Meet Mormons from all over the world — read profiles, see photos, hear thoughts on a wide variety of topics including frequently asked questions about the Church.

Watch videos or read more about our our beliefs.

Read more about values that are important to Mormons.

In each section, you’ll be able to hear not only the official position of the Church on different topics, but to also hear from Church members all over the world who share their thoughts, experiences, and feelings, and who try to answer common questions people have about us.

If you are a Mormon and haven’t yet created a profile, it’s easy. Go to the Create Profile page to get started.

We’re thrilled to see this site launch. We’ll be linking to more content here in the days and weeks to come.

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I was about 13 when the movie Apollo 13 came out. There is a scene in that movie where Jim’s wife has to go tell her mother-in-law that her son may never make it home. Then that old woman leans forward and says something along the lines of, “If they could find a way to make a washing machine fly, my Jimmy could land it.”

That scene hit me in a pretty powerful way. To me it seemed that in a moment that could easily be dominated by fear and worry, this mother had only faith. I’ve often thought since then that I want to be that kind of woman.

As you might expect, I am a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints; in other words, I am Mormon and have been for my entire life. My mother sacrificed quite a lot and risked being disowned to join this church. Her mother, my grandmother, is an incredible woman who married an Army man at the age of 16, moved far away from her home and family and went on to raise 4 beautiful daughters. Her mother’s mother was a farm wife who raised 11 kids through blood, sweat, and–I am certain–tears. These are women who have survived The Great Depression. These are women who sent husbands, sons, and brothers to World War II and Vietnam. These are incredible women.

I point this out because I recognize that “Mormon” and “Woman” are two separate things. Mormon or not, women share similar desires, joys, heartaches, insecurities, and love regardless of religion. I think we all feel that bond, and are aware of the power in our unity. Look at the movement we’ve made for breast cancer research and other causes. I love being a woman!

I also use the examples of my mother and grandmother and great-grandmother to share my knowledge that Mormon women do not have the market cornered on faith in Jesus Christ nor on raising strong families.

This is why when the question: What does being a Mormon Woman mean to you? was posed, it was one I couldn’t immediately answer. I thought about it while I washed my dishes.  As I folded laundry.  As I swept the floor, made the bed and scrubbed the toilet.

It seemed obvious to me that just as much as I am a woman –I am also a Mormon. It is in my very core. It is in my life, every day. It’s in what I do and what I don’t do. And the question Why? is equally as obvious to me: Because I know that the teachings of this church are true. I’ve studied, read, prayed, and I know. But, even with all that it still didn’t seem to answer what being a Mormon Woman means to me.

Then it clicked. It’s faith. It’s obedience. It’s more than simply knowing the teachings of this faith, it’s that I live them. Daily. It’s realizing that God has a purpose and a plan for my life and that His plan for me is perfect. It’s the promise of not only eternal life but an eternal family to share it with me. It’s about who I have the potential to become.

This gives my life meaning, even in my day-to-day tasks that may seem menial. There might not be any significant consequences for having a clean toilet or folded laundry but my family is eternal and in serving them I become a more loving and Christ-like person. Being a Mormon Woman, to me, means that I can become the kind of person who can meet terrible challenges with a heart full of faith and love.

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For more Portraits of Mormon Women, please click here.

The post Portraits of Mormon Women: Heather appeared first on Women in The Church of Jesus Christ.

“Something’s gotta give,” Micke thought after she failed several of her college courses last semester. Between church, homeschooling, her own college courses, and caring for her four kids alone while her husband was away with the Navy, something really did have to give.

And something did give. Her desire for perfection.

“My life is crazy. My floor is dirty, I have piles of laundry. But I am happy because I know that I am a daughter of God.”

A few months ago, Micke felt the prompting to go back to school. She spoke with her husband and he said, “If it’s a prompting you need to follow it.” So she signed up for classes and failed miserably. Micke felt her failure was actually part of the prompting, “If I had not failed, I would not have been able to I realize that I was overwhelmed.”

Micke decided to stop homeschooling her children and enrolled them in public school. “After I enrolled my kids in public school, I felt better about all of the issues I had with my children’s education. I wanted the opportunity to teach my kids to be independent learners, and I got that opportunity during the years I offered homeschooling to my children. After a few days in the new school, my fears about them adjusting were gone. My fears about them being behind were gone. We got some really great teachers. I hit it off with them immediately. The kids made friends right away. To me that was that was a confirmation that I had made the right choice. I definitely know that enrolling my kids in public school was the right choice for my family, so I am so thankful for that prompting.”

