Fireside Notes: Church's Refugee Relief Efforts

[Guest]

Church Sponsored Refugee Assistance.

I wanted to share with you some of the fireside I just went to last night.  I can tell you that I’ve been spiritually changed by this to the point that I’m making slight alterations to my political outlook on the matter and perhaps society in general.  To those who have said some of these things in other threads, I’m sorry it fell on deaf ears before.  But as I heard it at this fireside, I felt the truth of it.

I don’t know if I can relay the Spirit that I felt there last night.  I hope and pray that many of you can feel it too.  But I know that my written words are a poor substitute for the Spirit.  So I pray that you seek out the Spirit as you read this report on the fireside.  While I may be faulty in some of the details (I didn’t have paper to keep notes on) the overall narrative is as accurate as I can remember.

I want this thread to be the spiritual side of the relief effort, not the political side.  So, please, PLEASE, PLEASE don’t make this into a political debate.

 

The fireside speaker was Sister Rebecca Stay.  Her introduction was brief, but it was full of her credentials which were many.  She was a senior humanitarian missionary and coordinator for the Church's humanitarian efforts in Europe.  Even in Europe, our service arm is still "helping hands".

Quote

“One day among the refugees will tell you volumes about what you are missing from news media and websites.”

What I got out of it was that most of the media are wrong.  I’ve been seeing the reports of the Muslim terrorists that make it through and wreak havoc.  While true, I never knew just how many were good, honest, hard-working individuals who are genuine refugees trying to find peace.

There are questions about why there are so many young men especially of military age.  This sounds too much like prime terrorist age.  The first reason is that when ISIS or Taliban or whatever other groups come in to take over the government, they don’t care who you are or what your politics are.  They just conscript you into their army and force you to fight or die.  So these men are fleeing so they aren’t forced to kill their own families.

Additionally, they have a practical matter.  Many women, children, and elderly are not able to make the 1000km+ journey on foot with food and water deprivation along the way.  So, they send the men forward to establish themselves and find a job so they can send for their families later.  And the families have been following with more money in their pockets.

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A big concern is about the spread of Islam throughout Europe.  The numbers are not supporting this among the refugee camps.  The great majority are fleeing because they don’t want to have to make the choice between death or Christ.  They know what is going on.  They know how dangerous it is where they are.  They also know how filled with peril the long walk is to Europe.  They risk everything to find a land of peace where they can just live a normal life.

Refugees come from so many different nations and have different ethnicities.  Sis. Stay reminded us that Syria is not just a land of Muslims.  It is a land of oppressed Christians.  This is the land where Paul became converted to the gospel of Jesus Christ.  They’ve endured generation after generation of oppression under the hand of a Muslim government.  But it has only now gotten so bad that they are finding it a better option to risk their lives and give up all their wordly belongings with only a hope that they can find a life elsewhere.

This made me think of the gathering of Israel.  Many of these Christians have heard the voice of the Shepherd.  They are His sheep.  While God did not “cause” these wars, He uses the conditions as an opportunity to bring about His ends.  These are also children of the Lost Tribes who are being gathered.  And, while not a primary reason for our relief efforts, as one of the most active faiths in the relief effort, we are finding many who are interested in our faith.  Many have been baptized.

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When they arrive in Europe they go through many roadblocks.  Literally.  Some countries have closed their borders entirely.  Others will let them in, but every so-many men of military age, the border guards shoot one of the men in the foot.  The findings in courts have been that if you shoot below the knee, it is considered an accidental shooting.  So, they don’t get prosecuted.  But they can’t do it to every man or else it would set a pattern.  But this foot shooting ensures that these men aren’t going to “run” around with a gun.  So, one of the primary first aid issues the relief effort has is to treat foot injuries among the male population.

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Sis Stay made it a point to mention that none of the Church’s efforts there are funded by tithing or fast offering.  They’re funded in other ways.  I thought she said that it was through the “humanitarian aid” portion of the donation forms.  But my wife says that Sis Stay said it was through something else entirely.  (We remember differently, apparently.)  She also made it a point to say that we are not doing this alone.  Organizations like The Red Cross and Doctors Without Borders already have an infrastructure in place.  We provide much of the funding and warm bodies.  So, we’re not trying to duplicate any of their functions if they already have the mechanisms in place.  We’re trying to fill in where they lack.

The Church also does a lot of due diligence in the organizations we partner with.  We only work with groups that have a proven track record and are very good at what they do.

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None of them come to Germany without having known starvation.  We provide “soup kitchen” type functions every week.  They try to do vegetarian meals because a good portion are Muslims who have dietary restrictions on meats.  We set up military grade tents so they can survive through the winters of northern Finland when they have nothing but the clothes on their backs to keep them warm.  We set up drainage systems and running water, so they don’t have to bath a newborn in a mud puddle (yes, she showed us a picture of a family doing just that) that may or may not have runoff from someone relieving themselves upstream of their particular location.

