Tuesday, 30 May 2023

POWER OF GOD

In wake of devastating earthquakes, Bishop Waddell signs off on more Church humanitarian aid in Turkey

The Church donated over $13.5 million by early April, and is now donating housing, medical clinics and more

By Kaitlyn Bancroft May 26, 2023 2:03 p.m. EDT

Bishop W. Christopher Waddell of the Presiding Bishopric with his wife, Carol, stand with the Disaster and Emergency Management Authority (AFAD) of Turkey team in Turkey, May, 2023.

Bishop W. Christopher Waddell, first counselor in the Presiding Bishopric, recently spent two days in earthquake-devastated Turkey, where he signed off on donations, reviewed recent humanitarian aid and learned about additional needs in the area.

At least 50,000 people in Turkey and Syria were killed when magnitude 7.8 and 7.5 earthquakes struck the region on Feb. 6. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints responded quickly, contributing over $13.5 million in aid by early April through 20 relief projects.

“As we drove through the city of Antakya, I was amazed at the level of destruction. I’ve only seen something like that in pictures from cities bombed during World War II. It was sobering,” Bishop Waddell told ChurchofJesusChrist.org.

Collapsed buildings in Turkey following earthquakes in May, 2023.

Antakya is the capital of the Hatay Province in the southern part of the country near the Syrian border. The city has also lost its infrastructure, including water, power and sewer lines.

“For all intents and purposes, the city of 400,000 people no longer exists,” Bishop Waddell said. “Most of the houses and factories have collapsed. Those homes and buildings that are still standing will need to be demolished.”

Northwest Syria had already been affected by conflicts in the region, causing around 2.8 million people to be internally displaced and dependent on humanitarian aid. The earthquakes exposed more people to the elements and left them needing help obtaining food, medical care and clean water.

During his time in Turkey on May 10 and 11, Bishop Waddell reviewed results of Church-provided humanitarian assistance and met with Turkish officials about additional support.

He also spent time visiting some temporary housing, including a tent camp and a container camp, and a mobile medical clinic in Payas and mobile clinic factory.

Bishop Waddell signed a letter of donation providing 500 housing containers for displaced people. The containers are each equipped with a toilet and shower, and provide families with more privacy than tents. Those staying in tents must use community toilets and showers.

Rows of tents are show with several people walking among them in Turkey after the earthquakes.

The Church is also providing mobile medical clinics to the region. Three clinics are operational, and a fourth will be delivered soon.

Bishop Waddell also learned of a fifth location where a mobile medical clinic is needed, and that was approved upon his return home. It will be in a town called Oguzeli where the population has swelled to 70,000 from 10,000 as survivors move there seeking refuge.

Additionally, the Church is helping fund repairs for a hospital in Gaziantep that was damaged in the quakes.

While in Turkey, Bishop Waddell also met with Dr. Selami Kilic, Director General for EU and Foreign Affairs at the Turkish Ministry of Health, and the Disaster and Emergency Management Authority of Turkey, headquartered in Ankara.

Kilic expressed great appreciation for the Church’s assistance and said the Church has been among the most efficient organizations in its earthquake response, doing what it says it will do.

GOD IS GOOD!

Global

On World Hunger Day, see how the Church works to end hunger worldwide

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints seeks to provide temporal relief by collaborating with organizations around the globe

By Mary Richards May 28, 2023 5 p.m. EDT

Mothers and children wait in line for food at the Ifo Refugee Camp in Garissa County, Kenya, on Dec. 8, 2022.

Founded by The Hunger Project in 2011, World Hunger Day is marked every May 28 to raise awareness about the more than 800 million people suffering from chronic hunger around the globe.

When someone lacks the physical or financial capability to meet their nutritional needs, it leads to malnutrition, wasting, stunted growth and death.

Fighting all forms of hunger is one of the key humanitarian initiatives of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

For example, the Church’s annual Caring for Those in Need report for 2022 lists:

520 food security projects.
46 childhood nutrition projects funded.
$32 million for the World Food Programme.
$5 million for UNICEF’s global nutrition campaign.

Often, the Church’s most effective way to bring relief to people is to partner with local humanitarian and nonprofit organizations that have local resources and the expertise to address all different types of hunger and malnutrition.

Below are some of those examples of collaboration and response.

World Food Programme

A $32 million donation to the United Nations World Food Programme in September 2022 was the Church’s largest one-time donation to a humanitarian organization to date.

