Planking Through Prayer—Turning Habits into Record-Breaking Miracles: DonnaJean Wilde's Story - Latter-Day Lights - LDS Podcast "Latter-Day Lights" - Inspirational LDS Stories

Episode Transcript
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Scott Brandley (00:00):
Hey there as a Latter-day Lights listener, I
want to give you a very specialgift today my brand new book,
faith to Stay.
This book is filled withinspiring stories, powerful
discoveries and even freshinsights to help strengthen your
faith during the storms of life.
So if you're looking to beinspired, uplifted and

(00:21):
spiritually recharged, justvisit faithtostaycom.
Now let's get back to the show.
Hey everyone, I'm ScottBrandley.

Alisha Coakley (00:31):
And I'm Alisha Coakley.
Every member of the church hasa story to share, one that can
instill faith, invite growth andinspire others.

On today's episode we're going to hear how
hours of planking has helped onewoman find the power to believe
in herself while exercising herfaith in the Savior.
Welcome to Latter-day Lights.
Hey everyone, welcome back toanother episode of Latter-day

(01:02):
Lights.
We're so glad you're here withus today and we have a special
guest, donna Jean Wild, worldrecord holder for the Guinness
Book of World Records, which ispretty exciting.
She's going to tell us herreally cool story and her
adventure on the show.
But welcome, donna Jean.

DonnaJean Wilde (01:20):
Well, thank you , Alisha and Scott, for having
me on your show today.
I'm so excited to be here andshare my story.

We are super excited to have you and I have
to say I I mean in the.
In the little intro there wetalked about planking.
We are going to hear more abouthow that is related to the
world guinness book of theguinness book of world records.
Um, but you're not going to beplanking during this episode,
right?

I'm not going to be planking.
Maybe if I wasn't on video Iwould plank.

Maybe we'll just make Scott do it.
He'll just move his chair outof the way back up a little bit
and just see how long Scott cango.

That'll be a minute, and then we'll be back
to the show.

Okay, 90 seconds tops yeah, so something fun.

Donna jean and I grew up in the same area in
southern alberta, so that'spretty cool, we know some of the
same people and yep.
So, mcgrath alberta, I grew upin McGrath, she grew up in
Welling.

I did.
Well, I'll tell this story.
But my father was a seminaryteacher and institute teacher,
so we moved back and forth fromMcGrath a few times, but McGrath
, I would say, is my roots andWelling is my husband's, so yeah
, Gotcha.

Yeah, just little towns in the in Southern
Alberta but they were founded bypioneers so that's kind of a
cool.
You know background.

But that's really good.
So, other than growing up inCanada, why don't you tell us a
little bit more about yourself,donna Jean?

Okay, so I'm a recently retired school teacher
and administrator.
My husband and I live inWelling.
Like we said, we have fivechildren and 12 grandchildren
that live so close to us.
We are very blessed and theykeep us very busy.
They're very active and we lovespending time with them.

(03:26):
If I back up a little bit, mydad when I was growing up, my
dad was a seminary and instituteteacher, so every night I would
watch him prepare his lessonsfor the next day and he would
often share with me what he wasstudying and that I know, was a

(03:50):
big part of the foundation of myfaith and my belief in the
gospel and helped me develop atestimony of Jesus Christ.
I just want to tell you alittle bit more about my family.
You mentioned ancestors, so mygreat-grandfather and my

(04:13):
husband's great-grandfather bothwere pioneers that homesteaded
here in southern Alberta.
We live in the house that myhusband's grandfather built and
my husband's dad was born in.
He was raised here, myhusband's family, we raised our
kids here and now we have agrandchild living next door.

(04:34):
That's fifth generation on ourfarm.
Wow, our roots go very deep onour farm and we are so grateful
for our ancestors and theexample they've set, and I think
that's a big strength to us inour testimony as well.

That's so cool.
I have ancestors that foundedSterling.
Oh, that is very cool so ourancestors might have known each
other right.

They might have my roots.
I'm a Beezer from the cardstonand beezer area and so same
thing.
Yeah, my roots are are up there, so yeah, that's fun.

Yeah, well, cool .
Well, we're super excited tohear your story, so why don't
you tell us where your storybegins?
Donna Jean?

okay.
Well, I love the wordpositionality.
I learned it in when I wasdoing my master's degree.
I had to do write a paper on itand I feel like all of us um
are where we are today becauseof the experiences where we've
lived, where we fall in thefamily, um, the things that

(05:42):
we've been able to do.
But I will say, my lifestrength not only came from my
parents, but came from a book.
It's called Principles,promises and Powers.
When I was young I was theyoungest of five children and so

(06:08):
when I was at home before Iwent to school, I became the
self-appointed librarian in ourfamily and my parents loved
books and my dad was also achiropractor, so we had medical
books and church books andtravel books, and my dad was
also a chiropractor, so we hadmedical books and church books
and travel books.
One day, when I was eight yearsold, my parents brought this

(06:32):
book home in 1978.
And I just fell in love withthe cover and the color and the
title and I just flipped throughit.
There was no pictures in it andI came to this story called the
Success Scrolls and years laterI learned that it was a

(06:54):
condensed version ofAugmandino's the Greatest
Salesman in the World.
It's by Sterling W Sill andit's a legend of 2,000 years ago
when Hayfid the camel boyworked for Pethros, who was a

(07:14):
great merchant, and he had acaravan of camels and Hayfid was
the boy who watered the camelsof camels and Haphid was the boy
who watered the camels.
He wanted to pass on hisknowledge and everything to
Haphid, petros, and he told himthat he had 10 scrolls that were

(07:38):
so dear to him that, if Petroswould, if Haphid would learn
those scrolls every day, he hadto say one of the scrolls three
times for 30 days and learn them.
Well, in elementary school Iwanted to be like Haifid, and so
I learned the 10 scrolls.
They have stayed with me myentire life and have driven me

(08:04):
to do great things.
I just want to just maybe quoteone or two.
The first scroll is I will formgood habits and become their
slave.
The greatest power in the worldis the power of habit.
Good, well-established habitsabsolutely control our success.

