After His Atonement, death and resurrection, the Savior told His apostles, "... ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you; and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth" (Acts 1:8), Elder John B. Dickson of the Quorum of the Seventy said in the Saturday Afternoon session of general conference.
"I testify that through the Prophet Joseph Smith the Church has been restored and continues to move forward under the direction of the First Presidency and the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles," he declared. "Their mandate to take the gospel to the world is the same as the apostles of old."
Elder Dickson said, with the organization of the Church in 1830, the gospel has moved steadily across the world from nation to nation, culture to culture and people to people according to the Lord's timing.
While serving as a mission president in 1978, Elder Dickson said, he heard about the Revelation on the Priesthood, "I remember tears coming to my eyes. … I was pleased beyond words as I knew it was right and that the time had come for all mankind to have access to all of the ordinances, covenants and blessings of the gospel."
As a Seventy and president of the Africa West Area, some 34 years after that revelation was given, Elder Dickson described how the people in that area have been affected. "They are coming into the Church by the hundreds and every week or so a couple of wards or branches are created somewhere in the Africa West Area with, in nearly every case, all African priesthood and auxiliary leadership."
He said he wished members everywhere could "join a Sunday School, auxiliary or priesthood class. It is a sacred experience where the Church curriculum is followed and there is great gospel understanding, teaching and learning by the Spirit."
He added, "The gospel in Africa is going to a happy people, very unencumbered by the trappings that affect the lives of many in the West. They are not concerned about having endless material possessions. It has been said of Africans that 'they have very little of that which matters least and a great deal of that which matters most.'"
