, you know, I expressed to myself and we spoke for a good while and she held my hand the whole time and I drove home and and I got busy and I realized that I didn't have pain in my hand anymore, it was gone, and that scripture came to my mind that I'd always wondered about, that said, had talked about all the gifts of the spirit, and these gifts, the.

Elaine Pence:

It gives a list of all the different gifts of the spirit, and healing is one of them, and it says that these gifts are given to all those who believe. It doesn't say all those priesthood holders, it says these gifts are given to all those who believe and I, just as I would. I just had felt like I had been in the presence of a holy woman and that just hurt. She was probably praying for me as I was standing there holding her hand, and anyway, it's just thought I'd share through that.

Scott Brandley:

It is art. It is Ardith Kapp.

Elaine Pence:

Yeah, you were right, yeah, yeah.

Scott Brandley:

Yeah.

Alisha Coakley:

That's really cool, you know.

Alisha Coakley:

I heard, I heard this wonderful analogy I know we're kind of digressing a little bit, but this wonderful analogy about the priesthood, because I do think that that's Like, especially today, there's a lot of women who feel like it's unfair, right, they're like they think that it's a patriarchary year and you know that the men get the better.

Alisha Coakley:

I don't know responsibilities or I don't whatever, but so this analogy that I heard was, if you think about a woman, you think about when she gets pregnant, and then she, you know, she literally creates the baby and she spends nine months and then she delivers the baby and then she nurses the baby and most, you know, traditionally speaking, she's the one who is like, physically going to put in a lot more time and energy. Well, she's a parent. Right, she's a parent, but so is the father. He's a parent too. Even though they had different jobs, they still, in the end, hold that baby. She just had to hold it for a little longer, in a different way, you know, until that baby could be birthed, and then now he gets to hold the baby too, but it doesn't make him any less of a parent just because he didn't have the same role that the mom.

Alisha Coakley:

Wow, wow, yeah, that's so true. Like us women, we do get to participate in holding the priesthood. We, you know, and, and all of God's power. It is embodied in the priesthood power, or the the power of the priesthood. So anytime that we have something happen right, some some faith building miracle, or or anytime that we participate in those gifts, that is us using the priesthood. We're just not using it the same way.

Elaine Pence:

I just think it's the power of holiness and that's back to who we become. When we become holy, the miracles are greater and you know, we are privileged to have those from time to time so that we can remember them. But we all often have trials that are equal to our blessings and so sometimes those that have the greater trials can have the greater blessings. But we're the prophet promised us all miracles and I could sit here and tell you a whole lot more. Just coming here to the way we got here from Virginia was never. We were all Virginians, you know, raised my kids in Virginia, we didn't have any plan on leaving and to be here in Nauvoo. I feel so blessed to be here, so grateful to be here, and it's a miracle.

Scott Brandley:

It is a cool place. It's a special place there's a spirit. Yeah, there's a special spirit about Novu.

Elaine Pence:

Although you know my father's from Ogden. Okay, so I do have some.

Scott Brandley:

Utah roots.

Elaine Pence:

And I do have some pioneer heritage that came through here who I could testify was a big influence on my testimony as a child, because we had her diary in our home and I read it and it really impacted me. And so she and her husband came through here and made the trek. They were from New York and they made all of the moves you know, moving around with the Prophet the whole time, and then they went and settled in Utah and then when my mother's family joined the church very early on but they didn't go west, they stayed, and so I have pioneer heritage that we were some of the first members of the church in that part of Virginia. That's cool. But my father joined the military and was in Fort Lee, virginia, and that's how he met my mother and they can.

Alisha Coakley:

They stay there there you go Awesome, that is really cool. Wow, man, this has been so wonderful. So can I ask you just to maybe give us a little brief overview of your book Becoming Mother Christmas, because it definitely sounds like a really feel good kind of read. Do you want to tell us a little more about that?

Elaine Pence:

Oh, my goodness, that's. It's really hard. The book starts in Buna Vista, virginia, where we just moved from. So my, my protagonist, that 17 years old, is living there and the 100th Mother Christmas store is being opened in that little town. And this 17 year old needs a job and and she gets the job and she at one point has a journal, sees a journal. Wow, she sees a light in an office that calls to her and it's a journal which is the story of six of in the 1640s.

