PROVO — Whatever their personal circumstances, LDS women have a common belief in life before mortality and an individual life "mission" they must find and fulfill by drawing on the power of heaven.

That's the central message of scores of workshops that began Thursday and continue today at the annual Women's Conference at Brigham Young University. Braving spring rains and traffic jams that stretched for miles around the campus, thousands of LDS women gathered for the opening day of the annual event, which focuses on the biblical pronouncement to Esther, "Thou art come to the kingdom for such a time as this."

Wendy Watson Nelson, wife of Elder Russell M. Nelson of the LDS Church's Quorum of the Twelve, encouraged women to seek more deeply the will of the Lord in determining how they can fill their life mission so they can be prepared to serve in unexpected ways.

She told of being seriously injured when she did an early morning "face-plant" at the Rochester airport in 2005 as she and her friend Sheri Dew — former counselor in the Relief Society General presidency — were returning to Salt Lake City.

Bleeding profusely and with no one close by to help, she asked Dew to pray for her. "Without hesitating, she knelt on pavement next to me and began to plead with the Lord. She prayed with power and petitioned the Lord to stop my fear, the bleeding and the pain.

"She pleaded to know what she should do to take care of me." When she finished, Nelson said her fear evaporated, the bleeding slowed and her pain diminished significantly. Paramedics were called and bandaged her face before the women boarded their flight.

During a layover, Dew called ahead for a plastic surgeon and upon arriving in Salt Lake City, they went directly to LDS Hospital, where Nelson was taken into surgery and got "well over 300 stitches."

Her friend's spiritual "skill and understanding" to summon help from God, as well as the inspiration to arrange for the right medical treatment, made her "the right person to be with me," Nelson said.

Such preparation is vital for LDS women, who often can't anticipate how the Lord will use them to serve others in unexpected, and often unrecognized, ways. Premortal abilities and assignments were given to each woman, she said, and God expects them to listen to spiritual promptings in order to accomplish his work.

"That may mean your spirit is restless ... were you born to do something different or more than what you are presently doing? Does it mean you need to make a dramatic change? It may. Or it may not."

The key to finding out is "increasing impeccable obedience," she said.

The wives of three BYU athletic officials echoed Nelson's call for faithfulness, sharing stories of finding how to play their own supporting roles in the shadow of their high-profile husbands.