After meeting with Vice President Mike Pence, we want to be able to send our missionaries anywhere, says the SDJ apostle

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Several senior Latter-day Saint officials met with Vice President Mike Pence on Thursday regarding a common concern: freedom of religion in the United States and around the world.

The members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints want to be able to "go anywhere in the world to testify to what we believe, and not to be persecuted or threatened because of our position on Jesus Christ, "Mr. Russell Ballard, acting president of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, told reporters after his exchange with Pence. "Everyone should have the same opportunity."

They did not talk about countries like mainland China and Russia, where open proselytism is banned, said Ballard, but they mentioned "the vast expanse of the church around the world, where we have missionaries scattered around the world, trying to share our religious beliefs. " . "

The vice president, an evangelical Christian, shares this missionary view, said 90-year-old Ballard. This is an important concern.

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(Photo courtesy of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) Apostles M. Russell Ballard. left, and Ronald A. Rasband, … (Photo courtesy of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) US Vice President Mike Pence, in the center right, is … (Photo courtesy of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) US Vice President Mike Pence. on the right, meet the general … (Photo courtesy of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) The Apostles Mr. Russell Ballard, center, and Ronald A. Rasban …

(Photo courtesy of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) Apostles M. Russell Ballard. On the left, Ronald A. Rasband, right, and Seventy Jack N. Gerard, government representative, meet with US Vice President Mike Pence in Salt Lake City on Thursday, August 22, 2019. (Photo courtesy of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) US Vice President Mike Pence (center, right) meets in Salt Lake City with the support of the United States. Seventy General Authority Jack N. Gerard (right) and the Apostles Mr. Russell Ballard (left). Ronald A. Rasband, center, August 22, 2019. (Photo courtesy of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) US Vice President Mike Pence. On the right, meeting with the General Authority, Seventy Jack N. Gerard, on the left, and the Apostles Mr. Russell Ballard, in the center, and Ronald A. Rasband, in the center, on August 22, 2019. (Photo courtesy of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) The Apostles M. Russell Ballard, center, and Ronald A. Rasband, left, with l. Seventy General Authority Jack N. Gerard, right, responds to local media about their meeting. with US Vice President Mike Pence on August 22, 2019.

He used "this little trilogy – faith, family and freedom," said Apostle Ronald A. Rasband, who joined Ballard at the meeting. "We told him it would be ok in Utah."

Rasband added that Latter-day Saints must "make themselves heard" on religious freedom "in the public square and on social media."

But they must not be alone in these actions, he said. "We have to be in a chorus, not soloists. … We need all believers to speak together. "

At the 30-minute meeting on Thursday at the Grand America Hotel in Salt Lake City, where Pence was staying during his short visit to the Beehive State, the group – which also included Jack N. Gerard, a general manager of the sixty -dix – discussed several other mutual concerns.

Pence thanked the Latter-day Saint representatives for their "significant contribution to the faith". [humanitarian] the seventy said, "We continue to help the children of the heavenly Father in every way possible."

They spoke about the economic and political crisis in Venezuela that worries the vice president, said Ballard, which also worries the leaders of Latter-day Saint worshipers.

The Utah-based faith has "a great assembly of members there," he said, "and we are doing everything in our power to ensure that they have something to eat. It's a terrible thing going on there. "

They also discussed the lack of civility of the younger generation, said Gerard, on the Internet and in society in general.

In the end, church officials told Pence that they would "pray for him," Ballard said. "We hope he's praying for us too."

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