Elder Jeffrey R. Holland, of the Quorum of the Twelve, visited the Middle East and three European nations from Feb. 20 to March 4. He described the experience as a uniformity of faithful devotion of Latter-day Saints of diverse cultures and nations regardless of languages and geographies, says the LDS Church News. Traveling to United Arab Emirates, Netherlands, England and Germany, Elder Holland described the devotion of Church members at each place as being “in their hearts, their spirits.”“You hear someone bear testimony in a different language, or coming out of a different culture, or in a very distant part of the earth and yet it sounds like you are in your home ward,” said Elder Holland summing up his traveling experience with a testimony. “The ability of the gospel to unite us on common strengths and common truths is one of the great miracles, one of the great powers of the gospel,” he said. Elder Holland got to preside over two stake conferences in two different countries that are 3,000 miles apart on the same weekend. He presided at the stake conference in Abu Dhabi on Feb. 22, and then over to the Apeldoorn Netherlands Stake conference's sessions, Feb. 23 and 24. One thing unique about the trip is Elder Holland got to dedicate the Abu Dhabi Stake Center in the United Arab Emirates, the first building constructed by the LDS Church in the Middle East. While traveling to Britain, Elder Holland visited London's historic Hyde Park Chapel, which was recently remodeled to function as a church meetinghouse and a visitors' center. Elder Holland said, “I was in this building when it was dedicated, so my memories are very sweet today.” He referred to his experience as a young missionary in the British Mission during the early 1960s. During his visit to Germany, Elder Holland met with mission presidents and spoke to LDS members in several combined church meetings. He told the German members, “We truly are all brothers and sisters in the gospel” and encouraged them to continue meeting together to foster a spirit of love.Ben Howells, a senior majoring in ICS from England, said he was happy Elder Holland visited his country. “I served a mission in London and it is the same mission as Elder Holland. I feel the sense of connection with him,” he said. “When he visited PCC last year, I was lucky to be his tour guide. ”Tsz Yin Chan, a senior majoring in biochemistry from Hong Kong, said, “Since Elder Holland already visited the Middle East, I wish Elder Holland could visit China someday and dedicate a visitor’s center or a chapel in maybe Shanghai or Sichun. We have a lot of members in those areas.”
Writer: Clover Cheng ~ Multimedia Journalist
