Introduction CONQUERING MY FEARS MY JOURNEY THROUGH PARKINSON'S

CONQUERING MY FEARS

MY JOURNEY
THROUGH
PARKINSON'S

INTRODUCTION

My name is Suzanne.  I am the mother of seven, the grandmother of thirty three and the greatgrandmother of five.  I've lived in Utah all of my life, but traveled a lot with my husband, Wilford, a man who loves adventure.  I come from hard working strong people who walked the line and the good path.  When missionaries of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints knocked on their doors, they joined the church and changed their path forever.  They crossed oceans, mountains, plains, rivers, prairies and countires to live among the saints of the Most High God.  They walked 1,300 miles off the beaten path to find their Zion!

Was there  any question that I would follow in their footsteps and stay on the path they walked?  I came to earth a believer, a trusting and innocent child.  I wanted to keep myself safe and unspotted from the world and all its folly.  I wanted to walk the safe path, the beaten path and return home with honor.  I married a man who lives life to its fullest.  He wanted to experience every nook and cranny of God's green earth -  try new jobs, start new businesses, go on missions, travel new roads, climb mountains and cross rivers and oceans.  He wanted to know what was under the sea and in the clouds!  He is a creator, an explorer, a visionary, and a believer. 

We are both believers!  That's what brought us together and kept us together for fifty years.  We believe in God, love, people, goodness, family, freedom, happiness and adventure.  If you want all these things, then you must get off the beaten path, the safe and sane path and take the road less traveled.  You  have to get your shoes dirty and your feet wet;  you have to eat things that aren't familiar and you have to take risks!   You may walk on floating chunks of ice in the Arctic Circle, fish in Alaska with black bears, build your own canoes, climb steep mountains, swim with moray eels, snowshoe through blizzards, run rapids down swift rivers, canoe across lakes in the wilderness, dive with sharks, drive through deep mud over high mountain roads, raise bees in your backyard, fly small planes over the Teton mountains, and hunt elk on horseback.  You may also raise sheep, turkeys, pigs, horses, pheasants and ducks, own  a farm and raise hay, and take your grandchildren on hay rides.  These are some of my husbands adventures. 

                                   Wilf's favorite,  fishing in Alaska.  

I spent most of our married life following him on many of his adventures, as I watched in fear, but our mission to Cambodia was the biggest and longest adventure we ever had.  I am just an ordinary woman who survived an extraordinary mission with my husband.  Years ago I read a book about the  killing fields of Cambodia, but I never thought the day would come that I would actually live in Cambodia and meet the people who survived.   I left part of my heart in Cambodia,  indeed, I gained another family on the other side of the world! 

Fourteen years ago I wrote my first book – “The Journey” -- a record of my journey of healing and  the transformation of the soul. I was a perfectionist, always trying to please everyone.  I believed I was in control, if I did everything perfect then life would go the way I planned.  We had our challenges and trials raising our seven children plus our Navajo foster daughter.  Our home was a beehive of activity with young people coming and going at all hours.  My husband was gone a lot with church callings and business, but most of the time I stayed firmly at the control panel, steering my little boat through the storms of life.  I managed to stay afloat, though just barely some days. 

Then the really big storms came and I knew I was sinking.   These trials took “the wind out of my sails” and  I realized I wasn’t in control after all.  “Oh God,  thy sea is so great and my boat is so small.” I was in the “deep waters” and needed to be rescued.  Writing about my feelings became my best therapy as I uncovered parts of myself I never wanted to look at and began the journey to healing my broken heart.  I was rescued by the Savior as he lifted me up out of the deep waters and carried me on his shoulders until I could walk on my own again.  We are not alone!  Angels were with me on this healing journey. 

When we returned from our mission four years ago I wrote my second book – “Conquering My Fears in Cambodia,  My Mission of Miracles.”  It is a record of our amazing mission to Cambodia and the lessons I learned,  another journey of healing.  With humilitiy and faith in God I faced the darkness of my fears and walked into each fear, one step at a time, holding onto the Savior.  I was never alone.  Again the Savior rescued and carried me, and angels, seen and unseen,  surrounded me on every side until our mission was finished.  I learned to not only survive in Cambodia but to thrive in Cambodia!  

I thought I was done with healing journeys but I still had hidden parts to uncover and fears to conquer.  We are like onions,  with layers and  layers to peel  until we finally get to the core, our divine and perfect self.   My hardest journey was yet to come.

Thus, my new book – “Conquering My Fears,  My Journey through Parkinson’s” was written.  It is a compilation of uplifting messages and a record of my healing journey through the deepest waters of my life.  Writing is still my best therapy, but even more, it is my legacy to those who follow after me on their own path to healing.  Everyone must leave the shelter and security of their familiar path  and press forward on their own journey to find God and uncover the divinity of their own soul.  

This record is my witness of the truths I’ve discovered on all my journeys. I am a witness for God and his truth.  This is my calling and my mission!  "Ye are blessed, for the testimony which ye have  borne is recorded in heaven for the angels to look upon, and they rejoice over you, and your sins are forgiven you....And now continue your journey. Behold the kingdom is yours.  And lo, I am with the faithful always."  D&C 62: 3, 4,9        I wish you “God speed” on all your journeys.