EP 597 – The War in Ukraine | How Latter-day Saints Are Affected and Responding

Six months into the invasion of Ukraine, we look back at how the war has affected Latter-day Saints in the country and elsewhere, how the Church continues to function (or not) in Ukraine and occupied territories, and what everyday Latter-day Saints can do to help.

Jason Stout is a husband and father of two who works in sales and marketing for a global Ukrainian tech company while volunteering in his free time for the Responsibility Foundation (responsibilityfoundation.org). His previous experience includes refugee work with Catholic Community Services and educational development work with the US Peace Corps. He holds a BA from Weber State and a Master's degree from Columbia University's School of International and Public Affairs.

Polina Piddubna is a co-founder of the non-profit organization the KLYN Foundation. Originally from Kyiv, Polina is an art director and designer primarily working in fashion. When Russia launched its full-scale invasion opf Ukraine in February 2022, Polina and her husband returned to her home country to provide help. They have since created the KLYN foundation (klyn.foundation) with their close friends and collaborators, and are committed to providing critical help to war-torn Ukraine.

Millions of God's children have seen their lives upended by senseless violence. They continue to suffer as the world forgets. Help them.

https://youtu.be/oi9yWHdqWvg

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Transcript

00:00.00

Geoff Openshaw

Everybody how's it going welcome to another week of this weekend mormons special episode this week with some stuff that's very near and dear to my heart. But I've always felt like a bit of an interloper on the topic because I just kind of. Just kind of jumped into ukraine a little bit and I've done work on it professionally but I am not an expert and my life has not been appended by everything going on there. But um, we thought this would be a great opportunity this week roughly six months into the war in Ukraine to kind of take a step back look at what's happened there look at how it's affected latter-day saints. Ah, both in the run up to the war. What's going on now and then to see what we're also doing currently like what latter-day saints are doing to help fellow latter-day saints and others you know refugees and everyone affected by the conflict. So um, like I said I'm not the expert here but I brought in some very very brilliant people who are going to help us talk through these things and I'll give them a chance to introduce themselves. Ah, None off with my old friend Jason Stout Stout Jason Stout will you want to introduce yourself to the peeps.

00:55.34

Jason Stout

Yeah, thanks! Jeff it's ah good to see you again. Yeah, we've been spending about 7 years in Ukraine till the start of the war my family and I our none child is born there so we loved it. We built a home there. And we're forced to leave because of the war and since then we've just been trying to do what we can to help so I'm looking forward to discussing. Yes yes, although many people think I must have a really good accent for a ukrainian.

01:17.69

Geoff Openshaw

Yeah, and you're american by the way for people who just in case it knows so. Yeah, um, and for a longtime listeners if you're curious Jason Stout served his mission there and he did serve alongside our twin founder Al Doan they go back away as al was trying to join us this week but he had some conflicts and couldn't do it. So yeah,