Bringing Elizabeth Home (3 page)

There are numerous passages in scripture that emphatically remind us there is indeed soul-strengthening power that comes from impassioned prayer. Our prayers were constant and ever-present. We often prayed that God would soften the hearts of Elizabeth's abductors. We prayed for Elizabeth's protection. We prayed for her safe return. We were not certain of God's plan for us or Elizabeth, but we knew that it was not God who took Elizabeth—so how could we place any blame on Him?

Free agency is the concept that individuals should be free to make decisions that affect their own lives, even if those decisions are wrong. Elizabeth's captors, Brian David Mitchell and Wanda Barzee, acted on their free agency the night Brian broke into our home and stole Elizabeth. Though they have the ability to freely choose their actions, they are not free from the consequences. Subsequently, neither are we—nor is Elizabeth. We are all accountable for our own actions, right and wrong.

We both are uncertain how we would have survived Elizabeth's abduction had it not been for our strong faith and beliefs. More important than that, we don't know how Elizabeth would have survived. We have raised her with the ability to think freely, make good choices, and to believe in a loving Heavenly Father. She is so strong, and we are extremely proud of her. We felt certain that Elizabeth had the inner strength to get through an ordeal such as hers. We knew, without a doubt, that her faith was unshakable. Like Job, she descended into hell and surfaced.

Chapter 4

L
OIS

For if there be no faith among the children of men
God can do no miracle among them . . .

—ETHER 12:12

I
COME FROM A
very large family, the second youngest with five brothers and three sisters. In my family there is a long tradition of strong women, women such as my grandmother, Genevieve Pettit, who grew up on a farm in Arizona. Even as a four-year-old child she had many responsibilities. Every morning she would go with her father to milk the cows, carrying tiny buckets to collect the stripping, which is what butter is made from. One morning when the cows had broken out of the corral, her father went ahead to collect and bring them back, leaving her to walk alone along the long path from the house to the corral. Her mother encouraged her to hurry but to stay on the path so as to not get lost. Along the way, Grandmother stopped abruptly when she saw a rattlesnake coiled up alongside the path. Before she could back away it attacked, biting her on the knee. When her mother saw her sit down on the ground, she realized something was wrong and raced out to help her. Back then a rattlesnake bite was invariably fatal. Her mother carried her to the yard and placed her in a hammock that hung between two large trees next to their home. Her leg turned black from the poison. When nearby Hopi Indians heard that a child had been bitten, they came to see her and offer remedies and gifts. The Indians were kind to the family, but they were also certain my grandmother was facing death. Her parents placed poultices on the wound and prayed over her knee, staying by her side through the day and night. The next morning, to everyone's surprise, the venom was oozing out of her knee. Grandmother was weak from the bite for months after, and couldn't walk for a while, but she lived and eventually was completely healed. She had a strong will to live, and this has been passed along to the women in my family for generations. Elizabeth is certainly no exception to this trait.

The Francom family has always been one of strong faith. From the time I was a child, and all throughout my life, I believe I have witnessed many miracles. Through scripture, the Lord makes it very clear that faith is not developed by miracles, but that miracles are a result of great faith. Miracles are around us every day, but we need to learn how to see them. In life, there are no coincidences. Things that seemingly happen “out of the blue” are never really just random. When I was a child, our family would take vacations that usually involved all eleven of us piling into the family station wagon. One time while driving to Lake Tahoe, we were running very low on gas and my father looked desperately for a gas station, but there was none to be found. My mother studied Dad's trusty map and thought she'd found a shortcut to the next town. Soon after taking this new route we realized it was not a shortcut at all, and we indeed ran out of gas at the top of a large hill. I remember my father saying a prayer and then letting the car coast down the hill. At the bottom of the hill, he steered the car around a bend in the road, and there we found a man sitting in his truck with a barrel tank of gas in the back, complete with a nozzle and hose. The man readily filled our tank, and when my father tried to pay he refused to accept even a dime. I have no idea what the driver was doing out there in the middle of nowhere, but there he was, just sitting at the bottom of that hill waiting for us. We marveled at the notion that God heard our prayer—and answered it with a tank of gas in the middle of nowhere.

