Let me introduce Sister Faun with
the opening paragraph from her Journal.
"That little baby girl born
on a crisp, golden, autumn day - October 16, 1906 in the pleasant little town
of Mona, Utah, the ninth child in a wonderful family of ten, to devoted parents
who cherished, loved, taught, and directed our lives in the way we should
go. By word and deed we learned from
them to love God and to keep His commandments, to love each other, to be
mindful of and to serve our fellowmen.
To know that each of us belongs to that eternal family, each important
to the whole, each necessary to God's wonderful, eternal plan of
salvation."
From this opening paragraph it is
easy to see she was a child who was well loved and loved well in return. Her life seemed always to reflect the
teachings of her youth. In her journal
she recounted a story which represents what I believe to be the essence of
Sister Faun. Let me read just these few
paragraphs from her journal.
"During those summers Papa
took Paul and me everywhere with him and oh what fun it was. One summer he was digging a well over on the
West side dry farm in Mona with hopes of reaching water to improve the wheat
crops. All summer, Papa and the men
helping him would start at daybreak to load the barrels of water and tools in
the wagons to take the few miles to the dry farm where they would spend the day digging for
water. One early morning as they were
preparing to leave, Paul and I were watching and following Papa around asking
questions when he asked us if we would like to go with him that day. "Oh yes, of course". So Papa persuaded Mama that it would be
alright. Sure he would take good care of
us, so another lunch was quickly made for us, hats were put on our heads and we
were boosted upon the seat of the wagon to sit beside Papa. I can still feel the warmth of the morning
sun coming up, the smell of the sweet odor of the hay and the horses and hear
the happy singing of Papa as the wagons pulled out of the barnyard. Down the dusty road we lumbered, past the
pond and the pastures, across the creek bridge.
Oh what an adventure! Suddenly
Papa stopped the horses and jumped off the wagon and with his pocket knife cut
off a piece of thistle. He peeled, cut
it and handed each of us a piece. Then
back on the wagon and once more we were on our way, singing Papa's favorite
happy morning song. "There was a
little lassie, went this way, went that way" and so forth. Each of us chewing on the sweet stick of
thistle. Did you ever eat a piece of
sweet thistle? Well you should. But then, it may not taste the same in a
different time and place. All that day
as the men worked on the well Paul and I roamed the field, rode the horse,
found treasures of Indian arrow heads.
This had been Ute country. And
swinging in the hammock that Papa had made with chicken wire hung between two
fence posts. By sundown most of our
energy was spent so we stood with Papa beside the deep well. "Did you get to water today,
Papa?" I asked. "No, my dear. Eighty feet down and only a trickle of
water. I guess the good Lord really
intends this to be a dry land."
"It's so deep, Papa",
we said. "Yes, my dears, so
deep. A whole summer's work". And then he brightened. "Would you children like to go down into
the well and see what it looks like?"
"Oh yes, could we, Papa?"
So one at a time we stepped with Papa into the big bucket and the men
slowly lowered us into the well. First
Paul and then me. What a pounding of my
heart, but Papa had his hand on my shoulder and that always gave me
courage. Down we went, past the sand and
the rock and the red earth, each changing layer of earth bringing my questions
and Papa's careful answers. Then as the
bucket came to rest on the bottom of the dark well, I saw it, that small
trickle of water, a summer's work.
"I'm sorry it's only a trickle, Papa." I said.
And then as we stood there watching that trickle of water, a small
feeling of melancholy touched me.
"Papa, it's rather dark and scary down here isn't it?" And Papa, always ready to teach us some
important lesson, pressed me a bit closer to him and said something I have
never forgotten and I never shall. To
the child of seven and the woman of seventy-two it has always been a great
comfort. "Look up, my dear,"
he said. And as I looked up I saw above
the top rim of the well, the sky with the brilliant red of the summer
sunset. How often I have seen that
blazing color as Utah
's
summer sun sets. And as I looked upon
this color from the bottom of that deep well, I heard my loving Father's voice
say, "You must never be frightened, my dear. You see, up there is a kind and loving
Heavenly Father. If you always stay
close to Him with faith and prayer, He will guide you, direct and bless your
life. He alone will know what is best
for you, trust in Him. Remember, always
remember no matter where you go, no matter what you do or what happens to you,
you will be safe if you always remember Him and pray to Him." That evening riding home we sang Papa's
evening song, "Oh Galilee, Oh Galilee, Where Jesus loved so much to
be". As the wagon rolled slowly
along that dusty road there was such love in my heart for Papa and a greater
faith and trust in that Heavenly Father that has henceforth blessed my
life."
