Elna Petersen

Elna celebrates her birthday on October 31st. She was born and raised in Lovell, Wyoming. She has ten siblings and still enjoys spending time with them. Elna has 10 children, 5 boys and 5 girls. She also has 51 grandchildren (52 in March) and 57 great grandchildren.

Some people may not know that Elna has served 3 missions. She served in England and New Zealand and then served a mission with her husband in Portland, Oregon. She also loves singing and used to sing a lot. She was married to her first sweetheart for 47 years and she and Willis have been married for 13 years.

Elna loves reading and writing, but not arithmetic (that really made me giggle). Her favorite book is whatever she is currently reading. She loves the scriptures, The Secret Garden, and the Hymn book. She has written a book of poetry. She likes people and especially enjoys getting to know them. She really loves babies. Elna loves beautiful things. She has several pieces of art in her home that she loves to look at. She also loves listening to her stepson play the guitar and having her husband read to her.

Elna has a few heroes. The first is Moroni. The second is his mother. She explained that she can only imagine what a wonderful mother she must have been. Both Moroni and his father Mormon were given difficult tasks and we know they lived in wicked times, yet both wrote about charity and other lovely things. So she has concluded that Moroni's mother must be a very special person. Elna also really loves Emma Smith. The love that she showed to people, especially in opening her home to people that were not her own, is something that stands out to Elna.

Happy Birthday Elna! We are so glad you are in our ward and hope your day is perfect! Thank you for all that you do.