When asked what she really wanted to share with other women Micke replied, “I want to let other women know that there isn’t a perfection standard. Just because my house isn’t perfect or dinner is not a five-course meal does not affect my worth. That does not change how Heavenly Father sees me. I feel like I have reached that point, that I am in a season in my life with my husband gone, and me alone, that it comes down to me and Heavenly Father. I’ve reached a point where I’m at peace with myself and what God feels about me.

“I understand the feelings of inadequacy women have,” Micke continues. “I’ve looked across the aisles at church and school and seen families whose kids are well-behaved and their husband is home and they are all dressed immaculately, and I’ve thought, “Why isn’t my life like that?” But now, I’m OK with the fact that my situation is different than theirs. It all goes back to my priorities. Is it more important that my floor is spotless or that I sit down and play a board game with my kids? Is it more important that dinner is made from scratch or we got to sit together and read books, or take the dog for a walk or went for family bike rides? In 10 years from now I want my kids to remember how we watched movies every Friday night and ate popcorn until we passed out. If I relieve one woman’s perfection burden today, than I will have achieved my goal with this interview.”

When asked what it means to be a Mormon Woman Micke responded, “Being a woman in the Church, I feel like I have a better understanding of who I am, why I’m here and what my purpose is. I have a better understanding of how important my role as a mother is. I have a better understanding of what an impact I have as a mother to my children in teaching them the gospel foundation I set for them in their lives and how important that is. I feel like I have a better understanding as my role as a wife. I am a partner to my husband. We know that our marriage doesn’t end here when we die. Knowing that there is something else after this life for our marriage makes me want to work harder here to make my marriage better. I think that those aspects of our religion are huge for me personally. I think it has given my life more purpose because I know there is a reward for the hard work here.”

Micke has lived her entire life in Wisconsin, USA and currently lives on the outskirts of Milwaukee. She has been married to her husband, Justin, for 11 years and has four children ranging from 9 years to 9 months. Justin is currently serving in the United States Navy as an airman and is considering moving forward into Officer Candidate school.

The post Portraits of Mormon Women: Micke appeared first on Women in The Church of Jesus Christ.

Amanda writes:

“I love to use old jeans and flannel to make “rag” quilts.  They are perfect for camping, picnics and laying in the grass and reading a book on.  The good thing about this type of quilt is that I don’t have to be really precise, as you do in piecing a quilt.  It doesn’t matter if my lines are crooked, or don’t match up evenly because the clipped fringe hides any mistakes.  I also enjoy making these because they are fast, and warm.  I always feel a great boost to my self-esteem when I have created something with my two hands.  It brings me pride and happiness.”

Pauline says this about her quilt, entitled “Waiting to Hear”

“My husband was in the process of searching for a job. He had applied to many different locations, and I was very anxious to have news of where we would end up moving. To help pass the time, to keep busy while we waited, I created this quilt. I designed the pattern myself after learning about paper piecing.”

Wendy created the following two quilts decades ago…one with pictures drawn by grandchildren for their grandma (Wendy’s parents):

And this one created for her in-laws, including pictures of their deceased parents — a family history quilt:

Michelle had an idea to pull together multiple photos from her husband’s travels. She says this about her creation:

“It’s not your typical quilt. It’s made mostly out of jersey fabric (not a good choice, but I had purchased some on sale and wanted to use it). I also used old jeans (denim) to frame the pictures. Not being a quilter, I didn’t really know what I was doing; I sort of made it up as I went. It was a lot of work! But my husband loves the quilt and it did capture his  wanderlust. Note that I even included a playbill from a Broadway play and a plane ticket! ”

Mary created these quilts for her grandchildren one year for Christmas. This picture only includes three, but she made nineteen of them!

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*How do you create? Share your creations with us! Send us a photo with an explanation to ‘mormonwoman’ (or ‘mormonwomen’) at ‘gmail’ dot ‘com’. We’d love more pictures of Mormon life as well for future Glimpses photo essays.

The post Mormon Women Create through Quilting appeared first on Women in The Church of Jesus Christ.

We have a song that we teach our kids called “I Love to See the Temple.” It is a simple song that teaches the kids that going to temple is a good thing and it teaches them what we do there ~ we learn, we pray, we feel the spirit and we seal our families together forever.

