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April 24, 2007
Mormon Chaplains Serve Soldiers of All Faiths
A chaplain in the military services of the United States demonstrates extraordinary flexibility. From dealing with routine paperwork to challenging counseling, from early morning physical training to afternoon weddings and funerals, the day of a chaplain usually includes 24-hour availability to the members of their battalion.
In a single day, Lt. Col. Steven Merrill, a U.S. Air Force chaplain presently deployed in Kuwait, exercises, studies, counsels, prepares sermons and somehow finds time to eat and sleep.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints youth hold appreciation dinner
Youth from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints honored McKinney ISD high school teachers at a teacher appreciation dinner Wednesday at the McKinney Stake Center.
Bishop Harlow Hagee said the McKinney high school youth invited their teachers to dinner as a token of their appreciation.
“We really want to express to the educators in the community that we appreciate them,” Hagee said. “We appreciate the service that they do.”
A new study based on three years of data has ranked Utah tops in the nation for its high rate of volunteering.
The Corporation for National and Community Service looked at figures from 2004 through 2006 to conclude that Utah has a volunteer rate of 45.9 percent for that time period.
Last year, for example, 790,000 volunteers dedicated 145.8 million "hours of service," according to the study. That gave Utah a volunteer rate of 43.5 percent for 2006 — well above the national rate of 26.7 percent.
A few weeks ago, Rhonda Chivers came across a magazine article that detailed the plight of the nation's foster children.
The article said that, in some cases, foster children must carry their belongings from house to house in black garbage bags. The piece went on to tell a story about a woman in North Carolina who led a drive to collect luggage and backpacks for the kids.
Latter-day Saint Charities in India Provides School Kits
Latter-day Saint Charities recently provided school kits and bags for children attending Child Care India. The bags, emblazoned with the LDSC logo, included a year’s supply of school materials for each child. The children assisted in sorting the notebooks and other supplies, which were then delivered to the various study group locations.
In 1993 Child Care India was organized in a small room with 15 children. Today the organization educates 10,000 children in 209 villages. Supplementary education is provided by night study for two hours every day in 100 different locations.
Volunteer college English teachers staff a teacher-training program. To date 150 teachers and staff have been trained as part of this ongoing program. During the summer holidays, Child Care India organizes summer camps for the children in all of the program areas. Senior and former students presently at college or working return to teach classes in English, drama, art, music, and dancing.
Val Black tried the Boy Scouts as a youth growing up in Utah, but after a couple of years he decided that the organization wasn't for him.
That was, until Black's three sons decided to join up. Following their lead, in 1967 he began to volunteer with the organization as his help was needed.
Black, now 83, is still volunteering.
"It's a good program for kids," he said. "They need leaders."
Canadian members of the Relief Society of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints assembled and sewed hundreds of pajamas for premature infants struggling to survive at the Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids) in Toronto, Ontario.
The Relief Society is the largest international women’s organization, with more than five million members worldwide.
The statistics are startling. According to the U.S. Department of Justice, there are 960,000 incidents of domestic violence each year. Another survey of American families found 50 percent of the men who frequently assaulted their wives also abused their children. And the list goes on and on.
No one is immune to the social epidemic of domestic violence so The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has established LDS Family Services, a private, nonprofit organization, to help individuals and families.
Fred Riley, commissioner of LDS Family Services and himself a psychologist, recently served on the Department of Justice domestic violence task force that included representatives from over 20 religious faiths.
“The task force focused on how religions can be a part of dealing more effectively with domestic violence. We are all struggling with how to do a better job,” said Riley. “My experience is that the Church has listened and has put some really good things in place to help both its leaders and members.”
Family Services uses a holistic approach to help victims of abuse. Trained therapists work with a victim’s Church leader to provide emotional and spiritual counseling. The Church also stands by to help with any other physical necessities a victim might need.
Riley said: “If a woman were to call us and say, ‘I’m being abused; I need some help,’ our response to her would be, ‘When can you come in?’ And we wouldn’t charge her a thing.”
Besides providing counseling to victims at its 71 offices throughout the world, Family Services operates a 24-hour help line for Church leaders. The help line is staffed by trained therapists who have experience in dealing with child abuse, spouse abuse and other forms of domestic violence.
“The purpose of the help line is first to protect the victims, second to prevent any more victimization of those individuals or anybody else,” Riley said. “Next, we help the perpetrator get help, and that typically means to reporting the abuse.”
Family Services also provides counseling and resources to help children of abuse, which Riley said is critical to stop the cycle of violence. “If we can reach the children at a young age, then their tendency to have a different kind of parenting skill when they grow up is increased.”
