On Sunday, the Kiribati President sat in a stake conference of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, all because someone acted on Elder Dieter F. Uchtdorf’s encouragement to invite others to “come and see.”
An article on Church Newsroom Pacific shares the experience Elder Ian S. Ardern, Pacific Area President, had with President Taneti Maamau, President of the Republic of Kiribati.
Kiribati is made up of 36 Micronesian islands in the mid-Pacific and has 20,390 Church members, about 17.5% of the total population according to Church Newsroom.
During the second hour of Church last Sunday, the Area Presidency broadcasted a video message to members in the Pacific that discussed the 2020 Pacific Area Focus.
“If all of us engage in inviting someone to ‘Come and See’ or to ‘Come and Help’ or ‘Come and Stay’—bring someone back, come and stay with us—what a difference it will make,” Elder Ardern said in the broadcast.
He then acted on the invitation himself.
“During the video presentation, I invited members to invite others to ‘Come and See,’ and this weekend I did exactly that,” Elder Ardern posted on the Pacific Area Facebook Page. “I visited with the President of Kiribati and invited him and his wife to the Tarawa East Stake Conference to ‘Come and See’ and they did. They enjoyed the meeting and seeing 1,200 members at the conference.”
Elder Arden then encourages the members to invite someone to “Come and See.”
“Try it! Not everyone will say yes, but not one of them will be offended by your invitation,” Elder Ardern writes.
