¡Bienvenido! Welcome to my emails! Introduction

Hello there! I'm Hermana Michelle Soh. I'm a missionary serving for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS church) in Pocatello, Idaho. I began on February 6th, 2023 and will serve for eighteen months (until around August 2024). I have been assigned to teach and serve in the Spanish language, except as I begin my mission, I hardly know Spanish! This blog will contain the emails that I send home to my family and friends once a week. My parents will be uploading the emails for me, meaning that whatever happens on this blog, I will not see until I am done serving.

In the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, there is a lot of terminology that people who are not part of our church might not understand; some of these terms are listed below, and we will try to update them as we think of them. If you have questions, reach out to me at my email, find missionaries in your area, or go to https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/?lang=eng to find answers.

Hermana- Spanish for Sister. We use Sister when addressing or referring to a female members of the LDS church. I will likely use Hermana and Sister interchangeably.

Elder- We use Elder to address male missionaries and certain other male members, usually leaders of our church.

Hermano- Spanish for Brother. Similar to Hermana, we use Brother to refer to male members of our church. Hermano and Brother will be used interchangeably.

President- President is used to refer to certain male leaders that I will interact with. There are many uses for this term/title. If you have questions, feel free to ask!

Bishop- Like President, Bishop is used for some male leaders. It is used when referring to the leader of a Ward.

Ward- a Ward is a congregation made up of many families and individuals who are members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. It is a group of people in a geographical area. Each Ward has a Bishopric.

Branch- similar to a Ward, just a little bit smaller, not geographically but people-wise. Each Branch has a Branch Presidency.

Stake- a Stake is made up of several Wards and/or Branches. Each Stake has a Stake Presidency.

Bishopric- three men make up a Bishopric: the Bishop, a first Counselor, and a second Counselor. We only refer to the Bishop as Bishop (eg. Bishop Smith), the Counselors we refer to as Brother.

Branch Presidency- three men make up a Branch Presidency: the Branch President, a first Counselor, and a second Counselor. We only refer to the Branch President as President (eg. Bishop Smith), the Counselors we refer to as Brother.

Stake Presidency- can you guess how many men are in the Stake Presidency and what they are called? I bet you can! There's the Stake President, a first Counselor, and a second Counselor. We refer to all three of them as President (eg. President Smith).

Church Building- sometimes also called a Meetinghouse, the church building, or simply "church", is where we hold our usual Sunday meetings, as well as often other activities. Some bigger church buildings are called Stake Centers, they just have more offices.

Temples- different than church buildings, temples are where we do special ceremonies and ordinances for ourselves and for others.

The Priesthood- we believe the Priesthood to be the power of God. It is given to worthy men. There are two levels so-to-say: the Aaronic and the Melchizedek. Learn more about the Aaronic Priesthood here and the Melchizedek Priesthood here.

Companion- as missionaries, we always have a companion. Think of it like the buddy system and your companion is your buddy.

District- a district is made up of several companionships in the same area.

Zone- a zone is made up of several districts.

Mission- my mission covers the geographic area of most of lower Idaho, and has many missionaries (if I find a number, I'll add it).

Mission President- Along with his wife, the Mission President is in charge of the mission and its missionaries. He also has counselors to help him. 

The Book of Mormon- Additional scripture that we believe to be about an ancient people in the Americas and their experiences with religion and Jesus Christ. Joseph Smith translated it.

The Doctrine and Covenants- an account of Joseph Smith and his experiences in building up this church and translating the Book of Mormon.