Church focuses on helping youths

THE Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints believes that people of all ages, particularly young adults between the ages of 18-30 who are making important decisions for their lives, are very important to society.
A report from the Mormon newsroom said because of this, the Church places an emphasis on helping these young adults build their character while nurturing them in Gospel principles.
This is the reason the Church brought together more than 240 young single adult members of the Church from Port Moresby and surrounding communities for a four-day convention in September.
These young people came together in a convention with the theme, “Hangere long senis,” or “Desire for change.”
The theme was taken from the Book of Enos in The Book of Mormon, which, along with the Bible, is considered holy scripture by members of the church, and is believed by members to be another testament of Jesus Christ.
The young single adults between 18-30 years of age came from as far away as Moveave, in Gulf, Rigo in the Central, and the areas of Kuriva, Anita, Sabusa, 9-Mile, 8-Mile and Port Moresby.
During the convention, they participated in both spiritual and physical activities which taught them to be strong and active members of the church and of society. The young adults were also involved in providing service to the community as they spent part of one day of the convention involved in a service project.
They planted mangrove and cleaned the beach and streets at Pari village.
Shirley Liri, the organiser of the service project, said mangroves were an important part of the ecosystem that nature and people depended on.
“We hope our youth learnt that valuable lesson from this activity.”
Committee members Andy and Marissa Pagere spent many months planning the convention.
As the convention concluded, the hopes and wishes of Andy and Marissa Pagere and their committee were realised as many young people came away with their lives forever changed in a positive way.