Jenelle Strong

Claire Stucki interviews Janelle Strong about her spiritual journey and counsel for younger generations. 

Transcript

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SPEAKER_01 0:11

Hi everyone, welcome to the Highlands Ranch Ward Podcast. Thanks for taking the time to tune in and listen. This is Claire. I'm your host today. Today I will be interviewing um Janelle Strong. Um, she's an amazing member of our ward. Thank you so much for joining us on the podcast today.

SPEAKER_00 0:29

Yeah, thanks for having me.

SPEAKER_01 0:31

Of course. Um, okay, with our questions to start off, um, my first question is how did you convert to the gospel?

SPEAKER_00 0:43

So this was a question that um I was kind of thinking about, and I think that there's not, you know, one particular event, but it's kind of been a lifelong process, I guess you could say, just with you know, all of life's circumstances, um, you know, things that have happened, I really kind of have to stop and examine what role faith and our savior and his atonement mean for me and how that's kind of constantly been evolving um throughout my life and throughout my experiences. And I know that you know, many of us have kind of growing pains um with certain, you know, events that happen. And we certainly sometimes have to rely on other people's faith and and forgiveness um in ourselves and you know in others. I think conversion is also learning what being Christ-like looks like and what it can be manifested as um in real life and in real time. And I think that conversion, you know, it should be an ongoing process. It should never be a stagnant state, and um it shouldn't always have to rely on others' experiences, though. At some some points in life, definitely that can be a crutch that we may we may need to lean on. Um, but I know that you know, life has brought constant opportunities to learn, to repent, to trust God more deeply, and to learn to love and strive to understand um more people that we encounter in life. And I think those are all great opportunities to strengthen our testimonies and to constantly kind of convert back to this belief that we have in our savior and his atonement.

SPEAKER_01 2:29

That's amazing. Thank you so much. I really loved what you said about um that conversion isn't a stagnant thing, it's a it's a living thing. We have to keep feeding our testimony and keep feeding our conversion. I really loved what you said, and like people will ask, especially like converts, like, how did you convert to the church? But I think what people we forget to um focus on is like after someone gets like a convert, for example, gets baptized, like they it doesn't just end there. Like you keep, they keep need to keep learning, keep teaching, keep growing. And that's the same with us. That's the same with like our personal conversion story. We just need to keep feeding our testimony, and we will have like those moments of yes, I know this is true, but like that's not where it ends. You need to keep feeding that. So I love what you said about that.

SPEAKER_00 3:23

Thank you. Yeah, absolutely. And I, you know, to reiterate too, I think a lot of people think that they have to have this grandiose moment of just pure clarity. Um and I mean that rarely happens. Sure, there you hear examples of that, but I think just like you know, the the example we always hear of, you know, faith is like a little seed, if planted, it will grow. So just starting small, but constantly nourishing that testimony, I think is is so critical.

SPEAKER_01 3:55

Yeah, that's amazing. Thank you. Okay, for our next question, um, what is your favorite family history story that inspires you?

SPEAKER_00 4:05

This one was a little bit tricky for me. Um there's I wouldn't really say there's one specific family history story. I was gonna just say that uh my mom, so she's done a ton of genealogy work. Um, and she's, you know, over years and years, and she's gone generations deep into her own, and then as well as my own, as well as my dad's families. She's traveled all across the US to meet uh these extended family members. Some of them are like sixth cousins, and she'll go to these family reunions. So I really have impressed with the work that you know she's done, and you know, she's gone out of her way to really meet the these extended family members. Um, I have a first cousin of mine that a couple, I don't know, maybe a couple years ago, um, she reached out to me about our dad's family, because our our dads are brothers. And I know I was able to log into like the ancestry website and send her an ex uh copy of our family tree that my mom had put together. And it goes back uh about like seven, seven lines, seven seven generations back. And so my this cousin of mine, um, our maiden name is Tittlefitz. And we constantly get asked where that name originates from. And by looking at that family history, um, you know, most of the time we can say, yeah, it's it's a German name, but it doesn't necessarily translate to anything in German. Fitz is typically like a prefix, um, meaning son of, but in this name it's a suffix. So it's just super unique, it's super uncommon. Um, and it's a name that just kind of slowly died off for the last hundred years. And then the origin of it, too, the genealogy my mom was able to do, it kind of goes back to this German era when it was considered Prussia. Um, and then most of the family left um to come to the US in the late 1890s. And then with World War I, that land got re-categorized, and then after World War II, it got recategorized again. And so it's it's modern-day Germany, but kind of the history of the geography is really fascinating as well. Um, and my mom and I went to the town where my great-great-grandfather was from. Um, it's called Sibad Bansin, and it's right currently on the border of Germany and Poland. And there's just not really a lot of records available because during World War II and World War I, a lot of buildings were bombed, and you know, churches in particular have like birth certificates, marriage certificates, death certificates, and it's all just kind of been obliterated. So it's just fascinating to me the records that my mom has been able to obtain. And a lot of it was just kind of word of mouth um stories that were passed down generation to generation. So there may be some, you know, some some false information in there that's just generationally been passed down, but just overall to kind of I think learn about the history, the roots of your ancestors and your family and kind of the the stories that they have about their, you know, immigration or moving their families, I think it's always really fascinating.

