General Temple Patron Assistance Fund
For faithful members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints who live in remote and impoverished locales, the Church has established the General Temple Patron Assistance Fund. Many Latter-day Saints in developing countries lack the means to attend a temple even once in their lifetimes. Most live off the land and have little outside income. For families that travel to the temple for the first time from impoverished and often remote regions, this fund provides financial assistance. The fund therefore benefits those who otherwise could not afford to attend a temple and participate in the sacred blessings available only in the House of the Lord.
Because the Church fosters independence, members are asked to pay a portion of their expenses — often equal to an entire month's income — for each person traveling. The Church has been involved in an ambitious temple-building project for over a decade, meant to take temples to the people, and to ensure that all Latter-day Saints can have access to temples for covenant-making and worship. One family from DR Congo making use of the fund still could not afford to take all family members to be sealed for eternity as a family. They traveled to the Johannesburg, South Africa Temple from the Congo. This meant obtaining passports, then traveling 5 to 7 hours in the back of a transport truck, then flying 1700 miles to Johannesburg.