When my younger brother was eighteen months old, he contracted meningitis and encephalitis. I was three years old at the time, but I can remember the profound effect it had on our family. We prayed for him constantly. Fearing the worst, the doctors had told my mother to go home and tend to her other children. They didn't think my brother was going to pull through, and if he did, he'd certainly live the rest of his life with physical challenges. Yet my mother wouldn't leave his side. She had eight other children to tend to, but she couldn't leave my brother alone to die. The faith she had was incredibly strong. She knew he'd be healed through the blessings he received—and in the end, he was. He is alive today and is a brilliant, successful married man and father who survived his illness with no side effects whatsoever. The family faith overpowered the medical prognosis. That, to me, was another miracle.

Because faith is so strong in my family, it was vitally important to me that I marry someone whose faith matched my own. I had serious doubts as to whether I would ever be able to find the right person, but when I met Ed, something just clicked. I was twenty-seven and he was twenty-nine. I had traveled a lot, and I was working and enjoying life. Ed was working in real estate, buying and selling properties. We both knew what we were looking for, and we found it in each other. There was no use in wasting any more time. We were engaged after twelve dates and married a month later, in December 1984.

Elizabeth has followed this example with a strong faith of her own. When she was eight years old, she was baptized as a member of the church. She had been taught that she could pray anytime, anywhere, and that a loving Heavenly Father would hear her prayers. At that time we took a weekend trip to Ed's parents' mountain cabin, located not too far from our home in Salt Lake City. It was springtime, and everything in the mountains was in full bloom. Elizabeth loves horses, and she was eager to go for a ride. It's often been said that she plays the harp like an angel and rides a horse like a cowboy. That completely captures the spirit and essence of our daughter.

Her grandpa enjoys taking all of the children riding. His favorite trail, called “The Salt Trail,” winds its way up the mountain to a meadow, where the children could stop to let the horses graze and rest. Especially at that time of year, the view down at the canyon and meadows overflowing with blooming wildflowers is spectacular. Elizabeth dismounted her horse but didn't have a tight hold on the reins. Her horse pulled the reins from her hands and bolted back down to the pasture, leaving Elizabeth standing horseless at the top of the trail. Grandpa often said that you can never let the horse think he's the boss, because if you do, it's hard to break him of that habit, so it was important to find the horse. Since it was spring, there was no trodden-down path for her to follow. Elizabeth got lost and couldn't find her way back, and she thought for certain she would be in big trouble if she didn't find the horse. Despite her panic, she had the presence of mind to kneel down and pray. She asked our Heavenly Father if He'd help her find the horse and allow her to find her way back to the cabin. Soon thereafter, a rider came up the path and gave her a ride back. Her horse had returned safe and sound and was eating grass in the pasture. That is typical of Elizabeth's faith and prayerful way. It is also indicative of her survival instincts.

I am honored and proud to be Elizabeth's mother. She's a wonderful girl who has been able to set an example that tells so many people to never give up hope. She has lived her entire life as a truly fine daughter of our Heavenly Father. She is exactly how we believe a daughter should be and act. She's considerate, strong-willed, a good student, an accomplished musician, and has a mind of her own. There is a real bond between us—and it's not always the case that a teenager wants to hang out with Mom. We genuinely like spending time together. She tells me she wants to be just like me when she grows up, and I truly appreciate hearing that—I'm not sure it'll always be that way, but for now I'll take what I can get!

