Elder Dieter F. Uchtdorf Declares “I Was a Refugee” in Poignant New Video

Life is full of obstacles, uncertainties, and moments when we feel lost. But in a world that often feels heavy, Elder Dieter F. Uchtdorf reminds us that hope is never out of reach.

In a moving new video, the Apostle for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints reflects on his own journey—from being a young refugee twice displaced from his home to fulfilling his dream of becoming a pilot.

Through personal experience and faith-filled testimony, he shares how challenges can transform into opportunities and how God’s love lifts us higher than we ever thought possible.

Here is a full transcript of Elder Uchtdorf’s message. Scroll to the bottom to watch the video.

Most of you are feeling your way through the obstacles of daily life and trying to find your place in the world.

Like for any of us, getting through each day is a challenge. You even might have physical, emotional, or spiritual challenges that press upon you almost every day. Many of you know that I love aviation and that I have flown all kinds and types of airplanes around the globe for many years, but let me share with you an important part of my story.

By the time I was eleven, I had been a refugee twice. My family had been forced to abandon our home and seek refuge in different lands. As a child, I remember playing in the bombed craters of a city ravaged by war and wearing worn and ill-fitting clothes that others perhaps considered as not especially fashionable.

Since we came from different areas, others of my age sometimes ridiculed me because of my accent and made fun of me because I didn’t fit in. I can understand the hardship many of you are enduring.

It is no accident that I’m speaking to you in front of these miraculous machines that have the capacity of defying gravity, climbing higher and higher, and soaring onto new horizons. When I was a young man wondering what path I should take, I found myself at the outskirts of the Frankfurt Airport in Germany, watching airplanes take off and land with amazing grace and precision.

How I wanted to sit in the cockpit of one of those beautiful flying machines. I knew that the fulfillment of such a dream would not come easily. I would have to spend long hours, day and night, learning and engaging myself in what appeared almost beyond my abilities. I needed to learn English, which was a language my tongue somehow was not designed to speak.

How would that ever be possible? Because my dream was so compelling, these things stopped being obligations. Instead, they became opportunities. Yes, they were difficult. Yes, at times the effort seemed too hard, and I wanted to quit. But I knew if I pressed on, if I gave it my all, the Lord would help me. I learned of the reality of the scriptural promises: “If God be for us, what can be against us?” and “For with God nothing is impossible.”

I weep with you. I rejoice with you. I feel with you. I love you. I want you also to know that you are not alone. Your Heavenly Father knows you. He hears your prayers. He is aware of your every tear. He loves you with infinite love and watches over you. Even when you might feel you’re alone, you are not, because He is always there. You are not alone. Never ever forget: Jesus Christ is your strength. He loves you. He stands with you. He is there. He loves you. As you move forward and upward, He will bless your own life and the lives of countless others in turn.

Aleah Ingram

Aleah is a graduate of Southern Virginia University, where she studied English, Creative Writing, and Dance. She now works full time as a marketing and product manager, writer, and editor. She currently hosts the podcast “Single to the Glory” about singlehood in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Aleah served a mission in California and loves baking, Lang Leav poetry, Gaynor Minden pointe shoes, and Bollywood movies.