(08:25):
Our habits determine what weare.
Most of us err in thisimportant success requirement
because we do not know how tobuild a habit.
Most of us do things only whenwe feel like it.
When we do things irregularly.
We are doing as much towardtearing the habit down as we are
toward building it up.
We are doing as much towardtearing the habit down as we are
toward building it up.
We should all make a list ofour necessary habits and then

(08:49):
become their slave.
So that's scroll number one.
Scroll number five, though, ismy absolute favorite, so I just
have to quote it it is.
I will live this day as if itwere my last, because the sand
cannot flow upward in thehourglass.
I will waste not a moment ofthis precious day.

(09:11):
I will make this day the bestday of my life.
I will push my muscles tillthey cry for relief and I, not
they, will determine when I rest.
I know no one got on the top ofthe mountain because he fell
there.
I will work harder, sell moregoods and have more joy than I

(09:33):
or anyone else has ever hadbefore.
So I memorized those scrolls andI carried them around with me
forever and I put them up in ourhouse.
I tried to get my kids tomemorize them, but the story
didn't mean quite as much tothem as it did to me.
But they knew that I had themand they were influenced by them
and those scrolls have helpedme through my life.

(09:57):
The Tenth Scroll talks aboutfaith in God and trusting in Him
and Him trusting in us, and sothat one thing alone helped me
so much it actually developed alove of memorizing that I kept
memorizing quotes and memorizingmy patriarchal blessing.

(10:21):
I really feel like if wememorize scriptures and memorize
quotes, memorize things thatprophets have said, that they
pop into our mind and help usand just keep us buoyed up when
we need it, and we can fill ourlittle toolbox, which I'll talk

(10:42):
about.
We can fill our little toolbox,which I'll talk about, full of
great things that will help usget through those hard times
during the day, during the week,whatever.
So that is a huge foundationfor me.
So I'll relate that a littlebit to when I was on the
platform planking for four and ahalf hours, I said those

(11:04):
scrolls in my head, like I wasbusy thinking of things, doing
things like that, that that keptme going.
So they've been a real strengthto me.
So so that one story has been aa really big strength to me.
Um also, uh, when I was veryyoung, my sister I'll just reach
for it here she gave me thisbook by William Dansforth.

(11:27):
It's called I Dare you, and Ihave these links that I have
shared.
But this book was written likein the 1930s.
It was before we had likemotivational books or anything.
But this man wrote this bookand he had this four area of
motto stand tall, walk tall,live tall, smile tall and just I

(11:52):
dare you.
I dare you to make mediscouraged, I dare you to put
me down, I'm just going to forgeahead and attack each day.
And just a real motivating book.
This is what I feel like Ilearned also from my dad as he

(12:12):
studied his lessons for seminaryand institute.
He studied so much and so manygood books.
It just spilled over into ourfamily.
To continue to fill your mindwith good books Good like, of
course, scripture, study and allthat.
Of course, number one is thattoo but every day to either

(12:38):
listen, to read, memorize, findsomething that's going to help
you and then you can write downyour thoughts.
I do want to tell you how mylove of fitness and being active
in sports and health started Iwas in grade five.

(12:58):
We actually were living inCalgary because we were
transferred there for a littlewhile.
My dad was teaching Institutein Calgary and they had
something called the Canadafitness awards and they oh yeah,
I don't know if you rememberthose, I remember.
So I was in grade five and Ithought I was pretty fit, and so

(13:19):
we went through the Canadafitness words are like um,
standing long, jump shuttle, runthe flex bar, hang some speed
sit-ups that were all timed ingym class.
And then you went through thisfor a few weeks and your gym
teacher took notes and talliedit all up and in the end you

(13:40):
were given whatever you earned.

You could get like gold, platinum yeah there
you go.

So I thought I did pretty good.
And then he lined us all up andhe gave me this badge.
This is the badge.
Oh yeah, yep, silver.
I was a little disappointed inmyself and I thought wow, I
thought I did better than that.
Next year I'm going.
Thought I did better than that,next year I'm going to get the
award of excellence.
So I went home that day and Ifound a notebook and I wrote

(14:12):
award of excellence at the topand then I started keeping track
of working out.
This is grade five.
I just wanted that award ofexcellence.
So I started running and Ibecame a runner after that.
But I started running and thenI had a very encouraging gym

(14:34):
teacher.
I think that just inspired methat I wanted to be strong.
He was very strong, veryinspiring, and the next year I
was handed the award ofexcellence.

Wow.

So that started my love of sports and my love
of driving myself and wanting todo better and it just, you know
, it kind of goes along, ofcourse, with the gospel.
We just that's what we do.
We strive every day to try andbecome better.
So fast forward to 2013.

(15:10):
We kind of talked about it.
Just preview before the show Iwas teaching school.
I fell in the gym.
I was actually a music teacherat the time, but we were using
the big, colorful parachutes inthe gym.
I ran across it and slipped.
I broke my wrist and I wasdevastated that that had

(15:33):
happened.
I couldn't run, I couldn't workout.
I had a very heavy heart, verysad.
About a week later we're in ourfarmyard with my married
children, our married childrenand a few grandkids, and it was
the five-minute planking crazethat was happening.
Everybody was trying to plankfor five minutes.

(15:54):
So my family wanted to havethis challenge and I was in a
cast.
So at first I just watched themget down on the grass, but I
have a hard time not jumping in.
So I thought, whatever, I'mgoing to just try it and I could
plank with a cast.
Not very long A minute and ahalf, maybe, maybe a minute and

(16:16):
a half.
I don't know, I can't evenremember.
A couple of my sons and myhusband went probably five
minutes.
The rest of us settled for likea minute, minute and a half.
I was so happy that I could dosomething physical with a cast
that later that day I tried itin the house and I could do it.

