Lessons of 2025
Lesson No. Thirty-One

The People of Alma and the People of Ukraine

The Lord has preserved Ukraine and its people for His purposes. Our son John was in the first group of missionaries assigned to Ukraine. He was there when Elders Boyk K Packer and Dallin H. Oaks of the Quorum of the Twelve and 41 other people gathered shortly before 7 a.m., Sept. 12, 1991, on a hillside overlooking Kyiv and Elder Packer dedicated Ukraine for the preaching of the Gospel. In offering the prayer of blessing upon the land of Ukraine, Elder Packer said, "We are gathered here as missionaries and as members, a small group. This gathering is prescient of the tens and the hundreds and the thousands and the hundreds of thousands that will yet join Thy Church, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, in this land…And in due time, the spires of temples will be seen across this great land."

John has returned many times since his mission including four times since the Russian invasion. He was there when the Kyiv Ukraine Temple was dedicated in August 2010, less than 20 years after Ukraine opened for the Gospel. Elder Packer’s prophecy that there would be hundreds of thousands of members and many temples in Ukraine is being fulfilled.

In February 2022 Russia invaded Ukraine. It is a miracle that a much smaller nation, in every way the world measures size, has been able to stand, for 3.5 years, against one of the world’s super powers. We can look to the Book of Mormon for understanding.

The Book of Mormon was written for our day. President Ezra Taft Benson reminded us of this truth. He taught: “As we read and teach, we are to liken the Book of Mormon scriptures unto us ‘that it might be for our profit and learning’ (1 Nephi 19:23)” (A Witness and a Warning, p. 4).

President Benson further explained: “The Book of Mormon was written for our day. Each of the major writers of the Book of Mormon testified that he wrote for future generations. If they saw our day and chose those things which would be of greatest worth to us, is not that how we should study the Book of Mormon? We should constantly ask ourselves, Why did the Lord inspire Mormon (of Moroni of Alma) to include that in his record? What lesson can I learn from that to help me in this day and age?

“And there is example after example of how that question will be answered. For example, in the Book of Mormon we find a pattern for preparing for the Second Coming. A major portion of the book centers on the few decades just prior to Christ's coming to America” (Ibid).

The Lord tries the patience and faith of His people. For most of us the Lord, in some way and at some time, has or will try our patience and our faith. The patience and faith of the Lord’s people in Ukraine is clearly being tried. There are many lessons from the Book of Mormon that can be applied to the current situation in Ukraine. I believe that one of the best is the account of the people of Alma as recorded in Mosiah 23-24. All of the details of the Lord’s people in the land of Helem are not the same as the Lord’s people in Ukraine, but the overall circumstance are similar, and many of the lessons to be learned are the same.

The example of the people of Alma in the land of Helem. The Nephites had periods of peace, the longest being 200 years after the personal ministry of the Lord as recorded in 4 Nephi. But mostly it was a long lasting series of wars with the Lamanites. which eventually resulted in the destruction of the Nephite nation. At one point the people of Alma were living righteously and prospering in the land of Helam. However, they were put in bondage to the Lamanites because the Lord tested their patience and faith. This account, recorded in Mosiah 23-24, teaches that righteous people will be tested in ways the Lord knows best. But when the tests come we should always remember the following:

“Nevertheless the Lord seeth fit to chasten his people; yea, he trieth their patience and their faith. Nevertheless—whosoever putteth his trust in him the same shall be lifted up at the last day. Yea, and thus it was with this people. For behold, I will show unto you that they were brought into bondage, and none could deliver them but the Lord their God, yea, even the God of Abraham and Isaac and of Jacob. And it came to pass that he did deliver them, and he did show forth his mighty power unto them, and great were their rejoicings” (Mosiah 23:21-24, emphasis added).

The example of the people of Ukraine. Like with the Nephites and the Lamanites, Ukraine’s struggle for independence and its relationship with Russia have been defining factors throughout its history. In more recent history following the Russian Revolution in 1917, Ukraine became part of the Soviet Union. In 1932-33 the Holodomor, a famine purposely caused by Stalin and the Soviet Union, resulted in the deaths of many millions of Ukrainians. Ukraine suffered greatly during World War II, experiencing brutal occupations by both Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union. Following the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, Ukraine declared its independence.

In 1991, because the Soviet Union had based many of their nuclear weapons there, after only the United States and Russia Ukraine had the third most nuclear weapons of any country in the world. Because the United States, Russia, and NATO promised to preserve Ukraine’s boarders and guarantee its freedom Ukraine gave up all of its nuclear weapons.

Then in 2014 Russia annexed Crimea, and In February 2022 it began a full scale invasion of Ukraine. All of this in total violation of the promises Ukraine relied on in giving up its nuclear weapons. Russia’s criminal and barbaric bombing of civilian hospitals, schools, and housing has lasted 3.5 years.

Russia’s broken promise to Ukraine is like the Lamanites broken promise to the people of Alma. The Lamanites were lost in the wilderness when they discovered the people of Alma. “And it came to pass that the Lamanites promised unto Alma and his brethren, that if they would show them the way which led to the land of Nephi that they would grant unto them their lives and their liberty. But after Alma had shown them the way that led to the land of Nephi the Lamanites would not keep their promise; but they set guards round about the land of Helam, over Alma and his brethren” (Mosiah 23:36-37)

Testimony. In 1991 after Ukraine was dedicated for the preaching of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, religious freedom took root and missionary work in Ukraine greatly accelerated. Many people in Ukraine were prepared and they joined the Church. A temple was dedicated in Ukraine less than 20 years later. That has not happened since Kirtland and Nauvoo. There are now nearly 10,000 members and two missions in Ukraine. To help understand how remarkable the growth of the Church is in Ukraine, this week’s Church News reported that after 15 years from when the gospel being taken to Montenegro, a nation close to Ukraine, there were now 34 members of the Church there. (See Church News, August 8, 2025).

Concerning the people of Alma the account continues: “And it came to pass that so great was their faith and their patience that the voice of the Lord came unto them again, saying: Be of good comfort, for on the morrow I will deliver you out of bondage” (Mosiah 24:16). The Lord delivered them as only He could do, by causing a deep sleep to come on the Lamanites. After they were delivered the people of Alma poured out their thanks to God (See Mosiah 24:19-21)

The faith and the patience of the people of Ukraine, especially members of the Restored Church of Jesus Christ, is so great that I believe they will be delivered by the Lord in a way only He could do. They will certainly recognize the hand of the Lord in their deliverance, and they will pour out their hearts in thanks to Him.

Released on August 10th. 2025.