The First Presidency of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has approved another $5 million in aid to fund refugee assistance in Europe -- specifically food, clothing, shelter and other supplies.
For one of the church's most visible leaders, this issue is especially personal. Dieter F. Uchtdorf, second counselor in the First Presidency, was a refugee himself -- not just once, but twice.
With his mother and siblings, he had to flee his home several times.
"These were trips of fear," Uchtdorf told 2News in an exclusive interview. He said he was just four years old the first time he and his family had to leave.
"We left everything behind and started with zero," he said. "We could just take what we could carry."
Young Dieter's father was a soldier in the German army. World War Two was raging. The family's home in Czechoslovakia was no longer safe.
"We had to leave under the guidance of our mother," Uchtdorf said. "Four kids, I was the youngest."
They boarded a refugee train heading west and set out for Germany where Dieter's grandparents lived. But the journey was perilous.
A difficult journey
"It was one of the coldest winters ever, the winter of 44 to 45," Uchtdorf said.
At times, the trip was almost disastrous.
"The train stopped, my mother went out and tried to get food," Uchtdorf remembers. "When she tried to find the train, the train was gone with her four children in there."
After scouring the large train station, his mother found the train with her children inside. Together, they pushed on, eventually making it to Zwickau, part of East Germany.
Uchtdorf says the family's safe arrival was largely thanks to the kindness of others.
"People came up and brought us food and brought us tea or something to drink and were kind to us when we stopped on this long trip during the cold winter," he said.
It's a kindness he said he tries to exhibit today as he looks at people who are just like he once was.
"When I look at the situation now, with the worldwide refugee situation, it is almost a tsunami of refugees," Uchtdorf said.
http://kutv.com/news/local/lds-leader-u ... ant-crisis
So we've had Dieter the pilot slapped all over the media with Hans Solo and the Candy Bomber,
Dieters 'I was a pilot you know...' FP monthly message,
And now Dieter the refugee.
What gives?
Does his ego need a massage?
Does the Church need to raise his profile for some reason?
Is this Dieters 'people' positioning him for the game of musical chairs when Monson goes off through the veil?