I’m sure they did. The article mentioned that it had been going on for three years. Which would make it about 1986. I’m assuming she was 12 when the issue hit in 1989.
I agree with Craig that Elder Uchtdorf was holding back the tears and was deeply touched by Elder Keason’s talk. I have heard Elder Utchtdorf reference the trials his family faced in the wake of WWII. Here is some information from Wikipedia:
Uchtdorf was born to ethnic Germans Karl Albert Uchtdorf and Hildegard Else Opelt in Moravská Ostrava (German: Mährisch-Ostrau), which at the time was in the Nazi-occupied Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia (now Ostrava, Czech Republic). When he was a child, his family moved to Zwickau in eastern Germany while his father was away in the army, traveling through areas being bombed. As a result of his grandmother’s encounter with an LDS Church member in a soup line, Uchtdorf’s family joined the LDS Church when he was still young.
When Uchtdorf was about eleven, his father’s political beliefs, incongruent with Soviet rule, earned him the label of “dissenter”, thus putting their lives in danger. They fled East Germany and resettled in U.S.-occupied West Germany. His sisters accomplished this by jumping from a moving train that happened to pass through West Germany, while Dieter and his mother climbed a mountain to avoid Russian guard checkpoints.
Elder Kearon’s assignment as a seventy is in the Europe area and speaks first-hand about what he sees happening there. As with all conference talks, the text is written well ahead of time and translated into all the many lanquages for delivery for the world-wide broadcast. His message wasn’t directed to just a segment of church members living in Europe or the U.S. but it was addressed to the world-wide membership. For those of us in the U.S. who have wondered what position to take on the refugee issue and the threat of terror cells embedded among the population, I think Elder Kearon clarified the position the Church holds on the issue.
I wish this was the exact same thing. It isn’t. Look, I feel what Uchtdorf went through. I’m a convert from Judaism. I guarantee you that with losing family member myself that I understand. But, where we are in time makes the issue different. There were no German or Jewish “terrorists” escaping Hitler in WW2. The Syrian people that are escaping don’t actually want to leave Syria. ISIS wants them to go so they can get their ideology fighters into Europe and the U.S.
With that said, for those who are truly escaping for a safer and better life, we can assist with necessities of life. So, clarify what’s great about the talk?
If you aren’t happy with the talk that was given, take it up with President Uchtdorf. After all, you made the incorrect assumption that he wasn’t happy with it either.
What I would suggest, at this point, is that you stop planting the seeds of doubt and criticism unless that is what you want to reap at some point.
It is interesting that you still can’t see that all the politicians are the same now and the rhetoric and nonsense they spew has only one purpose… to frighten the people and to gain control and power over them. I do not subscribe to that agenda, whether it be from the republicans or democrats… it’s all the same anymore, just presented in a different deceptive way
I was just commenting on the very first post. I think Elder Uchtdorf was very emotional (not angry) regarding the message Elder Kearson gave. Our leaders counsel us that what is presented at General Conference is what the Lord wants us to hear regarding the issues of our day. If you believe that then all the talks and counsel we received, including Elder Kearon’s talk is what the Lord would have us hear and do. He pointed out that Christ himself was a refugee and had to flee with his family to Egypt to avoid infanticide. The early LDS pioneers fled persecution to find a safe place to dwell and worship.
The Syrian people would choose to stay if their lives weren’t in danger. Yes, ISIS will try to embed terrorists among the masses. But, the 1.5+ million refugees by and large are leaving because they want to survive and they want their children to survive. I understand your concern about letting terrorists into the country. There are a lot of people that feel the same way. They want to be Christ-like but they don’t want to put their own families at risk by harboring refugees infiltrated with terrorists. I think that is why we are blessed to have the counsel from the Lord as delivered through his prophets. We can choose to disagree with the counsel but I find it comforting to know that the Lord has counseled us how we should respond to this issue.
