The Sery Kone Story - An Ivory Coast RM Who Served in the DRC (was a child slave)

Sery Kone was born in the large port city of Abidjani.  When Sery was 4 years old, his parents divorced. His father decided to pull him away from his mother, so he took him 1,200 away from his home and placed him with a woman he didn't know in a small village by the name of Kolia.  His father left him there, never to see him again.  The woman that he lived with was very poor and the only way to survive was for Sery to work.  He became a child slave.  

The woman was wise enough to know that children deserved an education. She insisted that the children in her home went to school. But when Kone was not in school, he would go to work, sometimes walking as much as 35 miles to a cocoa farm. He would work 10 hours. He was beaten if he did not work hard. He was not well fed. He had no choices, no protector and no hope.  He worked hard for 6 years. And then, the woman died, and he lost even the comfort of food, clothing and supervision. Still, he kept working.  

After a particularly hard beating by a rancher when he tried to encourage a tired little boy working next to him to rest, he said "I have had enough". He got onto a bus heading to the big city where he was born. He said to the driver, "I have no money, but my family will pay for me when we get there". The bus driver refused and told him to get off, but he was not going to go back to slavery. "I would not get off," he said. "I would not go back." After much arguing, a kindly rider paid for his fare. Kone went to Abidjani, a two day ride, to find his family. He stayed in the streets for 4 weeks. Then he was taken in by an orphanage and worked odd jobs as he could. He lived there for 6 months.

One day, a man came up and called him by his childhood name. "I am your uncle," said the man. Kone did not believe him and he ran away. But the man persisted in finding him. It turns out that he really was his mother's brother. He was a school teacher and he took Kone into his home. Later on, Kone asked him “how did you know it was me?”  His uncle answered “you looked so much like your mother, I knew it was you.”  

Kone found out that his mother had passed away in great sorrow, because her only son had been taken from her. This left Kone embittered and frustrated. He felt deeply that God had been so unfair to him, and his anger boiled out of him. Now a teenager, he found entertainment in arguing with Christians, especially Jehovah Witnesses. For some reason, he found them an easy target for his anger.

Kone remembers a day when two LDS missionaries were walking by. He thought they were Jehovah Witnesses. "Hey," he called out. "Why don't you come here and talk to me?" He meant it more as a challenge, but the two young men replied that they were happy to share their message. They came to his home and began to present the "Plan of Salvation." This struck Kone to the heart. He knew their message was true and could see from the truths they taught that Heavenly Father did care about His children and had provided a clear path for them to find happiness and someday to return home to Him.

Kone joined the LDS church and found much peace in being a member. His uncle supported him while he went to public school. When he was 20 years old, he went on a mission in the DR Congo, where he worked very hard. Following the completion of his mission, Kone was accepted to BYU-Hawaii, where he is about to complete his studies in Finance. He will soon be heading out to obtain an MBA at BYU-Provo. His goal is to become an Investment Counselor

Kone has served Heavenly Father in many ways, and he was blessed for it. He married a beautiful daughter of God in a temple of the Lord and is raising an eternal family. He has a beautiful baby boy named Kenneth. 

With all of these blessings poured upon him, Kone had finally found a peace and joy he never thought possible. But he was not completely happy. He wanted more. This desire was not born out of greed but rather gratitude. He wanted to reach out to other children trapped in child slavery. He wanted to help communities to become stronger. He even wanted to reach out to the cacao ranchers and help them improve their systems so that they would not need to depend on utilizing low wage workers in order to make a profit.

Kone has organized a movement called WELL Africa (World Education for a Legacy of Liberty). Since 2012 WELL Africa has taken 300 children out of cacao farms to receive an education and over 250 women have received micro financing loans to start businesses. They have trained men in bee keeping. In 2014 WELL Africa completed the construction of its first school.

The next goal is to build a self-sustaining hospital in order to provide healthcare services to the poor communities in Ivory Coast. (Related by Elder and Sister Jones of the Honolulu Hawaii Mission) http://ronandnina.blogspot.com/2015/03/walking-amongst-giants-sery-kone-from.html

Meet Elder Ako - who was sealed to his parents today

Elder Ebenezer Ako

Elder Ebenezer Ako was sealed to his parents today.  He was born in Krobo of the Eastern Region of Ghana.  When he was a child his mother cared for him, but at the age of three, his father became ill and died.  All through his younger years, he and his mother lived alone as she sold clothing to support him.  When he was 13 years old she became ill, often for a month at a time.  Then a year later she passed away.  Young Ebenezer had felt such loneliness and that feeling was to continue.  He went to live with his aged great grandmother, who was 86 years old.  He said that he does not remember a happy time in his childhood - a time where he was happy to just sit around a table with others and laugh.

