Friday, July 25, 2014

The Worth of Souls: July 17, 2014

Jessica!

Exact obedience is hard. Really hard. I'm trying so hard but I fail all the time. But, I'm trying. I want to be obedient. Not just conveniently obedient, but exactly obedient. It is the only way I can be more Christlike, and that exactly what I want to be. 

I love what you said about that. I can't believe people think that this church is sexist. In no way do I feel like I am prevented from receiving blessings because I am a girl. It's ridiculous! The Elders are so nice, they always let you go first in line. Some people would think that is sexist in itself, but I think it shows respect. It is telling us that they respect us enough to put aside their own feelings of hunger so that we can satisfy our hunger. It's charity, it's love, it's respect. I have the opportunity here to have the priesthood authority to preach the gospel. It's amazing! I may not hold the priesthood, but I can still serve. I couldn't give my companion a blessing when she was sick, but they could. She, and I, could still be blessed by the priesthood without holding it. I don't think I can express my feelings well enough. Here, we work together. I, as a Sister Training Leader, work with the District and Zone Leaders to make sure the needs of the hermanas are met. We work together. That is how it is supposed to be. I don't need to do what they do to have worth. I don't need to be a man to have worth. That idea is ridiculous. We're not the same, and there is a reason for that. We can't have 7 billion architects in the world, it just doesn't make sense! I hope that people some day will be able to understand that. I know I have worth, I know you have worth. I don't think I am worth more than any man, nor is any man worth more than me. We are all children of God. We all have separate roles. These roles even change from sister to sister and brother to brother. It's ridiculous to  think one person is worth more than another, simple because of gender.

This is something that has slowly been working it's way into my heart over the past years. Everyone, and I mean EVERYone is worth more than anything in this world in the sight of God. It is only us who don't see it that way. It is us to say, "oh he's righteous he's worth more" or "she's so pretty so she's better". That's a lie. Let me say that again. THAT IS A LIE. Satan wants us to think that way. Satan wants us to judge and demean other people, other children of God. But we can't let him. We need to let everyone know that they have worth. We need to tell everyone their true identity. We are children of God! What greater knowledge can we have than that. He loves us, he has a plan for us so that we can live with him, and our families for eternity! What a blessing it is to learn more about this and to have the opportunity to share it with the world. To share it to people in their own tongue. What other church sends a bunch of 18 and 19 year-olds to learn a foreign language so that they can teach people the truth, in their own tongue. It's amazing. 

I hope school is going well for you. I hope you know that you are loved and that you have great worth, to God, to this world, and to those around you. You can do great things with your life.

I love you,

Hermana Leete

How Women are Viewed

Sister Leete!

I'm glad everything is going well in the MTC and that you are enjoying learning Spanish! I especially liked what you said about exact obedience. I was at a Relief Society fireside this week and one of the members of my stake presidency said that too often we want to obey the Lord, but we want to do it our way. I know I'm guilty of this, but that's not really obedience is it? Obedience is much more about humility and putting aside what we want for what God knows is better for us. And that's the truly great thing about it, what God says is best for us truly is because He loves us and knows more than us. That makes Him brilliant at giving guidance and direction.

One thing that has been on my mind a lot lately is how the world views women versus how the church views women. So much of the world right now is pushing women to be seen for only their beauty and how they can please men, or is on the other side of the spectrum saying that the only way to have equality is for women to be exactly like men. Either way, the world places a woman's worth in what men think of her. Currently, my biggest issue with it is how women are portrayed in the media. Even in books with a female protagonist, so many play out the same story line. A young women feels worthless even though there is something special about her (such as magic powers, super strength, having cancer, or having blood that smells really good to vampires). Then a boy comes along that falls in love with her - specifically because of a physical feature, which one varies between books - and throughout their journey teaches her to love herself. And him. The writing style varies, the genre varies, the other themes explored varies, but this doesn't. I'm sick of these girls having to wait around for a man to tell her that she has worth.

That's not how it is in the church. The other day I had a bit of an epiphany. The world tells us we are only worth something when we are with a man, but the church tells us that we can be exalted with one. Nowhere in church doctrine are women belittled or put below men. Everywhere we are valued, loved, and respected. We are children of God, just as much as men are. We are given leadership roles in the church and encouraged to teach, expound, and serve. You right now are serving as a representative for the church and of Jesus Christ and will be doing His work in bringing others to the truth. Women are beloved daughters of God and important members of the church. Even if we don't hold offices in the priesthood, we are still blessed by its power just as much as men, and act under with its authority when we serve in callings. (For more information about the priesthood see this talk from General Conference). More than that, God allows men and women to progress further together when sealed in eternal marriage in the temple. Though men and women are different, God gives both an equal opportunity to progress together.