The organization was able to increase food rations at three refugee camps in Dadaab in eastern Kenya, helping families and children sustain their own cooking together.

Another way the donation helped was by providing more super cereal — a highly fortified porridge that provides calories, proteins and vitamins to pregnant and breastfeeding mothers in need.

The Hunger Project

In Ghana, Naomi Osabutey learned to make bread, and it’s now the primary source of her income. Patience Nugba-Yiyiava was taught how to grow and sell vegetables to help her family.

Funding from the Church helped The Hunger Project train these women and many others to become more self-reliant and have dignity and ability to care for themselves and their households.

ALLOWING GOD TO WORK IN YOUR LIFE

Members

What is emotional resilience and how can I develop it? Learn about the Church’s new resource

By Sydney Walker 27 Sept 2021, 7:08 PM CAT

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A couple from Ecuador laugh and stand in a workshop. The emotional resilience materials are currently available in English and many additional languages, including Spanish, Portuguese, French and Russian.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

As the world continues to battle the COVID-19 pandemic and its impacts, researchers are finding that simple interventions can help build emotional resilience — the ability to adapt to challenges and change — and increase positive emotions.

A recent study conducted across 87 countries by researchers from Harvard, Stanford and other universities found that using a simple method to help people think differently about their situations improved their emotional response.

Developing healthy thinking patterns is one of many topics covered in “Finding Strength in the Lord: Emotional Resilience,” a manual and course offered by Self-Reliance Services of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to help members and their friends adapt to challenges with courage and faith centered in the Savior.

“There’s no shortage of emotional trials or struggles that we’re going to have,” said Derek Hagey, Family Services program manager who helped develop the Emotional Resilience manual. “The development of this program really is to help those who are looking at the future and saying, ‘I want to develop some skills to help me.’ …

“Let’s strengthen our emotional resilience now. Let’s build those skills that we need. Let’s develop that mindset of hope.”

Cover of the manual “Finding Strength in the Lord: Emotional Resilience.”

In addition to developing healthy thinking patterns, the Emotional Resilience manual includes resources for managing stress and anxiety, understanding sadness and depression, overcoming anger, managing addictive behaviors and building healthy relationships.

The request to develop the manual came prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, Hagey said.

Designed for anyone and everyone, the manual and course are not meant to be a replacement for therapy, he emphasized, but rather an introductory resource for developing skills, building hope and experiencing healthy relationships.

“The central part of all of this is the Savior and turning to our Savior throughout the whole course,” Hagey said. “Christ bore all the infirmities of this world — not just some or not just the sins — but all infirmities, so that He can know how to succor us and help us through our struggles. … With Him, there’s always hope.”

Some Latter-day Saint congregations have started organizing virtual and in-person group meetings, based on local conditions and directions, to go through the Emotional Resilience manual together with a facilitator.

Elizabeth Valencia of the Dayton Ohio Stake is one of many who has participated in an Emotional Resilience group. She described the course as introspective and said she learned how to develop “a healthy response to life experiences rather than be derailed by them.”

Valencia said the most impactful part of the manual for her was Chapter 2: Healthy Thinking Patterns. As a reminder of what she learned, she still has a picture on her computer screen of the Savior talking to a woman at the well (John 4).

“In the picture, she’s looking at Him, and He’s looking back at her,” Valencia said. “I put [Doctrine and Covenants 6:36] there because one of the things you’re talking about is recognizing inaccurate thinking patterns … and to try and look to the Savior in every thought.”

During the weekly meetings, Valencia said, “you talk about dealing with life and how to find strength through the teachings of Jesus Christ and support from other people.”

“You don’t have to share if you don’t want to,” she added, “but you learn a lot about a lot of things … from depression to exercise to taking care of your body to communication with other people. It covers a wide, wide variety of topics that can help us to be emotionally and spiritually stronger than we were when we started.”

A family smiles for a portrait in Ghana. The new emotional resilience materials are designed for anyone and everyone to learn how to better adapt to challenges and change.

Valencia said she would participate in the manualized-study course again. “There is so much content there, and I think at different times in your life, there are different things that you would learn from the different modules.”

Valencia’s husband, Dayton Ohio Stake President Ricardo Valencia, commented on the importance of emotional resilience for members in his area and the enduring impact of Elder Jeffrey R. Holland’s general conference talk “Like a Broken Vessel.”

