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

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.**

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.

Goodbye Melissa!

Melissa,

Spending the weekend at home was great. It was wonderful to get the whole family together again. We didn't do much, but just spending time together was all I wanted. I love how we watched the Lego movie (twice!) and then continued to quote it the rest of the time. EVERYTHING IS AWESOME!

I can’t believe you’re going on a mission tomorrow! I already miss you so much, and I just barely said goodbye! I am so proud of you for deciding to serve a mission. You are going to be a fantastic missionary!

Two reasons you’re going to be a great missionary:

1. You love Jesus Christ – There’s no better reason to serve and there’s no way to be a better missionary than loving the Lord, His gospel, and His church. Whenever you teach, your love and testimony will shine through, and that will make you an effective missionary.

2. You know how to work hard – You've always been one to go the extra mile and to try new things. Like violin! The only reason you had to start and keep practicing was because you wanted to learn. You can motivate yourself like no one else, and that will keep you working hard your whole mission.

 I love you so much Melissa, have a wonderful time and work hard! I can't wait to hear from you.

-Jessica

Note: While Melissa is on a mission, I will continue to write her and post it here. Her replies will also be posted here.

Counting Down the Days

Hey Jessica!

Two weeks.

14 Days.

That's all I have left.

In a good way of course. I don't mean the kind of "that's all I have left" like all your friends have died and all you have left is a guinea pig and you are afraid it too will die. I mean the "I only have to wait 14 more days," "that's all I have left."

Needless to say, I've been pretty busy. Actually, that's kind of a lie. I have moments where I'm really really busy and I have moments where I read all day or watch Kim Possible. I really have no excuse for taking so long to post.

If you were wondering about clothing, I have:

• 5 bike-rideable skirts
• 2 thrown-in-if-you-have-room skirts
• 11 blouses
• 1 cardigan
• 3 pairs of shoes (one black heel, one black and one brown nice walking shoe)
• 1 cute raincoat
• 1 dress (that's coming in the mail, I really hope it fits)

As glad as I am to have so many skirts, I'm thinking my skirt-blouse ratio is a little off. But I don't know. Mostly I am just tired of shopping. Maybe when you come home we can go, one last time.

Do you want to know what else I've been doing?

THIS!

It is finally done. It's taken me a while, yes I know, but it is done! I hope you enjoy the fruits of my last finals week in Hawaii. Yes, you read right. Kelsy and I filmed this during finals week. It was quite the task. You have no idea. It even has multiple guest stars! Of course you know none of them, but oh well! You know what's even better? Everyone who is in the video knew they were being filmed at the time! That lowers my creeper status done to zero.

Anyway, if you post quickly, then I can reply one last time before I go and you will have to post for me. 

See ya!

Melissa

Since You've Been Gone....

Melissa!

It was amazing having you to visit! I'm glad I got to introduce you to a lot of my friends and celebrate my birthday. It was the best birthday I've had in a while. :)

So since you've been gone, it's just been life getting back to normal. Homework, work, a math test - but besides those oh so fun happenings, here's the highlights of the week:

First, having the 10th Doctor watch over my living room. He's still here in all his cardboard cut-out glory and it's great. He's had a number of hats, including a paper birthday hat and a flower crown, and he's successfully freaked out a couple of guests as they walked in the door.

Second, starting on my scarf. The yarn Sunny sent is beautiful and I'm a bit over a foot into it. It'll be great when it's done!

Third, delicious stir-fry with broccoli, carrots, and bell peppers with some onions and garlic to season and pineapple as a sweet treat. The colors were beautiful all together, but more importantly it tasted amazing. I'm very proud of myself.

So there's my life, how's yours?

 - Jessica

P.S. Also this is a highlight.