Elder Ronald A. Rasband Visits New Delhi, India to Minister to the Members

Elder Ronald A. Rasband of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints visited New Delhi, India. On 13^th March, 2022, he addressed an audience of nearly 700 from the New Delhi Stake at the Hyatt Regency Hotel. He has visited India previously, as a businessman, before being called to serve as an apostle and again as a special witness of Jesus Christ.

He focused mainly on building multi-generational families who supports one another in following Jesus Christ and he said, “One of the most important tendances of our Church is a strong belief in families.” He further added, “Our hope is here in India, we will build a multi-generational Church.”

Stella M. Kohli, a member from New Delhi, attended the conference with her husband, Tejpal Kohli, and daughter, Megan Stella Kohli. She expressed her joy by sharing, “It’s been two years since the pandemic and the thrill of seeing and listening to an Apostle of the Lord added to my joy...As a family, it was a delight to be together and witnessing this.”

On the same day at the same location, there was a separate meeting with the youths and young adults. It was attended by more than 200 people, including Church leaders. In addition to the Elder Rasband's physical visit to members in New Delhi, technology also allowed him to meet with leaders and volunteers from Sri Lanka, Pakistan and other parts of India virtually.

Rahul Kaushik from New Delhi, said, “I really felt the spirit during the meeting and felt fortunate to see an Apostle of the Lord.”

With a new temple coming in Bengaluru, India, Elder Rasband invited Latter-day Saints to be worthy to attend the temple which will be a blessing for the coming generations.

In this trip, he was accompanied by his wife, Melanie, Asia Area President David P. Homer and his wife, Nancy, Asia Area Seventy John Gutty and his wife, Sudha, India New Delhi Mission President Robert William and his wife, Ann, along with New Delhi Stake President Suresh Kumar Ramakrishna and his wife, Pavani. 

India being the second most-populous country with more than 1.3 billion people, is home to nearly 15,000 Latter-day Saints and was the first country in Asia to have a small branch organized in Kolkata (formerly known as Calcutta) during the 1850s.

Following his visit to India, Elder Rasband ministered other countries in Asia like, Singapore and Cambodia, both personally and virtually.