In June 2013, my wife and I accepted a mission from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to preside over a mission in South America. I went to a country and a world I knew little about.

We have grown to love people and especially the 500+ young men and women we have become surrogate parents to. Our experience changed our lives forever. We had little time to stay connected with news from the United States. I occasionally caught highlights.

As former President Donald Trump took to the scene, locals frequently asked us, “What’s going on in your country?” This question was always followed by a conversation about the place of the United States in the world.

Their comment was never critical, but of honest dismay. “Your country is the beacon of hope for the world. How can this happen?”

When Trump attacked undocumented Mexican Americans immigrants and Muslims areit became particularly awful. I was left to wonder, what happened to the American core value of “bring me your tired, poor, huddled masses” while we were gone?

As our return approached, the questions and conversations became more constant. Our US missionaries were frequently questioned by locals about the state of American politics.

When we returned home, we felt the same dismay. I can never recall a time when a standard-bearer of the party expressed such vitriol and lacked basic dignity and humility that, in response to a question about his faith and forgiveness, said: “I’m not sure I have (I apologized). I don’t bring God into this picture.”

And yet, polls have shown that 70 percent of white evangelical Christians support Trump, and now that percentage has risen to 85%. What happened to the religious soul of my country? Why is it that when several prominent Latter-day Saint Republicans (former Sen. Jeff Flake, Sen. Mitt Romney, former Arizona House Speaker Rusty Bowers, etc.) oppose the former president, they are attacked and dismissed as RINOs?

Last week, I reached out to my friends in Latin America to ask their point of view. I received many replies and private messages. Note that Latin America is unfortunately soaked in the bloodshed of too many dictators, from Chavez in the north to Pinochet in the south.

Here are some of the comments we received.

“In Latin America, political violence and authoritarian behavior have been normalized. This cannot happen in the US and it is unfortunate that Trump is normalizing it.”

“Our civilization is at stake, so it matters who rules in a country like the US.”

“This growing polarization can weaken democratic institutions. That Trump has encouraged the subversion of the peaceful transfer of power has raised great concern about the future of democracy in the US. Latin America has a long history of coups and authoritarian regimes, and to see that something similar could happen in such an influential democracy is profound. watching.”

“The US seems more like a Latin country than what we used to know… because of its political violence and disregard for institutions, laws and norms. It’s chaos.”

There have always been disagreements over politics. Even so, I had hope that leaders of character would look beyond differences and compromise for the good of the country. This hope is greatly diminished.

The strength of our political system has been two strong parties with leaders able to work together with mutual respect. I fear the loss of that system and the extinction of civilization. I fear when a party leader says to vote your conscience and is booed. I fear for once the Grand and Old Party that has been hijacked by those who are more interested in power than good governance.

I fear for immigrants who are told they are not welcome and worse, demonized when they are falsely accused by the party standard bearer of eating pets. I fear for our place in the world and the loss of respect on the world stage. I fear there has been a rapid decline in basic American decency. And with great sadness, I ask, like my Latino friends, “What happened to our country?”

God bless us; we need her!

David Cook is a native of Ogden and a resident of New York, where he has practiced law as a trial attorney since 1987. His areas of expertise include commercial, environmental and election law.