Talk about someone who hears no evil, sees no evil…you don’t get it. Read the B if M more and you might understand more what’s going on 
I’ve never even heard of the B if M 
No, I’m aware of the evil. The message is that we need to help and not turn our backs on the refugees. If that means providing food and clothing to refugee camps in Europe, then we should help by making donations. We aren’t being asked to bring refugees into our homes or communities. But…that could happen under the current administration.
I heard he wants us to bring them to the U.S. And you should bring them into your home. Yes, he also said the same for those in Europe. My point originally was that he talked solely about Syrian refugees. He could have simply spoken on helping the poor and the needy and brought up situations around the world. I felt pressured to follow Obama’s message.
I understand how you feel about the terrorists/jihadists. The last thing we all want is for a suicide bomber to go sit in the middle of a Sacrament meeting and set off a bomb. Its a complicated issue. I think we can all support the Church’s humanitarian efforts and that is how I interpret Elder Kearon’s talk. It is a nice follow-up to the letter from the First Presidency that was read in Sacrament meeting last Fall.
“It is with great concern and compassion that we observe the plight of the millions of people around the world who have fled their homes seeking relief from civil conflict and other hardships,” states the letter.
The letter explains the Church is assisting migrants and refugees in several countries “thanks to the generous help of our members.”
Mormons have been providing aid to refugees in the Middle East for more than a decade, providing hundreds of thousands of blankets, clothes, emergency medical supplies, food and other resources to refugees in Jordan, Lebanon, Turkey and Syria.
In response to the recent crisis in Europe, the Church made an additional commitment in September of $5 million to help displaced families.
The letter continues, “Members may contribute to the Church Humanitarian Fund using the Tithing and Other Offerings donation slip. We also invite Church units, families, and individuals to participate in local relief projects, where practical.”
“May the Lord bless you as you render Christlike service to those in need,”
No one has asked us to bring refugees into our homes. They have asked for generous donations and they have asked us to have a Christlike attitude towards the plight of these refugees from the middle East in particular.
“In winter I met, amongst many others, a pregnant woman from Syria in a refugee transit camp desperately seeking assurance that she would not need to deliver her baby on the cold floors of the vast hall where she was housed. Back in Syria she had been a university professor.”
That was the only reference to Syria I could find.
To me the talk was more about these comments -
“There are highly charged arguments in governments and across society regarding what the definition of a refugee is and what should be done to assist the refugees. My remarks are not intended in any way to form part of that heated discussion, nor to comment on immigration policy, but rather to focus on the people who have been driven from their homes and their countries by wars that they had no hand in starting.”
“We must be careful that news of the refugees’ plight does not somehow become commonplace when the initial shock wears off and yet the wars continue and the families keep coming. Millions of refugees worldwide, whose stories no longer make the news, are still in desperate need of help.”
“Additionally, each one of us can increase our awareness of the world events that drive these families from their homes. We must take a stand against intolerance and advocate respect and understanding across cultures and traditions. Meeting refugee families and hearing their stories with your own ears, and not from a screen or newspaper, will change you.”
Then there was this comment -
“My current assignment is in Europe, where one and a quarter million of these refugees have arrived over the last year from war-torn parts of the Middle East and Africa.”
We all know the middle east is a mess, it always has been. Read the Old Testament if you don’t know this. But last time I checked a map, Syria was not in Africa and they have plenty of problems of their own. I don’t think most intelligent people subscribe to the same belief, of what Elder Kearon was talking about, that grasshopper does. The last thing I want to be is controlled by the media… unless it is BYUTV…
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Thanks for the comments and quotes. Sometimes we can’t see the Lord’s purposes in all of this. He can see the end from the beginning. There may be many lives touched by Christlike kindness and charity. The Muslims I know tend to have many of the same values we hold dear…family, fidelity, devotion. Who’s to say but that many who find themselves in a more open and free environment will become receptive to the gospel message. It may never have happened had they not been forced out of a Muslim nation.
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Whoa there Glenn… what’s all this talk about the Lord being in charge and possibly some of these refugees listening to and accepting the gospel?
That’s just crazy talk… crazy right on the money that is.
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