What it Means to be a Member

A lot of talk is going around about Ordain Women and Kate Kelly. I usually don't talk about my thoughts or feelings about this things but I felt it was necessary at this point.
As members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints we promise to "stand as witnesses of Christ" to take upon us the name of Jesus Christ and to serve him. While I do not agree with the Ordain Women viewpoint I am in no way happy that Kate Kelly was excommunicated from the church, I am quite sad in fact. I pray and hope that one day she will come back, I don't agree with anyone "trash" talking her or saying she deserved it. But that being said, I also don't agree with anyone bashing any of the leaders or doctrine of the church. As members of this church we SUSTAIN our leaders, that includes the prophet and apostles AND local leaders. Local leaders are called of God to act as CHRIST would. I can assume that no one would say that Christ was being malicious in his council, well when a Bishop or Stake President makes council they are doing that as Christ would, therefore we should follow it as we would if Christ was telling it to us face to face. Now this does not mean that we are forced or should just do everything robotically, it is okay to ask question and not understand something, but we should seek answers by talking to our Bishop or Stake President, reading the scriptures, and praying. That's what those wonderful tools are for. But when Bishops and Stake President make council, or certain discipline they are doing it out of LOVE and in no way for malice. I can be positive that it did in no way make any of Kate Kelly's local leaders happy that they excommunicated her, actually I'm sure it hurt their hearts. She, like all of us, is a child of God and should be treated like so.
I LOVE being a member of this church. I have never ONCE felt forced to do anything or like I was not able to ask questions. Quite the opposite actually, I have been taught that I have agency to choose from the time I was little. This church has brought me so much joy and has taught me that everyone is a child of God regardless of who they are or what they have done, and everyone deserves to be treated as such.

Sisterhood

This is something that I have been thinking A LOT about. And today I just felt overwhelmed with emotions about the sisterhood I feel belonging to this church. As I fail to try to sleep a lot runs through my mind but one thing it always comes back to is gratitude. There is a Facebook page for sister missionaries, it is for girls preparing, girls who are just thinking about going on a mission, sister missionaries now, returned sister missionaries, & moms of sister missionaries. Holy cow it is the best Facebook page I have ever come across. The immense love and sisterhood on that page is unbelievable I have never felt such love from strangers. It is one the greatest blessings to me as I prepare to serve a mission myself. Everything is on there from questions whether that be about a mission, what to bring, or anything to calls about where people are going to people asking for advice to people posting uplifting messages. And the comments they are tremendous. Many of us have started becoming Facebook friends and you truly do feel a connection with these sisters. We are from all over but we all have one thing in common: we LOVE the gospel. And it shows. Sisters offer to help like none other, it never fails anytime there is a post there are MULTIPLE comments either giving advice, words of encouragement or love, or telling that sister to message them so they can talk so they can help! It is my favorite part of Facebook. It is truly showing that social media is not just for the bad, but it can truly be used for good. The hymn "Sisters in Zion" truly applies here. And we all know it. We are sisters. I am so grateful for this page & for these wonderful girls who always give words of encouragement & advice. Through this we all know that we are never alone & there is always someone who has gone through what your going through.