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Dozens of Mormon missionaries serving their last six weeks in areas of Japan unaffected by the earthquake got an unexpected message this week: You are going home immediately.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints decided to move more than 100 missionaries from Tokyo and Sendai into the Sapporo, Kobe, Nagoya and Fukuoka missions and needed to open up spots. Missionaries currently scheduled to arrive in Japan in April will remain at the Missionary Training Center in Provo until further notice, according to William McIntyre, president of the Kobe LDS Mission.
"Although the new release date is a few weeks earlier than anticipated and a surprise to all, they have fulfilled their full mission terms, and we are grateful for their selfless service and sacrifice," McIntyre wrote on the mission's website.
The moves are part of the church's overall plan to keep its missionaries safe in the disaster's aftermath.
LDS Church leaders in Japan and at the church's headquarters in Salt Lake City are working with government and humanitarian organizations to provide assistance, church spokesman Scott Trotter said Thursday.
"We have begun providing direct assistance and are actively assessing ways that we can further support the Japanese people and their government during this crisis," Presiding Bishop David H. Burton said in a statement. "The scope of our response may change as additional information becomes available."
The church urged members not to contact leaders in Japan, who have been inundated with calls and e-mails offering help.
Instead, Trotter said, those wishing to donate should do so through the LDS Humanitarian Aid Fund.