(16:36):
So I thought, great, I can dosomething.
So the next day, you know, Itried to do what I could with
the cast.
But I started planking and Ihad this feeling right off the
bat to turn on my scriptures.
And so right from the beginningof my planking they went hand

(17:02):
in hand with my scriptures, andthey still do today this is a
long time later.
I plank every day with myscriptures.
So every morning I would dothis and, strangely enough, I
started timing myself andwatching myself get better at it

(17:24):
.
I couldn't believe it.
So of course, my scripturesessions got longer and then I
started um planking a little bitmore when I was reading and
doing different things.
But I always read my scriptureswhile planking and I feel like
that gave me a lot of strengthto to do that.
Then, through the years, I justcontinued to plank while I got

(17:52):
lessons for school, while I read.
I didn't just plank in themornings anymore, it was just
like whenever during the day,whenever during the day after
I've been playing for a fewyears.
Well, I I would tell mychildren and grandchildren not
to tell anybody that crazygrandma is playing all the time,

(18:13):
but I closed my classroom doorafter school and just playing
while I got my lessons and Iplaying through my master's
degree.
That's kind of how that allhappened.
Okay, but a few things helped mealong the way.
So I'll just tell you a fewthings that that really helped.
Um, while I was doing mymaster's and I was planking, it

(18:38):
kind of made a parallel.
Um, I got to kind of choose myfocus parallel.
I got to kind of choose myfocus and so I focused on brain
and behavior because I worked alot with the learning support
students that needed a littlebit extra help at school and so
I wanted to study all about thebrain and how to help students

(18:59):
learn.
Of course, all of this is donewith a lot of prayer and I know
I was helped so much to studythis topic.
One of the books that I justfound it wasn't part of my
schooling.
But is this book and I doreference it Train your Brain

(19:19):
Like an Olympian.
It's by Jean-Francois Menard.
I've actually connected withhim since we're friends now.
He is a professional sportscoach and he goes even to the
Olympics and helps athletesprofessional athletes with their

(19:41):
mental health, with theirconcentration and all of that.
But that's not.
His book is not written forathletes.
His book is written for us tolearn how to train our brains
like an Olympian does, and sothis book helped me along the
way.
I've read it a few times and itjust one little quote in it was

(20:07):
if you're going to beextraordinary, you have to
expect a little bit of painalong the way, and I just love
that.
If you have to do some uncommonthings and so that that really
helped me too I feel like that'slike the gospel too.
If we are not common whichwe're not, we might be.

(20:35):
You know, we've been called apeculiar people, maybe because
we're so happy, I don't know wehave the spirit with us Then we
need to do uncommon things, andthat's what we're asked to do to
serve, to serve missions, tohold callings that we don't get
paid for and all of those things.

(20:55):
And so that's one of the thingsthat really helped me.
A few other things did too.
Things did too.
There's this book that Iabsolutely love.
It's called why Not you, so itjust is a kid's book, but it's
for adults too.
It's so inspiring and just sayswhy not you, like you think

(21:21):
that the sky's the limit, butyou can break through and do all
those things that you want todo.
So I guess, through all of this, that I'm sharing these books,
along with the scriptures, alongwith the conference talks,
along with all of those things.
There's so much good materialout there for us to learn from
every day, and I think thatthat's that is the key right Is

(21:41):
doing that every single day isthe key right Is doing that
every single day.
Another thing that I reallywould emphasize, too, is and
I've said it before is just ismemorizing.
We have this, we have this poemthat we've had on our fridge
forever, called Good Timber andthe tree that never had to fight
for sun and sky and air andlight, but stood out on the open

(22:04):
plain and always had its shareof rain, never became a forest
king, but lived and died.
A scrubby thing If we can havethings in our mind like that to
help us, then I think that wecan create our own successful
day, and that's what I learnedduring my master's degree.
That's what I learned during mymaster's degree that we are in

(22:28):
charge to a large degree, howhappy we are each day.
We can plan for that, and oneof the biggest things that I
learned that I'm so grateful foris how to create toolboxes.
So what we would do is welearned how to help students

(22:53):
create their own toolbox to helpthem.
So like a toolbox that wouldhelp with anxiety might look
like get up and walk around,color, listen to some music, sit
in a favorite chair, paint,call a friend.

(23:17):
Like for those students thatstruggled at school a little bit
more little at school, a littlebit more.
They would come into my officeand we would create toolboxes
just for them so that when theygot to a hard part in the day or
in their week that they couldpull those tools out of the

(23:37):
toolbox.
So it's not a to-do list, it'sactually an enabling list list.
It's actually an enabling list.
It's tools that we would put inand pull out to help us.
So I started calling thesetoolboxes living toolboxes.
They're inside us, they liveinside us.
So we created toolboxes foranxiety or focus.

(24:02):
So I took that a step farther inmy life and created a spiritual
toolbox for myself, which iswhat we all do anyway, but it's
a different way to think aboutit.
So every morning, when you readyour scriptures, when you pray,

(24:22):
when you read somethinguplifting, when you serve, when
you minister, when you go to thetemple, when you attend
sacrament meeting, you'reputting tools in your toolbox to
be able to pull out later.
So one important tool I feellike should be in everybody's
toolbox is reading the Book ofMormon, no matter what we're

(24:46):
doing in.
Come Follow Me is a huge one tohave in your toolbox.
Those are tools that you canpull out later in the day when
someone needs help.
I've done a few youthconferences where I've talked
about toolboxes, kind of helpthe kids, kind of think about

(25:07):
what they would do with theirtoolbox.
But I want to tell you a storyabout having the Book of Mormon
in your toolbox.
So it was before I did mymaster's degree.
I can't remember the exact year.
It was the early 2000s andPresident Hinckley had us read

(25:29):
the Book of Mormon fromSeptember to December I can't
remember what year that was andhe gave great promises of
strength and just help that youwould get in your family and
personal life If you, if youdecided to do this program from
September to.
December.

(25:49):
So I did.
I was reading the book Mormon.
Well, at the same time I justgot a new position as the high
school foods teacher and home ecteacher.
I was just that for a couple ofyears.
So I'm in the room, in the homeec room brand new teacher.
The kids are so busy I'm, youknow, my head's kind of spinning

(26:13):
.
Whatever.
I'm helping all these studentsdo their things.
The administration walks in andthey asked for a document that
they had given me or that Ineeded to give them, and they
just stood there waiting for it.
Well, in that home ec room Iwish I had a picture to show you
A whole entire wall was a bankof drawers.