Ultimately, education plays an important role in prevention and helping families help themselves. Family Services has created two courses of study called “Strengthening Family” and “Strengthening Marriage.” Addiction recovery support meetings are also available through LDS Family Services.
Old-fashioned quilting bee to produce warmth, comfort
They will come armed with needles, threads, fabric and scissors. More importantly, they'll bring a desire to comfort the less fortunate by joining dozens of others to work in an old-fashioned quilting bee.
Mormons Set Up Food Kitchens to Feed Community After Jakarta Floods
JAKARTA, Indonesia 7 February 2007 After a devastating flood hit parts of Jakarta, members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints living in the area set up a food kitchen to prepare meals for over 500 people displaced by the floods.
With funding from LDS Charities, the members were able to provide two meals a day and deliver it to those who had to relocate because of the floods.
Members of the Church gathered all the food and supplies then set up a makeshift kitchen under a tent. This service was reminiscent of the 2002 floods of Jakarta when Church members also set up temporary kitchens to prepare food for displaced community members.
Missionaries serving in the Jakarta area also assisted with the cooking and delivering of the food.
It is estimated that almost 50,000 people in Jakarta have been driven from their homes by rising waters.
Within 24 hours after three tornados touched down in central Florida, 400 members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints gathered at an Orlando church building to receive instructions on where they would spend the day cleaning and removing debris.
In another part of the city, 100 Mormons gathered to help clean up the Deland area.
In addition to manpower, the Church has provided tarps, generators, chain saws, gloves, hammers, nails and cleaning kits.
Brady Nixon, a member of the Church from the Oviedo area who helped in the cleanup efforts, said: “The destruction is so comprehensive. The people were very grateful that at least they were alive and that we were there and helping.”
Church headquarters in Salt Lake City, Utah, had already ensured that all the needed items, including food and water, were available in Church storehouses in Florida.
Sandy White was supposed to be at the beach Saturday.
Instead the 21-year-old was standing in a big field off U.S. 441 in Lady Lake surrounded by destruction from Friday's early morning tornado. White was just one of many students from Union College - a four-year, Seventh-day Adventist college in Lincoln, Neb., who was in Key West helping with debris cleanup from an earlier storm there.
For Brad Risenmay, president of the LDS Church's Utah Salt Lake City South Mission, the purpose of proselyting is simple.
"The whole premise [of serving a mission] is to go out and do some good," says Risenmay, who presides over 171 missionaries in one of top-baptizing missions of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
His wife's daily planner, his daughter's bow, his son's highlighted scriptures, a cup any of them drank from -- nearly a month after Gary Ceran lost his wife, daughter and son in a fatal car crash, the 45-year-old father is gathering mementos of his loved ones and still holding back tears.
"Every one will set you off at any given moment," he said. "We're trying to put the house into a condition where we can move forward without being tortured every day. The very day I came home from the hospital I walked in and Julie's nightgown was on the counter in the bathroom. On the fridge was a photo of Clarissa and Julie. Everywhere you turned it was that way."
SALT LAKE CITY — The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is seeing success from its partnership with several organizations — including UNICEF and the American Red Cross — to help eradicate measles in Africa.
UNICEF announced last week that the combined efforts of several organizations have led to a 60 percent drop in deaths since 1999. UNICEF representative Edward Hoekstra told National Public Radio that this percentage translates into 1,000 children a day who do not die from measles.
The Church became involved in the measles campaign in 2003. It has since included the program as one of the Church’s major humanitarian initiatives, along with clean water projects, wheelchair distribution, neonatal resuscitation training and vision treatment training.
Pres. Monson receives award for lifetime of service to others
Nearly 50 years ago, President Thomas S. Monson appointed himself the personal guardian for 87 widows in his LDS ward.
All of those women have passed away, and President Monson, first counselor in the First Presidency of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, has spoken at every single funeral of the women he visited for so many years.
That attitude of service earned President Monson the Worldwide Humanitarian Award at the Salt Lake Rotary International convention Saturday.
Do some good -- mission president: Service a key part of missionary work
For Brad Risenmay, president of the LDS Church's Utah Salt Lake City South Mission, the purpose of proselyting is simple. "The whole premise [of serving a mission] is to go out and do some good," says Risenmay, who presides over 171 missionaries in one of top-baptizing missions of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Latter Day Saints church to hold rededication ceremony Sunday
Since Hurricane Katrina, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints in Pascagoula has been the site where more than 100,000 church volunteers across the United States have come to help residents rebuild.
The church received be-tween 5 and 6 feet of water during the Aug. 29, 2005, storm and had to be gutted and repaired from the steeple to the floors.
But now that work has been completed, and a rededication service will be held at the church, located at 1302 Martin St, at 9 a.m. Sunday.
