Pronouncing himself "joyfully overwhelmed," Elder Dieter F. Uchtdorf changed his title Monday to President Uchtdorf, second counselor in the First Presidency. But his commitment to serve a worldwide membership remains the same, he said.
After his calling to the Quorum of the Twelve in October 2004, he said: "This is not an American church. This is not just a church in a geographic locality." He repeated that conviction Monday, saying the gospel creates a pattern to bridge ethnic and cultural boundaries and unite all as "citizens in the kingdom of God."
President Uchtdorf's new assignment makes him one of few called to the highest body of church administration who was not born in the United States. He was born Nov. 6, 1940, to Karl Albert and Hilde Else Opelt Uchtdorf in Ostrava, Czechoslovakia. Both he and his wife, Harriet Reich, whom he married Dec. 14, 1962, in the Swiss Temple, grew up in families that had been converted to the church while they were children.
His childhood and youth coincided with the devastation of World War II. The gospel message created a haven in which the family could escape the horrors of the conflict, he said. He recalls playing in bombed-out buildings and feeling the stresses of being part of a defeated nation that had inflicted much pain on the world. But, he said: "This message made all the difference. It lifted us above our daily misery."
A longtime pilot, President Uchtdorf has effectively used analogies of flying to teach gospel principles. In an interview for The Friend children's magazine, he said he "never tired of gazing at the clouds, the stars and the landscapes spread out below him. As he traveled through the world, his appreciation for difference in countries and cultures increased. "The word of God is for every culture in every nation."
In his April 2007 general conference address, he drew on the principle of "the point of safe return," a warning that a pilot must be aware that there will be a point in a flight when going back is no longer an option. He told Latter-day Saints not to allow Satan to convince them ever that they have reached a point at which repentance is no longer effective.
"Repentance means a change of mind and heart. We stop doing things that are wrong and start doing things that are right," he said.
President Uchtdorf served in the German air force from 1959 to 1965, but because Germany at that time had no training programs, he received his training as a pilot at Big Springs, Texas, with additional fighter-pilot training in Phoenix. After his military service, he became affiliated with Lufthansa German Airlines. He held a number of positions concerned with training and management. In 1995 he retired as senior vice president for flight operations and chief pilot.
"Heavenly Father has prepared a flight plan for us that will lead us back to him," he said in a New Era article.
His early experience in church leadership included service as Young Men and elders quorum presidents, high councilor and two stints as a stake president in Germany. He served in the presidency of the Quorums of the Seventy and in both the First and Second quorums of that body.
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