Across Asia, members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints are finding ways to remember the past, connect generations and strengthen faith.
In Mongolia, Japan and Cambodia, service, sacrifice and spiritual devotion are coming together through family history, temple preparation and peacemaking.
In Mongolia and Japan, people served by cleaning and digitizing war memorial records. In Cambodia, the youth are preparing to go to the temple when it opens in their country.
Remembering the forgotten in Mongolia
On the outskirts of Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, a group of Latter-day Saint volunteers recently gathered to clean and restore the Memorial Complex for Japanese Nationals.
The site honors approximately 1,700 Japanese soldiers who died as prisoners of war during World War II — far from their homeland and loved ones.
Led by FamilySearch, volunteers cleaned the grounds, planted new tree saplings and paid tribute to the lives lost.
One volunteer, Mandy Mendsaikhan said: “This memorial is not a well-known site, but it has great meaning. The soldiers buried here lost their lives in a foreign land, far from home. We hope that by cleaning up the site and planting new trees, we can honor their memories and help their souls find peace.”
According to a FamilySearch report two Shinto priests also participated in the event, bringing a sense of unity across religions.
The service also served as a preparation for the visit of Japan’s emperor to the monument, where he paid his respects on July 8.
The service went beyond landscaping, FamilySearch volunteers are working to digitally preserve the names of those buried at the memorial, allowing descendants to reconnect with ancestors long lost to war and history.
Digitizing the Cornerstone of Peace in Okinawa, Japan
A similar reverence for remembrance is taking place in Okinawa, Japan, where the names of 242,225 individuals who died in the Battle of Okinawa are etched into a granite monument known as the Cornerstone of Peace.
In a project powered by FamilySearch and more than 400 volunteers — ranging from teenagers to octogenarians — those names have now been digitized and made searchable online, reported the Church’s Japan Newsroom.
Until this year, families could only access the names through physical terminals at the Okinawa Peace Memorial Park. Now, thanks to the Church’s collaboration with the Find A Grave project, anyone in the world can search by name, hometown or birth date from a smartphone or computer.
The work wasn’t easy. Under the sweltering Okinawa sun, volunteers spent two days photographing every name and then months meticulously inputting and verifying the data.
In some cases, the effort became personal. A 15-year-old girl from Okinawa found her great-uncle’s name among the fallen and went on to help register 14,000 other names — most of them American soldiers.
Denny Tamaki, governor of Okinawa Prefecture, praised the project’s impact: “We can now access the Cornerstone of Peace from anywhere in the world. We want to further spread Okinawa’s spirit of seeking peace.”
The project was completed in preparation for Okinawa Memorial Day, the 80th Anniversary of the Battle of Okinawa, at the end of June.
Rising faith in Cambodia’s youth
While volunteers in Japan and Mongolia are helping heal the past, youth in Cambodia are preparing for a future temple in their country.
On June 18, over 500 young Latter-day Saints in Cambodia gathered for what is considered the largest youth activity in the Church’s history in the country, reported the Church’s Cambodia Newsroom.
In two cities — Phnom Penh and Siem Reap — teens spent the day learning about temples and family history, building testimony and celebrating the construction of the Phnom Penh Cambodia Temple.
While many of these youth are first-generation members and often one of the only Latter-day Saints in their families, schools or communities, the gathering gave them a sense of belonging.
Sixteen-year-old Rith Eysawachna said, “It is fun to be with people who believe like I do.”
Though she’s been baptized less than a year, she has a temple recommend in hand, ready to do vicarious temple work for her aunt who recently died.
“I believe that is what she would want,” she said.
Despite the challenge of locating family records — many of which were destroyed during decades of war and colonization — Cambodian youth share their determination to do temple work.
“I believe [my ancestors] will be very happy,” said 15-year-old Yim Sochantha. “The temple is very beautiful. I feel at peace when I am there. I feel the Holy Spirit. I want to be in a forever family.”
