Sister Kristin M. Yee, second counselor in the Relief Society general presidency, encouraged women, youth and children to find strength and power in their personal covenants and assured them that the Lord loves and knows them, as she ministered in Japan and four Pacific Islands.
“If you’ll make a spiritual effort, more spiritual blessings will be given unto you. The Lord wants you to choose Him,” she told youth in Okinawa, Japan.
Sister Yee ministered in Hiroshima, Okinawa and Kagoshima, Japan, and Guam, Pohnpei, Chuuk and Romanum, in Micronesia in March, reported the the Church’s Guam/Micronesia Newsroom.
During Sister Yee’s ministry in the Asia North Area, Elder Takashi Wada, General Authority Seventy and Asia North Area president, and Elder James R. Rasband, General Authority Seventy and first counselor in the Asia North Area presidency, and his wife, Sister Mary Rasband, were among those who accompanied her.
Japan
In Hiroshima, she spoke to Relief Society, Young Women and Primary leaders noting how it was poignant to see the tragedy and sorrow of war at the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum followed by speaking of the healing and peace offered by Jesus Christ and His gospel.
In Okinawa, she encouraged the youth in a devotional on March 12, to prepare for the Okinawa Japan Temple opening and to get involved with family history work.
“If you are struggling in your lives,” she said, “I encourage you to do family history and the Lord will be with you.”
Sister Yee counseled them to study the truths in the “For the Strength of Youth” guide and those would be an anchor in their lives. The guide “is not a checklist, but a call for a change of heart,” she said.
Micronesia
At a Relief Society devotional in Guam, Sister Yee asked: “What are those covenants? How do we receive those covenants? How can we be blessed by our covenants?”
Covenants can give people the power to repent, the strength to forgive, the power to magnify their callings through the power of the priesthood as they strive to keep those covenants, she said.
There is power in temple covenants, she said, quoting Elder Dale G. Renlund of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, who said in the April 2018 general conference: “When ordinances are performed on behalf of the deceased, God’s children on earth are healed.”
Sister Yee added that the sacrament is important in renewing baptismal covenants and ongoing repentance.
Also, Sister Yee encouraged the women to make time for sincere personal prayer and develop a deep personal relationship with Heavenly Father.
In a devotional with Primary children, she shared Church President Russell M. Nelson’s message that he loves them and that every child is needed.
Sister Yee taught them about baptism, receiving the Holy Ghost and how the Holy Ghost can help them.
In Guam, there are more than 2,500 Church members in five congregations. The Yigo Guam Temple was dedicated in May 2022.
On the Micronesian island of Pohnpei, about 1,640 kilometers, or about 1,020 miles, from Guam, Sister Yee met with women, spoke at a devotional with nearly 200 youth and young single adults, and encouraged missionaries.
On Chuuk, about 710 kilometers or 440 miles from Pohnpei, Sister Yee ministered to a group of women, telling them that they are not forgotten, they are loved and known to the Lord and art of a worldwide sisterhood. “Of all of the places I could have gone, I was sent to Chuuk,” Sister Yee said.
Those on the island have been isolated during the COVID-19 pandemic, and one woman shared that hearing that the sisters were “loved, necessary and precious” helped her as she had felt burdened, lonely and forgotten.
On Romanum, one of the Chuuk islands, Sister Yee taught and testified about the Atonement and ministering and caring for each other.
Across Micronesia, there are more than 6,100 Church members in 23 congregations.
