Sister Andrea Muñoz Spannaus, second counselor in the Young Women general presidency, shared three invitations as she ministered in Thailand, Indonesia, Sri Lanka and Pakistan at the end of May.
“One is the sacrament, the importance of going to church every Sunday and to renew the covenants,” she said.
The second is that “it’s worth it to be a disciple of Jesus Christ, that we can improve, and we can change our hearts and transform our lives by being a disciple of Jesus Christ little by little. Everything that we can do is worth it.”
She testified of God’s help for His children.
“No. 3 is that God will fight our battles. He will help us always. He’s here with us,” she said.
The 10-day ministry included meeting with youth, young adults, missionaries, leaders and Church members in Lahore, Pakistan; Colombo, Sri Lanka; Jakarta, Indonesia; and Ubon Ratchathani, Thailand, the Church’s Hong Kong Newsroom on ChurchofJesusChrist.org reported.
“Members of the Church here are the pioneers. ... They are full of devotion, effort and love for the Lord. It was wonderful for me to see these qualities in them,” Sister Spannaus said. She was accompanied by her husband, Brother Alin Spannaus, and members of the Asia Area presidency and their wives.
Abeera Arif Khokhar, a young single adult from Lahore, said the messages shared by Sister Spannaus greatly connected to her spiritually.
“It motivated me to reflect on my faith and to deepen my understanding of the gospel, and for doing that, I plan on reading my scriptures more diligently,” she said.
Interfaith meeting: ‘We can love each other’
Sister Spannaus and Nasaruddin Umar, grand imam of the Istiqlal State Mosque of Indonesia and rector of University of Qur’anic Science in Jakarta, met May 30 at the mosque — the largest in Southeast Asia — to discuss and promote interreligious understanding.
“We are very actively meeting together with our neighbors, not only from Catholic and Protestant, but also from the Hindus and also Buddhists. ... We invite them to come here. For me, this mosque [is] not only for Muslim people. Everybody can access Istiqlal Mosque, because this is the big host for peace and the big host for humanity,” he said.
The friendship between the Imam Umar and the Church dates back to when Elder Dieter F. Uchtdorf of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles ministered in Jakarta in October 2022. Imam Umar has since been the keynote speaker in the 30th Annual International Law and Religion Symposium at Brigham Young University.
During their visit, the grand imam guided Sister Spannaus on the Tunnel of Tolerance, which is a 28.3-meter-long (about 31 yards) underground passage linking the Istiqlal Mosque and St. Mary of the Assumption Cathedral in Jakarta. This tunnel symbolizes the friendship and unity shared among the communities in Indonesia.
“I think that tolerance is so important right now, and we can find love for the people,” Sister Spannaus said. “We can love each other, we can have this tolerance, and we can work together in the things that matter most for us — the unity of the family, humanitarian projects, things that will make a better society to help people.”
Sister Spannaus met with Ela Nuryamah, the general secretary, and other women leaders from Fatayat, the young women organization within Nahdlatul Ulama, the largest Muslim organization in Indonesia, with over 100 million members worldwide. They discussed the need to collaborate on humanitarian and other projects to bless the lives of women, children and families.
“We realized that we have a lot of things in common between the two of us, and the important thing is that we love the people, and we want to help,” Sister Spannaus said.
