LOGAN — Time Out for Women brought 1,600 women to Cache Valley last weekend, most of them strangers … but not really.
United in faith, they gathered on the campus of Utah State University in Logan to soak in the messages of "sweet assurance" promised them.
"This is not church," producer Angela Folsom said, but it's no secret that the event is intended to inspire.
Now in its fifth year in Logan, Time Out for Women has been bringing women together throughout North America since 2002 in an upbeat, uplifting environment that centers on personal fulfillment and spiritual growth. Time Out for Women is sponsored by Deseret Book, which is affiliated with The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
"These are opportunities to learn and grow and become closer to our Heavenly Father," said Logan participant Sharilee Guest, a longtime volunteer. "It doesn't matter what titles you have in this life or how much money you have in the bank. What matters is where we are with the Lord."
Guest became involved with Time Out for Women during its first Logan tour, and she counts the opportunity among her life's greatest blessings.
"That first year, I was invited to participate by a friend," she said. "I was a single mother at the time with limited funds, and being able to earn my own ticket was wonderful. I've been coming back ever since for two reasons.
"First, the presenters are phenomenal no matter what stage of life you're in, and second, women need to spend time with other women. This event gives us a timeout in the most positive sense of the word. I joke with my girlfriends that we're being sent to our room in the Kent Concert Hall on Friday, and we're not coming out until Saturday. This is how I fill my bucket."
With "Sweet Assurance" as its 2009 theme, Time Out for Women reminds participants that feelings of peace and contentment are attainable, even in troubled times.
"You have to have the ups and downs, and you have to know how to work with them," said Chieko N. Okazaki, former member of the Relief Society general presidency. "It's not an easy life, really, and when I present, I want the sisters to feel like they've learned something that will help them get through."
Their faces shining with both laughter and tears, Time Out for Women's Friday night guests traveled from throughout the Intermountain West to enjoy the evening's three-hour program, featuring Okazaki and Mark Mabry as speakers, along with musical presentations by Michael McLean and Cherie Call.
Saturday's lineup included more music from Cherie Call, with authors Emily Watts, Brent Top and Mary Ellen Edmunds and Jill Manning, a licensed marriage and family therapist, as speakers.
"When my husband, Bryce, heard that his mission president, President Top, was coming to Cache Valley, he said it was important that I listen to him speak," said Lacey Buchanan of Smithfield. "He loves how President Top can make deep, deep layers of doctrine easy enough for a baby to understand, and he wanted me to experience some of what he learned on his mission in Peoria, Illinois, back in 2004.
"More than that," Buchanan said, "I just think life gets so busy all the time, and women in particular need to take time to realize that we have more to offer than just our work. We are spiritual beings, not just physical beings, and this is a good time for us to feed our souls."
USU graduate student Lanae Squires agrees. Attending Time Out for Women with her mother, grandmother and aunt, Squires' family has made the event a tradition.
"We're from Grand Junction, Colorado," she explained, "and this is our third event. We've been twice in Denver now, and I'm so grateful that my family could make the eight-hour drive to join me in Utah this time. The four of us are the only active members of the church in our family, and it's hard sometimes. This is an opportunity for us to be renewed together, and we can also get little tidbits to share."
Squires, who is studying rehabilitative counseling, especially appreciated references singer Michael McLean made to his 40-year battle with depression and his subsequent reliance on "better living through chemistry."
"I thought his message about being OK with taking antidepressants was so cool," she said, "because so often in the church, we think that if we just have enough faith, God can heal us. And he can, but sometimes we have to do our part, too."
Time Out for Women continues its 2009 tour in October with stops from coast to coast, including a Salt Lake City presentation in mid-November.
"For me, Time Out for Women is all about feeling loved and happy and renewed," said Juliene Robbins of Petersboro, Cache County. "It's about being revived and being ready to go out there and be a woman again. It's about being able to tackle this ugly world and knowing that we can conquer it. And we really can, if we're all in it together."