Sister Reyna I. Aburto, second counselor in the Relief Society general presidency of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, traveled to the Mexican state of Oaxaca to visit with survivors of a recent earthquake. Sister Aburto began her tour in Juchitán de Zaragoza, where she was received by the municipal president, Gloria Sánchez López, Friday, November 3, 2017.

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Sister Aburto shared her own childhood experience surviving an earthquake in Nicaragua that killed her older brother. “I know that when there are these tragedies, the human and divine nature that we have inside is filled with charity and we help each other, and I know that this has happened with you.”

She continued, “One of the most important lessons I learned from that is that material things are temporary. … The most important thing we have is the family and the relationships we establish with the people, the bonds of friendship and especially that personal relationship we have with God, our Heavenly Father, and with the Lord Jesus Christ.”

Sister Aburto also went to San Francisco Ixhuatán, where she met the municipal president, César Augusto Matus Velásquez.

In Sister Aburto’s meeting with the government leader, she stressed the importance of the family and presented him with a copy of “The Family: A Proclamation to the World,” as well as a picture of Jesus Christ. The municipal president thanked her for the service provided by Latter-day Saints who have assisted in the earthquake relief efforts in recent weeks.

Sister Aburto also visited Mexico City, as well as the neighboring community of Morelos. Operation Smile partnered with LDS Charities to provide medical care for injured persons. Operation Smile brought three mobile medical units into Morelos to house patients that couldn’t be treated in the General Hospital of Cuernavaca “Dr. José G. Parres” due to the effects of the earthquakes.

In September, two major earthquakes struck Mexico. On September 7, an 8.2 magnitude quake hit in the states of Oaxaca and Chiapas in southern Mexico. Less than two weeks later, while residents were recovering from the 8.2 magnitude quake, another quake hit the country. The epicenter of the 7.1 magnitude quake was near Mexico City on the anniversary of a devastating earthquake that killed thousands in 1985. Dozens of buildings collapsed across central Mexico, killing at least 369 people. Thousands of others were injured.

Read more on the Mexico Mormon Newsroom website (Spanish).