Rapid growth in the Africa West Area of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints continues to bring opportunities for instruction and guidance — as well as ministry.
For 10 days this month, Elder Quentin L. Cook of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles ministered in Nigeria, Ghana, Togo and the Ivory Coast. There he provided spiritual guidance and training to local leaders and members; spoke at devotionals for missionaries, youth and young single adults; and bore witness of the Savior and His work.
Elder Cook was accompanied by his wife, Sister Mary Cook, and joined by Elder Michael T. Ringwood of the Presidency of the Seventy and his wife, Sister Rosalie Ringwood, reported the Church’s Africa Newsroom.
When meeting with more than 340 young missionaries at the Ghana Missionary Training Center in Accra, Ghana, on Feb. 17, Elder Cook noted that in the week before his visit in West Africa, five members of the Twelve were assigning missionaries. It may have been the largest number of missionaries ever assigned in a single day.
He reminded the training missionaries that the Savior establishes His Church by their hands, and Elder Cook counseled them to be dedicated and serve with all their heart, might, mind and strength.
On Feb. 19, Elder Cook addressed the combined Ghana Accra East, Ghana Accra North and Ghana Accra West missions — speaking to more than 540 young and senior missionaries. He recognized the 550 baptisms from the previous month and the over 6,000 baptisms of the previous year that came from just those three missions centered in Accra, Ghana. He testified that the missionaries are emissaries of the Savior, Jesus Christ, who are striving to bring people to Him.
Later, in Togo, Elder Cook also spoke to missionaries in the Benin Cotonou Mission both in person and virtually, as the mission covers two countries, Benin and Togo. Youth and young adult devotionals were held in Togo and the Ivory Coast, and Elder Cook and Elder Ringwood taught Church leaders from across the area at meetings in Nigeria and Ghana.
Elder Cook was also welcomed by the president of Ghana at the presidential palace, as reported previously in the Church News.
As he spoke to Church employees, at the Accra Ghana Christiansborg Stake Center on Feb. 17, Elder Cook invited them to make their life goals come from the Savior’s words in 3 Nephi 27:27: “Therefore, what manner of men [and women] ought ye to be? Verily I say unto you, even as I am.”
Africa Newsroom reported that Elder Cook’s ministry provided an opportunity for those in the Africa West Area to receive direct instruction from the Lord as well as an outpouring of His Spirit.
