During his first official diplomatic trip to Utah last week, Romanian Ambassador Andrei Muraru visited with the First Presidency of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Salt Lake City to speak in part about the Church’s response to the refugee crisis in Eastern Europe.
Muraru, 39, was accompanied by Mircea Divricean, Honorary Consul of Romania in Utah, who documented the visit on his LinkedIn page.
Divricean spoke about meeting with President Russell M. Nelson, President Dallin H. Oaks, and President Henry B. Eyring, and shared photos of their visit in the Church Administration Building. He described the meeting as “a very humbling experience” and took the opportunity to speak about the conflict in Eastern Europe.
“Meeting with [Church leaders] especially now, when a human tragedy is unfolding right in front of our eyes in Eastern Europe, when words are no equal to the gravity of the moment as we attempt to make sense of the senseless, when lives, families, cities and even countries are disrupted and lost with immense pain and suffering inflicted on so many, was comforting.”
The diplomats specifically raised the topic of the Church’s aid to refugees during the visit: “The Ambassador and I asked for help and support for the Ukrainian refugees in Romania, and in his soft and comforting voice President Russell M. Nelson said, ‘We helped yesterday, we are helping today, we will help tomorrow, we will help next month, we will help next year.’” See the rest of the LinkedIn post in the screenshot below.
Since the beginning of this month, the Church has been providing aid to European refugees, most recently committing $4 million for humanitarian efforts across seven projects.
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Are you looking for a way to help? Through decades of experience in providing assistance during natural disasters, refugee crises, and other humanitarian conditions, the Church has developed a tested and proven model for identifying needs and providing assistance. This model includes empowering local leaders to use the Church’s financial resources to purchase goods and services in the local economy to provide what is truly needed. Visit this link to donate to the Church’s humanitarian aid efforts.