Being a busy mom of three young children, I don’t get to attend the temple as often as I would like. Where we are, we live about forty-five minutes from a temple. On a day this spring, I took my daughter (age 6) and one son (age 3) to a couple stores in that area, so we stopped to wander the grounds of the temple.

On that cool, overcast spring morning I noticed that as soon as we stepped onto the grounds we felt peace. Serenity seemed to envelope us. Calmness filled us. We admired the flowers, the fountain, the beautiful stone and wood work, the Angel Moroni.

I was able to talk with my children about when my husband and I were married in the temple (a different one than we were visiting), and I was able to tell my daughter (who was adopted) about when she was sealed to our family forever. We were able to talk about the blessing of having an eternal family.

My daughter and I talked about how someday she may choose to be married in this temple.

I was able to tell my daughter how much the temple means to me and how much I love going when I have the chance. I was able to tell her how when I go I feel peace and how I have had my prayers answered when there.

On that day, I realized that even though I don’t always have the time to go into the temple, I can feel close to the Lord and feel the peace of the temple by going to grounds and soaking in the spirit there. Today, I encourage you to do the same. Take the kids, or go by yourself, sit on the grass and ponder anything weighing on you. Pray for an answer. Feel the peace. And enjoy your day.

For more We Believe posts, please click here.

The post We Believe: Temples appeared first on Women in The Church of Jesus Christ.

How do you create? Did President Uchtdorf’s words inspire you? Please tell us!

We would love to see photos of your creations, too. This could include almost anything: art, photography, sewing, cooking, gardening, writings, crafts, woodworking, clothing, music, etc. Please send photos of your creations, along with a simple explanation of how it was created and why, to mormonwoman at gmail dot com [or mormonwomen at gmail dot com]. We are looking forward to your submissions!

For more Weekly Questions, please click here.

The post Mormon Women Create appeared first on Women in The Church of Jesus Christ.

Members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, or Mormons, love to gather. We gather to worship on Sundays. (Visitors are welcome!) We gather to our temples for marriages and to do work for our kindred dead. We gather for baptisms, midweek scripture study classes, weekly youth activities, camps for girls and Scouts. We gather for meetings just to correlate all of those activities, too.

But sometimes, we gather together just for FUN! When a congregation gathers together for fun we call it a Ward Party.

My ward loves to party. We have three annual parties.

1. The Ward Round Up. This is a cowboy themed party where we round up all the ward members from near and far, who have ever lived in our ward, to eat, ride on hay rides and play carnival games.

2. The Memorial Day Breakfast. Every Memorial Day [US holiday in May to commemorate those who have died while serving in the US military] we meet at a local park for pancakes, a flag ceremony and the inevitable water fight.

3. The Adult Dinner Party. This is our favorite and most beloved ward tradition. Here is an example of an Adult Dinner Party we’ve done recently:

First, the Ward Activity Committee decides on a theme. One time we based our Ward Party on a famous talent search.

Ward members were asked to put together skits or talents to share with an audience of around 250 people. The skits are never perfect, but the fun is in seeing the people I love get together and do silly things.

Next, we ask members of the congregation to bring side dishes and desserts to share and put together a Dinner Committee to make the main dish.

Members of the Relief Society sign up to decorate tables. Here were some of my favorites.

After dinner, we have a live show. After weeks of practicing there are often many mistakes, but we still have a lot of fun laughing together.

We always have a band.

In these pictures the band is playing “Ride, Sally, Ride” and “Proud Mary.” The youth who play instruments are always invited to play in the band.

Here is a picture of my mom in a skit:

Here is my picture of my friend being Napoleon Dynamite [character from a movie with the same name].

And here are pictures of my husband trying to break dance.

There is always a lot of hooting and hollering from the audience. No one can leave a ward party without a smile on their face.

To every thing there is a season.

A time to laugh.

A time to sing.

A time to dance.
(Ecclesiastes, chapter 3)

Our ward parties strengthen us and build unity. Our traditions bring us together and create community. I love the members of my congregation. After living in the same ward for over 25 years, I have been taught, inspired and led by these people. I see it as only fitting that we should have fun together as well!

Please share with us what kinds of parties your ward or branch [both are names of local congregations] like to have. Or share what kind of party you think sounds fun.

For more First Person essays, please click here.

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