At the age of 18, Ebenezer went to live with his uncle and his wife.  They were very nice to him.  An LDS neighbor invited Ebenezer to help him with chores and it was during this experience that he learned about the Church.  The neighbor invited the missionaries to come teach Ebenezer in the neighbor home and shortly after he was baptized.  Last year during a Church course on Family History he realized he could be sealed to his parents and was most anxious to do so.  Today, that dream became a reality as he was sealed to his parents.  He said it was a very emotional experience for him.  He is now happy.  Elder Ako departs from the MTC next Tuesday to serve in the Nigeria Lagos Mission.

Elder Baah, Elder Ako, Elder Ekah (all three have lost their fathers in addition to Elder Ako's loss of his mother)

Missionary Moments from Africa in Church News

 LDS CHURCH NEWS

Published: Saturday, March 7 2015 12:10 a.m. MST

Updated: Friday, March 6 2015 11:45 a.m. MST

Sister Winnie Mandela, from Kenya, entered the Ghana Missionary Training Center in January. Her name, she explains, came from her father, who “simply liked the name Winnie Mandela.”

Growing up, Sister Mandela’s mother was an Anglican and her father was a Catholic. When Sister Mandela was 17, her father suffered a blood clot and within a month died leaving her with many questions both about her life and about her father’s death.

One of her friends invited her to the LDS Church and she agreed. Two missionaries asked her to investigate the Church and she agreed.
She said the discussions included the plan of salvation and this helped the empty feeling (from her father’s death) leave and she wanted to learn more and more. She visited the Sosiani Branch in Kenya’s Eldoret District in May 2013 and Elder Simelane, from South Africa, and Elder Kigongo, from Uganda, taught her about the gospel of Jesus Christ and gave her a copy of the Book of Mormon, challenging her to pray about it before reading it.
Following her prayer she spent all night reading the Book of Mormon and said an answer came into her mind that “this book is true.” Along with the answer to her prayer came tears of joy.

Missionaries continued to teach her and, as she came to understand Heavenly Father’s plan, the hope that she could one day see her father again made her happy. When her father died in 2005, she had many questions that no one could answer to her satisfaction. The young missionaries, however, were able to answer many of them, and she realized that Heavenly Father wants her to return back home to Him.

In June 2013, Sister Mandela was ready to be baptized but the two missionaries were on an assignment away from her home. She was baptized in August. Nearly a year and a half later, Sister Mandella entered the Ghana MTC, ready now to share the gospel and help others find the answers she found as missionaries taught her.

Prior to serving her mission, Sister Mandela served as a seminary teacher and in a Relief Society presidency. In addition to her native language of Swahli she also speaks Spanish and enjoys swimming and basketball. Before her mission call she worked in sales for a software company and prior to entering the Ghana MTC, she had never been outside of Kenya. She is serving in the Ghana Accra Mission.
“I am so thankful and grateful for the restored gospel and I know the Book of Mormon is true,” said Sister Mandela of her journey into the Church and as her missionary service began.

— President Reid Robison, Ghana MTC

The last time one of my entries was published in the Church News before Sister Madela's story was:

Published: Saturday, July 5 2014 12:10 a.m. MDT

The journey of Elder Jervase Makur Dhoul Ajok from South Sudan to serving as a full-time missionary has been filled with both challenges and blessings. He was born in 1989 in the village of Ananatak, South Sudan, when his country was in the midst of a severe drought. One night in 1998 his village was attacked because “our villagers were accused of hiding rebels. Hence, they raided the house where my family was sleeping. They started by shooting my uncle, his wife and his son,” said Elder Ajok. He was forced to flee his country because of civil unrest.
Young Jervase ran “into the bush, crying, leaving behind my father, mother, five brothers and two sisters where everyone was lying among those who had been killed.”