Many of these men are well educated and have advanced degrees in medicine, engineering, computer programming, etc.  But they need language lessons to pass the licensing examinations in German.  Germany is particularly welcoming them because ethnic Germans are no longer having children.  Their population growth has actually been negative for many years.  But the influx of regular immigrants and war refugees is the German hope for re-vitalizing their economies to take care of their aging German population under a socialist economy.

Many women of college age are also well educated and are applying for college in Germany.  Many are being accepted conditionally.  Their first class is an intense German language class.  After 6 months to a year, they will take an entrance exam to allow them to get full acceptance.

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At one French stake, they had scheduled a major relief effort in France the day after the Brussels bombing.  They were afraid that the attack would discourage people from coming.  They had 223 people signed up to come.  Only 202 came.  That’s the kind of people we Latter-day Saints are.

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The UK has closed its doors to refugees.  Many refugees have already learned English and want to head to the UK or the US just because of the language barrier.  As a result, the city of Calais, France is in dire straits.  The station where the Chunnel Train lands in France is considered British soil.  So, they try to sneak in however they can.  Most are unsuccessful.

The land of Calais is on the old WWII munitions dump.  So, they are not allowed to dig to establish drainage systems and water lines due to UEOs.  I could continue describing their conditions.  But just believe me when I say it is bad.

An international law says that they couldn’t be kicked out during the winter.  But the first day of spring came (by calendar, not by temperature) and the French kicked them out to go to Dunkirk.  That was a long way to walk when they had children and elderly while it was still freezing.  But a city between them (I believe it was Grande-Synthe) had a mayor who said “As long as I am mayor, Grand-Synthe will not allow any human being to die of freezing or hunger in our city.”  Now it has become the first internationally recognized refugee camp in France.

Some questioned this and what position the Church would have where the government of a sovereign nation decided that they weren’t going to have them anymore.  She quoted a general authority who gave her the directive:

Quote

“We will feed the hungry and clothe the naked wherever they may be.”

Couple this with the reference I made to the gathering of Israel earlier and how many of them are being baptized.  We are indeed seeking out the righteous where-e’er they may be by simply applying “pure religion and undefiled before God.”

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As many in the meeting were touched by Sis Stay’s words, she warned that it is an unfortunate part of refugee effort that much of the generosity is in vain.  People donate all sorts of things – mostly for women and children.  As discussed earlier, most of the individuals are men.  Americans and Europeans are lager than Middle Easterners.  The largest shoe size that any of them would need is maybe a 9-1/2.  And through much starvation and hardship, the largest waist size any of them have is 33 inches.

For every 10 trucks that come in with donations of all kinds, 7 trucks are re-packed and sent back.  There simply isn’t enough room to keep all these basically useless items.  She suggested that if you wish to donate items, call a local relief effort for ideas and guidelines.

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Finally, I’ll tell you a personal lesson that I learned from this fireside.  She mentioned a particular project that seemed so simple.  But with limited funds and other constraints, they had difficulties.  Now, I looked at the problem and came up with a solution that could use materials that were readily available.  And it would have been so simple.

But my ways are not the Lord’s ways.  By doing it the way they did it, it allowed a supplier the blessing of donating some material that he thought was just “lost”.  Now he received the blessing of donating to those in need.  They also discovered that a few of the men at the camp were actually skilled in building such projects.  It gave them the opportunities to pick up their familiar tools and do what they were meant to do instead of sit and hope for relief. 

No, I would not have changed a thing after knowing this.

 

Edited May 17, 2016 by Guest

[NeedleinA]

My brother, a bishop, was recently approached by a brother (private contractor who worked in the Middle-East) who said he was done with the church. His reason? That my brother had reminded him about the letter from the Church offering help to the refugees during tithing settlement. "Why would we help people trying to kill us" was his comment.  

Ugh... what, seriously??

My brother indicated that it was apparent that this brother's pride of "I know better" than the Church blurred his judgement. 

 

[tesuji]

Carborendum,

I have liked your previous posts on this forum, so I read all of your long post.

This effort makes me so proud of the church. This is pure religion, undefiled - to cloth the naked and feed the hungry. Probably most of us in this forum can't imagine what it must be like for these poor people.

The following gave me literal goose bumps as I read it, "This made me think of the gathering of Israel. Many of these Christians have heard the voice of the Shepherd." Of course the church doesn't help people in need just so they will be baptized, but I agree that the Lord has his way of drawing people to him.

The news does give us a garbled and incomplete picture of things. I have read news articles about a couple things that I personally was involved in, and it is amazing how inaccurate those reports were. Even simple facts they got wrong.

Good luck with this not turning political. Many aspects of this invite political discussion. Demagogues have cynically tried to turn the suffering of these people to their political gain. But I hope people honor your request.

Edited May 16, 2016 by tesuji

[NeuroTypical]

4 hours ago, Carborendum said:

There are questions about why there are so many young men especially of military age.  This sounds too much like prime terrorist age.  The reasons is that when ISIS or Taliban or whatever other groups come in to take over the government, they don’t care who you are or what your politics are.  They just conscript you into their army and force you to fight or die.  So these men are fleeing so they aren’t forced to kill their own families.

