NEW YORK CITY — A parade of international diplomats, religious leaders, charity executives and human rights officials met Saturday with President M. Russell Ballard to ask for the help of the acting president of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and to sustain their relationship with the Church.
The requests and discussions centered on issues ranging from national security to poverty to charitable delivery systems, Deseret.com reported. The meetings illuminated specific efforts the Church has made to build relationships at the United Nations and what the 91-year-old leader said is increased global influence for the Church.
“I think it’s a wonderful thing to see how the Church has been recognized, particularly in the past few years, as an organization that is worldwide, that is becoming very important,” President Ballard said. “When people seek to get something done that they’re concerned about, it was interesting how today they seek us out, where I would say 20 years ago in my ministry, you would have to knock on their door to see whether or not you can get an opportunity to visit with them.”
On the second day of his interactions in New York City, President Ballard met with a number of diplomats, including the Mexico ambassador to the U.S., the Niger ambassador to the United Nations, and the Economic Community of West African States representative to the United Nations. He also met with representatives from the NAACP, Newsroom reported.
Also Saturday night, President Ballard spoke in a devotional to young single adults and mid-single adults from the New York City metro area.