SPEAKER_01 7:24

Yeah, that is such a cool story. That's awesome. It's so cool to learn about where you came from and who came before you. There's a certain power in learning like the stories of people who sacrifice so much that we could be here, especially you know, having like immigrant ancestors or pioneer ancestors, things like that. It just is like so eye-opening to like how much work and sacrifice came before us so that we could be here and we could have this wonderful church and have our families. That's so amazing. Thank you.

SPEAKER_00 8:00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 8:01

Um, okay, for our next question, um, what is your favorite scripture story and why?

SPEAKER_00 8:10

Okay, so this is gonna sound like I kind of cheated and looked at Come Follow Me for this week, but honestly, the I thought of this story before I read this week's lesson, and then I was like, oh, this is actually this week's lesson, but yeah, um, so it's from 2 Kings chapter 5. It's the story of Naaman. And I remember the first time I um heard about this story, I was like, what? I've never heard of this story in the Old Testament before. And so um, I don't know, I just always love those kind of you know, kind of more unknown stories that then come up, you know, every four years, and you're like, oh yeah, I completely forgot about that. Um but it's so so Naaman is the like Syrian military leader, and he what I like about this story is not so much his conversion of faith, but there's this tiny detail in the beginning that I think often gets overlooked, but it's actually the the example of faith from the unnamed young Israelite servant girl. And so she kind of what we can deduce is that she was probably taken captive and she was made to become a servant, and she ends up being a servant to Naaman's wife. And you know, Naaman has leprosy, and he, you know, is trying to be cured of it or be treated of it. And this this young girl, I mean, she had every reason to totally feel bitterness and anger towards her captors. Um, and instead, she's the one that suggests, you know, for him to go see the prophet in Samaria. And she knew she had faith that he would be cured of his leprosy. And so I think just the the striking contrast between the two figures here. So the servant girl literally having no power but great faith that um, you know, if Naaman went to Elisha, that he would be cured. And then Naaman, who initially had great power but little faith. And, you know, initially when he's asked to go wash in the River Jordan, he thinks that that's you know, below him. He thinks he's of greater um stature than that, of greater importance. Um but you know, having to humble himself to that request, and then you know, gradually he built this trust and God's ability, whereas almost the opposite servant girl, we have no reason to believe that she had already, you know, been cured or or you know, received a miracle from this prophet, prophet, but she had the faith to to share that with you know Naaman's wife to then have Naaman cured. Um and you know, Naaman struggled because God's method that he was explained to go wash in the river seven times, that did not match his expectations. Um it kind of seemed redundant to him and below him. Um whereas this, you know, the servant girl's faith, she had it. It just required her courage to share it. So I think I think there's so there's so much detail in this one little chapter. And again, you know, she's she's a very, very minor character, and you just skim over it very briefly in like one verse. Um, but there's a huge impact there about her faith and and her courage to to share that.