Even as a child Faun had a strong
testimony of the truthfulness of the gospel but with each new calling in the
church her testimony and love of the gospel have become stronger. Her first calling was in the early 40's when
she was a young mother with two young boys.
She was called to teach a class of 12 year olds' in Sunday School. They were a challenge for her but they were
bright and had been taught the gospel principles by their parents. She often thought of them and remembered the
good lively classes they had - and wondered - did they teach her more than she
taught them? She said she was left wiser
than before teaching the class.
Then she was called as a teacher
in Relief Society. The class that year
was called the Old Testament as Literature.
In her own words, "I shall never forget it, my feeling that a
mistake had been made. Feeling that I
was totally unprepared for such a calling.
There were so many wonderful sisters in that class, so much more capable
and versed in the gospel than I. But I
had been taught to never say no when I received a calling in the church, and so
I must accept and do my best. So with
fear and a weak feeling of my capability, I accepted. I shall never forget the many hours of study
every morning. Then an hour's walk to ponder
and to pray. To pray that the Lord would
help me to remember what I had studied and that I would only teach that which
was true, only that which the Lord desired and prompted me to teach. I must tell you that those years that I
taught those lessons enriched my life so much, as I studied about the prophets
of old - Isaiah, Jeremiah, Amos, and others, they became so close to me. I felt the strength of Amos - a strong man
taken from the fields to preach to the King, the elite, and I cried with
Jeremiah over his love and his sorrow for his people and their wickedness and
unrepenting ways, and I felt the strength and wisdom of Isaiah. How I loved those never-to-be forgotten
lessons."
Later she was called to be a
counselor in the Relief Society. She refered
to this calling as, "days of rich friendships, days of loving sisters,
days of real service, of giving and receiving wonderful blessings."
Then came a calling of real
surprise - President of the Young Women's Mutual. She had never worked in the Mutual before but
was glad to accept this calling. Her
daughter, Ann was just 12 years old and in her first year of Mutual. Faun thought it would be great to be involved
with the girls and their activities. It
was a very active and happy time.
Beautiful girls. She had a hand
in helping plan their lessons, their dances, their shows and camp. The camps were great. She loved those times they shared sleeping
under the stars at Donner
Lake
, the hikes, the
songs, all the workers. She stayed with
the calling until Ann was out of Mutual and off to college. (Part of that time, Brother Harold Sellers
was Young Men's President and it was so great and fun working with him.)insert
your own thoughts here.
The next calling was very
special. She had never thought of
herself being at the Temple
as a full time worker, so when the call came it was a joyful blessing. Many times she had the special blessing of
going to the temple and each time she went to that sacred place, she felt the
peace and a special spirit there, the loving sisters and brothers, the special
work being done. How she loved it
all. The three years she spent there,
had a special place in her life. To be a
full time worker in the Lord's House, to meet with the brothers and sisters for
prayer meeting each morning, to spend one whole day each week in a beautiful,
peaceful place doing the Lord's work was more than she could ever ask for. Surgery on her knees forced her to give up
that work she loved so much.
Then she wondered, "What
does the Lord have waiting for me now?"
It was a little hard for her to think of anything that could take the
place of those last three years. But He
did have something. That was when
Brother Ronald Buhler came to see her asking if she could speak Spanish or if
she could read Spanish. She said,
"No, not a word". Then he
asked if she knew anything about the extraction program. She replyed "No, I have no idea what it
is". He spent some time telling her
about it, letting her know that it was very important work and that her ward
was involved with working on Spanish records.
He said he felt she had the spirit and that she could do the work. By the time he finished telling her about the
work, she was anxious to learn more and, true to form, did accept. She learned about the Spanish in the records
and began to love the work. She couldn't
wait to come to the church each morning and spend hours in that little room
working on records. She was given the
Aztec Indian records. She enjoyed doing
these the most of all as she had some Indian blood in her veins and sometimes
felt like these people were her ancestors.
She received many blessings from years of work there. But most of all she was so happy being able
to do this work. She received so much
help from many wonderful people.
Each position strengthened her
testimony of the truthfulness of the gospel.
During these past few years of illness, her testimony of the Gospel of
Jesus Christ never wavered. She has
greatly enjoyed the visits of ward members, friends, and family.
Like a missionary, her time in
the field has now been completed. Her
release, at age 87 years 6 months, came DATE at time. She has gone "home" to make her
report and rejoice with family that have preceded her. Those having gone before are her husband
Velsa, better known to most as Bud, two grandchildren, Christine and Steven,
and all but two of her brothers and sisters.
I am sure it will be a grand
"home coming".
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