He found himself in the village of Chukudum and, in late 1998, was forced to become a child soldier in what was called the “Lost Boys of Sudan.” After three months, he escaped, “because [he] did not want to be a soldier.” While he was hiking to another village with other refugees, his camp was bombed and his leg injured by shrapnel. Elder Ajok said, “At that point, my life became so horrible because there was no food, water or shelter. We were attacked by wildlife, and everything was in total chaos and got worse for the next week.”
In March 2000, he was taken to a refugee camp in Kakuma, Kenya. Elder Ajok said that during his stay in the camp, many would try to steal others’ possessions and he fled to Nairobi where a kind family gave him shelter.

“I thanked Heavenly Father ... because a ‘good Samaritan’ took me into his house before helping me look for other Sudanese people. I was very grateful for his kindness.”

In Nairobi, said Elder Ajok, “I did not have a person that could care for me if I became sick. At this point, I became friends with a fellow Sudanese countryman and went to the Catholic church one Sunday.” He later met two LDS missionaries, who introduced him to the bishop, and he was baptized a member of the Church in late 2008.

Elder Ajok remained in Nairobi and enrolled in school with the bishop’s help. “[The bishop] paid my school fees until I completed my [high school] in 2011.”
In August 2012, Elder Ajok walked 1,000 miles back to Southern Sudan and met with the branch president there who helped him find food and shelter and obtain a passport in order to serve a full-time mission. Elder Ajok worked as a security guard to earn mission funds and was able to locate his mother, two brothers and two sisters who survived the village attack.

In June, Elder Ajok entered the Ghana Missionary Training Center and is now serving in the Ghana Cape Coast Mission.

— as related by Lynette Pierce Shulz to Reid A. Robison, President of the Ghana MTC

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."

So What Is The Story Behind the Three Zimbabwe Missionaries?

 Left to Right:  Sister Detere, Elder Moyo and Elder Makuni

Sister Detere was number 10 of the 182 missionaries prepared for service by Reeve, CC, and Lolly - the three women golfers.  The first day there were 12 in attendance, the second day 60 and the number grew to 182.  She is from Harare.

She heard about the gospel through her mother's friend at age 16, had the lessons and was baptized.  Her mom joined the Church 6 months later.  Her 2 sisters also joined but she lost her Dad much earlier in 2002 due to illness.  Her mother is an importer.  She travels to Mozambique and purchases shoes and handbags and then together with her sisters, they sell them to all their friends.  She does not know how she would have been able to prepare financially, spiritually, and get the proper paperwork had it not been for the three women golfers.

Elder Moyo was born in Harare and baptized in April of 2012.  He is #33 out of the 182 missionaries prepared by the three lady golfers, Reeve, CC, and Lolly.  In 2003 when he was 9 years old, Elder Moyo's dad was attacked.  Two months later he died of injuries sustained in the attack.  One year later his mother died because she contracted cancer and was unable to get medicine.  (On October 22, 2014, Elder Moyo was able to be sealed to his parents in the Ghana Accra Temple.  Sister Dube represented his deceased mother and Elder Watson represented his late father.)

When he first heard about the Church, Elder Moyo was staying with his grandfather in Bulawayo, where he was attending school.  Unfortunately, all he heard about the Church was untrue rumors.  He even heard that the Church buildings were used as mortuaries.  After he had completed school, his grandfather said he needed to find something productive to do.  His brother had him come to Harare to stay with him but did not explain what they would be doing.  When he arrived at his brother's home, he was asked to dress up in his brother's church clothes and his brother would take him to Church.  He did not know his brother was LDS.  After Sacrament meeting he was told he was going to the investigator class.  He thought it meant "police."  After Church he was still afraid of the rumors, but did have a first lesson that afternoon.  Thereafter, he returned to Bulawayo and avoided the missionaries by making excuses.  So his 26 year old brother came a second time and asked him what was going on and why he ran away.  His brother told him he had his agency and could choose for himself.  He bore his testimony to Elder Moyo and told him about the prophet Joseph Smith.  During that testimony, something special happened.  Elder Moyo felt the Spirit and from that moment forward it was he, who asked for the missionaries and wanted them to teach him.

His brother is helping finance his mission. Both are engravers by trade.  They can put lettering onto granite stone.  However, had it not been for the three woman golfers assisting Elder Moyo in getting ready for his mission, he does not know how he would have been able to come.  Every Tuesday and Friday, they trained him.  They took him for police reports, immigration paperwork, eye exams and all other preparations needed to serve his mission.  They also equipped him with a suitcase of all the items required for his mission.

Elder Makuni is also from Harare.  He was #121 out of the 182 missionaries prepared by the three women golfers.  He was taught by the missionaries in 2008 and learned about the gospel first from his brother.  He was asked to pray and in that first prayer received his answer.  It was a still small voice giving him a peace that he had never felt before.  He was baptized at the age of 18 and is now 24.  His mother joined the Church in 2010 after he joined.  His father passed away in 2009.

He earned money selling telephone cards to the people in bus terminals but would not have been able to come on his mission without the assistance of the three lady golfers - Reeve, CC and Lolly.  He started studying with them back in January of this year.

One of our West Indies Baptisms Enters Ghana MTC

In December of 2007, Kristen Prisca Olivarius and her sister were baptized in Martinque by Elder Brycen Beck and Elder Laytton Maihota.

Today she entered the MTC as Sister Olivarius, called to serve in Madagascar.

 

Such a sweet sister and what a great reunion to see her again.  We met her in early 2008.  (We were in Martinique quite a bit in December because two of our missionaries, Elder Tyson Gray and Elder Thomas Swain were lost on Mt Pele, an inactive volcano.  Miracles abound in December 2007.)

Elder Ndunduma's Journey to be Sealed

Yesterday Elder Tatenda Ndunduma was sealed to his parents with Elder and Sister Malmrose standing in as proxy.  The day before Sister Robison and I performed the baptisms for his parents in the Ghana Temple.

Elder Ndunduma's journey began January 26, 1994 when he was born in Mabvuku Harare Zimbabwe.  When he was three years old and his brother was seven, his father became very ill.  At the peak of his sickness, he could not stand or eat, and could hardly breathe.  His mother entered his hospital room and upon viewing her husband in that condition collapsed to the floor and died.  His father was not aware that his wife died and he died a couple of days later.

Tatenda was sent to live with his aunt (sister of his father) and his grandmother.  Two years later his grandmother passed away.  His aunt took on part-time work to provide food and often her two children and Tentenda were left alone.  None of them knew how to cook.  When he was in grade 5 his aunt took him to a small town called Bindura where he finished primary and secondary school.  At the age of 16 his aunt died and so he was left to live with her husband and a son who was his age. Life was hard and often he would cry wishing his parents were alive.  He was sent back to Harare to live with another aunt and got to be reunited with his brother who was 20 at the time.

He knows that this move was also for a deeper purpose.  The son of his aunt, who was now grown up was a member of the Church and invited him to attend.  His name was Simbarashe.  Tatenda was also introduced to the missionaries and had the lessons.  However, it was not until he heard the lesson about the plan of salvation that he was converted.  It was the sweetest message he had ever heard and changed his tears of sorrow to tears of joy.  He had thought that he would never see his parents again.  Feeling the Spirit of the Lord, he asked to be baptized on November 17, 2012.  From that point on, he was a changed man.  He knew it was his responsibility to see that they were baptized and sealed. Now that dream is a reality.

One of his goals was to be a full-time missionary.  Three wonderful lady golfers, Lolly, Reeve and CC helped him accomplish that goal.  He entered the MTC on September 19, 2014 and will serve in the Ghana Cape Coast Mission.  His desire is now to bring many souls unto Christ to enjoy the joy the same blessings he is enjoying.  He also said "I know the Lord will always watch my back throughout."

Cyril Taki: He Was Searching for the True Church

Meet Cyril Taki, one of our senior instructors at the MTC.    He was born 28 years ago in Abidjan, Ivory Coast and was raised there as one of 10 children.  In April 2007, he had a friend who was also looking for a Church to join.  This friend was a friend of a member.  When these two young men met the missionaries, they knew the Church was true and both were baptized on June 16, 2007.

Here is the Abinadi District with their instructor, Brother Cyril Taki.  Left to right:  Elder Jorgensen, Elder Walls, Brother Taki, Elder Bailey and Elder Jackson. (He has taught them French for the past 6 weeks.)

