‘This is a woman’s church’: Panel discusses lived experience of Latter

On March 11, 2011, a magnitude 9.0 earthquake off the northeastern coast of Japan’s main island triggered a devastating tsunami that killed nearly 20,000 people.

Without any cell service or electricity available, a branch president in one local congregation of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints set out on a scooter , traveling over a mountain to check on two female church members living in the coastal city of Kesennuma. After two days of searching, he finally found them and ensured they were safe — delivering a bag of rice and a message of love.

This humble leader’s watchcare “made me know that God loved me,” one of the women later told Sarah Jane Weaver, now editor of the Deseret News.

“What a sweet message to women of the world, that someone cares enough to spend days