MormonNewsroom.org features stories from its international Newsroom websites to share what leaders and members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints around the world are doing to better the communities in which they live.
Cambodia: Good Works Are Contagious!
Latter-day Saints in Cambodia converged on the riverbanks of the Tonle Sap River to clean up a day after the Siem Reap Water Festival ended. A French visitor said she came to the water festival and found trash everywhere. “Today, angels have been sent from heaven. It is clean.”
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Families came to beautify their city, and while doing so a Singapore tour group saw what was going on and asked if they could help. One person was heard to say, “It seems that good works are contagious.”
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Read more about the story on the Cambodia Mormon Newsroom website.
Zimbabwe: Clean Water, Reading Glasses and Repaired Roofs — Made Possible by LDS Charities
Two schools in Harare, capital of the African country of Zimbabwe, recently received much welcomed help in the form of a drilled borehole for clean water.
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In addition to helping facilitate the water for the schools, LDS Charities, the Church’s humanitarian arm, also donated 40 pairs of reading glasses, repaired blown-off roofs, provided new desks and painted another school.
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Go to the Zimbabwe Mormon Newsroom website to understand what motivates the Church to provide assistance.
Germany: Mormons Welcome Refugees
Members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Darmstadt, Germany, invited refugee families to their meetinghouse for a Christmas party. Mormon children chose gifts to give to the refugee children.
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The party included a Christmas dinner and entertainment especially for the children.
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The Germany Mormon Newsroom website (German) has more information about the story.
Ghana: A Celebration of African Culture
Mormons in Ghana recently organized an event to recognize their African culture entitled “Our Culture, Our Heritage: The Lord's Way.”
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The celebration drew local chiefs, community leaders and citizens who participated in traditional dances and music.
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See the traditional clothing they wore on the Ghana Mormon Newsroom website.
Canada: Celebrating Christmas With “An Evening in Bethlehem”More than 300 nativities and a Christmas program highlighted the annual “An Evening in Bethlehem,” open free to the community in early December in Ontario, Canada.
Joining Latter-day Saints for the program were the youth and adult hand bell choirs from the Trinity United Church. The two-night event was held in the local Mormon meetinghouse, where 306 nativities from Chile, Germany, Kenya, Peru and other areas of the world were set up to give people a feel of Bethlehem and the birth of the Savior Jesus Christ.
Read more about the event on the Canada Mormon Newsroom website.
Maine, USA: Maine Pioneer Trek and Storm Rescue
Recently, Mormon youth in the Bangor Maine Stake (similar to a diocese) of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints honored rescuers for saving them during a summer storm last August. Local Church leaders invited the rescuers to a dinner where they were thanked and presented with letters of appreciation.
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On only the first day of their pioneer trek last August, a severe summer storm with pounding rain, thunder and lightning stranded the 400 youth and adult leaders on the trail. Fortunately a firefighter and a member of the Church from a nearby town understood the trouble they were in. He launched a rescue.
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Go to the Mormon Newsroom website to read how the youth recently thanked their rescuers.