(26:37):
The whole wall was these littledrawers and I had put it in one
of those drawers.
Unlabeled drawers.
You got labeled soon after.
Unlabeled drawers I don't evenknow how many, it was 50 maybe.
So they're standing therewaiting and it's important and I

(26:58):
have students everywhere and Iwas in a panic but I tried not
to show it.
I just smiled and said okay, andwithout consciously thinking
about toolboxes.
Back then I said the mostheartfelt prayer I have ever

(27:21):
said, I think, and I said I readthe Book of Mormon this morning
.
I need help now.
I need that document now and Iwill tell you if you've ever
watched the Queen's Gambit Idon't know if you've watched
that show about the chess gamebut that drawer that was in out

(27:44):
of all those banked drawers waslike it just got larger in my
mind.
I walked right to it, I openedit up and that document was in
it and I just had to hold backthe tears and I handed it to the
admin and no one knew what hadjust happened, like the biggest

(28:06):
miracle ever in that moment andI know it's because of President
Hinckley's promise to read theBook- of.
Mormon so that is a tool in mytoolbox is reading the Book of
Mormon every day, and I have hadmany miracles since, and I know

(28:27):
that many have, and I have areal testimony of reading the
scriptures and reading the Bookof Mormon.
So that was a big testimonybuilder for me.
I also, through the years, havebeen involved in so many

(28:48):
different things at school.
I'll tell you a couple more.
When I was an elementaryteacher and high school teacher,
I was involved in somethingcalled Hope Squad.
I don't know if you've everheard of that before, but it is
students nominate other studentsthat they trust, and the

(29:11):
teachers in the school or theones who are over this Hope
Squad have these students thatare the eyes and ears of the
school and they just kind oftake care of everybody.
And these other students planthings and try and just take
care, and if there's any signsof like that anything is wrong,

(29:35):
then they'll just reach out andthey'll just try and be a friend
.
Well, while I was on Hope Squad, we had a chance to do an
impact training session with aman named Alex Sheen and he
started a movement calledBecause I Said I Would.
That was while I was in highschool and so that year our

(29:57):
whole high school took on thetheme Because I Said I Would.
That movement was from AlexSheen.
When his father passed away hespoke at his funeral and he was
going to make some promises tohis father because he said he

(30:18):
would.
So it's all about making andkeeping promises to ourself.
It goes right along with thegospel keeping promises that we
say we're going to keep andcovenants that we make in the
temple.
But we all got shirts that saidbecause I said I would.
So that also helped me while Iwas on the platform planking

(30:45):
while I was preparing for theworld records, because I said I
would.
So students that year they allon sticky notes, would write I'm
going to be a better friend.
We had sticky notes that hadbecause I said it would on the
bottom and our bulletin boardswere full of I will smile at

(31:06):
someone in the hallway.
I will stop um texting anddriving.
I'm going to be a betterdaughter because I said, oh, I'd
like.
At school it was the mostamazing year and I I feel like
we just grew so close because wemade those promises.
But I will tell you a littlebit about my planking journey.

(31:27):
So all these years, all thisstuff just helps us right.
Like, what are we striving for?
What are we trying for If we're?
One of my favorite quotes isopportunities knock with those
who know.
Opportunity dances with thosewho are already on the dance

(31:47):
floor.
So if we're already on thedance floor, we're already out
there, we're already seeking,we're seeking the spirit, we're
seeking to be better, we'reseeking to follow the savior,
we're seeking to our education.
Then doors open kind of likeplanking and pushups and how it
happened that I was able tobreak those records Through the

(32:14):
years.
I just kept planking andreading while I planked and did
all this.
So then in about 2020, it wasduring COVID, during the
pandemic my family wanted tohave another planking contest
because they wanted to know howlong I could plank.

(32:34):
They knew I planked.
They kept saying, mom, you needto like, try and break a record
.
And I was like, no, I'm notgoing to do that.
Nobody knows I plank, justdon't tell anybody.
So, over like our phones, weall had another planking
challenge and I decided I wouldreally try to stay super still
and not move at all and so kindof surprised myself a little bit

(32:59):
.
I in my book oh, I didn't showthis, but I had I've written a
book.
It's called from minutes tohours that all of my stories are
in.
I'll kind of talk about itagain, but in my book is a
picture, the actual picture, ofwhen I planked that for our
second family planking challenge.

(33:21):
It was like I don't know anhour and 50 minutes or something
like that that I was able to dowithout moving at all, and so I
was still reading and doingthings while I planked.
I wasn't just sitting there.
But after that, Um, after thatI thought maybe.

(33:43):
I didn't tell anybody.
I thought maybe, maybe, maybe Iwill try.
I was a long ways from theplanking record.
It was back then it was fourhours 19 minutes.
So in the back of my mind Ithought maybe I'll just keep
trying.
So a couple of years later, Iwas very comfortable with
planking a couple hours, two anda half hours.
Finally, in 2023, in January, Isaid it out loud to my husband

(34:11):
I think I'm going to try andbreak the world record.
He's like okay.
So he's like yeah, you canprobably do it.
Oh boy.
So that year I really focused,I really trained.
But what I started doing ispraying before every time I was

(34:39):
planking so that I would knowwhat to read.
That would help me.
I would know what to thinkabout.
That would help me.
I was still teaching school.
I was doing my lessons, but Ijust needed that extra help.
So in 2024, in January, a yearlater, then I did apply and

(35:01):
Guinness was so wonderful towork with they're just amazing
and the headquarters is inLondon and they got back to me
soon and they encouraged me andso I had set my date for April.
It ended up being March, aprilit ended up being March.

(35:26):
So from January to March theysent me some guidelines.
So I had always planked withshoes, so I had to be in bare
feet I couldn't touch my handsyour hands can't touch at all
and of course you have to beperfect, so perfectly lined.
So then I started really havingsome anxiety a little bit, but
I continued just praying everytime before.

