Bullying at Church

After reading this article (here) I thought about my own experiences.

Oddly enough it didn't both me much being made fun of by the other girls. What bothered me was when their mothers, who were also Young Women's leaders joined in!

I remember one incident really well. We had a combined activity which we stayed out of town overnight. One leader was making fun of me behind my back, but also within distance of me being able to hear. I hated it. I felt miserable every time I was around them and their daughters. I already knew I was not the most beautiful or out going person. I was quiet and shy and really like just doing my own thing.

Much to my surprise, the next day was fast Sunday. This same leader got up and bore her testimony. In it she talked about the trip we had and how wonderful it was and how everyone got along so amazing well. I got up and walked out of the room bawling!

Finally my senior year arrived. I was excited to be on my last year of YW. I had 9 months left... Then one Sunday the YW's president was released. Want to guess who they called as the new president and who the new Laurel's leader was? Yep, these same 2 woman who had constantly been making fun of me. My heart sank. HOW was I going to deal with them being my leaders for 9 more months? Church that day was hard.  Not long after church ended something unexpected happened. There was a knock on our door, I answered it and there stood these two leaders! They asked if they could come in and talk to me. We sat down and they told me that my best friend (Hayley) had called them and told them how upset I was because they were called to be my leaders because of the fact that they and their daughters were constantly making fun of me. At first I was furious with Hayley for calling them. These leaders told me that they hadn't realized what they and their daughters were doing. They apologized and promised that none of them would do or say anything ever again.

I was shocked, but also skeptical about if the new, nicer behaviors would stick around. These girls and these leaders never did say anything (at least in front of me) ever again. In fact, after that I got along with the leaders really well!