So there's some thoughts that have been bouncing around my head for a while. I've been wanting to talk to someone about it. What do you think about this?

Love you! Have a great week!

Jessica

Wednesday, July 16, 2014

Week 2: July 10, 2014

Hey Jessica,

I feel like I just told everything to Mom, so I won't give you the day by day play of my week and talk to you about other stuff. That's more fun anyway, right?

I've learned that my Spanish sucks. I got to talk to a member from here this week. We had a hard time communicating. Ya. That was a blow to my ego. Which was good. It's better to get that now rather than the second I get into the mission field.

I'm finding it kind of hard to be exactly obedient. It's not like I'm rebellious or anything, it's just that sometimes I want to study in my own way, but they tell me to learn these things this way, or whatever. But I'm working hard on changing that. I want to be exactly obedient; I don't know everything and the Lord does, and if he inspired people to have us study in a certain way, I need to study that way. Sometimes it's hard, but I'm working on it.

I'm so glad you are enjoying school again. One funny thing, Hermana J (my companion) is a Recreational Therapy major at BYU, she's one semester away from graduating, so she takes a lot of psychology classes. It's cool to be paired with her, we know and are interested in a lot of the same stuff. I can't wait until I can go back and learn more! However, now is the time for learning Spanish, and how to use a Spanish keyboard, and how to teach the gospel (knowing the stuff is not quite enough), and  how to talk to people, and how to get along with people, and so many other social skills which I do not possess. It's just different. A good different, but different.

It's amazing to see everyone progress in their Spanish. A lot of these missionaries never spoke a lick of Spanish before they came here, and now, after two weeks, they are bearing their testimonies and teaching lessons in Spanish. No, their Spanish is not perfect, for some people, not even close, but they can still do it. It's really amazing. Everyday I am astounded by what everyone can do. I hope they notice it too.

In order to save me time, here is an excerpt from my letter to Mom:

"Fourth of July was definitely a highlight. I swear, I have never seen so many people wearing red, white, and blue as I did that day. It was ridiculous. The kitchen staff was so nice too! For lunch we had BBQ sandwiches, corn on the cob, apple pie, and french fries! One hermana wanted to sing the national anthem, so they let her. We all sang along. I was really touched at the effort that they went to to make us feel at home. They even put red, white, and blue table clothes on all the tables! It was pretty amazing."

Anyway, I'm not sure what else to say. I hope all is well.
Love you!

Hermana Leete

**To see more of Melissa's letters click on the link in the side bar to Called to Serve: Las Vegas Nevada.**

Thursday, July 3, 2014

In the MTC

Melissa flew to the Mexico MTC on June 25, and today was her first p-day, which means e-mails!

Hey Jessica!

The flight was pretty boring. I mostly just slept. On both of them. But it was fun being in the Phoenix airport because there were a ton of missionaries on the same flight! We all kind of sat next to each other and talked about where we were from and where we are going. It was really cool. I can't really describe it. It's really amazing the sisterhood/brotherhood that you feel here.

My companion is Hermana J. She is amazing! I love her and the two sisters I share a room with, Hermana C and Hermana M. They are amazing! We are all going to the Nevada, Las Vegas mission together, except for Hermana M who is going to New Jersey. I'll miss her when we leave. The Elderes in my district are awesome! Like seriously, I couldn't have asked for a better district. We like to do stuff together, we work well together, we have fun together. It's just amazing. The best part is when we are learning Spanish. We have people who didn't know any Spanish when they came in and people who took four years of Spanish before they came. We all help each other learn. It's also so amazing to see how fast everyone improves. Hermana J didn't know any Spanish when she came here a week ago (she took six years of German though) but last night, when we were teaching our investigator, she spoke nearly completely in Spanish! It wasn't very complicated, or totally correct Spanish, but it was Spanish. I'm so proud of how far she has come in such a short amount of time.

Love you! I would write more but I have to make sure I write to Mom and Dad too.

Hermana Leete

To see more of Hermana Leete's e-mails, our mom is posting her letters home here.