Elaine Pence:

It starts in Jamestown and from there it moves back to Canterbury, england, where during the time when England was having a civil war, or the beginnings of the civil war, which a big part of that was how or whether or not people were going to be allowed to celebrate Christmas. And that's true, those are true stories. So there's it's a lot of history, it's a historical fantasy fiction. I love that and so there's something in there for every member of the family, I think. But I picked that time because I was seeing a lot of contention, especially in politics, and the Puritans during this time Forcing everyone to do what they thought they should do. They were taking that cake and shoving it in people's faces and and they fought a war over it, and, and so we go back and forth between the 1980s and the 1640s and and follow Mother Christmas From, you know, and from her journal.

Alisha Coakley:

Wow, that sounds awesome, perfect, all right. Well, thank you again. We really appreciate you coming on.

Elaine Pence:

I am grateful for the opportunity because I love to share my thoughts on becoming and us start really. And there's a light village that might sound a whole lot like the beginnings of Zion.

Alisha Coakley:

Yeah.

Elaine Pence:

My book, so I love to talk about it. Thank you so much.

Alisha Coakley:

Yeah Well, do you have any last thoughts before we, before we wrap up, any final words you'd like to leave with our audience members?

Elaine Pence:

I'm a real estate agent and talking about drama, I mean, I think a lot of our people are really into it, especially when you're working with members of the church on both sides, buying and selling a house and I've seen a lot of that here and and I would think and I would tell them this isn't about buying and selling real estate. This is about are we going to become a Zion people and do this in a Christ like way you know? Are we going to deal with this the way the savior would want us to? And that's every experience that we have in life, whatever experience we have, we have to stop and ask is this about this, or is this about helping me become a Zion person?

Elaine Pence:

So I hope that and I learned a lot because I think to myself don't they have faith to know that Heavenly Father's gonna help them if they do the right thing? And then I've been through these experiences, some experiences like I've feared and fear and faith can't be in us at the same time. I feared what the doctors were doing. I didn't know if I could trust them and I had to really talk to myself about am I gonna have faith or fear, and what do I need to do to make sure that I have faith in my Heavenly Father through this and hear the spirit so he can tell me what to do.

Alisha Coakley:

Very true.

Scott Brandley:

Yeah, I like that. Well, we're all trying to become like the Savior, but we have our agency and sometimes we don't choose the right path.

Alisha Coakley:

That's right that's right yeah.

Elaine Pence:

But hopefully we choose the right path more than the wrong path and become like Him Become like Him and we heard that a lot in conference Go back and listen to conference and listen, for the word become.

Alisha Coakley:

Okay, I love that. That would be a really nice challenge. So very cool, yeah. Well, elaine, it's been a pleasure. We really appreciate it and we just wanna say thank you to our listeners as well. Be sure, guys, that you like and comment on this story and then do your little five second missionary work and hit that share button. We would love to have more people be able to hear about the miracles that came from this huge storm in Navu and the lessons and perspective that Elaine was so kind as to give us. And remember, if you guys are interested, to head over to I believe it's Amazon that your book is sold on we'll have the link in the description there and pick yourself up a copy of Becoming Mother Christmas by Miss Elaine Pence.

Elaine Pence:

Well, our author name is PE Pence PE.

Alisha Coakley:

Pence. Okay, there you go PE. Pence. Yeah, we'll make sure that we have that link for you guys, so you can easily grab a copy and take some more lessons away from Elaine.

Elaine Pence:

I think that would be awesome, thank you so much, I appreciate it so much.

Scott Brandley:

I hope you guys have you bet. If you have a story that you'd like to share, like Elaine, come on to Latterday Lightscom and share with us, and we'll catch you on the show as well. So with that, thanks again, elaine, and we'll have another story Next week. Tell them, take care, we'll see you then. Bye, bye, bye. Music.

People on this episode

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Scott Brandley

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Alisha Coakley

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