There was a great article in LDS Living - July 2011- with an interview with Ardeth Kapp. She answered questions about her service in the church but she also spoke about her infertility... see her answers below... You can also check out the entire article HERE.
Q – Your struggle with infertility has been a defining experience for you and one that you have often discussed. What do you hope people have learned (and will learn) from your experience?I think that we all live with unfulfilled expectations. Everything in life doesn’t turn out just how we want—at least not on our time frame. This was the scripture that we have always said, but now we know: “Trust in the Lord with all thy heart; lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct thy paths” (Proverbs 3:5-6). You sometimes have to go through quite a journey to be able to look back and say, “Oh, yes. He was directing my path.” What we learned from that was about the things you have no control over, then you have to use your agency to determine alternatives, and use personal revelation to give you direction, which is a thing that we are each entitled to.
If we can learn to trust in the Lord with all our heart, even when it may not make sense, then in years to come we can feel comfortable that we did the Lord’s will and He blessed us all the way.
And I would just like to say this: the Lord’s first commandment was to love one another, and you don’t have to bear children to love them, or to help someone gain eternal life. You may not be able to give life, but you can help others gain eternal life. And no blessing will be denied, if we live worthily. We’ll all have our children. I say after 450,000 prayers I was given 450,000 young women to be responsible for! One for every blessing.
Q – What has infertility taught you about the unique situations of each member of the Church?We all have challenges—we’re here to be tried and tested. There are those who would withdraw and separate themselves from opportunities that they might otherwise have had. But if we don’t wrap our arms around ourselves to pull away, but open our arms to reach out to others, then there are unlimited opportunities to love and share and give and bless.
The opportunities are all around us. I live not far from an elementary school, and I have children from the elementary school who come by my door—it’s usually when I’m the busiest, but I never turn them away! We have this little routine—they’ll knock on the door, and I’ll say, “How are you?” And they’ll say, “Better than I was, but not as good as I’m going to be!” Then I’ll say, “What are you going to do?” And they’ll say, “Try a little harder to be a little better!” Then I let them in, and they come in and go to the candy basket and put some candy in a bag, then they go into the library and choose a book—I have a whole row of children’s books—then they read to me. And they always sign the guest book before they leave. I don’t have to remind them—they remind me. Sometimes they’ll write, “Sister Kapp, you’re really cool.” One little boy that brought his friend put his around him and said, “She’s just like a grandma!” So there’s no limit to our opportunities.
Once again this year we have teamed up with the local libraries (Henderson and Las Vegas/Clark County) and we have a display with pamphlets and books and a poster and each library in the Valley.
