Getting a job with life ramifications & choices

       "It was time to start looking for a job.  I started applying different places. I started getting job interviews. I remember driving up to Lovell, Wyoming and my grandmother – actually I didn’t think my car would make it all that way – and didn’t want to drive by myself, anyways my grandma went with me.  Actually we could drive my car and my grandmother and I went out to Lovell to have the job interview and that was a long way up there, that was a little town, but actually Wyoming schools pay really well.  I actually got that job, I was offered the job and it was paying more than Utah schools were paying at that time, it was very appealing but I just didn’t feel right about it, I was just very concerned about me a single LDS girl going out to a very small town. I wanted to get married. I had done very little dating in college, I had lots of friends, but not a whole lot of dating and I wanted to get married and I didn’t want to put myself into a condition where I was going to be living out in the middle of wherever and not have a chance to meet anybody and not get married. I just did not feel right about it. So I turned it down which was just, ahh, I agonized over that. After they called me and offered me the job and I said I  need time to think about it, I agonized about it for gosh probably about a week. My stomach was in knots and I just didn’t feel right about it. I finally called and told them, “I just don’t feel right about it, I’m going to have to refuse. ” All at once it felt like a burden was lifted off my shoulders, my stomach stopped hurting, and it was just this huge, huge relief. So I was just like,” Yeah” I knew what I needed to do but it was hard. 

     "They tell you about, Hey you go to college, you get your college degree, then you get a job, and they don’t talk about how you don’t feel right about the job offer. I didn’t but I did the right thing. I also had a job offer for Guam, they needed a music teacher out there, yet again I was very concerned about being a young single LDS girl about having the opportunity to meet people so I could marry because that’s something I wanted more than anything – to be married and to have children. I did a bunch of other job interviews, I was still working at the music department at Utah State.  

     "Actually there was an opening for secretary there at the music department and I applied for that job, I felt like I could do a good job, I felt like I was organized, and I could be a good secretary. Trina was going to be moving over to the Engineering department I believe and I felt like I could do a good job. I knew the department in and out, was organized, I was hard working, I was willing to learn, I was self taught on a lot of things but I knew that I could do a good job. So I had my interview with the music department head and he really counseled me through that. He said, “Do you know, I don’t think you should tie yourself down to this job, I think you need to get out there and meet some new people.” He was a good LDS guy and I think he was concerned that I would tie myself down and limiting me to just Logan, yes there were a lot of LDS guys there but I needed to get out with other young single adults.  Get out into the real world and that was very inspired of him and I appreciate very much – though at the time I was, “I want to stay here”. But that was my comfort zone and I needed to get out of my comfort zone. 

     "I was working through that summer, continuing to look for jobs and applying for things in the Salt Lake area and the Provo area and in the Logan area, and Ogden and all of the Northern Utah area trying to find something.  And finally about the first of August, my brother Keith and I had driven to visit our parents, they were living in Tempe, Arizona. I remember sitting on the floor and just crying, “What am I suppose to do now?” “I just don’t know where to go.” “I don’t know where my path leads.” I had my dad give me a blessing telling me I would know what I needed to do, the Lord would lead me where I needed to be lead, and the Lord would guide me, and I just needed to follow, the Spirit would guide me. That gave me a lot of comfort to know that the Lord loves you and He will lead you where you need to go. 

     "It was about this point that I decided that if I hadn’t found a job offer or anything I felt good about by the end of August, I was going to move to Arizona …….. So I did that. On August 31 I hadn’t found anything, so I packed my stuff and sent it on to Arizona and some friends and I, some of my roommates were dropping off at the airport, and we kind of did a long way around trip, we went down to the MTC – this sounds really horrible, we crashed the MTC. 

     "Some of my roommates and I had gosh four or five girls who had been our neighbors all in the MTC at this point and so we decided to go down to the MTC and see them. We were all return missionaries ourselves, so we kind of knew the lay of the land, we were dressed in our Sunday clothes, we were looking like missionaries ourselves except we didn’t have name badges on, and we just walked in the MTC because they didn’t have security or anything or have to check in – I don’t know what it is now – but we just walked on in and we knew where the dorms were that the sister lived, we walked in there and saw our girls and we had a visit. They were studying there languages at that time. It was a Sunday afternoon and we found all our girls and gave hugs and said, “Hi and bye and good luck on your mission” and we left and they dropped me off at the airport."