Our first missionary from Ethiopia - About his country

Elder Gebreyohannes from Ethiopia

Found a Joseph Smith Brochure and after reading it wanted to know more.

Now he is serving as a missionary!!!

With nearly 100 million inhabitants, Ethiopia is the most populous landlocked country in the world, as well as the second-most populous nation on the African continent after Nigeria.

After successfully defending itself against European colonial powers it remained a sovereign state. In 1974 power fell to a communist military dictatorship backed by the Soviet Union, until it was defeated by the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front which has ruled since about the time of the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. Despite droughts every few years the economy has been strengthening little by little since the fall of communism.

Ethiopia's ancient Ge'ez script is one of the oldest alphabets still in use in the world

Ethiopia was one of the first countries in the world to adapt Christianity in the early 4th Century. Today a slight majority of the population adheres to Christianity, while around a third follows Islam. A substantial population of Ethiopian Jews resided in Ethiopia until the 1980s, but most of them have since gradually emigrated to Israel.

Early Christian Church carved out of solid rock

The LDS Church in Ethiopia - From Church Newsroom

The first members in Ethiopia were expatriates attached to embassies who held Church meetings in homes in Addis Ababa. In March 1985 Church Apostle Elder M. Russell Ballard and Elder Glenn L. Pace of the Seventy visited Addis Ababa with Church relief supplies. The Church donated some $2.8 million for famine relief and irrigation development in Ethiopia and neighboring countries, such as Sudan.
The Kenya Nairobi Mission, which includes Ethiopia, was created in 1991, and the first official Church meeting was held in Addis Ababa in August 1992. In 1993 the Church was legally registered and the first missionary couple arrived. In February 1993 the first missionaries arrived, Elder Eugene and Sister Ruth Hilton. The Church was legally registered on 16 September 1993.
The Addis Ababa Branch (a small congregation) was created in January 1994 and was presided over by Girma Denisa. He was the first Ethiopian to serve the Church as a full-time missionary.

Currently the newsroom site show 1,903 members and 5 congregations in Ethiopia.