Dear Friends,
On August 20th Elder Jeffery R Holland, an Apostle of the Lord dedicated the country of Cameroon for the preaching of the gospel. We stood in a beautiful place overlooking the city of Yaounde, surrounded by green hills, flowering trees and green jungle foliage.
It is about three hours from Douala where we are serving.
In this peaceful area a handful of members of the Church Of Jesus Christ Of Latter Day Saints gathered for this historical event. Elder Holland stood on a rock out cropping, certainly a symbol of the sure foundation of the gospel of Christ. The Prayer blessed the land that it might prosper and develop. The leaders of the country were blessed to be good and honest leaders. The people of Cameroon were blessed to receive the gospel, to have food and necessities of life, and to accept the gospel. Missionary work was blessed with strength and power. It was an emotional and joyful event! As missionaries, we have longed for this to happen. After the dedicatory prayer we sang “We Thank Thee O God For a Prophet.” President Bala of the Bastos Branch bore a powerful and touching testimony. President Bala was going to become a Catholic Priest when he was introduced to the gospel. He was baptized in 1983. Tears were in his eyes and emotion in his voice as he testified of the truthfulness of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ and of how the gospel had changed his life and of his love for the Savior. The Cameroonian saints have great faith and are so spiritual. The highlight of our mission will be being part of this historical event.
In this peaceful area a handful of members of the Church Of Jesus Christ Of Latter Day Saints gathered for this historical event. Elder Holland stood on a rock out cropping, certainly a symbol of the sure foundation of the gospel of Christ. The Prayer blessed the land that it might prosper and develop. The leaders of the country were blessed to be good and honest leaders. The people of Cameroon were blessed to receive the gospel, to have food and necessities of life, and to accept the gospel. Missionary work was blessed with strength and power. It was an emotional and joyful event! As missionaries, we have longed for this to happen. After the dedicatory prayer we sang “We Thank Thee O God For a Prophet.” President Bala of the Bastos Branch bore a powerful and touching testimony. President Bala was going to become a Catholic Priest when he was introduced to the gospel. He was baptized in 1983. Tears were in his eyes and emotion in his voice as he testified of the truthfulness of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ and of how the gospel had changed his life and of his love for the Savior. The Cameroonian saints have great faith and are so spiritual. The highlight of our mission will be being part of this historical event.
Elder Holland moments before dedicating the country of Cameroon for the
preaching of the Gospel.
In the afternoon we met with several hundred members and investigators to listen to Elder Holland, President Kollieker the area president, and President Headlee, the mission president to address us. The message from Elder Holland was that the prophecy of Daniel was coming to pass. The stone was rolling and could not be stopped. The restored gospel of Christ would fill the earth. Members were told that they need to become rocks in the gospel, a rock of strength, standing firm. We were told to become lively stones. Stones that talk about the church, read and study about the church, teach about the church and bear testimony of the church. He ended with his powerful testimony that the church would fill Africa.
We would like to share one of the rewarding moments we experience. Jean is a member in our Douala Branch. He speaks 5 languages; he is very educated, runs an NGO organization and bears a solid testimony of the truthfulness of the gospel. But--he seldom comes to church and is unengaged in the work. We have met with him several times telling him that he needs to step up. We have told him that he has his priorities misplaced, that being busy is not an excuse to not serve Heavenly Father. Jean was at the meeting. Afterwards he came up to us and shook our hands, and said, “I got it”. I will be in church. He has taught the English speaking Sunday School class for the last three Sundays.
The young Elders were not in attendance at the dedication. After the Missionary Conference with Elder Holland the next day, we took our Douala Elders to the dedication site and let them stand on the spot and took their pictures. Can you see the joy on their faces? This dedication meant so much to them. We really feel the power of what has happened. Last Sunday we had 17 investigators at church.
Elders on the "Rock of Daniel" Daniel 2: 44-45. We absolutely love these young men. They are wonderful missionaries.
Our Douala Elders at the dedication site. Elders Healey (California), Wiggington (California), Treneiden (Canada), Coburn (Utah), Kesler (Utah), Willis (Montana), Lisowski (Canada), Lee (Washington State), Price (Utah).
We suppose that all of you saw the story of the dedication in the church news. If you see us in one of the pictures the man kneeling and the sister in the bright dress standing in front of Brent is our branch President and his wife.
We love these people and the work. There is so much work to be done that we wish we were three couples instead of one. Thanks to all of you for your prayers and support.
Elder and Sister Willis
We love these people and the work. There is so much work to be done that we wish we were three couples instead of one. Thanks to all of you for your prayers and support.
Elder and Sister Willis
1 comment:
Thank you for sharing your wonderful experances with us. And thanks for the pictures of our missionaries!
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