(35:47):
I claimed every time what Icould read, what would help me
the most.
And so anyway, we, we gotpretty close to the time I so
many miracles happened, oh, mygoodness, to the time I so many
miracles happened.
Oh, my goodness, so manymiracles happened leading up to

(36:07):
it.
Um, just like getting the venue, uh, we the planking, um
attempts took place in theMcGrath uh theater, which was a
miracle that it took place therejust after I retired.
That was wonderful.
We had to get the adjudicatorarrange all the flights and
everything, which there waslittle miracles in that and a

(36:28):
snowstorm.
We had to change her flights.
A film crew came down fromCalgary in the storm, and just
so many things.
But I want to share with yousome sweet, a couple of sweet
little stories A couple of days.

(36:51):
So my parents have both passedaway, but they are close and I
feel them and their strength allthe time.
A couple of days before theattempt, I was praying and
asking Heavenly Father to pleasehelp me to know what to do that
day to improve.
And so I had the feeling tostudy my patriarchal blessing,

(37:14):
which I do often anyway.
So I felt like, wow, okay, Iwill.
In my patriarchal blessing itsays to confide in my mother and
learn of her experience.
So, thanking, reading mypatriarchal blessing, I'm

(37:34):
pleading with Heavenly Fatherand saying just the littlest
thing, just something.
Show me something that my momis here and helping me and
strengthening me, just something.
So in one of our rooms we have apoem.

(37:57):
It's called Don't Quit.
Like 20 years years ago my momgave us that poem.
It's fastened to the wall withlittle teeth hooks to the wall.
It can't move at all.
It's like fastened there.
It's been there forever and Iread it.
I haven't.
It's one of the things I didn'tmemorize.

(38:17):
I have memorized since, butit's called.
It's like how does it startwhen things go wrong, as they
sometimes will, when the roadyou're trudging seems all uphill
, when you want to smile, butyou have to sigh.
Oh, when the funds are low andthe debts are high.
When you want to smile but youhave to sigh.

(38:37):
When care is pressing you down.
A bit rest if you must, butdon't you quit.
So there's a whole bunch ofverses that go along with it
uh-huh the next day I camedownstairs.
I have it right here.
I pulled it off the wall.
The next day I came downstairs.
It's obvious that this iscrooked on the wall.

(39:00):
It's so obvious.
It's just right in front of you.
I hadn't had grandkids there, wehad just gone to bed that night
.
It was on the wall straight.
I would have noticed it.
My mom is well-known forwanting pictures straight.
That was a joke in our family.

(39:22):
A little bit.
She had to straighteneverybody's pictures when I
would hold it and read it Don'tquit.

(39:49):
So I just stood there and criedand cried and I told my
grandkids this story.
And I know, I know, heavenlyFather, let my mom send me a
message don't quit.
And when I was on that platform, that gave me so much strength

(40:14):
to think I could quit.
So at that point I didn't haveit memorized, but I could have
my phone for a while while I wason the platform.
So I had that, so I was able toread through that and that to
me was just one of the many,many miracles that happened that
day.
So many other miracles happened.

(40:35):
Like I had a cold?
What if I started coughing?
What?
I couldn't get off the platformand use the washroom.
How is that going to work?
I could have a drink, myhusband could give me a drink of
water, but all of those thingsjust kind of work themselves out

(40:56):
.
And there's another littlemiracle that happened.
And it seems so little, butit's not so.
If you've ever watched themovie iron will, it's about this
dog sled race in Alaska.
So this boy, you know, isracing against all these men.
Well, I didn't know what I wasgoing to eat and what I was

(41:20):
going to drink before I prayedand prayed, like, how am I going
to do this?
I'm looking at four and a halfhours.
So I knew I had to go in alittle bit dehydrated so that my
husband could just give me adrink.
But I didn't know what to eat,but I just felt like I needed
that fruitcake.

(41:41):
Know what to eat, but I justfelt like I needed that
fruitcake.

Like in the story.

He has fruitcake, that his mom made him
special fruitcake and I justthought I need to find that.
I need to find something,that's that.
So we bought all of thesehealth bars, protein bars, and
nothing was happening.
So it was just like whatever, Iwon't worry about it.
Well, my daughter, she wasn'table to come to the to the um

(42:06):
attempt, but her boy, her boywas.
He's one of my 12 grandchildrenand I didn't know that.
So my husband went to pick upthe adjudicator in Calgary from
the airport and then picked upmy grandson.
Our grandson and my daughterhad made a care package and I
didn't know, and that was theday, the night before.

(42:28):
So in that care package youprobably have seen these before,
but I had never seen thembefore were these bars?
And I picked them up and Iopened them up and I said to
Randy, this is the fruitcake,this is what I've been praying
for, this is what I need.
She had sent four.

(42:49):
I ate one.
The night before I won, beforeI went, and I just felt like
that was another little tendermercy.
That was another little tendermercy.
That's what I was looking for.

(43:09):
That exact texture, that exactwhatever it was.
That helped me also through theplanking, and so I just had so
many little miracles happen thatour family got family T-shirts
and they didn't come in.
So a miracle happened that theywere still able to be made.
And they said I can't rememberPlank Strong, livestrong, I

(43:31):
can't remember now what is onthere, but just miracles, one
miracle after another.
So I just felt like I had theLord's help to do that challenge
.
So right after that and I'lltell you a little bit more about
this book Right after I brokethe world record and it was just

(43:54):
kind of crazy I had a lot ofinterviews, a lot on the news
and people just kept sayingwrite your story.
And so I did.
I wrote a book and I wrote allthose things in the book and
told, and I tell in there what abig part of my training was

(44:18):
prayer and scripture study andthe Lord's hand.
I know that.
But while I was training forthe planking record, doing
push-ups was a big part of mytraining.
I did hundreds of push-upsevery day and I fell in love
with doing that too.
So that just kind of rolledinto the next one.

