Why I'm here..At least...Part of it.

I live in Watford City, North Dakota. Never heard of it? Neither had I until about a year and a half ago. It is an hour from the closest Wal Mart and church. We drive 3 hours to attend the Temple or go to stake conference. I am 800 plus miles from my family.
Naturally, the question has come up, WHY?!
Sure, there is the employment thing...North Dakota has the lowest unemployment rate in the nation.. Plus the jobs here pay DANG good.
I could do what a lot of people are doing, and move back to Idaho and Woody could come home ever 2 or 3 or 4 weeks. NOT an option. We like seeing him every night.
Still, if you have ever experienced a winter here in ND, you will continue to ask WHY?! It is a whole other world here. Sometimes I feel like I have moved to a foreign country..Sometimes a foreign PLANET!
This story does in fact have a point. Woody and I have often felt that the Lord wants us here. We don't know specifics. (Don't know that we ever will).... Well, this last Sunday, during Relief Society, our RS president was giving the lesson and said, "A lot of us are here, without knowing the reason. I believe the reason, at least part of it, is that we weren't being who Heavenly Father needed us to be when we were back where we came from." (Most of us here are in the same sort of situations.) Now, I pondered this...And then I pondered it some more. How true is this statement?! I mean, to stay active here takes work...like...a lotta it. If you wanna participate in most activities, you drive an hour. We woke up at 5:30 am this past Saturday to attend a ward park clean up.
If you were previously just doing just whatcha had to to get by.....If you move to good ol' North Dakota you will go one of 2 ways...You will either find yourself putting a lot of effort.....a lot of sacrifice...into being an active member of the Church...or you will find yourself sliding on the slippery slope of inactivity. There isn't a lot of room for that in-between-do-just-what-you-have-to-do-to-get-by thing here. <I feel like I am now, finally, 10 years after baptism, willing to do the work to becomethe person Heavenly Father needs me to be. It does take a lot of work. It isn't always easy to get up, get ready, drive an hour, go to meetings, drive an hour home. Especially because it is Woodys ONLY full day off in the week.
I know that I am here because it was actually the best way for me to become the woman, wife, mother and Daughter of God that I need to be for the eternities. And, I am THANKFUL for that, and even more thankful that I know it.