Additionally, they have a practical matter.  Many women, children, and elderly are not able to make the 1000km+ journey on foot with food and water deprivation along the way.  So, they send the men forward to establish themselves and find a job so they can send for their families later.  And the families have been following with more money in their pockets.

Oh wow, Carb.  These two answers (especially the second) have the weight of obvious common sense on their side.  I'm ashamed I didn't look deeper.  

[Guest LiterateParakeet]

Carb, I couldn't read your whole post, because I found the first part too heartbreaking.

I agree with you and I'm so happy you shared this!

[Guest LiterateParakeet]

15 hours ago, Carborendum said:

The largest shoe size that any of them would need is maybe a 9-1/2.  And through much starvation and hardship, the largest waist size any of them have is 33 inches.

I just read this part....oh my stars, they are tiny.  My 14 yr old son wears a 32 pant size and he's not done growing.  That really is something to take into consideration when donating.  

[Guest]

35 minutes ago, LiterateParakeet said:

Carb, I couldn't read your whole post, because I found the first part too heartbreaking.

I agree with you and I'm so happy you shared this!

I'd encourage reading the final section about my personal lesson learned.  Thanks.

[Guest]

15 hours ago, NeedleinA said:

My brother, a bishop, was recently approached by a brother (private contractor who worked in the Middle-East) who said he was done with the church. His reason? That my brother had reminded him about the letter from the Church offering help to the refugees during tithing settlement. "Why would we help people trying to kill us" was his comment.  

Ugh... what, seriously??

My brother indicated that it was apparent that this brother's pride of "I know better" than the Church blurred his judgement. 

I'll tell you what, a couple of months ago when we were discussing this on this very board and the Church made the announcement about helping the refugees it was difficult for me.  I actually thought to myself (true confession) that they simply didn't understand what was "really" happening.  When I almost heard my own voice say that I had to stop for a moment.  Did I really just say that?

After some time, and much effort, I finally humbled myself to the point where I said,"There is something we're not getting here.  What is it that we don't know?"  For the last few months, I was still of the mindset that the vast majority of these refugees were terrorists.  But I kept wondering what it was I was missing.  It was only from this fireside that I finally got an answer.

[tesuji]

2 hours ago, Carborendum said:

I'll tell you what, a couple of months ago when we were discussing this on this very board and the Church made the announcement about helping the refugees it was difficult for me.  I actually thought to myself (true confession) that they simply didn't understand what was "really" happening.  When I almost heard my own voice say that I had to stop for a moment.  Did I really just say that?

After some time, and much effort, I finally humbled myself to the point where I said,"There is something we're not getting here.  What is it that we don't know?"  For the last few months, I was still of the mindset that the vast majority of these refugees were terrorists.  But I kept wondering what it was I was missing.  It was only from this fireside that I finally got an answer.

I am impressed by your humility and open-mindedness. I hope I can always be like your example here.

[Guest]

3 minutes ago, tesuji said:

I am impressed by your humility and open-mindedness. I hope I can always be like your example here.

Don't give me too much credit.  I'm usually pretty arrogant.  But when it's the Brethren we're talking about, I tend to second guess myself more.

[Guest MormonGator]

11 hours ago, Carborendum said:

  I'm usually pretty arrogant. 

No, no, no Carb. The proper to answer to this is :

"Of course I'm arrogant. You would be as well if you were this pretty, intelligent, and wonderful."  
Or, I say "Me? Arrogant? I'm just trying to deal with my own humility." 
Or, I say "Arrogant? You should see me on days where I feel good about myself." 
Or, I say " Of course people love me. Pick a number, get in line."

Or I just throw my long, luxurious hair in the wind and give them a million dollar smile with my sparkling white teeth.
Or I do my favorite pose with my tanned, fit and trim body and just let the little people look at me with awe for a bit. 

I could go on for days. Needless to say I've been called "arrogant" before. 

Edited May 18, 2016 by MormonGator

[Guest]

11 hours ago, MormonGator said:

No, no, no Carb. The proper to answer to this is :

"Of course I'm arrogant. You would be as well if you were this pretty, intelligent, and wonderful."  
Or, I say "Me? Arrogant? I'm just trying to deal with my own humility." 
Or, I say "Arrogant? You should see me on days where I feel good about myself." 
Or, I say " Of course people love me. Pick a number, get in line."

Or I just throw my long, luxurious hair in the wind and give them a million dollar smile with my sparkling white teeth.
Or I do my favorite pose with my tanned, fit and trim body and just let the little people look at me with awe for a bit. 

I could go on for days. Needless to say I've been called "arrogant" before. 

Well, I could summon up a Mac Davis Link again.

[Sunday21]

On May 18, 2016 at 8:18 AM, Carborendum said:

Well, I could summon up a Mac Davis Link again.

Love that Mac Davis song!