My name is Sam and I have been a member of the church my entire life. I served a mission in southern Brazil and last summer I married an amazing woman. I just graduated from college and plan on attending graduate school this fall. I have been immensely blessed throughout my life and rare is the day that goes by that I’m not amazed by the influence my wife has on me and the people she comes into contact with through her role as a nurse. She is kind, thoughtful, willing to point out my flaws and push me to do hard things, all of which I am grateful for.
As I think about the world and the church that I want my future children to grow up in, I feel hopeful that our daughters as well as our sons will reach their full potential to serve and lead to the best of their abilities. I want my children to have righteous and highly visible female role models sitting on the stand and pinned on the wall of the primary room as they grow up. I want all of our children to be able to feel the power of acting in God’s name like I have throughout my adolescence and adult life. I want my daughters to be able to express their faith however they choose to, whether privately or publicly as part of the ordinances of the church, like the sacrament. I want to be by my wife’s side as we bless our future children when they’re scared, stressed, or sick. My wife is already a physical healer. I want her along with all the worthy women of our church to be able to exercise their gifts as spiritual healers as they did in the early church.
The world is too complex and changing too quickly for the church not to fully utilize the spiritual and temporal talents of the women of the church. As a wise educator once said, “Dark times lie ahead of us and there will be a time when we must choose between what is easy and what is right.” The required changes that need to come won’t be easy, but that doesn’t make them any less necessary.
I believe women should be ordained.