Hi, My name is Natalie.
I love laughing with my friends, meeting new people and studying Chemical Engineering. I have a strong testimony and personal relationship with Jesus Christ, my savior.
My ancestors were the founding members of this church. I admire their faith and I want to get married with my fiance in the temple. I have served as YSA leader for my ward, Nursery leader and Relief Society teacher.
I am proud of who I am as a woman. I love being a woman and a Mormon Feminist but I have had to look outside of the church to find real empowerment, role models and purpose. I am frustrated not being able to be the strong woman that I am while in my church meetings or callings. I feel diminished and I know that this feeling is not from God. God tells us “let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your father which is in heaven” Mat 5:16.
Up until a few months ago I believed that ordaining women was too radical of a possibility. That instead there are a lot of other small changes we could make without needing full equality to the priesthood. Like having more women speakers in General Conference or letting women hold their babies while they are blessed. Well, after reading the FAQ on Ordain Women, I have changed my mind. These people of ordain women are just like me. They believe we are all equal sons and daughters of God and they want to truly everyone to have and participate in the fullness of the gospel, and that includes the priesthood.
On an organizational level, priesthood authority would personally help me organize efforts to administer to people in need as the Savior did. For example, our women’s organization is called Relief Society. But I see no real relief actions or leadership being done there because we are not given direct access to authority and resources to do so. I have looked to other community organizations that help people way more effectively because they don’t limit women in what they can do.
I want our church and women to be able to more freely advocate for themselves. We are over half of the active church membership would like to see the church, a global organization provide relief and political advocacy for issues of Women’s poverty, sexual assault and rape, domestic violence, equal pay, reproductive health care, female genital mutilation, human trafficking, and more. After all these aren’t just women’s issues, they are everybody’s issues and we as a church are generally silent on the issues plaguing our own members due to lack of leadership in these areas. I am devistated to find out that some of my closest friends have be sexually abused as children from bishops and ward members. We have to come together as men and women in equality in order to stop these atrocities from happening.
Sometimes I feel like women’s main job in the church community about tasks like preparing food. I want more than that. I hope that one day I can go directly to my church meetings to feel like part of my religious community instead of finding groups online to not feel so alone.
I believe women should be ordained.