(44:38):
We were able to book adifferent venue to do the
push-up attempt and my husband'smother, who was 91 years old,
was at the Diamond Willow inMcGrath and so we were able to
do the push-up attempt at theDiamond Willow.

(45:00):
We didn't have adjudicatorscome, we had judges different
judges in the community come,but she was there.
That was very special becauseshe passed away not too long
after that.
I write that whole story.
This is kind of like my story,my heart, that I wrote down and
so many things about believingbelieving in yourself, putting

(45:25):
yourself out know little quotethat I wanted to say To expect

(45:49):
well, I'm not sure where it is,but just to expect the miracles
in your life, to follow HeavenlyFather's plan, to follow the
prophet, to make scripture studypart of your daily life, to
create your own toolboxes andthen expect miracles.

(46:09):
Like, go into your days andexpect miracles to happen and
they will, just like they didfor me.
I still can't believe that thatactually has happened.
I do have some other Guinnessrecords kind of in my sight.
Maybe in the future a littlebit, we'll see if that happens

(46:32):
or not.
But this has been just thegreatest experience ever for me
and I'm just happy to share mystory.

That's so amazing.

Wow, I'm curious , what are some of those other?
You know Guinness records thatyou're kind of eyeballing.

Well, I haven't really said yet what they are,
but I will share something elsewith you.
Like, there is another, just a.
I'm not going to do this as aguinness world record, but I I
just want to say just in thepast few months I've added, um,

(47:15):
the dead hang to my training,that the like the bar hang has a
list of health benefits.
About that long, just so long.
And I didn't tell this story.
Oh, I guess I should tell onemore story.
Um, while I was at school I gotsomething called transverse

(47:38):
mellitus and it's.
I actually went paralyzed for alittle while, was in the
hospital.
Um, I was going to universityat the time.
My hands ended up not working.
I've been, I have chronic painin my hands, so it's been kind
of a ongoing thing.
So my husband said that's whyyou can play so long, because

(48:00):
you're so used to having chronicpain.
But the reason that I mentionedthe bar hang is because that's
really helped me and helped myhands.
But about four months ago Icould only hang like maybe a
minute.
It was just such a struggle tohang.

(48:20):
But now it's been four monthsand I've been doing it every day
and I am once in a while I canmake it to two minutes, and so
in that small amount of time,instead of my book saying from
minutes to hours, you could sayfrom seconds to minutes, is such
a testimony of improvement forall of us.

(48:43):
In no matter what it is we do.
It's actually called rightAggregation of marginal gains,
if you've ever heard that.

Yeah, yeah.

The British cycling team and Dave Railsworth
, or whatever his name was like,changed their their style and
changed everything.
That is exactly like slowly,then suddenly.
And I just have such atestimony that if we just like
decide what we want to do, whatwe like to do, and Heavenly
Father is going to help usimprove and we're going to

(49:17):
improve, we have the braincapacity to improve.
It makes those pathways, it'sjust all connected.
And have the brain capacity toimprove, it makes those pathways
, it's just all connected.
And it just gets me so excitedbecause everybody doesn't love
planking or pushups, but what doyou love?
So then just take that step andstart and then you magically

(49:39):
get better.
So I've seen it again the pastfew months in the bar hang and,
honestly, an answer for mebecause it's helped the pain in
my hands, my hand grip,everything to do with what I've
been suffering with for so manyyears.
And so another just answer toprayer, many years, and so

(50:07):
another just answer to prayer.
So I just I just emphasize,just look for those miracles,
like expect, expect the miraclesto happen and have.
And if you're doing all thosethings and you're striving, then
they're going to happen in yourlife, maybe not the way you
think, but it's going to openother doors for you.
Wow.

I'm sorry.

I don't know if I missed this part, but I was
like I don't know, but what wasyour time?

for Guinness.
Oh, my time Maybe I didn'tmention so for the planking was
four hours 30 minutes and 11seconds.
And so when I did break therecord and the whole like
theater was cheering, everybodywas cheering, it was full of
people, it was so kind, theywere so kind to me.

(50:57):
My husband came close and hewasn't allowed to be like tell
me anything or talk to me, oranything.
Nobody talked to me.
My husband came close and hewasn't allowed to be like tell
me anything or talk to me, oranything.
Nobody talked to me.
He just came to me and he saidyou have to stay there for 10
more minutes at least.
So it had been four hours and20 minutes.
You got to stay there for atleast 10 more minutes till it's

(51:17):
four hours and 30 minutes.
So, anyway.
So somehow I got the strengthto do that.
But my whole body emotionchanged as soon as I broke that
record.
I was so emotional that I couldfeel the strength change.
And my grandkids are thereGrandma, grandma, grandma.

(51:37):
All I wanted to do is jump offthat platform and go hug them
and everything, but managed tostay there and then the record
was um, the most push-ups in anhour by a female um, it was I
did 1575 oh my gosh, that'sincredible what was the

(52:00):
previous record 1270, I think.

Oh my gosh.

But you don't have to do it continuous.
I trained for that and figuredout how to do it, so I did about
30 every minute.

Wow, oh my gosh, that is crazy awesome.
I couldn't watch a show like onmy couch for 1,530 minutes or
whatever.
You know what I mean.
Like I'm just like, oh, that isphenomenal, one that you were

(52:39):
able to do it.
But also just like thatheavenly father designed our
bodies to be able to do thingslike that right, like if we just
actually tapped into the amountof ability we have, can you
imagine like this world would beamazing.
That's, that's phenomenal.

You're phenomenal, and we well, but and
everybody does it, we all do it, we all that's what we are
striving to do in the gospel isto be better than we were
yesterday, in whatever area, andit only takes that 1% right,

(53:18):
just just something, just alittle something.
That 1% right, just something,just a little something.
And you can ask Heavenly Fatherto help you.
What can I be better at todayif you don't know?
Or, please, can you help me notto be so anxious, or something,
and he does.
He'll help you in so many ways,so many ways.

