Called to Serve

I found this entire book to be interesting, as I come from a Mormon background. However, I found Chapter 3: “Called to Serve” to resonate most with me.

Growing up as a Mormon, I was always geared with the idea that I should serve a mission and spread the gospel. As a young girl, I would practice my scripture and study with my peers (who were all boys). We all talked about serving a mission and traveling to other countries learning languages and cultures. We were also taught songs that empowered us to serve a mission and were told of how much good it is to serve.

However, as I started to get older, I was told that I couldn’t go on a mission till I was 21 years old. Furthermore, as more time passed, I was told that my actual mission was to become a wife and mother; it wasn’t that important for me to serve a mission. Chapter 3 reminds me of this moment; of having gender roles in the church.  It's as though the men are called to serve the Lord, and women are called to serve the family and the head of the family (the husband). As I reflect more on this, I find that not only does this discriminate women from going on missions, but it also enforces the idea that men should go on missions at the age of 19; if they don’t, they must not be worthy (which is never something someone wants to be perceived as).

I just found out, while talking with my parents after reading the book that women can now go on their missions at the age of 19 however, men can now go on their mission at the age of 18. They did not have a straight forward answer as to why this change occurred, but nonetheless, I still find this to be gender bias. Men are still allowed to go on missions before women and women are still being encouraged to start a family rather than to go on a mission.

I’m back at home now and I’ll try to remember to bring the Book of Mormon and the translation if anyone wants to looks at it in class.