SPEAKER_01 11:33

Wow. That's amazing. I love learning about these more um I don't know, the stories that we don't like talk about as much, and especially learning about those like smaller characters, but like the smaller characters who just contributed so much to the story. And I really loved what you said about um this servant girl, she had very little power but great faith. And the who was it, the king or um Naaman. Naaman, he had um he had little faith in great power. So it just kind of shows you like like I don't know if you've heard like um my dad served his mission in Bolivia, and I think one of the most interesting things he's told me, and I've heard this from many other people who have served their missions in more um third world countries, just these people have absolutely nothing. They have they like live in dirt floors, they sleep on the floor, they they quite literally, in our standards, have like nothing to be happy about. They have like nothing to their name, but they are some of the most happy people you will ever meet. Like the most down-to-earth, they will literally give you anything, like that just kind of shows you how it's so interesting when you have such little power, but and people just somehow have such great faith and great happiness and joy, and then when you have so much of that power, so much of what everyone wants, but you there's just always something missing, you don't have that faith. And I just think that's so awesome to see in those characters who who just like like you look at them and you're like, why like I don't understand why this person would have so much faith or they have not like like where does it come from, you know? But and these people who have so much and they they struggle to have faith, it's just so cool to see that kind of like like the opposites kind of thing where it's like that doesn't make sense, but like it does like it works, like it's just so cool to see that and how someone who's so humble, those are the people who have the most faith and have the most willingness to follow God. So that's really cool. Um, okay. Uh for our next question, um, is gonna be what is a time you've struggled with something in your life and you felt Christ walking with you in that trial?

SPEAKER_00 14:09

Um, so I'm gonna kind of combine this one with one of your other questions too about recent time filling the spirit. Cause I kind of when I was thinking about it, I was like, well, this this kind of goes, you know, answers both questions, I guess.

SPEAKER_01 14:22

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 14:23

Um and so kind of, you know, feeling a redemptive power, but then also a time where I felt the spirit. So I usually feel like being in nature or just being outside is a is a time where I can really um just kind of like strip away kind of the white noise, like the kid the chaos of life. Um and it usually when I'm running, it just kind of gives me time to just go through my thought process for the day and just kind of or organize and categorize my thoughts. Um, and this was only just a few weeks ago, I think, but um it was just a really rough day. There there was a lot weighing on me and nothing, nothing related to like my um immediate family, but just some life-changing events had happened to some people I know. And, you know, I'm the type of person where I just feel a sense of kind of burden or responsibility that I need to know how to help them fix these problems. Um and these are things that, you know, there's not a simple answer to, but there's, you know, a progression of things that need to happen for these people to have a better, I guess you could say, life outcome circumstances or change their circumstances or their outcome. Um and I think just that, like with running like the adrenaline and then just like the dopamine, um, just all these, you know, chemical like surges, um, I just all of a sudden got super choked up and like I had to stop running and I just started to just sob. Um and it was, it was nighttime, like it was like dusk, it was like nighttime. And so I just kind of turned my face away from the street because I was like, someone's gonna think that I got attacked or that I'm in trouble. And once I kind of put it together, you know, got myself back together. Um I kind of thought I had this just random thought, like, wouldn't it be nice just to like run into somebody I knew um just to validate, like feeling seen or kind of like cared about, like being, you know, just knowing that Heavenly Father like knew my concerns and my questions. And then kind of just I put my headphones in. Um I turned up my music really loud and like not even a hundred yards away, I ran into the bears and they were out taking a walk. And I was, I like stopped and I tried to pull my headphones off, but the earbuds got like trapped in my ear canal. It was like super embarrassing. I'm pretty sure I had like mascaras streaming down my face, and they were so nice. Like they even if I looked a mess, they didn't say anything about my appearance, at least. And I honestly I don't even remember what we talked about. Um, but after we kind of parted ways and I I kept running, it was just I had this total sense of calmness. Um, that just in that like small moment of just my absolute grief, of my absolute just like the weight of just life pressing on me, that just that simple thought, that simple plea was was answered. And uh it's just a testimony to me that you know, Heavenly Father, he even with these simple moments, like he does, he knows us, he knows our emotions, he knows our needs. And sometimes, you know, who's to say? Maybe the bears took another turn and I didn't run into them. But whether it was coincidence or, you know, the sphere, I it just really validated um, you know, my concerns validated my plea to be seen and to be heard.

