tw: mild racism & homophobia (this one was hard to write)
[name_f]Leah[/name_f] [name_f]Ruth[/name_f] [name_m]Maynard[/name_m] (17) is the 2nd of the 5 sisters, and a very peaceful and religious person in general. She’s not sure how to help [name_f]Jessa[/name_f] find her way back to their religion. [name_f]Delilah[/name_f] is a person with strong values and she has been very stern with [name_f]Jessa[/name_f], not wanting her to follow the same path that [name_f]Marley[/name_f] did. [name_f]Leah[/name_f] is softer with her words and understands what [name_f]Jessa[/name_f] is going through – she went through a situation like this, though she was much less open about it. She simply questioned her religion and tried to rebel in smaller ways, but by the time she was 14, she had found her way back.
Leah’s parents both work at her church, in fact, her father is the town pastor. Her mom has always taught [name_f]Sunday[/name_f] School and she also runs the Catholic preschool held at their church. So [name_f]Leah[/name_f] has always felt very tied to the church, which she loves, but it has also caused her some confusion, especially during her “rebel” phase. So she understands where [name_f]Jessa[/name_f] is coming from, and is expecting that her 9 and 7 year old sisters will most likely go through this too.
[name_f]Leah[/name_f] has lots of friends, and she loves her little conservative town. She does want to travel more after college because while she loves her life, she wants to understand more about the world. This mostly spawned from a mission trip she took last year to [name_f]Cuba[/name_f]. She met lots of people of different religions, cultures, and styles there, something you don’t get a lot of in her small, traditional town. In fact, when [name_f]Leah[/name_f] was in 2nd grade, one of the only [name_m]Black[/name_m] families in town moved next door, started going to her church, and the little girl was even in Leah’s class. [name_f]Leah[/name_f] was very surprised as she hadn’t seen many people of other races and ethnicities before. There were some mean comments from the other kids in class about her, but [name_f]Leah[/name_f] soon became very close with this girl and liked that they shared their strong Catholic values.
Leah’s family is a rule-following, traditional family. Most of the time, the girls wear dresses because they like dressing modestly. [name_f]Leah[/name_f] has never cut her hair that short, she mostly reads [name_m]Christian[/name_m] books, listens to [name_m]Christian[/name_m] songs, and watches [name_m]Christian[/name_m] movies. Her family takes up half the town, she’s got her paternal and maternal grandparents, lots of cousins and other family members in the surrounding area. [name_f]Marley[/name_f] moving to town was super great for [name_f]Leah[/name_f], who was so excited to have another cousin in town. She, just like [name_f]Marley[/name_f], drifted from her older cousin after she started dating her reckless boyfriend. [name_f]Leah[/name_f] also recently dropped a friend who had gotten into drugs and came out as gay. [name_f]Leah[/name_f] isn’t against the LGBTQ community, but her parents are. She and this person had gone to school together their whole lives, went to church camp together, and hung out at sunday school. This person was not accepted in their family anymore, and [name_f]Leah[/name_f] feels absolutely terrible for them, but knows she can’t do anything, because her family would be really mad. She also holds her values and thinks that her [name_m]God[/name_m] will accept everyone but doesn’t want to be associated with this person.