Right place, time
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In her address during the opening general session of the 2007 Women's Conference at BYU, Sister Wendy Watson Nelson shared a dramatic personal account to illustrate the conference's theme, "Thou art come to the kingdom for such a time as this," taken from Esther 4:14.
Prior to her marriage to Elder Russell M. Nelson of the Quorum of the Twelve in April 2006, Sister Nelson was traveling in November 2005 with her close friend, Sheri Dew, a former member of the Relief Society general presidency. They had just participated in a symposium on the Prophet Joseph Smith in New York and arrived at 4:30 a.m. at the Rochester airport to return home.
While walking toward the terminal, the then-Sister Watson fell and severely cut her face. While waiting for help to arrive, Sister Dew took charge, kneeling and praying for her friend that the pain would ease and the bleeding would slow. After standing back for paramedics to apply a bandage, Sister Dew helped her friend to their plane and calmly suggested they phone ahead to Salt Lake City for a plastic surgeon.
Later, after surgery, the soon-to-be Sister Nelson was told the seriousness of her injury and how "Sheri was the right person to be with you."
"I have often wondered — how differently the story may have unfolded, had Sheri not been with me," Sister Nelson told the some 17,000 people gathered in the Marriott Center on May 3. "What if I'd been with someone who didn't know how to draw upon the powers of heaven?"
Continuing, Sister Nelson shared the examples of other women "who were in the right place, at the right time, with the right skills and understanding." Her first example was the wife of a mission president who was instrumental in helping a young man complete a successful mission. The second was a tender account of three women accessing the powers of heaven to help one of them cope with, and eventually be protected from, a seriously abusive situation. The third example was about women who overcame obstacles to bring children into their homes through adoption.
"Each of these accounts of faithful women prompts a simple but crucial question for you and me to consider. And the question is: How do you and I acquire spiritual skills and understanding — so that we can be in the right place, at the right time, with the right preparation to do whatever the Lord needs us to do — including all we promised premortally to do?"
After quoting President Joseph F. Smith that every soul has a mission to accomplish on earth, Sister Nelson said, "President Smith's statement begs the question, for each of us: Why are you here on earth — at this particular time?"
Sister Nelson asked: "What is your part in helping the Savior with His mission — which is to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man? Sisters, we were indeed born for such a time as this. We came trailing abilities and assignments from our premortal existence. And the truth about finding our mission is this: Because we love the Lord and have faith in Him, we want to be obedient to Him. We want to do whatever He asks us to do. We are willing and happy to be, as Paul described himself, 'a prisoner of the Lord Jesus Christ.' It is our obedience to the Lord which positions us to fill the measure of our creation....
"What do you think would happen if we were to look at every ability and every talent, every challenge and grueling obstacle, as being given to us 'for such a time as this?"'
To those who think themselves too insignificant for the Lord's use, Sister Nelson quoted her husband: "The Lord uses the unlikely to accomplish the impossible."
In closing, Sister Nelson said, based on the Ninth Article of Faith: "We believe all that God has revealed — regarding our mission as His daughters in these last days of the latter-days — all that He does now reveal regarding our mission as His covenant women upon the earth — and we believe that He will yet reveal many great and important things pertaining to our role as latter-day women of God in building up the Kingdom of God."
'For such a time'
Sister Wendy Watson Nelson was one of five speakers during the four general sessions of the 2007 Women's Conference at BYU on May 3-4. The two-day conference, attended by some 17,000-18,000 women, was based on the theme, "Thou art come to the kingdom for such a time as this," taken from Esther 4:14. A report on the general session address given jointly by Elder Jeffrey R. Holland of the Quorum of the Twelve and his wife, Sister Patricia T. Holland, was published in last week's Church News. Other reports will be published in following weeks.