(53:45):
I could read you this quote.
Just, I have so many quotesthat are my favorite.
I want to get this one right.
Well, actually, it's been saida few different ways.
I kind of made this one up thisway um, what we do with the
minutes each day creates thelife that we have now.
If we want to create adifferent and better life, we
need to plan for and change whatwe do with our minutes,

(54:06):
starting today.
It's true, it's just minute byminute, right.
What we do with those minutesevery day will make the
difference in our lives.

Yeah, wow, your attitude and your smile are
contagious, I just have to tellyou absolutely like just
watching you.

I'm like I can give everything the whole wide
world and I one of the things inmy toolbox when I was on the
platform was smiling, Like thatwas one of the mental things
that I kind of my list of thingsthat I pulled out Because it
does it changes right the wholechemistry in your head.

(54:50):
It makes you feel energized.
And there is one thing I forgotto talk about, and that's the
Gospel Living app, the music onthere.
I trained to that so much.
Those songs on there, if youBelieve, by Patch Crow, change,
by Nick Day, were all changing.

(55:11):
So while I was on the platform,I was able to have some earbuds
and my phone for a while justas long as my hands didn't touch
and so I was listening to theplaylists on the Gospel Living
app, which are a huge part of mylife, and they just bring such
joy right.

(55:32):
It just is like change, justthe one about change.
Yeah, we're always changing, oryou can move mountains,
whatever it is that on thosesongs.
They just make you feel like,yeah, actually I can do that
today.

So is that part of the gospel library?

Oh, it's a gospel living app I'm going to
show you right now on my phone.
So it has 100 playlists in itand I will tell you every single
song is uplifting Every song.
So we have speakers in ourhouse, just like JBL speakers
that my husband and I listen to.

(56:11):
That's what we work out toEvery day.
I jump rope to, if you Believe,by Patch Crow.
Every day it starts my day andthen it just makes you feel like
you can walk across the water,you can move mountains because
you have Heavenly Father's helpand it's just yeah.
So that is a big part of mylife.

That is so neat, that's awesome.

I didn't know that that was a thing, so in
that.

Gospel Living app.
It just doesn't have music, ithas just quotes.
It has stories.
Lds has tons, hundreds offaith-promoting stories of youth
or adults.
It helps the child and youthprogram.
It's a place where the kids canset their goals and they give

(57:02):
ideas of what to do for theirgoals, for the child and youth
program.
So children, youth or howeveryou say that, yeah, that is a
wonderful app and I talk aboutit in my book too, like it is
apt for everybody in the worldwow, that's neat yeah, it's good

(57:23):
to that's great to find someuplifting music.

I mean, we definitely need that these days
for sure.

So thanks for sharing that yeah, for sure, I
love this whole story.
It's very uplifting and andjust I don't know like you're.
You're incredibly inspirational, right I the things that you've
accomplished, not just theplanking and the Guinness, but
like also writing a book, andlike just you with your marriage

(57:51):
and your kids and yourgrandbabies, and you know, I
just I don't know, I just thisis a good one.
I really love this one.
So thank you so much for makingus smile today.
Thank you.

Thank you A lot .
My grandkids are plankers andpushup kids.
Now one of my grandsons.
Last year he decided that hewas going to do 120, well, a
hundred pushups a day.
He ended up doing 120 every day.
So it ended up being like Idon't know 44,000.

(58:22):
I can't remember how many, buthe also decided to go the whole
year without eating sugar.
He's 12.
He went the whole year withouteating sugar and the whole year
of push-ups every day, and sothat was inspiring for me,
because, anyway, he just kind ofrolled with what was going on
in our family and so he inspiredall the kids.

Wow, that is so sweet.

That's because he's trying to be like grandma.

He surpassed me anyway, this is awesome.
I mean, I've seen the Power ofGoals in my life.
Atomic Habits is one of myfavorite books.
I think we're kindred spiritsin a lot of ways, but you're
inspiring me to do better forsure.
So I really appreciate yourthoughts and your excitement and

(59:19):
your drive and I love yourquotes.
Man, thank you so much foreverything you do and for all
the hard work you put on,Because I do think you know you
are able to impact a lot ofpeople because you show people
like when Roger Bannister brokethe four minute mile that showed

(59:40):
that that was possible, Right,and I think you're.
I think you're doing that for alot of people in the world and
you're showing people that, hey,anyone can do amazing things if
they put their mind to it andthey just do a little bit better
every day and they focus on itand they have a goal.
You can do incredible thingsand if you have God on your side

(01:00:02):
, that's your superpower, right.

DonnaJean Wilde (01:00:05):
That is your superpower, yep, and if you
write those goals down too,that's even another step right.

Alisha Coakley (01:00:13):
Yeah Well, donna , jean, tell our listeners, I
mean, you've made some greatbook suggestions, but of course
we want to know about your bookLike, tell us, where can we find
your book, how can we supportyou guys in that and how can we
learn the whole story and learnmore about you know, achieving

(01:00:35):
our own goals and stuff throughwhat you've written?

Well, it it is written from my heart, it really
is, as I wrote this book.
I it says I wrote this bookwhile I was while planking is
the subtitle, and I did I I havemy computer on the floor or

(01:00:59):
voice to text, or whatever.
I did that wrote the book whileI was planking.
In this book, the chapters aredriven by the questions people
have asked me since I broke therecord.
So everybody would ask how,like, how did you do it?

(01:01:20):
So in asking how I figured outpretty quick, if I waited a
couple more seconds, they wouldtell me what that question was.
Some of them are asking how didyou plank for so long?
Some are asking how did youtrain?
How did you apply to Guinness?

(01:01:41):
How did you plan for theattempt?
Like, if I wait long, if themagical thing about talking to
people after is that I have methundreds of people that I didn't
know before, like you guys,this is just so great.
So so I have so many hundredsmore friends.

(01:02:04):
People stop me on the trails inWaterton or somewhere and be
like hey, are you the planker?
Are you the planker?
Are you the one?
It's like yeah, and then theysay how?
So those are kind of thechapters that kind of drove it
Like how did it start?
And so I kind of explained thattoday how that all started.

