Hi, I'm Anne

I'm a Mormon.

About Me

I have always loved to learn. I graduated with a degree in Education and Family & Consumer Science, then taught high school until I began to raise my six children. My husband & I tried to teach our children to work hard by starting several home based businesses in addition to our careers in teaching. I've been a widow for nine years, and my first priority is staying close to my children and grandchildren. I teach cooking classes and enjoy food blogging. I quilt, write, and enjoy taking classes & workshops. My greatest joy is seeing my children serve, grow, and succeed in their own marriages and families.

Why I am a Mormon

I find great comfort in the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I have peace in my life as I strive to live in a way that would represent the Savior. The Gospel has provided the structure in my home to be able to teach my children strong values and high standards. When my husband died nine years ago, I found comfort in knowing we had been sealed for time and eternity in a holy temple. If I continue to live worthily, I believe my husband and I will still enjoy the blessings of being a family beyond this life here on the earth. With the exception of my youngest son who is serving a mission, five of my six children have married and started their own families. My last son is serving a mission - a great blessing to all of us. I miss them and wish I could live closer to all of them - but we keep in touch by telephoning, emailing, and getting together as often as we can. The Gospel has taught us the importance of staying close as a family. Although I am alone in my home, I am supported and loved by the members of the church in my ward. A ward is a group of church members living in the same area. We love and care for each other as we worship together on Sunday and during the week as well.

How I live my faith

I love to meet people and answer their questions. I serve as a host at the LDS Conference Center in Salt Lake City. When people walk into this special building, they can feel the spirit of the Lord. I serve in my area women's organization. This gives me the opportunity to visit with and teach about 1,400 other women who live in my stake. They inspire me with how they live the Gospel and serve their families. So many of them have challenges and difficulties, yet as they share their burdens with other women around them - it lifts and strengthens all of us. I enjoy participating in Family Search Indexing on my computer here in my home. I love to think about those who came before me, and my responsibility to search for them. I am beginning to write my husband's personal history so my children and grandchildren will not forget all he stood for.

Why don’t women hold the priesthood in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints? How do Mormon women lead in the Church?

Anne answered...

I believe my role as a woman is equal to that of a man who holds the Priesthood. Women have the privilege and blessing of bearing, nurturing, and teaching children. Our role in an eternal marriage is just as important as that of a priesthood bearer. Women have as many opportunities to lead and serve in the church as do men. Many capable women serve in leadership positions in the Relief Society, Young Women, Primary, Scouting, Sunday School, etc... The church could not function without capable women who know their role is as vital as that of the priesthood.
Leeny answered...

This is a question I had to really consider before joining the Church. My mother is a non-denominational chaplain, and both my sisters are pastors. Female leadership in church settings is very important to my family.

It is to me as well. I think many people become offended when they learn that only men hold the priesthood because they misunderstand it. The priesthood is a tool given to men in order that they might serve others more. It does not in any way give them power or dominion over women. Those people who suppose the priesthood is a way to control others are deeply mistaken.

My husband is a priesthood holder, this means I am too. I have claim on my husband's priesthood power. Even more than he does. If I am sick, discouraged, or in need of help I can call upon my husband to give me a blessing through the priesthood that he holds. I then recieve many blessings because of my husband's worthiness to work in behalf of Christ. My husband is never able to give himself a blessing though. If he is sick or discouraged he must call on other priesthood holders to administer to him. My husband holds the priesthood so that he can bless me and our child - never himself.

The priesthood is the power of Christ on the earth. It allows those who hold it to serve their families in the same way Christ served the Church. Did Christ do any deed for himself during his earthly ministry? No. Christ spent all his energy serving the people. This is what the priesthood does for my husband. It infuses him with Christ's compassion and ability to love, and then my husband is able to use that celestial love in our family.

Why don't women also recieve this special gift then? The simple answer is women don't need it. As women we are innately endowed with compassion, selflessness, and love. Think about the way a mother loves her child. I believe there is nothing more pure and similar to Christ's love for us, than a mother's love for her children. Women naturally have the ability to love as Christ does.

In an ideal situation, which is what God always intended for us, there are two partners in marriage. There is the husband and father, a priesthood leader who can be called upon to administer blessings and serve in Christ's name. And there is also the wife and mother, who is blessed with the ability to love as Christ loves and sacrifice for her family. These are two seperate and divinely appointed roles. Each complementing the other. Both make a complete home.

Women do not hold the priesthood because they do not need it. Women have other God-given powers that raise them up to the task they are called to. A man is appointed to serve his wife and children - it is the power of the priesthood that enables him to do this.

I am grateful to have a husband who is worhty to use the priesthood in my behalf. It has blessed me many times and I know that it is a special gift from God - not only to my husband, but to me as well.

Why do you have 12 Apostles? They were just meant to be around for the time of Jesus Christ, not to be replaced with new apostles.

Garet Mang answered...

Well if Jesus Christ decided to have twelve apostles to minister to the people once he was gone, then why would he change his mind and decide not to have them ever again?
The twelve Apostles are like a pedestal, a foundation, where the church which is a beautiful vase is built upon. (Ephesians 2:19-20) When there was twelve and Juda fell away, it was important to replace that lost leg of the pedestal, so they chose Matthias, to replace Juda so the foundation would continue to be strong.
But when all the apostles where killed off, and rejected. It was like pulling a leg off of the pedestal, leg by leg. once you start taking off almost all of them, it becomes very unstable. because all the legs were torn off, the vase fell. And everyone knows when a vase falls, it shatters. There were still bishops around though, and they tried to piece the vase back together, and made it look very similar to what it once was. but there were still cracks in it and it wasn't perfect. And if you place water in that vase, it's going to leak out of the small cracks. Those cracks are small and simple truths, and authority that was lost. Because even the Bishops had to report to the Apostles before they were killed
But because God loves us and is perfect, he had Jesus Christ work through Joseph Smith (A prophet) and created a new Vase exactly like the one he made before (The Church), and a new pedestal (The Twelve Apostles). Because Jesus Christ church was the way he wanted it, and so it is again.