Al Fox Carraway is a blogger, a speaker, and an author. Between her book-signing and her devotional talk at the conclusion of BYU-Idaho’s Education Week, she talked to BYU-Idaho Radio about experiences that have shaped her, and about her most recent book, “Cheers to Eternity.”
Carraway didn’t grow up religious. She met the missionaries in Rochester, New York, and was set on proving them wrong. She thought the best way to do that was to live the way they taught long enough to show them it doesn’t matter how you live. But then she received a testimony from the Holy Ghost that the Book of Mormon was true.
“I feel like the theme of my life is, ‘This isn’t what I asked for.”’
She wanted to serve a mission, but God had a different plan. Against her family’s wishes, against the advice of ward members, she followed God’s prompting and moved to Utah.
In her first day, while standing in line for the much anticipated Café Rio tacos, a man noticed she was holding a biography of an LDS prophet and said to her, “It’s pretty ironic looking the way you do and holding that book.” She said moving to Utah was the hardest part of her life.
In the interview with BYU-Idaho Radio she shared some advice she has for members of the LDS Church who want to help recent converts.
“Just don’t even think about what they’re doing, where they come from, where they’re at, or what they look like,” she said. “Just include them and invite them.”
Her latest book “Cheers to Eternity” is co-authored by her husband Ben Carraway. Her mom said if she had this book back-in-the-day, it would have saved her marriage.
“That was wild,” Carraway said. “After all these years, my parents never told us why they divorced. So for my mom to bring it up like that, it’s humbling. ”
The book was written for singles and newlyweds but has struck a nerve the most with long-term married folks.
You can get a signed copy of her book in Rexburg’s Deseret Bookstore, and in the BYU-Idaho Bookstore.