(01:02:26):
Like how do you plank for solong?
Well, it's because I do,because I I can do, because I do
right.
It applies to anything.
You know, I can run because Irun, I can plank because I plank
.
So that's how come I can do itbecause I keep planking.
So that was a really fun thing.

(01:02:46):
It just kind of evolved itselfand I really believe that was
the Holy Ghost really helping mebe like like I had never
written a book.
I still can't believe I wrote abook, I cannot believe I wrote
it, but it kind of goes throughthe stories that I told today
plus a little bit more, plus mytestimony of prayer and

(01:03:10):
scripture study is the firsttools in my toolbox every day
that help me and it just goes onfrom there.
I have so many pictures in herepictures of my grandkids,
pictures of when I broke mywrist Another girl at school had

(01:03:32):
broken her wrist and we havepictures of us together and at
the school and just things thatare like dear to my heart is
written in here, and also the umwhile I was um planking one day
in our tiny little 130 year oldcabin that we have on our

(01:03:53):
property appeaser um, I had myphone open, whatever that day.
The day before I was I had beenaccepted for the push-up record,
so I was super excited.
So in my book I'm typing andwriting I was just accepted by
Guinness to try and breakanother world record, and so all

(01:04:18):
of that, all of those dearfeelings, are in my book and I
just share to just believe inwhat you are doing.
Sometimes I have people come upto me and say I don't like
planking, but I love swimmingand I haven't been a swimmer for
years but I started swimmingagain and now I am so happy I

(01:04:43):
did.
Just things like that have justbeen become so special to me,
just have helped me to keepgoing and the things that I want
to do.
But you don't have to loveplanking or pushups, but
whatever it is that you love, tokeep going at it.
A little, little by littlebecomes a lot.

Scott Brandley (01:05:05):
Yeah, yeah, wow, that's so inspiring, dona Jean.
Thank you so much for coming onand sharing all that.
Do you have some of the quotesand things that?

you've shared on the show today, in your book
as well.
All of them, yep, all of themand also in the link that I had
sent before with my bibliography, there is a link to all 10
scrolls.

Oh, awesome.

A live link and yeah, just to a few different
things.
When I completed my master'sdegree, I had to do a capping
final video of my experience,and so that's on there too.
It should take you to a YouTubelink that just really says how

(01:05:52):
incredible our brains are.
Heavenly Father has given usthe best computer that will ever
be made is our mind.
That can be developed to helpus develop whatever it is that
we want, to help us in thegospel, to help us on missions,
to help us learn languages,whatever it is that during my

(01:06:15):
master's degree, I gained such atestimony of our bodies.
Now our prophet says the samething how amazing our bodies are
and that Heavenly Father hasgiven us, and so I share that in
there.
That's in one of the links.
Yeah, just all the quotes andall the different things.

(01:06:37):
I just like open this page.
I have written if I have seenfarther, it is by standing on
the shoulders of giants.
So I don't know why I opened tothat.
I guess because I need toquickly say we're all standing
on the shoulders of giants,right of those who have gone
before us when I was musicteacher, that was our theme for

(01:06:59):
the year of my music, and so wewe studied, like Sir Isaac
Newton and Helen Keller and allof those giants that have gone
before us that we stand on theshoulders of and the soldiers
who have fought for us, but alsoour best giant.
I don't mention this in my book, but I will tell you, our

(01:07:22):
biggest giant that we stand onthe shoulders is Jesus Christ,
who we gain strength from if wewill just look to him, and I
leave that with all my heart.

Yeah, oh, geez.
Well, thank you so much, DonnaJean, for coming on and for
sharing your story and yourlight and your smile and your
inspiration.
It's like I always know it's areally they're all good podcasts
, right, but I always know thatit's something that I really,
really like resonated with whenmy cheeks are hurting by the end

(01:07:56):
of the night or my makeup isright off.
Oh, thank you.

I don't.
I think this is probably thepodcast I've smiled the most in.
Do you have any final thoughtsyou'd like to share before we
wrap things up?

Well, if you think about, along the line of
smiling, there is I can'tremember her name, petty Bowl
somebody.
I quote her.
She just said he who laughslasts.
I totally believe that when Iwas doing my master's degree I

(01:08:40):
had to do public speaking aboutsmiling.
They just gave me that topic.
And so, to me, if we have thelight of Christ with us, we just
can't help but smile.
And if we walk by someone who'snot smiling and we smile, they

(01:09:02):
will smile back Almost handsdown.
And so that is a way that wecan help spread our light to
others is just by being happyand smiling.
But you know what?
We have to do our homework, wehave to fill our toolbox, we
have to read our scriptures, wehave to fill our lamps so that

(01:09:22):
we can share that light withothers.

Love it All right.
Well, I'm going to keep smilingfor the rest of the night.
I'll make it a point to justput it in my head Do it all next
week.
It's a good time to start,right, right, awesome, all right
.
Well, thank you so much, donnaJean, for coming on again.

(01:09:46):
Thank you to our listeners fortuning in.
Guys, we're going to ask you todo your five-second missionary
work.
Share this story with othersand let us know what your
favorite part was.
Leave a message in the commentsfor Donna Jean and she'll be
able to look it up and see.
You know just how many otherpeople she's inspiring with her

(01:10:07):
life and her, her knowledge andher, her ability to set goals
and accomplish them, and all thegood things.

Thank you, yeah and if you have a story you'd
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get you on the show.
You can be part of ourlatterday lights family, just
like donna g absolutely awesome.
Well, thanks again everybody fortuning in and thanks, donna

(01:10:35):
gene for coming on and good luckin your future endeavors.
And yes, I can't wait to seewhat other goals you crushed at
guinness thank you so much youbet all

right, well, until next time, guys.
We will talk to you later you.

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Planking Through Prayer—Turning Habits into Record-Breaking Miracles: DonnaJean Wilde's Story - Latter-Day Lights

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.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}Planking Through Prayer—Turning Habits into Record-Breaking Miracles: DonnaJean Wilde's Story - Latter-Day Lights