Three Utah missionaries are in serious condition after the bombings in Brussels, Belgium Tuesday, including Richard Norby, Joseph Empey and Mason Wells. Another French missionary, Rachel Clain, was also hospitalized.
Missionaries put themselves in dangerous situations all over the world in the name of their religion. But what emergency training are these missionaries receiving?
Mark Harris said he was stabbed while serving is his mission in Moscow, Russia by a Chechnyan individual. He said he was new to the mission field and wasn’t informed about the ethnic tension between the Russian and Chenya people.
“Stuff in the world happens and you can’t prepare for everything,” he said. “Just being in God’s service, he protects you. I was as well prepared as anyone could be.”
Bryce Cook is a recently returned mission president who served in Congo. During his two years there, the country experienced multiple coups and a 75 percent unemployment rate. Cook said his missionaries were required to attend weekly safety meetings and were taught to make wise decisions and to pay attention to their surroundings.
“I don’t think we are ever really protected, but I think the Church does their best,” he said. “I am really confident that they won’t mislead us into going into a dangerous area. We really didn’t worry about it and we felt like we were in good keeping.”
Cook said he is appreciative of those who pray for missionaries.
The LDS Church said their prayers are with the families of the deceased and injured, including the four missionaries who were hospitalized.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BLyyTcSJFys
