Welfare Specialists

LDS Charities operates 7 "signature programs",  www.ldscharities.org.  They include Clean Water, Wheelchairs, Benson Food Initiatives, Emergency Response, Maternal and Newborn Care, Immunization, and Vision Care.  In our area, we sometimes call upon welfare specialists from the USA to help us develop projects or provide training on these signature programs for communities and local in-country humanitarian couples.

Church couples who have an expertise in a particular area have been called and set apart as welfare specialists.  Most of these couples are retired, but some may still work part time.  Depending upon their expertise they are assigned an area to which they help in carrying out the signature programs.  The following is a description of what some of the specialists do.

Maternal and newborn care specialists give "train-the-trainer" instruction to medical personnel and birth attendants.  They provide lifesaving training and equipment to help medical people resuscitate babies born with breathing difficulties, support the care of newborns, and improve maternal survival.

Vision care specialists provide training, equipment and supplies to help local eye care professionals and develop programs to improve eyesight.

Wheelchair specialists help assess individual needs, select and fit people to appropriate wheelchairs, and train individual wheelchair users, their families and caregivers.

Clean water specialists help provide communities with clean water sources, as well as improve sanitation facilities and teach proper hygiene techniques.

Recently we had Elder Jim and Sister Karen Greding come to the Pacific Area.  While here they visited Samoa and Tonga to help develop clean water projects.  The water needs are as different for each country as are the ways they get water.  Elder and Sister Greding went out with the humanitarian missionary couples and staff and visited many potential water projects.  Then they write reports which helps our area to prioritize the water projects in different countries.  We are thankful to have specialists that we can call on to help our couples with their projects.

The Gredings have traveled to many places in the world, but most of these countries are not "vacation destinations".  Remember most countries do not have the water systems that we enjoy in the more developed world.  Getting to these water projects sometimes require hours of travel and many different modes of transportation and can be a little bit of a challenge to visit. 

"I am deeply grateful that as a church we continue to extend humanitarian aid where there is a great need.  We have done much in this regard and have blessed the lives of thousands upon thousands of our Father's children who are not of our faith as well as those who are.  We intend to continue to help wherever such is needed."  Thomas S Monson,  "Until We Meet Again",  April General Conference 2009
   

The phone call

Gary went to Vanuatu with two others as soon as commercial flights resumed after Cyclone Pam struck the island nation of Vanuatu.  One of the top priorities for Church emergency response during a crisis is to verify that the young missionaries are safe and accounted for.  There were 11 young missionaries - 5 sisters and 6 elders on the island of Tanna, an islands in the Vanuatu chain where the eye of the cyclone passed directly over.  Port Vila, the capital city is on the island of Efate which is where the mission president is located.  When he arrived in Port Vila Wednesday, electricity was not restored in the city and telephone communications between the islands was not possible.  The number one question after a disaster is ‘Are the missionaries safe and well?’ President Brewer felt that his missionaries on Tanna were okay, but he needed to confirm that feeling with a phone call or direct message. Four days went by before he received the anticipated message.  The government had instituted a dusk to dawn curfew, so the team couldn't meet until the next morning.   

 The next morning President Brewer shared the following:

 “When Tanna Zone Leader, Elder Beynon, returned to Port Vila I asked him how he was able to make phone contact with me four days after the storm. Of course, we knew that Digicel and TVL towers had been severely dam-aged by the storm and communication through those services was impossible. The battery in my personal cell phone was nearly exhausted that morning. Elder Beynon said the Lenakel group leader, who is also a po-liceman in Lenakel, permitted him to use the police satellite phone to make that contact. We spoke for about one and a half minutes before my phone died, just long enough to direct him to take all of the missionaries to the airport the next day to board a chartered plane for their return to Port Vila. To hear Elder Beynon report that every missionary in Tanna was well and accounted for was the miracle we had prayed for.” President Larry E. Brewer 

 ---  Some things are hard to explain rationally, but the Lord is aware of His missionaries and by some means communication between a worried mission president and his missionaries were available for a short period of time.



The phone call

Missionaries before the storm

Tanna missionaries after the storm

Tanna Elders after Cyclone Pam

Tanna Elders

Tanna Elders on the plane

Missionaries at Mission Home

"Miracles are everywhere to be found...... When faith replaces doubt, when selfless services eliminates selfish striving, the power of God  brings to pass his purposes."
Thomas S. Monson

(Note:  Photos courtesy of Pres. Larry Brewer. - Susan's computer is being repaired, so we are using Gary's computer temporarily.)