The following is excerpted from the Church Newsroom. To read the full report, CLICK HERE.
To date, the Church of Jesus Christ has contributed more than US$13.5 million in aid to earthquake victims.
In the suburbs of Munich, more than 170 young men, women and senior couples gathered at a Latter-day Saint meetinghouse — all of them missionary volunteers from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
The missionaries serve in the Alpine German-Speaking Mission. They were here for two reasons. The first was to hear from an Apostle of Jesus Christ, Elder Ronald A. Rasband of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, who stopped in Munich as part of his ministry to four countries in Europe and Africa. The second reason was to answer his call for volunteers.
“We love God and we love our fellow men. And this is a way that we can show that,” Elder Rasband said.
After addressing the missionaries, Elder Rasband ushered them outside, where three white tents were set up to protect them from gray skies.
Inside, a buzz of activity got underway as Elder Rasband stood shoulder-to-shoulder with Elders and Sisters — the formal title used by missionaries during their 18–24-month, full-time service — folding washcloths into bags in a human assembly line in which the end products were neatly packed toiletry bags with a variety of essentials. Elsewhere, missionaries were stacking boxes onto pallets and loading them onto a commercial truck — most of them destined to aid earthquake survivors in Türkiye and Syria.
“We’re going to deliver them to the Turkish consulate so that they can be sent to the places where they’re needed the most,” Elder Rasband explained.
“To date, the Church has contributed (US)$13.5 million of funding and goods to help in this relief effort.”
Monday’s project resulted in the assembly of 2,532 hygiene kits, with another 2,500 assembled by Church members in Frankfurt.
The Church has provided support through 20 relief projects.
Elder Rasband explained that in Türkiye, the Church of Jesus Christ is working with AFAD (the national disaster management agency) to deliver 50,000 food boxes and 50,000 hygiene kits to impacted families. The Church is also assisting with securing four mobile medical clinics for key disaster locations.
To read the full report, CLICK HERE.