SPEAKER_01 18:13

Wow. Things like that just really like show you like God not only like knows you, but he knows exactly how to help you, he knows how to speak to you, and he knows like what kind of like signs you need. Because um sometimes um like you'll see things and it's not till later you're like, oh yeah, that was that was definitely God trying to speak to me. And then there's some things where you're just like in the moment you're just like I like know that like he did that for me. Like that was so special to me. I could feel it, and like it's just so special to like see how God knows us so well and just he speaks to us in different ways. It can be by you know sending other people. Um, it can be just like from I don't know, seeing like a sunrise or something. Like, wow, like that's so beautiful and amazing. Like things like that is just like so special to like know that it's like just so amazing, like God has so much going on, but like he still has time and the amount of love to just send something your way to let you know that like he's always with you, he's always watching you, and he knows exactly what you need at all times. That's so amazing.

SPEAKER_00 19:38

And I uh I have a strong testimony too of you know the Lord using us as his messengers, as quote unquote, like his angels on earth. And I think sometimes, you know, we might get a prompting or just like, uh huh, you know, I should do this, I should do that. And it doesn't make a ton of sense, but I do know that, and I I know lots of people in the world have shared their experience too, where they felt prompted to do something and they didn't realize what an impact it had on somebody else until much later. Um so I think just being in tune with those, you know, even if you think, oh, that's just a thought, or you know, like that's no big deal, who who's gonna care? Um, we just we never know what each other are experiencing. And even if we are projecting, you know, externally that we are really doing well, we're keeping it together, um, you know, there are definitely moments and times where I think we all need to be reminded of just how much we are thought of and and loved.

SPEAKER_01 20:38

So and I can totally see that, like in our um sacrament meetings, just sometimes you'll just be going through such a hard time and it's sacrament meeting, and all these people get up and just so simply bear, like I am having a really hard time. I am going through something really hard, and like just being so like raw and honest, and not trying to like put up a front, and like things like that just make you feel like wow, like I really am not alone. And that's kind of jumping into our next question. Um, but like, yeah, it's just so amazing to see, like, wow, I'm really not alone in this. Um, yeah, with that, our next question is what do you love most about our ward?

SPEAKER_00 21:23

So this is personal, but I don't think it's super unique. Um so we moved into the ward a couple years ago and we we moved to Highlands Ranch specifically for our son. Um we wanted to get him into a better school district that could accommodate some of his needs, um, because he's he's twice exceptional. And anytime we move, um, you know, I feel like we always have to kind of give a rap sheet of you know what our son's needs are and kind of what um our I could could say demands are as well. And our concern is always, you know, that our son be in an environment where he feels accepted, but also, you know, he's able to engage with people that can adapt to him and not vice versa. So when we first moved here, I think, you know, I let off very being very open but firm with our expectations of him being a church and a primary. And I was honestly just really surprised at the level of interest and adaptability that we received almost immediately from the adults that would be interacting with him the most. And there's a few adults and families that have really just taken an interest um sincerely in his hobbies and and who he is. And it's just been overall just a very peaceful and enjoyable experience to see him, you know, feel welcomed into a church environment. And I don't think everybody gets to experience that equally in all places. And so that is something that I really do respect about the ward members and I really do uh feel thankful towards them for immediately being responsive to kind of our requests for how this was going to be the best experience for him. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 23:24

Our ward is just so amazing in that way where sometimes you'll feel like you when you're being really vulnerable and it's kind I kind of think of it as like when you're being super vulnerable, you're kind of just jumping off a cliff and just going for it and you're just like hoping that someone will catch you and that's exactly what our ward does is just you be vulnerable and our ward will just open you up um open their arms to you and like that's um like so appreciated in our ward is like just saying how you feel and um just saying what you need and like you never feel like you're being like needy or like oh like I don't know is this too much to ask like our like our ward is just so good in that and just welcoming everyone and just being so accommodating for people.

