Hi, I'm Dawn

I have a degree in education. I'm a bishop's wife. I'm a mother of seven. I'm a Mormon.

About Me

I have been a stay at home mom for 22 years. It's been the most challenging and most fulfilling role of my life. I am married to a religious educator who also happens to be a bishop. We are the parents of seven children, two of whom are serving as full time missionaries for the church. I'm also a realtor and health and wellness hobbyist. I love being creative, reading, writing, learning, and spending time with my family. I am currently training for a half marathon.

Why I am a Mormon

My parents joined the church when I was about four years old. Shortly after, they were divorced. I grew up with my father and brother and had no contact with my mother for many years. It was hard to grow up in a "broken family," without a mother's influence. As a teen, I became an active member of the church through the outreach of loving friends. Through that time, I gained great faith and strength and learned to overcome the challenges of my childhood. That strength carried me through a difficult time in college, when my mother committed suicide. Nothing can prepare a person for that kind of tragedy. But I felt the love of my Savior, my Heavenly Father, and my college friends as I mourned, not only the loss of the relationship, but the years of not being connected. That time in my life has shaped my life, as I realized that the only thing we take with us when we leave this earth is our knowledge, testimony, and our relationships. I believe all relationships are worth having or healing and that we will cherish them in the life after this one. I am so grateful for this knowledge as I have sought to move beyond the mistakes of the past and with my husband, create a loving, faithful family that endures.

Personal Stories

What blessings have come through your faith in Jesus Christ?

My faith in Jesus Christ has helped me realize that through His atoning sacrifice, I can do all things. There are some experiences in your life, where there is no doctor, medicine, or other person that can make things right. Grief, disappointment, and sorrow are often so heavy, that it seems we will suffocate from the weight of it. But in those times, we can turn to our loving Savior who knows our name, because he took all of our sin, pain, and sorrow upon Himself. I have felt His loving arms around me at times when I thought I could not go on because there was nowhere else to go. In those times, my weight has been lifted, I have been strengthened, and received the hope I need to go on. I'm so grateful for that.

What are you doing to help strengthen your family and make it successful?

I love my family. And I want to have a wonderful relationship now and beyond this life. Most of our lives are focused around our children and their activities. In the last few years, to allow more time together, we have limited the activities of our younger children. The two youngest only have about two regular activities outside the home. We also limit our older children to two sports a year. We make a concerted effort to pray as a family each morning and night, to hold one night a week of uninterrupted time for a family night. We play games or discuss gospel principles on family night. And we also read the scriptures together. We attend each other's activities and cheer for each other's successes. We don't allow our children to fight and quarrel as much as possible. We're normal of course, it happens. We have individual meetings with each child on a regular basis just to check in and see how they are doing and feeling and how we can help them better as parents to be successful. As parents we have had to sacrifice some of our own personal pursuits, in order to be successful in our home. But that sacrifice has been worth it, as we have been fortunate to see our children make good choices. Those good choices, bring us great happiness.

How I live my faith

I am currently serving in our youth organization with the young women of the church. I teach Sunday lessons to girls ages 12-14. I also visit with another sister in our church, three other sisters each month and give a spiritual message and support them in their lives. I participate in the choir when I can, and try to be supportive of my husband who is the bishop of our "ward." A bishop is similar to a pastor and a ward is a local congregation. We receive great blessings by being associated in this way with the wonderful members of our ward.

Why don’t women hold the priesthood in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints? How do Mormon women lead in the Church?

Dawn answered...

Men and women have different roles in the church and in families. We believe that "by divine design, fathers are to preside over their families in love and righteousness and are responsible to provide the necessities of life and protection for their families. Mothers are primarily responsible for the nurture of their children. In these sacred responsibilities, fathers and mothers are obligated to help one another as equal partners." This statement comes from a church proclamation called The Family: A Proclamation to the World. My husband and I share an equal partnership in our roles. He is the main provider, but over the years, there have been times when I have helped with that role. Likewise, there have been times when he has stepped in and helped at home with nurturing. The priesthood is one of the ways that a man can fully express his roles and duties in and out of the family. I don't feel slighted that my strengths and talents do not require the use of the priesthood. I have been able to lead in many ways under the direction of the Priesthood. I have been the President of the children's organization. I have also been a counselor in the women's organization. And I have had many other opportunities to serve and develop leadership skills without ever holding the priesthood. But I have been blessed to be able to benefit from the priesthood by having access to it. The roles complement each other. And I am open to inspiration that Heavenly Father gives to all of His children with or without the priesthood.
Madelyn answered...

I feel that men and women both have different but equally important roles in getting us back to God. In God's eternal plan we were spirits in His presence before this life. To progress we needed to get bodies on this earth, then perform specific ordinances (eg baptism, marriage) to return to God after this life. Women were given the godly power to bring spirits into this world and give them bodies, then nurture and raise these children with God's inspiration and guidance. The men were assigned the responsibility (through the God's Priesthood power) to serve others and administer the ordinances that will bring God's children back to His presence after this life. Both roles are necessary and equally important to God's plan for us.
I don't think women need the Priesthood to be powerful influences and to do God's work in their homes and in the church. I see men grow spiritually, and their characters become more godly when they act in God's name through using the Priesthood.
I have never felt the need to hold the Priesthood myself. I can still receive all the blessings offered by the Priesthood, my prayers can be just as powerful, and I still have access to the inspiration of God in my life.

Mormons believe Jesus Christ is their Savior. Why do we need a Savior?

Nate answered...

The fundamental principle of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is the faith in, reliance upon, and relationship with Jesus Christ. We regard Jesus Christ as the Savior of the world. Everyone on the earth today has made mistakes. All of us have come short of the perfect example that Christ set for us. The problem is the laws of God state that “no unclean person…hath any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God.” (Ephesians 5:5) Because of these laws, we needed a way to be cleansed from these sins and mistakes. God knew that we would fall short of perfection and by His grace he provided us a Savior, Jesus Christ. Being a perfect soul without blemish, Jesus was capable and willing to take upon Himself our sins. Because He paid the penalty for our sins, the atonement, we must take upon ourselves His name to reap the blessings of forgiveness. We do this by having faith in Christ, admitting and repenting of our sins, and being baptized in the true and restored church of Jesus Christ.