Life Stories Continue - Meet Elders Moses, Lakougnon & Mgbeoji

"All of us who are under the baptismal covenant have promised to offer the gospel to others.    Sometimes, fear of rejection or of giving offense looms before us like an impassable obstacle. Yet some members clear that barrier with ease. I have observed them carefully in my travels. 

I can picture some of them now.  Saturday is a market day across the world. In the countryside of Ghana, in Ecuador, and in the Philippine Islands, countless people bring the produce of their farms and their handicrafts to a town to sell. They talk with those they meet on the road. And they visit with those near them as they wait for someone to buy. Much of the talk is about the struggles of existence, of breaking out of poverty, and sometimes about danger.

Among those on the roads and in the markets are Latter-day Saints. Much of their talk with those they meet would be the same as you would hear anywhere in the world."  - From a talk called A Child and A Disciple by President Eyring in 2003.

Latter-day Saints across Africa have touched the lives of those young men and women who enter the Ghana MTC to serve as disciples of Christ for 18 months or 2 years.  Here are some of their stories:

Left to Right:  Elder Moses, Elder Lakougnon, Elder Mgbeoji

He Learned He Did Not Have A Normal Upbringing - Elder Emmanuel Abraham Moses

Elder Moses is from Nigeria. As a young boy he felt like his childhood was normal but he was stressed that his parents divorced. He went to live with his dad who moved in with the grandfather who was a member of the Church. His other siblings went to live with his mom. When he was 15 his father died. From the time he and his father moved in with his grandfather, he began to go with his grandfather to Church and was soon baptized at the age of eight. He quickly realized that he had not had a normal life before joining the Church, but now had found happiness.

Orphaned at 10 - Loved by his Uncles - Elder Lidao Louis-Rodrigue Lakougnon

Elder Lakougnon was born in 1993 in Togo. When he was 6 his mother became ill and died and when he was 10 the same demise came to his father. Fortunately his uncle took him in, but his younger brother needed to stay with a different uncle. Young Lidao recalls being too agitated and unstable. He tried too hard to have fun but did well in school. He always had a huge desire to understand the mystery of life. On of his uncles was a member, but before his parents died they would not give him permission to become part of the Church. He did not have contact from the age of 8 to 17 with the Church because he lived in a city where the Church was not found. However, when he moved at the age of 17 his uncle put him in touch with the Church and so he was then baptized on March 5, 2011.

I Wished I Had Motherly Love - Elder Peace Udoka Mgbeoji

Elder Mgbeoji is from Nigeria. He was born into a home where the parents were not members. At an early age he lost his mother, so he did not experience “the motherly love and care that I would have loved to experience but I know that the Lord knows why it was so.” His mother died while giving birth to a younger sibling when Elder Mgbeoji was 5.  His father needed help to raise young children because there were many. His brothers were older and came to get Peace when their mother died. (His father died in March of last year.) Young Peace grew up under the care of his older brothers and appreciates so much their efforts to provide for him. It was through his brothers that he learned about the Church and always attended with them. He started understanding the importance of the restored gospel in his life as he grew older and is happy today because he has a testimony of the restored gospel.