Wednesday, April 14, 2021

Easter Morning - Church History in Senegal

 I love listening to Conference especially on Easter morning. In Africa, it is different. Easter afternoon is more the style here. So on Easter morning we - Belnap's, Collette's, and Adams were driven from our hotel to the church building in Dakar, Senegal where the members met. They were going to watch the rebroadcast of Saturday's session of Conference. There were three members there.

Brent and Jeffrey were in the back room or office of the branch president, trying to make church history happen that day with Gerald Edgar in Utah and Francis Kazeh-Anfo the DTA on remote. They were working to make the entity for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Senegal.



There was quite a bit of back and forth with the different men involved in making this happen. One was operating at 3 am in his time zone. I am sure there were some amazing tales to tell. Tender mercies of the Lord that were happening. It is very interesting to learn of all the work and effort it takes for simple things like buildings to be built, water, electricity, internet connections with all the materials. But I've learned there are many, many legal ramifications that come when registering an entity in a country.



These men came to make church history happen. I do not know all of their stories but we took the man in the white shirt and glasses back to his home town. It was a six hour van ride. I cannot even imagine how long it took him on the small bus vans that drive by. Days? He is young and enthusiastic and very polite. This was a good day. I will update when I have their correct names.

 Men who signed their names for entity of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Senegal

Making it happen
Elder and Sister Collette are Humanitarian missionaries but do tremendously more than that one role. They have been the only missionaries in the country while Covid was on and are excited to see the young missionaries return. The mission president lives in another country. When people visit, it is the Collettes who show them around.



1 comment:

Ludlows said...

As I read your words I was filled with the Spirit and such joy for the people of Senegal. The thought by small and simple things, great things come to pass. Lots od hard work to get it done for sure, but seeing the humble beginnings makes me think of the church being organized in the 1800s.