“We’re so grateful that an Apostle would address [mental and emotional health], and the fact that the Church has continued to see that as a need and come out with a course like this to help address those needs — I think it just makes a great point that the Lord is mindful of us and that He’s putting forth the resources to bless His people,” President Valencia said.

The emotional resilience materials are currently available in English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, Russian and other languages, with 10 additional languages forthcoming. Other self-reliance manuals offered by the Church are titled “Personal Finances,” “Starting and Growing My Business,” “Find a Better Job” and “Education for Better Work.”

Learn more at ChurchofJesusChrist.org/self-reliance/manuals-and-videos.

LINK: https://www.thechurchnews.com/2021/9/27/23216820/new-emotional-resilience-course-manual-self-reliance?fbclid=IwAR2G8D_RWgNt3yqhHQXyY3CjYI1nNvonFLHW46BPz8tBKw_O2vBgmGOqCAc

THE CHURCH NEWS

God reigning in this Southeast Asian nation

Global

Latter-day Saints help celebrate 100 years of Christianity in Cambodia

Church members and missionaries were among the thousands who attended event marking a century of Christianity in Southeast Asian country

By Christine Rappleye May 29, 2023 5 p.m. EDT

Sister missionaries sit in rows of red chairs.

Members and missionaries of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints were among thousands who helped mark 100 years of Christianity in Cambodia earlier this year.

“We have been blessed by a government that allows us to practice our religion freely,” Cambodia Phnom Penh Mission President Veasna Neang said in an interview with local news organizations, reported the Church’s Cambodia Newsroom. “We have missionaries who leave their homes and serve all over the world. We have many American and Khmer missionaries who serve here.”

They share a message of the gospel and of living prophets today, President Neang said.

More than 95% of Cambodia’s 16.8 million people are Buddhist, which is the state religion, according to the World Factbook. About 2% are Muslim and 0.3% are Christian.

There are more than 16,000 members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Cambodia in 28 congregations.

The first Christian missions to Cambodia date back to 1555-56 by a friar of the Dominican Order, but the effort wasn’t considered a success, according to news reports. It was in 1923 when missionaries with the Christian and Missionary Alliance arrived and were able to establish a mission and continue efforts to translate the Bible.

Wednesday, 24 May 2023

For God loves a cheerful giver

YouVersion

Seeking God every day.

2022-11-21

Giving Tuesday: What the Bible Says about Generosity

Illustration of hand putting heart into a box

As Giving Tuesday approaches, let’s prepare our hearts by taking a look at what the Bible says about generosity.

In 2 Corinthians, Paul wrote to the church in Corinth, urging them to help Christians suffering in Jerusalem by giving generously.

Here are 3 things we can learn from Paul about what it looks like to live a generous life.

1. How we give matters.

“… Give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.”

2 Corinthians 9:7

When life happens or you face financial hardship, it’s not always easy to give with a cheerful heart.

So, how can we give in the midst of our own struggles?

We must remember that everything we have comes from God. We simply get to steward it.

When we shift our mindset from “my resources” to “God’s resources,” it changes the way we live.

We are able to live with an open hand, trusting God with what He’s given us and blessing others with a cheerful heart.

2. God equips us for what He calls us to.

“And God is able to bless you abundantly, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work.”

2 Corinthians 9:8

Are you trusting God with everything He’s given you?

When we choose to live generously, we are surrendering our desires, admitting that we have nothing and are fully reliant on God’s provision.

You don’t need to have a lot to give. You just have to be faithful with what God has given you.

Giving is an act of surrender and complete faith that God will provide.

3. Giving is an expression of thanksgiving.

“This service that you perform is not only supplying the needs of the Lord’s people but is also overflowing in many expressions of thanks to God.”

2 Corinthians 9:12

Generosity is more than a gift to others. It’s a reflection of your heart.

God doesn’t want us to live generously because we have to, but because it is our deepest desire to help others and glorify Him.

When we give out of gratitude, it is a reflection of the transformation we’ve experienced through the Gospel.

The Gospel story is a story of generosity.

Jesus is the perfect example of what generosity looks like.

He gave up His life and died a criminal’s death so that we could be saved through the riches of God’s grace.

As Giving Tuesday approaches, what is God asking you to do?

Join the YouVersion Community as we continue to help people around the world connect with God’s Word.

Together, let’s lean into the gift of generosity.

Give Now

How has God’s Word transformed you? Share your story on social media by tagging @youversion and using the hashtag #GivingTuesday.