Elizabeth enjoys going horseback riding, playing her harp, running, skiing, and watching movies. She loves hanging out with her brothers and sister, but she's a teenager and really
loves
being with her friends. She has an especially close bond with Mary Katherine. Despite their age difference, Elizabeth seems to enjoy being with her. Before the kidnapping, the girls shared a bedroom, arguing only when Mary Katherine's things spilled over onto Elizabeth's side of the room. That problem has since been taken care of now that they have their own rooms. Likewise, Mary Katherine looks up to her big sister and wants to be like her in every way. She learned to play the harp to follow in Elizabeth's footsteps, starting right around the same time Elizabeth learned to play—five years of age. By the time Elizabeth reached middle school, she had become a talented musician and performer. She worked very hard to master her skill, and she hopes to someday attend the Juilliard School in New York City. Anyone who really knows Elizabeth recognizes her playful, mischievous side. She has a quick wit and a great sense of humor, and if she is inspired, she can quote long passages from her favorite Sandra Bullock movie,
Miss Congeniality.

Elizabeth has a very determined mind. If she sets her sights on something, she will get it. She has those certain qualities that separate enduring from merely getting through adversity. For us these qualities are spiritual in nature, and come from fully trusting in God. We found comfort in our prayers, certain that God would give us the strength to survive, if not triumph over, our tribulation.

Chapter 5

E
D

Have I done any good in the world today? Have I helped anyone in need? Have I cheered up the sad and made someone feel glad? If not, I have failed indeed. Has anyone's burden been lighter today, because I was willing to share? Have the sick and weary been helped on their way? When they needed my help was I there? Then wake up and do something more than dream of your mansions above. Doing good is a pleasure, a joy beyond measure, a blessing of duty and love.

—WILL L. THOMPSON

I
WAS BORN OF
wonderful parents. Through good and bad, they have always been there for me. My parents, Dorotha and Charles, had six children, including me. Though I was born in Utah, we moved coast to coast a few times while I was growing up. My father is a physician and completed his internship on the west coast and his residency on the east coast. This moving and the usual demands of a physician left a lot of responsibility on the shoulders of my mother. She is strong willed and has a strong faith. That faith has always been followed by action. As in James 2:20, “Faith without works is dead.” She leads by an example of action.

I have felt the Lord's hand in my life many times. When my mother was pregnant with my sister Angela, I and my brothers came down with a case of the measles, which my mother then also contracted. This was of great concern to my parents. They were encouraged by other physicians to abort the pregnancy, as it was most probable that the baby would be born abnormal. Through prayer, faith, and a blessing, my mother carried that pregnancy to term. Angela was born with no complications. She is a blessing to us all.

While we were living in Washington, D.C., my father decided to take all of us on a boat trip to Tangier Island. He loved to go boating. We put into the water where the Potomac River reaches the Chesapeake. This time, the fog was so thick you could hardly see your hand in front of your face, but it was expected to burn off, so we went on our way, using a compass and nautical maps and sound buoys to plot our course. The buoys in the water helped to keep us on track. As we went farther into the channel, the air remained as thick as it was when we left, making all of us very nervous as we tried to make our way to the island. We detoured to a larger island first. We arrived safely, but realized that we would have to find another way back to avoid the fog, so we chose another route. We soon found ourselves in even more hazardous conditions, approaching a shoal where the water was especially shallow. We could have easily ripped the bottom of the boat out if my dad had made one wrong turn before reaching the outlet. After unsuccessfully trying to navigate our way out, my father suggested that we turn to prayer. We had been lost for more than an hour, wandering and fearful that we would be stranded. We took Dad's advice and prayed. Soon thereafter, we heard a bell in the distance that guided us back toward Tangier Island and home.

My father is the kind of man who never gives up on anything. He leads his family by example. Two of his favorite hymns that I remember are
Lead Kindly Light
and
Have I Done Any Good in the World Today
. They epitomize his life. I'd like to believe my children feel the same way about me. My grandfather, Junius Smart, taught me to never do a job halfway. He owned a number of apartment buildings in Los Angeles. I used to help him clean the buildings and do handiwork and maintenance. A good work ethic was impressed on me from a very early age. Church was always an important factor in our lives. We rarely missed going. My grandfather taught us the importance of scripture and the role it plays in life. When I was twelve, he gave me ten dollars to memorize the following passage from the Book of Mormon: