Episode Eight: Miracles in Motion: Liz Watt's Journey of Polygamy and Family Blessings
In this episode of 'Latter-day Miracles,' hosts Haley Hatch Freeman and Misty Smith are joined by Liz Watt, a holistic wellness expert and CEO, as she shares her remarkable life experiences and the miracles she's witnessed. Liz discusses her memoir 'Becoming Me: A Polygamous Girl's Journey to New Beginnings,' highlighting lessons from her polygamous upbringing. She recounts the profound miracles involving her sons' multiple ACL injuries, their unique treatments, and how faith and divine guidance led her family through these trials. Liz emphasizes the importance of trusting in God, relinquishing control, and being open to the miracles that can manifest in daily life.
Liz Watt
Liz’s family while she grew up in a polygamous family. Liz is being held by her mom, top row. This is during a time when there were only two wives.
Liz’s father and his four wives.
Liz’s son Kaden is coming home from New Zealand after surgery.
Kaden was blessed to make the BYU cheer team after tearing his knee twice.
Liz’s oldest son, Jace, after his surgery in New Zealand.
Brax after knee surgery in New Zealand.
Watt Family
Liz’s book “Becoming Me: A Polygamist Girl’s Journey to New Beginnings” (available through links below)
Contact Our Guest
Facebook and Instagram: LizWattSpeaks
Website: ElizabethAnnWatt.com and BeHealthyUtah.com
Liz has a gift on her website. Cleanse your life, clear your mind, and Thrive. Seven Day Journey to take control of your life and achieve holistic success.
Liz’s Book: You can find her books on Amazon and her website, featuring her memoir, Becoming Me: A Polygamist Girl's Journey to New Beginnings.
Transcript
Intro: [00:00:00] Welcome to Latter-day Miracles, where we share true stories of angels and marvels. Get ready to enjoy accounts from everyday people that remind us of divine love, that we're never truly alone, and the power of faith in these latter days. I'm Haley Hatch Freeman. And I'm Misty Smith. Sit back, open your heart and prepare to be inspired.
Haley Freeman: Welcome to Latter-day Miracles. Today. I'm so excited to introduce Liz Watt. I met her just a couple weeks ago. We were both speaking at, an event that was, a really neat event for kids with scholarships. It was called American Free Enterprise Project. She was so kind and helpful to me.
I just knew that I needed to have her on this podcast to share her miracle stories with you. So I know that we're gonna be filled with some awesome edifying stories today. I will turn the [00:01:00] time to Misty to
introduce her.
Misty Smith: Wonderful. Okay. Liz Watt is a dynamic leader, holistic wellness expert, and CEO dedicated to helping others'
live their fullest potential. As a multi bestseller author, public speaker, and podcast host, she uses her voice to inspire positive change and share her life's mission of service. Together with her husband of over 32 years, she coordinates Utah's largest natural health and wellness conference, empowering her community to embrace proactive natural living.
A devoted mother of six, Elizabeth brings both heart and purpose to everything she does. She lives by her motto, live today to bless others tomorrow. I love that, and strives daily to make a lasting impact on the world. Excited to get to know you better, Liz.
Liz Watt: Well, it's fun to be able
to be on [00:02:00] here. Be with you girls.
Haley Freeman: Yeah. Thank you for coming.
Misty Smith: Do you wanna go ahead and start us off with a little bit about your book?
Liz Watt: Yes, yes, yes. So in December I put out it was a memoir of my life and it took two years to bring that to pass, but as, um, Haley said that she's been reading it.
Haley Freeman: Yeah, I wanted to say I just started reading it and it's written so beautifully and it just has sucked me and it is a story that you don't, won't wanna put down her book.
So I highly recommend it and the story is so captivating. So go ahead and tell us a little bit about your life.
Liz Watt: Yeah, so I actually grew up in a polygamous family and when people. Think about a polygamous family. They think about all the awful things about it. Now, every family comes with its struggles, right?
Misty Smith: Mm-hmm.
Liz Watt: But this book is an inspirational memoir because. It's not about all the negative stuff, but it's [00:03:00] just me and how I navigated that process through it. And we all struggle through different things. And what my goal is is that, you know, when you, when people read this book, that they find their own stories in it.
Because I have so many, I feel like Heavenly Father blessed me with so many different stories in my life that there are gonna be things in that book that people totally relate to. And that's what I love, is that after I got through writing it I was like, wow. I have been through some crazy experiences in my life, but that's because everyone else out there is experiencing something like I did, and they're just gonna resonate with it.
So when they read it they feel like it's them being in that moment, you know, we've all felt rejection. We've all felt where friends haven't been kind to us. We've all felt maybe some experiences with our parents and having to choose differently, you [00:04:00] know, but in the end it's like, what are these stories that we learned from that?
I think that, we're giving all of these experiences just like I did with mine, and it's really about at the end, why is it that you are given that? Why is it a blessing in your life? And so it's like going through these experiences to be able to find the blessings amongst our tragedies because we all have that.
We all have that, but it's, it's really about the lesson that we learn, right? Isn't that what it is?
Misty Smith: Yes, absolutely. I love the joy that when you're telling that there's just like joy behind your eyes. So it makes me just wanna pick up the book and read it, because lots of times people bring a lot of that emotion and struggle, and sometimes people sit in that hard, but there's just joy when you're just describing it.
So I'm excited to read it.
Liz Watt: Well, and it is, it's like that is when it comes down to it, you know, Heavenly Father doesn't [00:05:00] want us to struggle. He doesn't, it's not probably easy for him to see this, but he knows that that's the plan too, right? And so it's finding him through the process, it's finding those blessings through the process.
And when we include him in our struggles, it's like He can. Lift those burdens from us. Right. That's just how it is. That's, that's how the plan was set up. And so he doesn't like to see us go through 'em, but he likes to see what we do with them, which is so important.
Misty Smith: I love that.
Haley Freeman: Yeah.
Liz Watt: And even, you know, I say that book, it took me two and a half years to do.
I thought, okay, I had this. This was a, uh, before we go on with my main miracle, we're gonna talk about, you know, I had a miracle that happened with that book, coming about. It was like, for so many years, he kept on telling me, you need to write your story. You need to write your story. And I kept on pushing it off because, oh [00:06:00] my gosh, when you have to write something like this, you have to become so vulnerable.
You have to share your heart and you have to share the good and the bad, right? Mm-hmm. You have to, I mean, it's like, I dunno how far Haley has got to, but there's, there's things in there that I'm not proud of too, right? Because that's just our life's journey and. I didn't wanna have to share all of that.
And, and so I kept on pushing it aside and then I had a really bad accident, and I talk about it in the beginning of the book.
Haley Freeman: Oh, I, I felt that pain.
Liz Watt: Oh
Haley Freeman: yeah.
Liz Watt: And I. I actually went to the temple with me, my husband, afterwards, we decided we're gonna go to dinner, and I had a really bad accident where I just stepped on a rock and I ended up smashing my face into the cement.
I mean, it was awful. I probably even cracked my skull a little bit. It was. And then [00:07:00] I ended up tearing both of my knees. I mean, it was, oh my goodness. Just a rock was an awful, yeah, it was an awful experience. And I'm like, you go to the temple and this is what happens.
But you know, it was that moment that my father just said to me, Liz, I'm giving you a gift of stillness so that you could write your book. And you know, these hard things like look what the beautiful things that can come out of them if we choose to look at it that way. And I was like, you're right. Like I had to wait six weeks so I could get a knee replacement.
'cause one of my knees was so bad that they, it was irreparable, they couldn't do anything. And they're like, you need a knee replacement. And I had to wait six weeks to get an operation and so I couldn't do anything. All I could do was just. Sit. My knee wasn't straightening or bending. I mean, it was locked in a place and all I could do is [00:08:00] sit.
And I was just, just like, wow. He actually is giving me a gift of stillness because I can't do anything for my kids. I can't, I, I could barely even go to the bathroom and stuff like that. And so anyways, I wrote my first rough draft sitting there for six weeks. Wow. And I thought, okay, I'm gonna be able to get this book out probably hopefully in October, because
who has all this time where they just have to sit and focus. But little did I know the journey it would take me on. Because of that, it helped me become a beautiful writer. I feel. I feel like now I know how to write, I know how to captivate people. I know how to bring people into the story.
And you know, before I was just telling a story, I wasn't like letting people experience the story and that's what that book needed. And it needed me to meet all of these different people along the way. I mean, I had like five different editors. I did because I'd never written a book.
A lot of times people [00:09:00] write a book and they just send it to one editor and it's done. I worked with five different editors and okay, this editor, like I even worked with, well, one of my editors. I said, okay, I basically have this. Where, how do I start? And she was like, okay, you need to actually start your stories like right here.
And you need to have these in chronological order here. And, and then I had a different lady, I was like, you know what? Now I need to make sure that the words come off the page. Like it's just, not just where you're reading it, but words like they just are, you know, coming off at you. And so
I was able to be taught then. How do you do it so that people enjoy it and feel like they're in the story? Right. And then I had another person that I sent it to and I was like, okay, you are not LDS, you are not around here, you don't know about the Church of Jesus Christ, Latter-day Saints.
Can, can you read this and let me know if it makes sense to you?
Haley Freeman: Mm-hmm.
Liz Watt: And so that, like, that [00:10:00] was one of my editors that I did, you know, and then I had another editor that made sure that all of the punctuation , and that it's to the Chicago manual style. And there's just so many different aspects when it comes to bringing together a book.
And I didn't know in the beginning, but it was like, Heavenly Father just guided me all along the way. And then it was the day that it was like, okay, I have to get it out there. I can't hold back anymore, and I knew that my story had to be told. And so right before Christmas, like two weeks before Christmas, I finally put it out there.
Haley Freeman: Wow.
Liz Watt: And I get texts all the time that it's like, Liz, I was just reading your book and I cannot believe how much I relate to all of your stories and it has really inspired a lot of people. And the thing is that it's not me.
It's actually Heavenly Father. It's his story that he gave me.
Misty Smith: I love, I love that. [00:11:00] Thank you for telling us about that.
Liz Watt: Everyone
go out and get it?
Yes. Everyone go and get it.
Haley Freeman: We'll put a link in the show notes.
Liz Watt: Yeah. And it's called, yeah, it's called Becoming Me A Polygamous Girls Journey to New Beginnings
is what
it's called.
So
Haley Freeman: yeah. And it, and it turned out wonderful.
Do you wanna tell any more about growing up as a polygamist, anything that comes in mind or do you want to go to your miracle story with your son?
Liz Watt: There is a lot of goodness that comes with that, but I really think if people read the story, they'll be able to fill it and understand it a little bit more.
There's a lot, I guess you'd say podcasting realm, YouTube realm, that it's really coming to light about polygamy and stuff, and there's a lot of people that are struggling with it and they don't know where to sit with it.
Haley Freeman: Mm-hmm.
Liz Watt: When you start to look at where these people came from and the type [00:12:00] of atmosphere that they were living in, and they were trying to figure out navigating their lives through that.
Mm-hmm. You, uh. You can kind of start to feel a little empathy for them. And I think that that is where we feel connection with others is when we can feel empathy for them and the struggles that they went through. And you know what, they're just like us , we are not figuring life out except for the, the moment that just passed.
Right.
Misty Smith: Right.
Liz Watt: How often are we being judged by things that we didn't know yet? Or we, we don't know how to experience things yet, or, and so when it really comes down to the polygamy whole issue about that and, um, we have to really give compassion to people that live that way and realizing that they're different.
It was different times and they're going through different things just like they are not experiencing what we're experiencing right now.
Misty Smith: Absolutely.
Liz Watt: [00:13:00] And so, you know, like growing up that way too, I was able to experience some of that and realize that. A lot of people ask me when it comes to how I feel about it and how I feel about it.
You know, a long time ago when whole thing with Joseph Smith, Brigham Young, all that type of stuff. And , what I tell people is that where, where does my testimony lie? My testimony actually lies in Jesus Christ and the restoration of the gospel and however that came about is how it came about, the messiness, the goodness, everything of how it was.
That's how it all came about. So that I can experience how it is today.
Misty Smith: Yeah.
Liz Watt: And so we need to give thanks and gratitude that they had to go through all of this messiness.
Haley Freeman: Mm-hmm.
Liz Watt: But now we get to experience the goodness of it today.
Haley Freeman: Absolutely.
Liz Watt: And if I sit [00:14:00] there and I look at and judge them for their things that they went through, how, you know, they could also judge me right now too.
Haley Freeman: Right?
Liz Watt: But that it's not gonna change anything. It's not gonna, whatever was true or not true, or how it came about does not take away the fact of where our testimony lies today, and that's where we need to focus on today because you know what? The only reason why we're here is because of them.
Haley Freeman: Yeah.
Liz Watt: Really that's the only reason why and the things that they figured out along the way. And so we cannot judge them. We just have to be grateful. And that is how I think Heavenly Father really, really works, is that we have to find the love, peace, and gratitude for. Whoever is, whoever has come before us, or whoever is before us right now, because that's what he wants us to strive to do, is to find that [00:15:00] connection, love, empathy for the things that they've also gone through,
Haley Freeman: for sure.
Yep. Beautiful. Thank you.
Liz Watt: So are you guys ready to, for me to start on my miracle story,
Haley Freeman: Let's jump into it! Thank you.
Misty Smith: Love it. I'm excited.
Liz Watt: Okay. So as you know, I have six kids. I have five boys and one girl. I had four boys, and then I had a girl, and then I had a boy. Okay. Now, when I was 15 years old. It was two weeks into my sophomore year, I tore my knee completely.
I only had one ligament that was holding my whole knee together.
Misty Smith: Oh my goodness.
Liz Watt: And I ended up having multiple surgeries on my knee. And it was during that time in your life when you were a teenager and. I was actually a cheerleader [00:16:00] at the high school, and I thought, I'm going to be this popular girl.
I'm gonna be able to be there walking down the halls with all the cheerleaders, the football players. I'm gonna be cheering at all the games and all that stuff, right? Well, two weeks into it, I ended up tearing my knee and all of a sudden. It's like surgery, homeschool, crutches. Oh, my whole dreams of, you know, I talked about being a polygamous family, right?
The, I thought finally I'm gonna be this popular girl, and all of a sudden everything was stripped away from me.
Misty Smith: Oh.
Liz Watt: And I then had to figure life out. And it was so hard because here what I thought was going to be my rescue was now. Now it was like I was empty and I was in pain and I couldn't make friends because I'm on crutches, right?
And I had be homeschooled and [00:17:00] it was just with like all of this stuff. And so anyways, the reason why I tell you this story is because this sets up for the miracle that happened in our life, is that my oldest son, 14 years old, out playing football tears, his knee tears, his ACL
Misty Smith: Aw.
Liz Watt: And all of a sudden it's like.
Oh my goodness. I know what he is going through. Yeah, I know the pain that he's experiencing. He's 14 years old and you at that moment, whatever's happening in that moment is the most important thing in your life, right?
Haley Freeman: Mm-hmm.
Misty Smith: And all of a sudden he is- torn knee and I was like, okay, this happened when I was 15.
I know exactly what he's talking about. And we sent him in to get a knee operation.
Haley Freeman: Mm-hmm.
Liz Watt: He ends up, [00:18:00] um, a year later. Tearing it again. So now he's 15.
Haley Freeman: Oh no.
Liz Watt: He tears it again. But we were holding off from him getting a knee operation. We knew we needed to go and get a new one, but he had just had one the year before.
And so we were trying to like, okay, how could we figure this out? We was on a standstill for a little bit. Well then my second son was out playing football, 14 years old, tears his knee.
Misty Smith: No, poor you, mom? Just in general.
Liz Watt: So now we have two kids.
Misty Smith: Wow.
Liz Watt: With ACL tears.
Haley Freeman: Wow.
Liz Watt: So we send them in to go get ACL surgeries back to back.
Misty Smith: Oh my.
Liz Watt: They were one was at two hours apart. They were both in surgery that same day. 'cause we couldn't send our second son in without fixing our, our first son who already had had it torn for a year. Right. And the thing , is that the first son he [00:19:00] tore the second time doing,, he tried to do football again, but you know it's tour and he was trying to do football and he just realized that.
Football, he can't do that anymore. So now we have two kids that I'm taking care of that both had ACL surgeries on the exact same day.
Right.
Haley Freeman: Wow.
Liz Watt: And so then our second son. He ended up making the cheer team 'cause he realized he couldn't do football anymore because of his tour and ACL. So he ends up making the cheer team loves it. He was at his sophomore year, his junior year, and now he's gonna be a senior three weeks before his senior year.
Uhhuh. I mean, he was awesome too. Uhhuh, he was like, he was balanced, was just awesome. Well, he ends up three weeks before the, his senior year. Tears his knee again.
Misty Smith: Oh wait, your second son. So.
Liz Watt: He's already torn twice. [00:20:00] Yes. And now it's the second son. And now this coach for this for that's on the varsity team for his high school year, kicks him off the team because he tears his knee.
He has the lockers with all of the cheerleaders on the same aisle. And guess what? She moves them. And can you imagine the thing, I mean this, all of a sudden I'm just like going. Oh my gosh. This is my life. My life. This is my life. Like, I totally, I see what's going on with him and I'm like, okay, we cannot have this happen.
Like we just can't. . What we did with him is we ended up sending him, we found a doctor that was in New Zealand. I know this sounds crazy, but I don't know if you know what the All Blacks team is. He does the, the All Blacks is the rugby team in New Zealand.
Rugby is huge there. Okay.
Misty Smith: Yes. It is.
Liz Watt: it's like, [00:21:00] and it is in Auckland. I mean, it's the biggest part. And like this doctor is the surgeon for the All Blacks team, and we're like, okay, this guy can get back his players in four months on the field.
Haley Freeman: Wow.
Liz Watt: He can do that. He can get Kaden back quick. Right.
Misty Smith: Uhhuh,
Uhhuh.
Liz Watt: And we're like, okay, we are gonna send him New Zealand to go meet with this doctor.
Misty Smith: Wow.
Liz Watt: Because , at that moment, a mom is just trying to do everything she can to alleviate the pain that the child's going through. Right?
Misty Smith: Right.
Liz Watt: And so we're like, he wakes up in the morning and we say, Kaden, pack your bags.
You're going to New Zealand today. He's like, what? Yeah. Well, it ended up to be, there was another girl. I mean, this was just such a miracle. There's another girl in the ward. It was during homecoming season now because this had been three weeks. Homecoming is the first week of homecoming whatever, [00:22:00] and first week of the school, she's out playing powder puff football, tears her knee and her uncle is the therapist
for this doctor in New Zealand.
Haley Freeman: Wow.
Liz Watt: All the All Blacks team. So we ended up meeting, like seeing him at church and we said, well, we heard that she tore her knee. And he's like, yeah, I'm sending here in New Zealand. And we're like, can Kaden come with?
Misty Smith: Yeah.
Liz Watt: Can Kaden come with? And he's like. Yeah, he can come with, and so he calls his brother and his brother is actually over the books because the lady that's over the books went out of
town
Kaden ends up getting back to cheer three weeks later.
Misty Smith: Mm-hmm.
Liz Watt: Because by this time it'd been six weeks, so he gets back to, to being out there at least three weeks later and then competing after four months in Florida with his team.
Haley Freeman: Wow.
Liz Watt: So, which they ended up winning and all that kind of stuff.
Liz Watt: And him being able to do that, it's like [00:23:00] his senior year came back, right?
Misty Smith: Yeah.
Liz Watt: And when I was talking to the coach, he's like, do you think he's really gonna be able to do this? I'm like, yes, yes, I know he can. Just please put him back on the team. Well, so anyways, so then our life goes on.
This is great.
Yay.
Kaden is able to have an awesome experience. Right. All of a sudden, Jace is on his mission, my first child, he's on his mission. He's been out 18 months and he was riding his bike, was going up this hill, and all of a sudden his knee tears,
Haley Freeman: no, no, no.
Liz Watt: For the third time and he's on his mission.
Misty Smith: No.
Liz Watt: And when something like that happens, they have to come home from their mission.
Misty Smith: Oh! 18 months, right?.
Liz Watt: Yes,and the rules are that if it's anything before 18 months, then they'll let you come back out. If it's anything after 18 months, you have to stay home.
Haley Freeman: Wow.
Liz Watt: And [00:24:00] so , the mission president, it was right at that moment.
Right at that moment of like, if you, we have to send you home today or if we send you home in two days, it's gonna be different. It's like right there at that moment. And he just, all of a sudden he realized that this is my third time tearing my knee. I don't know how I'm gonna come back from it.
And I don't know if he's gonna, by the time he gets home and everything, it's going to be a little struggle, right? And so he's like, I don't think I'm gonna be able to come back out on my mission. Which was really hard because here he is in Japan and it takes a lot to be able to learn Japanese, right?
It's a hard, hard language. And, um. He ended up coming home, so now we're sitting there, we're like, okay, well we've already sent Kaden to New Zealand.
We're gonna send Jace.
We're gonna send Jace.
Misty Smith: Okay.
Liz Watt: So Jace [00:25:00] gets home, he flies in, and we had sent him right to the doctors that were right here, and then a week later they come back.
So he'd already been waiting two weeks to get this knee operation. And so we're like, okay, we're gonna send him to New Zealand, if that's a possibility.
Haley Freeman: Mm-hmm.
Liz Watt: He ends up calling a sister missionary that was on his mission in Japan and she was from New Zealand and he's like, Hey, I'm coming there for knee surgery.
Can I stay with you? She's like, oh, yes, you can come stay with our family. That's just fine. We've been talking with the doctor that was there, we send him all of our, the MRIs and he's like, okay, we can schedule him this day. And we're like, that's great. Get him on the books. He's coming.
It was just gonna be like two, three days. He was gonna be in New Zealand and he had him scheduled for his pre-op and all that kind of stuff. So we get everything booked. We get the surgery booked, we get his flight booked, and all of a sudden the sister [00:26:00] missionary calls and says, we're really sorry, but you can't stay with us.
We,
Misty Smith: oh,
Liz Watt: my parents, I talked to my parents, and we don't have room, and you're not gonna be able to stay with us. And we're like. Okay, well, he's already booked to go there. He already has his surgery. He already has his flight. We need to figure this out. So we start calling there, trying to find hotels.
Airbnbs like everything is booked because they're having a huge competition come in for rugby and nothing is available. Nothing is available.
So we try to call the mission office and they're like, sorry, he is not a missionary. He can't stay with us. We try to call the bishops and nobody's responding with us. We're trying to find just somebody that can take him in because the thing is, is I have a lot of little kids at that time, and it was so quick and we were just sort like, it's not gonna work if one of us
go. We just have to send him. He's already been on a mission, he knows how to take care of himself, you know? Mm-hmm. [00:27:00] And so we. We were like, okay, heavenly Father, something has to work out here. Like something has to work out here. It's going to work out. We just don't know how it's gonna work out.
And we just kept on praying and praying and praying. And like, we could not get ahold of a bishop. We couldn't find him a hotel and it was getting down to the wire.
My husband comes home for lunch. Jace's flight is at five o'clock. I have to take him at three o'clock to the airport, and right now it's 12 o'clock. We still don't know where he's going. And we're like, okay, Jace, you, the flight takes 12 hours. So we don't know, like we need this 12 hours probably to figure this out still.
And you might get on this plane and still not know where you're going, you know? But by the time you get there, call us. Right?
Misty Smith: Yeah.
Liz Watt: They're just like, it's getting down to the wire here, stressed out. And I look on Facebook and I see, I'm like, Jace, [00:28:00] did you make a post that you're going to New Zealand to get knee surgery?
And he's like. Yeah, I'm sorry. I just put that on there. I'm like, no, no. Somebody commented underneath and said, Hey, Jace, I am in Australia, but I'm flying there tomorrow. I would love to meet up with you. And I was like, who is this person, Jason?
Right?
Who is this? Who is this person that's in Australia?
Yeah. Who's
gonna New Zealand. Yeah. He's gonna be there. And we're like, we need his number. We need his number. Well, so anyways. So we, he just responds and he is like, Hey, it's kind of an emergency. Can you send us your number? And so anyways, he ends up sending us his number. My husband calls and explain this situation.
And said, Hey, we're sending our son there to get knee surgery. We thought we had a place for him to go. His flight is already booked, [00:29:00] his surgery is already booked. And can you help us out? Like I know you, you said you're going to New Zealand. Is there any way that you can help us figure this out?
And he goes, you know, I'm on a business trip and I'm going to New Zealand, and my partner decided last minute couldn't come, but I have a hotel in Auckland and I have two beds and he can come stay with me.
Misty Smith: Oh my goodness. So good.
Liz Watt: And
well, anyways, this guy ended up to be that. It was his paw on Trek four years before that.
Okay. He actually was in, oh, he.
And he was on a business trip going from Australia and then going to New Zealand. And anyways, he, so he ends up telling him, okay, this is the hotel I'm staying at, which was the Hilton there ends up to be the [00:30:00] nicest hotel in all of Auckland. It looks like a cruise ship on like at the hotel, but it's a cruise.
Looks like a cruise ship on the on the water. It's just amazing. So Jace flies in, he goes straight to his doctor's appointment, and then he is like, I'll just meet you at the hotel. So then afterwards he Ubers his way over to the. To the, um, hotel, and he like FaceTimes us. He is like, you'll not believe how nice this place is.
And anyways, the guy ends up showing up and, and then he, he goes, you know what? I was able to work out my schedule. I can be at the hospital with him the whole time he is having his surgery. Oh. And then bring him back and everything. And the thing is, is they told me, they said there's an adult that has to pick him up from the hospital.
Misty Smith: Okay.
Liz Watt: And that's
what we were praying for, is it was like if he was to get like an Airbnb or something, there wouldn't have been an adult there. And I would've had to figure something out, you know? Wow. And so [00:31:00] anyways, this guy just comes in. He's actually from our area, lives where we live. Wow. And he knows Jace by being his paw on Trek.
Yeah. And brings him into his place, into his hotel room. Takes care of him for those three days. Right. And we said, when we sent him, we said, okay, Jace, at least we know where you're gonna be for three days.
Haley Freeman: Yeah.
Liz Watt: We need to figure out the rest. Just go and we'll figure out the rest. So Jace flies there and.
And then that night my husband had to take my third son to rugby practice, so he goes to rugby practice and there's this another guy that's there and he, we knew that he was from, you know, his Polynesian whatever, and he's like, Hey, I just sent Jace to New Zealand because he is getting, knee surgery and he is like, oh, really?
He's like, I have family in New Zealand. And he's like, my, my niece [00:32:00] lives there and she's the only active member of the church that lives there. And we're like. We need to talk. Yeah, we need to talk. Tells him the story. Jay only has three days here.
We need to figure out the rest. Because the doctor was really concerned with him. This is his third one, that the, um, screws were deteriorating in his bone. And so he's like, he needs to stay here, not just for the week. He needs to stay here for nine days.
So
we're like, okay. Three of the nine days we got it taken care of.
Yeah. He's like, can you, can you maybe talk to your niece? Yeah. Maybe can Jace go there? Like, or she knows, she knows places of where he can go. Like, yeah, we just need to find a place that he can go to. Well, anyways, that Sister Missionary ends up calling back and saying, okay, you know, I was able to figure it out with my sister.
You can go there for two days. Okay, so Jace went and stayed with her for two days, which he loved because he was able to go to see Hobbit Ville [00:33:00] and all that. And so,
so, but then
in the process, so he still needed to go to a place for four days. We didn't know where. So this guy ends up calling his niece and saying, Hey.
Can, Jace, you know, I know him. He's from our state. Can he come and stay with you? We would love to have Jace come. We would love to have him. And so anyways, he ends up going and staying with them and the husband was just baptized. Just resent. Just, it'd only been like two months before he had been baptized and he was like so elated because he had a missionary in his home.
Oh. And he was able to talk to him and, and they ended up falling in love with him.
Haley Freeman: Oh.
Liz Watt: And you know, the thing is, is that now we have a family that's there, the Lavakula kulas in New Zealand, who's like a second family to us. Mm-hmm. And [00:34:00] you know, when we step back. It's like Heavenly Father created this whole thing.
He orchestrated everything. Everything he orchestrated. There's no way we could have done this. There's no way we could have figured this out on our own. And it's like we have to have that faith. We have to. Right?
Haley Freeman: Yeah. That was a crazy miracle... all that.
Liz Watt: It, it was, it was because we couldn't have done it. And the thing is, is that now we have, um, then my third son was out playing rugby.
Misty Smith: Mm-hmm.
Liz Watt: And ends up tearing his knee when he was 16 years old. Oh. So now my third son tore his knee. We end up calling up the Lavakula kula family.
Haley Freeman: What? You're kidding.
Liz Watt: We call. I know. I know. We end up calling the Lavakula family saying, now our son, [00:35:00] Brax, Can he come and stay with you?
Oh, we would love to have Brax come. Well brax up going there. And it was like they fell in love with Brax. They just are like, we love Brax, h e's our kid, like he's just our son. He's staying with them for the whole week and they just watched over him so closely. Well, you know, um, Brax, he ended up.
Coming back because you know, it was this amazing doctor in New Zealand, right? Yeah. Ended up, you know, it was just gonna be his senior year football was in the horizon and he's like, I really wanna play football. He ended up getting back on the field out there in four months and
Haley Freeman: Wow.
Liz Watt: Playing incredible so much that he was on the highlights every single weekend of the amazing plays that he was doing.
He was. Just killing it on the field out there and we're just like, oh my gosh, this is so [00:36:00] amazing. And then five months into this, into, you know, into it, he ends up, I know his other knee, his other knee. And so we ended up sending him to New Zealand again within six months, having two ACL surgeries.
The Lavakula Kula family just brought him in again, loved on him and just feel like he had a home to a place to stay. Right, right. And, you know, thank goodness that's all that we've had with our ACL surgeries with those kids.
Haley Freeman: Wow. That's,
that's enough for a lifetime.
Liz Watt: I mean, our fourth child, our fourth child, thank goodness, he's on a mission right now, has not torn his knee.
He was able to make, get through all of football, all of wrestling, all of lacrosse, and not tear a knee, but so was so blessed. But the thing is, is that we look back and. You know, I would not have been able to fight for my kids as much as if [00:37:00] I didn't experience that first, and I wouldn't have been able to feel the feelings and the heartache they went through if I hadn't had been there.
You know, when I saw Brax, my third child out there after he tore his other knee, I was just, was like, I get it. I know, like I saw his dreams fade away knowing that he's had two ACL surgeries. Now there's no college out there that's going to take him, and he was such a talent in football. But with having two ACL surgeries, I could see his dreams just kind of washed away.
And it's like when I held them and hugged them, I was like, I know what you're going through. Because you know with me, I ended up tearing my knee again my senior year and I was at that point taken off the team. They were given my clothes to another girl and it was just, was like, I got it. [00:38:00] Like I knew, I knew what they were going through and what a blessing that I was able to feel what they were feeling so that I could be there for them when they needed me the most.
Right. Thank goodness. I feel that when we control our lives so much, just like with Jace, we had to give up control and just realize Heavenly Father's gonna create a plan like he sent you here. You know, he knows what happened. He knows that this happened on your mission.
You were given service. Something's going to happen. We just don't know what it was. We just had to have faith that it was going to happen. And when we can give up that control, that's when he can swoop in and fix it. If we control it so much on our side, then he is not allowed to come in and pick up those pieces.
And the thing is, is that when Jace was there in New Zealand, he had some, um, [00:39:00] incredible experiences. Mm-hmm. One thing is I sent him with cash and I'm like, 'cause I don't know how, you know, here's my work credit card I just sent him. I didn't have much in it.
I only had like $300 in it. But I was just like, here's my work credit card, but here's some cash. And he, you know, here's a lease, a hundred dollars in cash and we'll figure it out. You know, what other kind of money that we need to have along the way. And he ended up not thinking about it, but paying. All of his medicine with the cash that I gave him.
Mm. So now all he had was the credit card. Mm-hmm. I was like, okay, Jace, you probably should have paid your medicine with the credit card and kept your cash in case you're doing like something, you know, you need a ride someplace or whatever. You have cash. Well, anyways, he, he goes to pay, he's at like a Subway.
He goes up there to go pay and they're like, sorry, we don't take credit cards.
Haley Freeman: Oh.
Liz Watt: And uh, he was talking to the lady that was behind [00:40:00] him. She goes, now you are a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Right. He goes, yeah. And he goes, well, the lady said, she goes, well, your church really believes in paying it forward, so I'm gonna pay it forward and I'm just gonna pay for yours.
Misty Smith: Oh, wow.
Liz Watt: And so, yes, I mean, just as like, you know, that was a miracle right there that happened to him. And then, um. And then he was walking through a store and this guy walks up to him and he goes, are you a missionary? And he is like, well, yeah, I just actually just got off my, my mission. He goes, I can tell because you have a globe that's surrounds you.
Oh. And it is like he got these little nuggets the whole time realizing that Heavenly Father is there with him. He is there with him just guiding him and giving people who he needs at that moment, different circumstances, different situations that would just help and bless him along the [00:41:00] way.
And now each of my kids, as you can tell, have had miracles that have happened to them, that Heavenly Father was right there with them. The thing that I look at is that because they went through each of these. Mm-hmm. They were able to experience the miracles themselves.
Misty Smith: Mm-hmm.
Liz Watt: It wasn't me that had to tell them.
Mm-hmm. They were able to experience that and so a lot of times as parents, we try to create these situations so that they can feel the spirit and they can see that Heavenly Father loves them. But you know, and the moment that this situation that they went through, I was not able to take that away from them.
They had to go through the hard, they had to experience that, but because of that, they could see the love of God. They could see how God [00:42:00] works, the miracles in their lives. And because of that, now I have these three young men through such a young age, was able to gain a testimony of the goodness of God in their life.
And what a blessing. 'cause I couldn't have done that for them. Mm-hmm. I couldn't have done that.
Misty Smith: But what I love about all of this, I just have to point now I don't know, I'm sure you guys have discussed it, but throughout your whole story you talked about Jace and honestly your boys' story, um, you spoke about just you were doing it.
You never stopped to question. You didn't call to cancel a meeting. You didn't call to be like, hold on, we gotta stop everything to figure out where he's going. We gotta stop to figure out where he's gonna be for days. There was always continual momentum. There was motion in everything you guys did, and I feel like that's what [00:43:00] faith is.
Continuation of moments and allowing God to fulfill it, even if it's in the last two hours before his flight or the last,
Liz Watt: how often does he take us to that very last breaking point, right?
Misty Smith: Yes.
Liz Watt: Really, because that is when we are the most humble. Mm-hmm. That is when we're the most vulnerable. Right. And, and also got to the point where.
We couldn't fix it anymore. We needed outside intervention.
Mm-hmm.
And it was intervention that was out of our control. And I feel like that's how it was with each of our kids. Each of them were able to experience that and the goodness of God, and that he will never leave you. He's always going to be there.
And also if we flip side on the other way. God uses people, other people to [00:44:00] create our miracles.
Haley Freeman: For sure.
Misty Smith: Absolutely.
Liz Watt: And we have to be then that person to create the miracles for other people.
Haley Freeman: Yeah. We often hear the opposite of faith is fear, which can be true, but I've heard a quote that I feel is even more accurate and something that is, true in all your stories is the opposite of faith is control. And that's true. You have to give up that control to have true faith like you had. For me, I think that's true. Like I wanna control things sometimes, and for me to have true faith is giving up control. And that's what you had to do in all these stories is, is to show faith was to giving up that control.
Liz Watt: Yep. And that's how, that's how it ended up having to be. Is that. You know, we, we can only do so much.
Yeah. So I, you know, I just look at.
These miracles that we have all [00:45:00] been blessed with are setup from God. He, he does not want us to go through the hard things, but he uses those moments so that we can learn and be blessed and to be able to see his goodness. And if we, like you talked about, if we control it, we're not gonna be able to experience that and we're gonna start to look for the negative instead of the positive.
You know? It's 'cause it's like where you put your focus is where you're gonna find it. Right. Right.
Haley Freeman: It's a choice. It's a choice to have that mindset, to see the good, and to see the blessings, and see the miracles. Yep.
Liz Watt: Yes. And if we, if we choose to look at that, we're gonna be able to see that it's actually coming to our lives every single day.
Mm-hmm. Like every moment of every single day. There is a miracle that is happening within us all the time. There's always something, you know, even today somebody called up and I had my whole plan, my whole morning planned of what I needed to do. Mm-hmm. [00:46:00] And I had to scratch that. Why? Because Heavenly Father needed me to be someplace else to serve somebody else.
And I was her miracle today. Yeah. And you know, and it's like I had to just be like, okay, Heavenly Father. I guess I'm not gonna have all of this stuff planned out, like exactly what I wanted to because you have another plan for me and we have to allow Him to come in and do that for us.
Haley Freeman: Yeah.
Liz Watt: And for other people.
And so it was like, you know what? All of these people have been such a miracle in our life, and the guy that took our son for the first three days that stayed at the hotel, the beautiful hotel Uhhuh. I see him at the gym all the time and it's like, you know, such a reminder. And then a couple months ago, we actually saw him at the temple and just embraced and just was like, you know what?
God is so good. God is just so good to all of us. Recognizing that he's there, that he is. Every single moment [00:47:00] detail of our life. Mm-hmm. If we allow him to be and if we give up that control so that he can bless us and bless so many other peoples. And you know what? Even though I wasn't able to do the things that I wanted to do today, I know he's gonna provide a different way for me to be able to either get it done or not have to do it at all.
Right.
Misty Smith: I love your relationship with God, the trust you have with him. I hope so many people are, are seeking for that kind of relationship. You can tell that there's the love, the trust, the happiness, the faith behind him. And I just love it. So that's so great.
Haley Freeman: Before we close, is there one final message that you want everyone to take away from your experiences?
Liz Watt: Well, I think we've kind of already talked about it, but it's like really trusting in God. Yeah. To know that he has a better plan for you [00:48:00] because we give him crumbs and he gives us something beautiful, right?
Haley Freeman: Yeah, sure.
Liz Watt: And that, and it is like the more that you trust in him, the more he's able to bless you.
Haley Freeman: Beautiful.
Liz Watt: So that is like my final message is just trust in him.
Misty Smith: Wonderful. Thank you so much, Liz. Do you have somewhere where you would like people to contact you?
Liz Watt: Yeah. So people can go to elizabethannwatt.com. So Elizabeth and then ANN, last name Watt, WATT.com. And there's a free gift on there that helps you to be able to move, you know, clear out the, the clutter in your life emotionally and you know, physically, spiritually, whatever, and be able to just.
Find more peace in your life.
Wonderful.
So everyone can go there and it's a seven day journey to be able to, you know, we're all on a this path here and it's these cobwebs that we keep within ourselves is not allowing us to be [00:49:00] able to experience life like we should be. And what if we could get to the point where we could clear all that out?
You can go and get a free seven day journey there. You can also at my website. Site, see all my books. You can see where to purchase them. You can get like, you know, Haley got the digital copy or you can get the hard copy and you can also find out, you know, we do be Healthy Utah, it's the largest natural health conference in Utah where we created a platform that people come and learn how to take care of their body naturally, because I believe
that our bodies are made to heal. That's how Heavenly Father created our body is to heal. And so we just need to create the right environment for it to heal. And at our conference, people can come and learn just their options. It's not like they have to totally adopt that lifestyle, but they can come and learn options because we can't be blessed unless we learn what those options are.
And this is such an a great opportunity to come and learn from doctors and [00:50:00] educators and, see products and services. We do it annually in Sandy, Utah, and then we also do it in St. George in the southern part of Utah. So if you go to, my website, you can find out.
Stuff like I do. I love to be able to go speak. I love to be able to go share my message with people if there's, relief societies or fire sides, if we're looking at church here, if we wanted to go or you know, corporations and things like that. I go in and I help people learn about how to improve their businesses in the corporate world too.
So,
Haley Freeman: Ooh, fabulous. We'll put all this information to contact her in our show notes on our website as well. So we'll make sure you can contact her. This has wonderful. So uplift. Thank you so much for sharing these stories with us.
Liz Watt: Well, thank you for taking the time to be able to create a platform that people can come and share, because I feel that everyone as they listen [00:51:00] to these stories will be uplifted and to be able to just see, you know, be mindful of the, of the miracles in our life. So thank you for taking the initiative to be able to create a platform that people can come and share their miracle stories.
Haley Freeman: Thank you. And that brings me to, if you, the listeners have a story that they want to share and prompted to, please reach out and contact us. We'd love to share your story.
Outro: Thank you for joining us on Latter-day Miracles. If you have a miracle story that you feel inspired to share, we'd love to hear from you. Contact us on our website at latterdaymiracles.net or message us on social media. Until next time, keep your heart open to the miraculous and may you feel the presence of angels in your everyday life.