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LINK: https://blog.youversion.com/2022/11/giving-tuesday-what-the-bible-says-about-generosity/

YouVersion

Thursday, 18 May 2023

WORKS OF GOD

Global

One important way the Church is helping remove barriers to education in Mozambique

By Mary Richards 20 May 2022, 8:15 PM CAT

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Children in front of the newly built classrooms at Magude Primary School in Maputo, Mozambique. The Church and No Poor Among Us helped the school upgrade to brick-and-mortar buildings in 2022.

Credit: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

Imagine trying to learn in a makeshift mud classroom that floods every time it rains — or having no classroom at all, only a spot under a tree.

Many students in Mozambique face overcrowding and lack of infrastructure. More than half of girls drop out of school by grade five. Among students who finish primary school, nearly two-thirds leave the system without basic reading, writing and math skills.

Recently The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and the nonprofit organization No Poor Among Us replaced makeshift classrooms in underprivileged schools with brick-and-mortar buildings, helping 2,340 students have space to study and overcome barriers to their education, reported the Church’s Africa Newsroom.

No Poor managing director Josh Phillips — who served a mission for the Church in Mozambique — said one of the schools they assisted was Magude Primary School. “The kids at the primary school were learning in a mud school,” said Phillips. “Every time it rained the school would fall and the school would have to rebuild. As a result, the students lost more than half of their school days, every year.”

Children learning in a dilapidated makeshift classroom at Magude Primary School in Maputo, Mozambique. The Church and No Poor Among Us built new classrooms for the school in 2022.

The Church was able to replace the makeshift buildings with brick-and-mortar classrooms, and build bathrooms as well, reported Newsroom.

At Picoco Primary School, 1,300 children were being taught with just three classrooms. The school’s director, Gilberto Albano Chiburee, said the school had been able to accommodate 200 students among those three classrooms, but the number of students kept increasing.

Students then were divided into three sessions, morning, afternoon and evening. When the number of students passed 500, Chiburee and the faculty started planting trees.

“We used these trees as makeshift classrooms because we did not have any other option. We had sought the help of various companies, nonprofit organizations and the government but to no avail,” Chiburee said.

Children learning under a tree at Picoco Primary School in Maputo, Mozambique. The Church and No Poor Among Us are working together to build new classrooms for the school in 2022.

The first and second graders were given the classrooms, while third through seventh graders learned under trees.

“It broke my heart to have children arrive as early as 6 a.m. only to sit on the hard and uncomfortable ground until noon. Some of the children started experiencing back problems,” said Chiburee.

When the Church and No Poor heard about the school, they arranged to construct five classrooms. Newsroom reported the news was received with great excitement, gratitude and tears from teachers, students and families. Chiburee expressed how thankful he was that no student would be sent home as a result of rain or wind.

The project is expected to be completed by the end of June this year. An additional 900 students will be accommodated.

The Church’s Africa South Area welfare manager, Phillip Moatlhodi, said another project they tackled was Matole Gare Primary School. “The conditions prior to the start of the project were not ideal,” said Moatlhodi. “The parents had started to construct two classrooms to improve the conditions of their children, however, because of the impact of COVID-19 they were not able to complete the classrooms.”

The Church funded the construction of two classrooms and private donors funded the construction of three more. Then they gave five new classrooms to a small, struggling school in the rural area of Mahubo. About 900 additional students can now be accommodated thanks to this effort, reported Newsroom.

LINK: https://www.thechurchnews.com/2022/5/20/23218213/classrooms-church-humanitarian-education-in-mozambique

THE CHURCH NEWS

Africa Biz

Tuesday, 30 May 2023

POWER OF GOD

In wake of devastating earthquakes, Bishop Waddell signs off on more Church humanitarian aid in Turkey

GOD IS GOOD!

On World Hunger Day, see how the Church works to end hunger worldwide

World Food Programme

The Hunger Project

ALLOWING GOD TO WORK IN YOUR LIFE

What is emotional resilience and how can I develop it? Learn about the Church’s new resource

God reigning in this Southeast Asian nation

Latter-day Saints help celebrate 100 years of Christianity in Cambodia

Wednesday, 24 May 2023

For God loves a cheerful giver

YouVersion

Giving Tuesday: What the Bible Says about Generosity

1. How we give matters.

2. God equips us for what He calls us to.

3. Giving is an expression of thanksgiving.

The Gospel story is a story of generosity.

YouVersion

Thursday, 18 May 2023

WORKS OF GOD

One important way the Church is helping remove barriers to education in Mozambique

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