an account of a blessing of healing by a woman
 

It was fast and testimony meeting. I was on my mission, sitting in the audience. A lady got up. She was mildly eccentric, or maybe I just got that impression after the testimony and didn't have it before. White American, empty nester, older in her 50s. She talked of her little dog that was pregnant with puppies and had been strugglings. Puppies weren't coming out. So began to be very worried. So she turned to her husband and asked him to give the dog a priesthood blessing. He was inactive. But mostly out of propriety, he refused to do so. The mamma dog continued to struggle. She asked her husband again. He refused again. The dog was struggling. She was afraid the dog would die, along with her puppies. So she related that she gave that dog a priesthood blessing herself. And the mama and puppies ended up fine. It's funny that I'm remembering this all these years later. This old lady didn't strike me as a feminist or an apostate. More like a cat lady.

That story was important to her. She shared it in order to share her faith. That God had answered her plea. So I don't make light of it, although at the time I was chuckling (silently).

The powerlessness she must have felt when her husband refused. Of course, in light of recent events, such an account might be received very differently. Rebellious, defiant. Apostate even. But it really wasn't.

Just an old lady trying to make her way in the world, and do right as she went.

As critical as I am of the Church, one of my most cherished childhood memories was of my dad giving me a blessing when I was terribly ill with a severe viral infection that had caused delirium and even night terrors.

Pretty amazing that the church feels it necessary to deny this power to women, especially with all the single mothers out there.

On my mission, we had plenty of interested female investigators and church members but almost no males. Our baptism rate plummeted because the church required that we only teach discussions with male investigators for a year as a way to compensate for the lack of priesthood leadership.

There are entire branches in Russia that consist almost exclusively of women. Missionaries are the branch presidents and EQ presidents. It is so stupid.

How terribly tragic!
If it is true, and the news is so good, why oh why would you ever stop teaching the people who want to learn, because they have the wrong chromosomes?
I am interested to know how long the needed cultural change will take to occur. The 1950's view of women and power is shifting quickly, eventually the church will catch up. They will, at some point, realize that welcoming every individual as an equal enhances their power instead of diminishing