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What this Mormon campaign for refugees can teach us all about faith.

Few issues in the past year have been as polarizing as the Syrian refugee crisis.

Millions of people displaced by the Syrian civil war have been traveling to the European Union seeking asylum. In some countries, they were welcomed with open arms and recognized as helpless victims of political turmoil happening in their homelands. In other countries, they are treated, essentially, as ISIS until proven otherwise.


Thousands of migrants and refugees, stranded by the Balkan border blockade, have set up a makeshift camp in Idomeni, Greece. Photo by Bulent Kilic/AFP/Getty Images.

After the terrorist attacks in France, Muslim refugees who had barely just arrived immediately faced the stigma of terrorism unfairly attached to their religion. After the attack at the Brussels airport, leading GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump doubled down on his infamous call to ban Muslims from entering the United States for fear that Islamic terrorism would cross our borders and threaten our security.

Muslims all over the world face prejudice and political turmoil simply for being Muslim, which is difficult even if you're not desperately fleeing from your home country.

In America, the Mormon church is making a dedicated effort to welcome refugees with kindness and compassion.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (also known as Mormonism) was founded in the 1800s with the belief that it was a restoration of the original church of Jesus Christ. There are over 15 million Mormons and the church is one of the largest Christian denominations in the United States.

Mormons believe, more than anything, in sticking to the exact teachings of Jesus Christ, which mostly involved things like being kind to other people and having empathy for strangers. Teachings that — when it comes to the treatment and rejection of Muslim refugees — often seem to get ironically lost.

Through a new campaign called I Was a Stranger, the church is encouraging Mormons to help refugees get settled in their new neighborhoods.

"Look around your neighborhood, school, workplace, andother places you frequent for those who might need your help and love," say the campaign's guiding principles. After all, in the Bible, according to the Gospel of St. Matthew, "For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in."

The I Was a Stranger initiative asks Mormon women (due to their more traditional roles in Mormon communities) to simply offer what they can, whether it be a meal, a place to stay, or even a simple act of friendship. The campaign encourages LDS members to have empathy for the difficult journey refugees take to get to their new lives, as well as for the culture shock many refugees experience, and to use that empathy to be kind and loving to refugees as they build their lives anew.

The campaign even set up a hotline in the United States for people to call and learnabout opportunities to serve refugees in their communities.


While based strongly in the teachings of Jesus, the I Was a Stranger initiative reaches across religious barriers to spread a message of hope.

Regardless of faith, when people reach out to help others and build community, that's a pretty inspiring thing. In a time when religion is often used to divide people and turn them against each other, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints' decision to help all people, regardless of religion, just goes to show how religion can be used for good to make the world a better place for everyone.

A Kurdish mother and son in a refugee camp in Turkey. Photo by Gokhan Sahin/Getty Images.

At the end of the day, we all have a lot more in common with each other than we think; we all want a happy and safe life for ourselves and our families, and we all want to be treated fairly.

"Do good to parents, kinsfolk, orphans, those in need, neighbors who are near, neighbors who are strangers, the companion by your side."

Sounds like a Bible verse, right?

It's actually from the Quran.

@penslucero/TikTok

Pency Lucero taking in the Northern Lights

Seeing the northern lights is a common bucket list adventure for many people. After all, it ticks a lot of boxes—being a dazzling light show, rich historical experience and scientific phenomenon all rolled into one. Plus there’s the uncertainty of it all, never quite knowing if you’ll witness a vivid streak of otherworldly colors dance across the sky…or simply see an oddly colored cloud. It’s nature’s slot machine, if you will.

Traveler and content creator Pency Lucero was willing to take that gamble. After thorough research, she stumbled upon an Airbnb in Rörbäck, Sweden with an actual picture of the northern lights shining above the cabin in the listing. With that kind of photo evidence, she felt good about her odds.

However, as soon as she landed, snow began falling so hard that the entire sky was “barely visible,” she told Upworthy. Martin, the Airbnb host, was nonetheless determined to do everything he could to ensure his guests got to see the spectacle, even offering to wake Lucero up in the middle of the night if he saw anything.

Then one night, the knock came.

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Pop Culture

Daughter shares incredible 3D optical illusions painted by her father, who has aphasia

David Hollowell suffered from a traumatic brain injury in 2021, losing his ability to speak. Remarkably, he is still able to express himself through art.

@david.hollowell/TikTok

David Hollowell pictured with his 3D art

For a little over three decades, David Hollowell’s professional life had been dedicated to art. In addition to working as an art professor, his highly acclaimed 3D illusion paintings were shown in prestigious exhibits. In 2018, the 71-year-old began taking his talents to a larger scale, turning his family barn into an immersive mural.

Then, in May of 2021, Hollowell fell off the roof of his home, resulting in a traumatic brain injury leading to aphasia, a disorder that affects a person’s ability to communicate through speech or written language.

Though Hollowell couldn’t access words the way he used to, his ability to paint detailed, mesmerizing images remained remarkably intact. And his daughter-slash-self-appointed-TikTok manager, Adrienne, is determined to share his work and his journey with as many people as possible.

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via YouTube

These days, we could all use something to smile about, and few things do a better job at it than watching actor Christopher Walken dance.

A few years back, some genius at HuffPo Entertainment put together a clip featuring Walken dancing in 50 of his films, and it was taken down. But it re-emerged in 2014 and the world has been a better place for it.

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An Australian woman thinks it's rude that Americans don't say, "You're welcome."

There’s been a growing trend amongst American Gen Zers and millennials to stop saying, “You're welcome,” after being thanked. Older generations may think the change is part of a more significant trend of younger people having more lax manners, but in actuality, younger people believe that giving a simple “OK” or “Mm-hmm” after being thanked is more polite than saying, “You're welcome.”

Recently, Australian TikTok user Tilly Hokianga vented her frustrations with Americans in a viral post entitled, “Things That Send Me as an Australian Living in the US.” A lot of the points she made were pretty typical for someone visiting the United States, such as there's too much sugar in the bread and too many options for cereal.

However, she also noted that Americans have difficulty saying, “You’re welcome.”

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Meteorologist Matt Laubham prays for the people in the path of a deadly tornado.

Broadcasters who have to report on tragedies as they are happening have a tough job. On the one hand, they have to maintain their professionalism and inform the public of what's happening in a factual way. On the other hand, they're still human and sometimes humanity trumps the traditional perception of what's "professional."

Such was the case for WTVA meteorologist Matt Laubhan, who found himself live on the air staring at a radar scan of a deadly tornado as it moved towards the small town of Amory, Mississippi. He, more than anyone, understood the severity of the situation, and he did his best to convey that to his viewers.

"This is a strong, life-threatening tornado that's going to move either extremely close to Amory or in through the northern part of the city of Amory."

He added, "Y'all trust me too much," explaining that people sometimes take his predictions of where the tornado will go as hard fact, but the reality is that tornados can change directions at any time. "So Amory, we need to be in our tornado safe place," he said.

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Rick Astley rocking his Foo Fighters 'Everlong' cover.

Rick Astley has to be the luckiest '80s musician on the planet. The whole "Rickrolling" phenomenon has given his hit song "Never Gonna Give You Up" a reach far beyond its natural life span, and kept the guy a household name far longer than he probably would have been.

(For those who are unfamiliar, Rickrolling is when you make someone think they're being sent to a website, but the link goes to Rick Astley's "Never Gonna Give You Up" video instead as a joke. It's a silly viral bait-and-switch gag that's been going since 2006.)

But what people may not realize, because his most famous song has become an internet joke, is that Rick Astley is actually a really freaking great musician. The man can saaaang and it seems he's only gotten better with age.

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