2012CALGARY, ALBERTA

FRI MAY 6, 2011 6:30 PM - 9:30 PM
SAT MAY 7, 2011 9:00 AM - 3:45 PM

Calgary Stampede
BMO Centre Hall E
20 Roundup Way SE
Calgary, CA T2G 2W1 CA

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Your experiences:

It was a great experience with really great presenters that made me think about how to understand who my Heavenly Father wants me to become and how to find the gifts and strengths He gave me and understand how to work with Him through my challenges and trials and weaknesses and to seek joy in my life. I left thinking I can be OK about where I am now, but understand that I can seek to become more.
—Lorena

With a desire to help DeAnne Flynn feel better about not being able to make it to Calgary and in keeping with the TOFW mindset of sharing our stories, I wanted to share mine with you. I had never really been interested in TOFW before and had even made a little fun of it, thinking it was just another silly excuse for a bunch of well kept Mormon housewives to get together and discuss the challenges of living the charmed life of being lds mommies. Clearly I had never really made the effort to learn about the TOFW program and had just made that over-generalized assumption, so please don't be offended by it as I now know that I was indeed quite incorrect! Also, I realize it might sound like I have an issue with stay at home lds mothers, which I do not and in fact I have served on Relief Society and Young Women presidencies where I have learned quite unmistakably to appreciate those mothers. However, it may be rather obvious that you could safely assume that I do not currently have the opportunity of living that so called "charmed" life and therefore I did not think that TOFW was for me. Again, I have learned that indeed I was quite incorrect! When the announcement came out that TOFW was coming to Calgary this spring, a sister in the ward that I had recently moved into sent out an e-mail to see if anyone wanted to sign up with her to attend the event. When I read the e-mail I only thought about it for maybe a minute or two before I determined that I would like to attend and replied to her e-mail that I would go with her. Then for the next several days I wondered what had possessed me to sign up for such an event! I even felt a little silly telling some of my friends that I was going to go as I was afraid that they might now make fun of me for joining in on what I had mocked previously. (Thankfully nobody mocked me!) Leading up to the event, I really didn't know what I was expecting to get out of the weekend, other than seeing a few friends come in to town for the weekend (sorry, but I hadn't really built up high expectations for the program yet!). Then about two weeks prior to the Time Out weekend things happened in my life that caused me to do some serious soul searching and asking the Lord what He could possibly be trying to do with my life. The problem was that things were not happening the way that I expected them to happen (as is usually the case) and therefore I felt that I needed to question the Lord's will (as is usually the case!). Well, I know that is never the right approach and had been working on a better perspective. However, I was having hard time internalizing and feeling it in my heart with a real desire to change my outlook. Then the TOFW weekend came and, sadly although not a big surprise, I still hadn't put much thought into it. I knew I would hear some great music and was hoping that I might hear some good talks. Well, as soon as the first mention was made on the Friday evening about the theme of "becoming" and the encouragement that we all think about what we are doing in regards to becoming, I realized why I was there. In fact it hit me like a ton of bricks that this theme of becoming was pretty much what I had been asking the Lord to help me with, although I had not quite figured that out yet! This whole weekend gave me a lot to think about and work on, but one talk particularly spoke directly to me. As soon as Laurel Christensen started talking on Saturday morning, I felt an awareness of a need to pay specific attention to her presentation. My experience that morning was as though everything she was speaking of was identifying directly with my own ideas and perceptions and some concerns I had been struggling with. Her viewpoint and her way of presenting allowed me to hear things in just the right way for me to be able to finally start to recognize some answers that I didn't know I was looking for and to process what the Lord had been trying to show me in other ways. You could say that she was, for me at least, an instrument in the Lord's hands. As I mentioned in the beginning, I was hoping to possibly share a little perspective that might help DeAnne Flynn feel a little better about missing out on Calgary (I am sad that we didn't get to hear from her as I'm sure that her presentation would have been fantastic!) as well as wanting to thank Laurel Christensen for stepping in and sharing what she did for us. I feel that was a blessing, at least for me! Overall this weekend was just what I needed and every speaker gave me so much to think about, although it was difficult to take notes between all of the laughter and the crying that each of them caused! I am very grateful for having attended TOFW and have further learned to not make fun of what I know nothing about and instead I am eating my words and telling others what a great experience it was! In fact, I’m ready to write a book and go out on tour with TOFW now that I know what a great program it is! Thank you so much! Lisa Blaxall Calgary, AB
—Lisa

Laughed, cried, laughed, cried, laughed....etc....etc...the program was very uplifting.
—heather

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* These listed presenters are committed to attending this event; however, Time Out for Women cannot guarantee that illness or other emergencies will not interfere with this schedule. No refunds or exchanges. We appreciate your understanding.