Africa:The Nauvoo of our Day

“Africa is the Nauvoo of our Day”

How the Church Grew in my Village

Sister Aja from Afikpo-North, Nigeria told us the story of

 A small miracle in her village

The Church was very small in Afikpo in 2004 with only 5 families attending meetings. A pair of young LDS missionaries visited several times with a gentleman named Dennis. This man was the Pastor of the Pentecostal Church where Sister Aja’s family worshiped. As the Pastor became convinced of the truthfulness of the restored gospel, he began to share it with his congregation.

After a period of time the Pastor and 15 families joined the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Now in Afikpo there were 20 families as a base to help the Lord’s Kingdom grow. This event marked the beginning of a period of great growth of the Church in this village.

Today, 12 years later, there are 4 branches of Saints organized and meeting in Afikpo.

We have heard of the miracles, visions and dreams that served to help the Church become established in the 19^th Century in the United States. Many of us remember hearing of how Sidney Rigdon was converted and brought hundreds from his congregation into the Church.  The story of Sister Aja’s village parallels, and in fact has become another great conversion story in, Church History

A general authority sitting at our table for lunch at the MTC President’s training commented on the experiences and growth of the Church in West Africa. “Africa is the Nauvoo of our day”. This statement has shown to be very much in evidence as we serve here.