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.

With the many hours in the classroom an outdoor sports time is important

The Preparation and Arrival of a New Group of MTC MIssionaries

As a new group of missionaries arrives at the MTC we take a minute to contemplate our purpose.

In the last 18 Months we have seen around 2,000 young missionaries cast their nets and become Fishers of Men

Our purpose is to invite others to come unto Christ by helping them receive the restored gospel through faith in Jesus Christ and His Atonement, repentance, baptism, receiving the Gift of the Holy Ghost and enduring to the end.

 Elder Hill works feverishly every three weeks to organize the missionaries 

Sister Hill reviews health records and organizes immunizations for those that are missing some

Brother Tai tracks the missionaries on their flights in and makes sure that we have someone at the airport to meet each flight with missionaries on it

We have wonderful Sister Teachers who prepare and file missionary particulars

Then the magic starts as they all begin to arrive. This 3 weeks we will host 100 missionaries

We meet in Groups of 8-10 who speak the same language (French or English) to cover some basics

We then have the missionaries visit with President Brubaker for a few minutes individually and receive their missionary badges

Concurrent with interviews there is much that goes on

Dates and temple recommends are reviewed

 Emails are sent home to inform parents of safe arrival at the MTC

We are so excited to have this current group with us!

Jun 15, 2017 Group Farewell

THE JUNE 15TH GROUP HAS BEEN HERE A WEEK NOW

Young man wearing a traditional straw hat dropping

 off his missionary brother at the MTC 

As the missionaries arrive each three weeks we go through many of the same processes. Receiving 91 missionaries from 13 different countries involves many van trips the the airport.

As much as it would be nice, they don't all arrive at the same time. All day Thursday and Friday they arrive at the MTC in groups of ones and twos and occasionally 15 at a time.

It is important to review their visa and passport documents. We also check their immunization cards to make sure everyone has been or gets the proper immunizations. Many will go through the temple for the first time while here so we measure them for temple clothing.

Each missionary will have a short interview with a member of the mission presidency and receive their missionary badge. Here they line up to visit and get that all important badge.

Leadership

Then, between Friday and Saturday a complete branch is organized. We call District Leaders who serve as Sunday School teacher as well. There are Zone Leaders who lead out by example and conduct many MTC-wide Devotionals and Meetings. We organize Priesthood and Relief Society teachers (usually 15-18 for the three weeks). We have leadership training and meetings.

The transition from home to the MTC can be a real learning experience. Some missionaries who have not been away from home find themselves overly missing their families. We try to be understanding to these needs and we have a helpful guide called Adjusting to Missionary Life.

Before long the missionaries have been divided into districts 

and the go to their assigned classrooms for instruction to begin