Shortly after becoming President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, President Russell M. Nelson embarked on a global ministry tour to meet members of the Church, their families and their friends, and to bear witness to all of the Savior’s love for them.
As a part of that ministry, President Nelson met Dr. Alwi Shihab in Indonesia. Dr. Shihab has held multiple roles with the Indonesian government, most recently as the country’s special envoy to the Middle East and Organization of Islamic Cooperation. He and President Nelson have built their friendship over the ensuing five years on common beliefs they share.
“Stronger families build strong nations — spiritually strong,” President Nelson said during his 2019 ministry tour to Indonesia. This stop on his tour coincided with the 50th anniversary of the Church in Indonesia.
President Nelson was in Southeast Asia at the time with his wife, Sister Wendy Nelson, and Elder D. Todd Christofferson of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles and his wife, Sister Kathy Christofferson.

“We know these people. We love them. We feel for them when they have pain, and we rejoice with them when they have joy,” President Nelson said during a Church News interview after meeting with some of the Saints in the area.
Dr. Shihab and his wife, Ashraf Shahab, and their daughter, Samira Shihab, came to Salt Lake City and visited with President Nelson and his counselors in the First Presidency, President Dallin H. Oaks and President Henry B. Eyring, during the October 2024 general conference weekend.
“The world needs more people like you,” President Nelson said to Dr. Shihab as they met.
Also in attendance were Sister Nelson; Elder Benjamin M.Z. Tai, a General Authority Seventy and president of the Church’s Asia Area; and Elder David F. Evans, emeritus General Authority Seventy, and his wife, Sister Mary Evans. Elder Evans previously served as the president of the Asia Area and served as a young missionary and as a mission president in Japan.
Elder Evans said he was happy to see the friends from opposite sides of the globe “meet, embrace, express their love and care for each other” during conference weekend.
“Dr. Shihab is a true friend not only of the Lord’s Prophet but also of the Church in Indonesia and throughout the world. He is the finest of friends who helps where he can and who always provides counsel that lives up to the high values he has always shown.”
Church’s recent history in Indonesia
The late President Gordon B. Hinckley visited Indonesia’s newly elected president following his 1999 election. Abdurrahman Wahid had met President Hinckley in Utah while serving as head of Nahdlatul Ulama, the largest Islamic social organization in Indonesia, and prior to running for president of Indonesia. At the time of their meeting in Utah, Wahid introduced President Hinckley to Dr. Shihab.
Five years after their initial meeting, a deadly tsunami hit Indonesia on Dec. 24, 2004, that killed more than 200,000 people. The late President Boyd K. Packer reached out to Dr. Shihab on behalf of the Church to offer assistance. He later joined Elder David A. Bednar of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles and Elder Gerrit W. Gong, who was working at Brigham Young University at the time, to help organize assistance in the area and assess further opportunities to support the people there.
Dr. Shihab, who holds doctorates in religious studies, returned to Utah and spoke at a BYU forum on Oct. 10, 2006, and was introduced by President Packer. Dr. Shihab spoke about the importance of building bridges between communities by better understanding each other.
In the years that have followed, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Foundation has helped people in Indonesia with projects like one in 2022 when the foundation helped nearly 500 people receive prosthetic limbs and helped improve their quality of life and ability to work.
Elder Gary E. Stevenson of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles visited Bali, Indonesia, in November 2022 to speak at the G20 Religion Forum.