Cyril's parents are not members, but both are now very interested.  Cyril's father had always wanted his son to be religious because he thought it would be good for him.  He was therefore, quite pleased when his son joined the Church.  However, he was not happy about his son being called to serve a mission in Nigeria.  He had heard alot of dangerous things about Nigeria in the news.  So Cyril implored of his church leaders to speak with his father and permission to serve was granted.

The story of his mother was a different case.  She had heard rumors about the Church and was given Anti-Mormon information.  However, when the Sister Missionaries spoke with her, she changed her mind.  Now today, both of Cyril's parents are supportive of his activity in the Church and say that one day, they too will be members.

It is interesting to note that after the 9th child was born, Cyrils' father was about to take another wife.  She was the mother of his 10th children.  After learning about the Church, he decided not to marry a second wife.

Michael Sapaku, MTC Teacher Extraordinaire

Just like the story, of Patrick Appianti-Sarpong, Michael Sapaku, one of our illustrious MTC teachers, joined the Church after high school.  In his case it was a few years later.  He lived with cousins who were members and every Sunday the family would go their own way.  Michael noticed in them a certain peace - a joy in life that he was not experiencing.  He concluded that it must be their Church, so he asked if he could go with them.  This was in February of 2006.  In March of that year, he was baptized.

Three months after he was baptized, he was called to be the ward clerk and invited to attend a missionary preparation class taught by Brother Solomon Aliche.  The bishop had put him on a list of prospective missionaries and he had decided that he was not going just because someone else wanted him to.  However in this class of Brother Aliche, every single member of the class ended up serving a mission.  In Michael's case it was to South Africa from 2010 to 2012.   As with the experience of so many, Michael traces every good thing that has happened to him back to his mission.

After his mission, he met a young lady named Grace Tetteh at a Stake Single Adult Fireside.  She was on a date with the young man who had baptized him, but he had a feeling that he would marry her.  And he did.  They were married on December 26, 2013. (She is from Accra and joined the Church the same year he did.  He is from Tamale, a village up North).

Interesting that Brother Eguko was fascinated by this young man and his passion for missionary work.  He asked Brother Aliche to give him a reference about Michael Sapaku, and of course the recommendation was glowing.  (Brother Sapaku has now taught at the MTC for the past 16 months).

Patrick Asked the Golden Question to the Missionaries

The way the missionary program works is that missionaries approach people not of our faith and ask them the golden questions.  What do you know about the Church?  Would you like to know more?  In  Patrick Appianti-Sarpong's case, he asked them?

 Mathias Eguko and Patrick Appianti-Sarpong (Patrick is Mathias's assistant at the MTC and supervises the teachers and arranges for all the missionaries' needs - an essential job)

Here is his conversion story:

Patrick is from Kumasi.  At the end of three years of boarding school he went home to Kumasi and saw a new church building being constructed near his home. He approached the builders and asked them what they were building.  He thought that was nice and that he would like to attend that church.  He was with two friends, so they all concluded that it would be great to have a church nearby where there is alot of singing and dancing (as they do in other churches)  Well when they finished the Church and when he passed by, it was quiet inside even though cars were parked outside.  Patrick had researched a little about the Church and knew to wear a white shirt.  So he visited the Church and because of his white shirt the members did not know he was an investigator.  He approached the missionaries because he thought they were resource people with name tags.  (Elders Lawson and Thomson).  Because he did not stay all the time in Kumasi (his Dad lived in Tema), he lost contact with each pair of missionaries that taught him and in two years went through 4 or 5 sets of elders.  He did read up to Alma 5 after his first meeting with the first two missionaries because they gave him a Book of Mormon.  In Tema while driving down Hospital Road, he spotted the Church in Tema and was pleased to have found the Church in Tema as well.

Patrick was baptized in 2005 after having been proactive and having introduced himself to missionaries each time he got back to Church.  He was finally taught by Elder Wama and Elder Terangi (who performed the baptism).

As a young convert preparing to serve a mission, Patrick accompanied the Elders to visit recent converts.  One of them had a less active daughter named Elizabeth.  Not only did he reactivate her, but wrote her on his mission and they were married on January 1, 2011 (sealed on January 4, 2011).  His mission was from November 2007 to November 2009.

Patrick and Elizabeth have a 5 month old son named Yaw (he was born on a Thursday).  Yaw is the name of Patrick's father, so the baby is called Papa Yaw.

Elizabeth, Patrick and Yaw