Missionaries serving in the Democratic Republic of Congo Kinshasa Mission report that Elder Jeffrey R. Holland from the Quorum of the 12 Apostles dedicated the nation of Cameroon last week for the preaching of the Gospel. Cameroon currently has four branches and one group. Three of the branches are in the capital of Yaounde (Bastos 1st, 2nd and Ekounou), one branch is in Douala, and the single group is also in Douala in the Bonaberi section of the city. Cameroon was transferred to the Democratic Republic of Congo Kinshasa Mission a couple years ago, likely around when Benin and Togo were transferred to the Cote d'Ivoire Abidjan Mission. The DR of Congo Mission includes not only Cameroon and DR of Congo, but also the Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea and the Central African Republic.
Unlike the rest of the DR of Congo Kinshasa Mission, Cameroon (as well as the city of Pointe-Noire in the Republic of Congo) has full-time missionaries serving from North America. Cameroon is a French speaking country which is predominately Christian, but also has large numbers of Muslims, who particularly live in the northern provinces of the country. Tribal religions are also widespread. The Church initially established a mission in Cameroon in 1992 in hopes of it providing a base for French language-based missionary work in West Africa. The mission was moved to Cote d'Ivoire the following year. Membership growth was slow in Cameroon and has not increased dramatically until the end of 2004. From the end of 2003 to the end of 2008 membership has increased from 208 to 727 members and branches have increased from one to four. There is still no district in the country.
Lastly I wanted to include that Elder Holland prophesied to those at attendance for the dedication of Cameroon for missionary work that temples will dot Africa as they now dot the rest of the world. Currently there are only three temples in Africa in Ghana, Nigeria and South Africa. Countries which seem most likely to have future temples in the near future announced include the DR of Congo, Cote d'Ivoire, and Zimbabwe.
10 comments:
Good news and bad news from Africa today. Elder Holland dedicates Cameroon and the Aba Nigeria temple is shut down indefinitely because of violence.
DR of the Congo and Zimbabwe both have fairly large LDS populations but have also had lots of internal turmoil recently. I wonder if what's going on in Nigeria now, will affect future temples in Africa. Will the church be much more reluctant to build in places like DR of the Congo or Zimbabwe?
James do you have a link for the news about the Aba Nigeria Temple closing? I'd like to read about that. I taught a lady from Sierra Leone in Calgary as a missionary and felt there is to be so much more to the Lord's work on that continent.
Here is a link to an article that appeared in the Deseret News about the closing of the Aba Nigeria Temple:
http://www.deseretnews.com/article/1,5143,705325941,00.html?linkTrack=ChurchNews
At first, it sounded like the temple was being closed forever, and that would be horrible. I was then reminded that temples routinely close all the time, usually for maintenance or renovation. I guess the difference in this case is that in the past, temples have always closed with the expectation of being reopened on such-and-such date. Here, the closure is indefinite, and the hope is that the violence and problems in the area will subside in the coming weeks, months, or few short years, and the temple will be reopened again. I hope.
That is great!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I hope a district will be created there. If I were to takee my bet I would say that another temple would be anounced in Africa Within the next 7 years despite what others say about DR of Congo.
I remember seeing a blog a few years ago from a couple missionary serving in Cameroon, I think it was Cameroon. They shared pictures of members traveling to the Aba Nigeria Temple. They traveled for many days in an old bus over muddy roads. After many break downs and getting stuck in the mud, they finally made it. Having a temple was a huge beacon of hope for those members. Hopefully things will calm down and it will reopen soon. That area of the world could really use some peace and stability.
DR of the Congo still has ongoing fighting from their civil war, but as far as I know, nearly all the fighting is in the far Eastern part of the country. Kinshasa I think, is pretty stable, so hopefully it can get a temple soon.
@Gnesileah
The comment discussion over at the Deseret News article is out of control. A lot of unnecessary debating about the validity of Africans' membership in the Church.
Yikes.
Tod,
I ditto your yikes! Every time there is an article on the Church in nearly any publication, the comments are usually vicious and terrible towards us. I admire those members and non-members alike who defend us and write fair and unbiased comments. Unfortunately, these days I don't have the stomach to read the message boards anymore. One can only consume so much negativity before wanting to wither into nothingness.
I wanted to add that I believe Elder Holland dedicated Rwanda for missionary work as well, but I cannot confirm this yet.
Would you mind removing the link to my blog that you have in this post? I don't really want everyone invading my private life.
Sheryl Bullock
The link to your blog has been removed from this post.
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