In 2017, President Trump signed an executive order that bans refugees from seven Muslim countries, and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints issued a statement late on January 28, 2017 requesting solutions that relieve the suffering and plight of refugees.
It reads:
“The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is concerned about the temporal and spiritual welfare of all of God’s children across the earth with special concern for those who are fleeing physical violence, war and religious persecution. The church urges all people and governments to cooperate fully in seeking the best solutions to meet human needs and relieve suffering.”
With his mother and siblings, he had to flee his home several times.
“These were trips of fear,” Uchtdorf told KUTV 2News in an exclusive interview. He said he was just four years old the first time he and his family had to leave.
“We left everything behind and started with zero,” he said. “We could just take what we could carry.”
President Uchtdorf says his family’s safety is due largely to the kindness and gnerosity of others.
“People came up and brought us food and brought us tea or something to drink and were kind to us when we stopped on this long trip during the cold winter,” he said.
It’s a kindness he said he tries to exhibit today as he looks at people who are just like he once was.
“When I look at the situation now, with the worldwide refugee situation, it is almost a tsunami of refugees,” Uchtdorf said.
Those refugees come from war-torn regions like Iraq and Syria.
Uchtdorf said when he sees those people on television, he sees himself as a young boy and vividly recalls what life was like as one of them.
“I remember very much my childhood experience when we had not very much to eat,” he said. “The parents actually let the children eat and don’t eat themselves.”
Uchtdorf said his mother did that for him and his siblings.
“We had always hope,” Uchtdorf said.
That, he said, is critical today for the millions of others who are in the same place he once was.
“Helping them to continue on and having hope for the future, that is the important thing,” said Uchtdorf. “We need to reach out irrespective of political aspects and help those in need.”
WHAT ARE YOUR FEELINGS ON THE REFUGEE SITUATION? Comment below.
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