The Inspiring Yet Unknown History Of Mormonism In Africa

All italicized text is taken from a 1998 devotional talk by E. Dale Lebaron entitled:

“African Converts Without Baptism: A Unique And Inspiring Chapter In Church History.”

Full text available at the following link:

http://www.lightplanet.com/mormons/daily/history/blacks/lebaron_africa.htm

The significance of this unique chapter of Church history was summed up by Brother Jude Inmpey from Nigeria. At a social gathering with mission couples, the mission president called on him to share his feelings about the gospel coming to his people. He related a dream that he had not understood until that moment. He had dreamed that he was in a gathering where an organ was playing background music. It sounded terrible, and people were complaining. They discovered that the organist was playing only on the white keys. Brother Inmpey then observed, "For many, many years the Church has been playing only the white keys, but now we are playing on the white and the black keys, and the music is much, much sweeter" (in LeBaron, All Are Alike unto God, p. 123).

In the L.D.S. faith, we routinely discuss the powerful stories of missionary work in England, from Wilford Woodruff to Dan Jones. We discuss without hesitation the unfolding of the gospel in South America and the Pacific Islands. We are familiar with the miracles of the restoration. I think that we are missing one of the most powerful and rich pieces of our history. The history of Mormonism in Africa is, in my opinion, one of the singular most powerful testimonies to the truthfulness of the church, and we don’t seem to know it. Is it because the stories of faith are surrounded by a story we fear to discuss (the priesthood ban) that we shy from sharing them?

This article that I have taken excerpts from, is worth reading top to bottom. Africans, before the revelation on the priesthood, were recipients of visions and revelations. They gained testimonies, powerful and sure. They wanted baptism, were denied it, and still waited for it. They had testimonies just like you and I, testimonies of living prophets and one true church—but theirs was a story of having to wait. Part of “playing on the black keys” is not only accepting the current presence of black membership, but discovering the beautiful past that led to the present. The following are several stories taken from the history of Christ’s dealing with His saints in Africa—they speak for themselves:

The first missionaries sent to Africa were Rendell and Rachel Mabey and Ted and Janath Cannon. They arrived in Nigeria just five months after the revelation. Their first baptism was an Elias named Anthony Obinna, who had waited and pleaded for membership for 13 years. In 1965 he had a dream that he did not understand but that impressed him deeply. He said:

One night I was sleeping and a tall man came to me . . . and took me to one of the most beautiful buildings and showed me all the rooms. At the end he showed himself in the crucified form. Then in 1970 I found [a] Reader's Digest article titled "The March of the Mormons," with a picture of the Salt Lake Temple. It was exactly the same building that I had seen in my dreams. [Interview with Anthony Obinna in Mbaise, Nigeria, 4 June 1988]

Immediately Brother Obinna wrote to Church headquarters requesting literature and baptism. He received literature, organized a congregation, and continued writing letters requesting baptism. Finally, after years of pleading, he wrote directly to the Council of Twelve, saying, "Your long silence about the establishment of the Church in Nigeria is very embarrassing. . . . Did Christ not say, 'Go ye and teach all nations?'" (Obinna interview).

It is not often that the Brethren are chastised by a nonmember of the Church for not baptizing converts. However, when Brother Obinna learned that the revelation had been received, he wrote the following to President Kimball:

We are happy for the many hours in the upper room of the temple you spent supplicating the Lord to bring us into the fold. We thank our Heavenly Father for hearing your prayers and ours and by revelation [confirming] the long promised day . . . to receive every blessing of the gospel. [Letter on file]

On the day Brother Obinna was baptized, he was ordained to the priesthood and set apart as the first black African branch president, and Sister Obinna became the first Relief Society president. Soon after his baptism Brother Obinna prophesied, "The seed of the gospel will grow into a giant tree. The Church in Nigeria will surprise the world in its growth" (letter on file). And so it has.

