Over a decade after the start of a friendship between a stake president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and the leader of a Sikh temple in the United Arab Emirates, members of their faiths gather each year to serve others.
Surender Singh Kandhari, chairman of the Guru Nanak Darbar Gurudwara, a Sikh temple in Dubai, met President Robert Bateman, then president of the Abu Dhabi Stake, at an interfaith conference in 2014. Although the two had planned to join forces in efforts to serve others, President Bateman died shortly after their meeting.
So the next year, Dr. Kandhari wanted to honor the friendship they had formed and the vision they shared for serving others with a service project involving both Latter-day Saints and members of the Sikh community.
Eleven years later, in 2026, volunteers gathered again for what has become an annual tradition between members of the two faiths in Dubai. Over two days in August at the Sikh temple, they assembled 11,000 food kits.
Visit the Church News to learn more about the interfaith service tradition.
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