SPEAKER_00 24:17

Like it's just so amazing to see like you will be like welcomed with open arms and that's just like how our ward is it's really special to see um okay with our next question um what is a recent time you felt the spirit I don't know if you have like um a different um experience for this or you kind of just wanna I felt like that one kind of you know intertwined with the with the previous question just you know definitely feeling Christ's love um but also you know the spirit at the same time totally I mean there's there's multiple you know experiences in life definitely where I've I felt that but I think that was kind of the most recent one where um you know definitely felt acknowledged and and also just like thankful to that you know we're we're in a place we live in a place where I I can run into people that we know and um you know feel that kind of that comfort or that relief um and seeing them. So we've not always lived in safe places. Um and so you know just to have have that comfort as well just knowing that I can I can be out enjoying you know God's land without feeling a physical threat to myself I guess.

SPEAKER_01 25:45

So yeah yeah that's amazing I really do love that experience and shout out the bears they're so amazing I love them I'm just glad that they walk out in the dark at this when I when I'm running so oh totally totally oh my gosh so amazing all right for our very last question um if you could go 100 years in the future and talk to your posterity what advice would you give them so um with the youth I think I try and incorporate this as much as I can with teaching them but I think the I mean what what it's gonna look like for a youth in 100 years I think is going to be very very different obviously than what it is now.

SPEAKER_00 26:32

But I think an over um overlying kind of theme that continues through generations is and this sounds cliche but um you know it's nice to be important but it's definitely important to be nice. And I think just recognition and identity and being known I think those are all nice things most of the time not always but you know just fostering strong relationships with family members and you know close friends obviously that will more or less sustain you through most of life's struggles. And I think that fostering those healthy relationships and with siblings and parents specifically but you know also friendships that that that's where your people are going to be as your life goes through many different stages. And you you'll you'll have people come and go. You'll have friendships come and go. And sometimes you have to be willing to let go of some of those just because you know if there's not reciprocity in those relationships you will kind of burn yourself out. But you know being willing to forgive being willing to create a stronger bond, your family members will not always make the choices that you feel are best for you or even for them sometimes but having that kind of open channel of communication I think is so critical so that even in those moments where you need them or they need you that you can you can be there for each other. And I I tell my kids constantly like you only get this sibling this is the only sibling you're gonna have and we're gonna move we're gonna live different places you guys are going to go to different schools your friends are going to change your brother is not your brother's always going to be your brother and so you know I love my children not to fight every day. That's just the phase that they're in but you know like hey this relationship with each other it's gonna last longer and matter more than any other relationship that you're gonna have with a friend or a peer. And that stands true you know in my family I feel like you know we're all adults now we all live in different states. We all have our own kids but having that relationship with my siblings is so important to me. Um and I realize it's not the same throughout every family but that's what I would try and tell the youth in a hundred years is just really cherish those relationships and and really just work on making them you know healthy for sure.

SPEAKER_01 29:20

Um and also invest in a good mattress in in a hundred years mattresses would not exist yes like you gotta take care of your back so oh my gosh totally that's awesome I love everything you said I really loved when you said it's nice to be important but it's important to be nice or yeah yeah yeah I've never heard that that's amazing I feel like I feel like that's something that like my grandma would say um oh yeah that's so cool sounds old but maybe maybe it's not I don't know I I love that that's so and because I think we all really want to feel important and we all want to feel seen but sometimes when you're feeling like that like oh like no one notices me like I'm not that cool I'm not that popular whatever like sometimes it's just good to take a second and look outside of yourself and sometimes the cure to that and to feeling like you're not seen is to help someone else feel seen and to go out of your way to be kind to someone else like I just know like that means the world when someone's sitting alone and you go out of your way to sit next to them and just like have a conversation with people like it means the world when you make people people feel seen and that's just so amazing. And um I love what you said about siblings like I definitely have had my eyes opened in the last couple years that like if you really think about it like your siblings on this earth are gonna be the people you spend the most amount of time with you're you were born with them you grew up with them eventually your parents are gonna pass away and you're just gonna have your siblings so like might as well make that like an amazing relationship because they really are built-in best friends and they came from the exact same spot you did and it's just so it's such a powerful relationship that I it's always kind of hard when you're younger but it can be such a powerful relationship to have in your life to have a good good friendship with your siblings so for sure yeah yeah that's amazing well thank you so much Janelle for um speaking to us today of course thanks for having me I appreciate it of course I hope you have a great rest of your day thank you so much thanks Claire