Brother Johnson also knew that the Lord called him to be an Elias. He said:

One early morning . . . I saw the heavens open and angels with trumpets singing songs of praise unto God. . . . In the course of this I heard my name mentioned thrice, "Johnson, Johnson, Johnson. If you will take up my work as I will command you, I will bless you and bless your land." Trembling and in tears I replied, "Lord, with thy help I will do whatsoever you will command me."

From that day onward, I was constrained by that Spirit to go from street to street . . . to deliver the message which we had read from the Book of Mormon. . . . I did exactly as the Lord commanded me . . . and immediately our persecutions started. [Johnson interview; also a letter from Brother Johnson to the First Presidency, 9 September 1978, and a handwritten document on the history of the Church in Ghana. These are on file with the author. See also E. Dale LeBaron, "All Are Alike unto God" (Orem, Utah: Granite Publishing, 1998), pp. 16–17]

Brother Johnson also reported that at a time of great trial early in his ministry, his deceased brother appeared to him in a dream and said:

"Don't worry. . . you have chosen the only true church on earth . . . and I am now investigating your church." I was surprised. I never knew that the Church extended to another world. It was my brother who brought that knowledge to me. He said that if I didn't believe him, he would sing a song from my church, and he sang "Come, Come, Ye Saints." That was the first time I had heard that hymn. He said, "Don't leave the church, my brother. . . . Please see that I am baptized."

Brother Johnson then noted:

It was my brother who enlightened me about baptism for the dead and brought it to my knowledge. . . . Most of my relatives appeared to me in dreams [saying,] "Reverend Johnson, do you know you have a work to do for us? Our great grandsons and daughters will be in your church soon. See that we are baptized." . . . I learned these doctrines before the missionaries arrived. Nothing they taught us seemed strange. They simply confirmed what we had heard. . . . Each time the Lord addressed us in dreams, He addressed us as Latter-day Saints, even though we had not yet become members.[Johnson interview; see also LeBaron, "All Are Alike," pp. 19–20]

A wonderful sister who performed an Elias-like mission to her people in Ghana was Priscilla Sampson-Davis. She obtained a Book of Mormon in 1963, then studied, prepared, and waited for 15 years. Soon after her baptism she had a vision that she described as follows:

I wasn't asleep. I saw myself at a sacrament meeting and we were singing when I saw a personage in very bright apparel standing in front of the congregation. The Personage called me by name and requested that I come and stand by Him. . . . He then asked me why some were not singing with the others. I told him that they could not read English. . . . He asked me if I wouldn't like to help my sisters and brothers sing praises to our Heavenly Father. I said that I would do my best. Then the vision passed away.

Immediately I . . . started translating the hymn Redeemer of Israel into Fanti [the major dialect in Ghana]. [From interview with Priscilla Sampson-Davis by E. Dale LeBaron in Cape Coast, Ghana, 19 May 1988; see also LeBaron, "All Are Alike," pp. 48–50]

Sister Sampson-Davis translated the hymns, the missionary pamphlets, and Gospel Principles. Then, under assignment, she translated the Book of Mormon, the Doctrine and Covenants, and the Pearl of Great Price into Fanti. She said, "It was the Lord Himself who commissioned me to do the translation. . . . By translating these things, my brothers and sisters who can't understand English will be able to see and read the true gospel for themselves" (LeBaron, "All Are Alike," pp. 49–50).

Fluent in nine languages, Moses taught from the Book of Mormon and gathered many followers before he ever learned the name of the Church and made contact with it. Then, for more than 14 years he waited, preparing himself and others for baptism. During this time he frequently came to the mission office in Johannesburg to obtain copies of the Book of Mormon and other literature, and I was therefore privileged to know him.

Soon after the revelation was announced, I sought out Moses. As we embraced I asked him if he had heard about the revelation. He said, "Yes. Does this mean that I can now be baptized?"

I asked, "Moses, would you like to be baptized?"

His eyes welled up with tears as he said softly, "I have waited for 14 years."

Feel free to share any reactions to this article and these stories. In particular, I think it would be good to consider how powerful these stories are and why they are not better known in the church. What should change (if you think change is due at all) about our willingness to discuss the stories surrounding our church’s history of racially based policies?