Priesthood response

Thanks for meeting with me today. I appreciate your time. Your note was a helpful and poignant reminder that we have so much to improve on. I know that not every woman feels marginalized or used or left behind or that her talents are wasted but we note that many do and I hope you will help us get better. I have a wife and daughters myself.  I want their talents and intelligence and skills to be valued. Please recognize that we can’t change rules - women won’t get the priesthood until the prophet says so - but there are many things we can do in our stake to make sure women are treated equitably.  I hope you can meet with us regularly - we get caught up in our priesthood vortex and forget to look outward sometimes. I looked through your blog - and wanted to personally thank you for your work in our stake. Thanks for being a YW’s counselor when your husband was in a grueling grad school program and you were essentially a single parent. Thank you for accepting the call to serve as primary president - with a two week old, 4 1/2 pound premature infant, two active young boys and a husband who worked night shifts. You did not miss a beat. I can sense your great love and devotion to the church in those sacrifices. Thank you for seeing a need to support and encourage black members and then doing more than just talking about it - actually planning, organizing and making events happen- quarter after quarter after quarter and throughout a long sick pregnancy and new (fourth!) baby. I know that we often patted your husband on the back when the majority of the work was yours. We will do better. We love you Sister Brown. Keep up the good work.