Ghana MTC Missionaries Have Fascinating Conversion Stories

Here are the experiences of the four sisters in the Alma District:

Sister Goodwin from Nigeria - stayed with her grandmother at age 10 because her parents were not well to do.  At the end of her first year there, missionaries from the US came to her school on bikes.  The students in her school ranged from ages 10-16.  Because the missionaries were white, the students were very curious and many were receptive.  Many did not go home for the weekend because they wanted to be near these missionaries.  Each student was given a hard bound copy of the Book of Mormon which they studied.  One Saturday morning the missionaries said they were being transferred and so the students cried.  One of the missionaries gave the young Sister Goodwin a triple combination set of scriptures and wrote their names in the cover.  Soon her grandmother became ill, so Sister Goodwin returned back to live with her parents.  She carefully protected and hid the Triple Combination in her father's shed.

Eight years passed and Sister Goodwin did not see the missionaries but about then a new family moved into her neighborhood.  They were LDS she discovered because she saw that one of the children had a Book of Mormon.  Soon she found the missionaries, was taught the discussions and six months later was baptized.  However, because she and her family were Jehovah Witnesses, she faced major obstacles in getting baptized. And her family made it very difficult for the missionaries as well.  Her parents were very hard-hearted  about this and her father threatened to disown her.  With a heavy heart and tears streaming down her face, she prayed fervently to receive the restored gospel.  Prayers were answered and her parents and Sister Goodwin were baptized October 8, 2011.  Her mother was so excited that she exclaimed "I am so happy that these young boys brought this great medicine to cure my diseases."  To this Sister Goodwin added "I will also go out there to tel the people in the world."



Sister Agboyin from Nigeria - learned about the Church in 2006 from her mother's sister and husband her were members.  At the age of 11 she had just come to  live with them because her mom was very sick and she had lost her dad. Her father had died in an accident at sea when she was five and her mother became very ill in 2007 and died that year. Sister missionaries came to teach her and quoted from the Book of Mormon.  She was not interested because at the time she was a Jehovah Witness and longed for the day when she could be a missionary like the Jehovah Witnesses were.  She soon discovered that she could be a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints as well, so that interested her very much.  Later in 2006 she was baptized.  As she grew older, she began to seek the truth about the restored gospel of Jesus Christ.  She searched the Book of Mormon diligently.  She read the entire book and fasted and prayed to know if it was true.  "I have never known anything as well as I know that the Book of Mormon is true.  I did not have a vision or a dream or learn for myself in any other way but I felt something powerful confirmed the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon.  I felt an overwhelming emotion that caused me to feel pain in my heart but also feel very happy and joyous as tears fell from my eyes.  At that moment I knew that I was in the right Church and for the first time in my entire life, I knew for myself that the Book fo Mormon was true and that the prophet Joseph Smith was the Prophet called of God to restore the gospel of Jesus Christ."

Sister Auma from Uganda - was a Muslim who found the Church in  2011 through the missionaries in 2011.  One day as she walked home from daily prayers at the Mosque, she was approached by two missionaries who made an appointment to teach her.  At her home they taught her brother and her mother.  Meanwhile in a different village, her father was being taught the lessons have heard what they were learning.  So she and her brother decided to be baptized and they were shortly followed by their mother.  A short time later her father was baptized.  Because their friends were Muslim and they had joined the Church, they were rejected by most friends.  Her brother, whose name is  Brian and who was baptized with her, passed away in 2013.   Through the teaching of the elders, she and her family were able to overcome their pain and sorrow.  She can still remember Elder Hallady and Elder Phiri and the help they gave her family and friends.  "We are now peaceful in the family.  I strongly believe the Church is true and the Gospel is also true."

Sister Winnie Mandela from Kenya - met the missionaries in May of 2013 and was baptized in August.  (The missionaries had been out of town in June).  Sister Mandela had a friend who took her to Church.  When the missionaries invited her to have the discussions, somehow she could not say no.  She was particularly impressed by the Plan of Salvation because she had lost her father at the age of 17.  He suffered from a blood clot and died a month later.  The plan of happiness made that empty feeling in her leave and she wanted to learn more and more.  When she was baptized she became the only member of the Church in her family.  Her friend too her to Church so that she could meet the missionaries.  She had agreed because it was a chance to see the inside of the church building.  She had been told it was a cult.  The missionaries invited her to church and on May 26, 2013 she went to the Sosiani Branch, Eldoret District in Kenya.  The next Tuesday Elders Simelane (South Africa) and Kigongo (Uganda) began to give her the lessons.  She traveled out of town for a month, yet the Elders continued to persist in staying in touch.  The day she returned, they gave her a copy of the Book of Mormon and asked her to pray before reading it.  Her mother was an Anglican and her father was a Catholic.  She read the Book of Mormon all night long and in the morning an answer came into her mind "this book is true."  She discovered also that she was crying.  The missionaries continued to teach her and the hope that she could one day see her father, made her happy.  Ever since he had died in 2005, no one could answer her questions to her satisfaction.  The young missionaries however, were able to answer many of them, but she realizes now that Heavenly Father wants her to return back home to Him.  "I am so thankful and grateful for the restored gospel and I knwo the Book of Mormon is true."