ABIDJAN, Ivory Coast — Elder D. Martin Goury, a General Authority Seventy from west Africa‘s Republic of Côte d‘Ivoire, converted to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in London, England, at the age of 29 in April 1993.
One year later, after receiving his endowment in the London England Temple, a deep yearning settled in his heart — “The hope that one day, my homeland of Côte d‘Ivoire would have its own house of the Lord,” he told the Church News.
“As I reflected on the sacred covenants and spiritual power made available through temple ordinances, I began to pray that these blessings might one day be within reach for the Saints of Côte d‘Ivoire. At that time, the Church was still young in Ivory Coast. Nevertheless, my heart filled with quiet faith that in time the Lord would open the way.”
Over the years, Elder Goury has listened to friends share inspiring accounts of long journeys to distant temples — first the Johannesburg South Africa Temple, followed by the Accra Ghana Temple. “These long, faith-filled pilgrimages required deep commitment and sacrifice — testimonies of the Saints’ longing to enter the Lord‘s house," he said.
The prayers of many were answered on April 5, 2015, when the late President Thomas S. Monson announced plans for a temple in Abidjan.
“While I continued to hope, I did not imagine that a temple in Côte d‘Ivoire would be realized so soon,” said Elder Goury, who will soon serve in the Church’s Canada Area presidency. “That moment, though decades in the making, felt sudden and miraculous. It was a divine confirmation that the Lord had heard the faithful prayers of His Saints in Côte d‘Ivoire.”
He continued: “When the temple opened its doors to members and visitors alike, words could hardly express the gratitude and joy I felt. What had once been a distant hope became a profound reality.”
Those hopes and dreams will become official when Elder Ronald A. Rasband of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles dedicates the Abidjan Ivory Coast Temple on Sunday, May 25. The 10 a.m. session will be broadcast to all units in the temple district.
The dedication of the Abidjan temple comes one week after the Nairobi Kenya Temple was dedicated by Elder Ulisses Soares of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles.
‘A significant blessing’
Elder Alfred Kyungu, a General Authority Seventy and president of the Church’s Africa West Area, also spoke of the Abidjan temple as an answer to prayers, as well as its purpose, at the beginning of the open house on April 28.
“Without a doubt, the temple is truly the house of the Lord,” said Elder Kyungu during the news conference. “This temple is God‘s answer to countless prayers offered in faith by members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. It marks the end of long road trips to the Accra Ghana Temple. The temple is the shining symbol of divine light and knowledge. It is a sacred place of learning and comfort, where the soul is strengthened and can find peace and joy in the Lord.”
Over the years, many Ivorians have traveled over 1,000 kilometers (620 miles) round trip on poor roads to the Accra Ghana Temple. The dedication of Abidjan temple is a “truly momentous occasion” and a “significant blessing, marking the growth and faith of members in west Africa,” said Elder Isaac K. Morrison, a General Authority Seventy who serves as second counselor in the Africa West Area presidency.
“The Abidjan temple stands as a symbol of hope and the enduring promises of our Heavenly Father. Temples are sanctuaries of peace and learning, offering sacred ordinances that unite individuals and families eternally. This temple heralds a new era of covenant-keeping members in Côte d‘Ivoire,” he said.
“This temple will bless the country and be a place of refuge, where weary souls can find solace, peace and strength. The dedication of the Abidjan temple provides an opportunity for the members to experience the Heavenly Father’s love firsthand in their lives. It is a space where they can deepen their relationships with God and gain clarity through making and keeping sacred covenants.”
Church growth in Côte d‘Ivoire
The dedication of the Abidjan temple comes at a time when the Church is seeing tremendous growth, said President Pascal J. Budge, who serves with his wife, Sister Lauralyn Budge, as leaders of the Ivory Coast Abidjan East Mission, one of three missions in the country’s largest city.
The Africa West Area witnessed tens of thousands of baptisms in 2024, which led to the creation of more than 12 stakes, he said, and the number of new converts and stakes could be greater in 2025.
The new house of the Lord will serve 38 stakes and 13 districts in Ivory Coast, Sierra Leone, Liberia and Senegal.
President Budge identified two factors for this growth. First, while there is an overwhelming presence of the Muslim faith in the country, a large part of the population has a strong Christian foundation. That, combined with the general kind, loving, humility of the people, has prepared them to be receptive to the Lord and the word of God.
“I’d say that’s a significant part — not just in Cote d‘Ivoire — that’s a significant part of Africa," President Budge said. “It’s extraordinary to see.”
The new house of the Lord will — and already has — impacted missionary work, he said. More than 15,000 attended the open house, with many traveling long distances on buses.
President Budge shared one representative example of the temple’s influence on missionary work. During the open house, three missionary companionships brought 22 friends of the Church for a tour. Four individuals in the group had already received the missionary lessons but were undecided about baptism.
After exiting the temple, these individuals approached the missionaries and requested baptism.
“The power and influence of the house of the Lord was very evident in many circumstances [during the open house],” President Budge said. “The influence of the temple will continue to be felt here.”
Church history in Côte d‘Ivoire
The “miracle” of the Church in Ivory Coast, as Elder Neil L. Andersen of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles said in his April 2015 general conference message, began with two couples: Philippe and Annelies Assard and Lucien and Agathe Affoué.
In 1980, native Ivorians Lucien and Agathe Affoué joined the Church in Lyon, France, while living there as students.
The Assards met missionaries while Philippe, also a native Ivorian, was attending engineering school in Germany. They were baptized and later sealed in the Swiss Temple.
Within a few years, both couples felt inspired to return to their homeland, where they met and started a Sunday school.
“I had total faith in the Lord because I had this dream that the gospel must be established in Ivory Coast,” Assard said in a 1999 Liahona article. “So in 1986 after praying and fasting with my wife, I decided to return to Ivory Coast to give what I had received, to improve the lot of my family and my people.”
On Sept. 4, 1987, Elder Marvin J. Ashton of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles and Elder Alexander B. Morrison, a General Authority Seventy, visited Ivory Coast. The first converts — Felix Gnambi and Severin Adoupoh Niangui — were baptized later that year, according to ChurchofJesusChrist.org.
The first official representatives of the Church, Barnard and Cherry Silver, arrived in April 1988. While the Church did not own property or proselytize, the Silvers met and worshipped with the small group of local members in their homes. Cherry Silver organized Relief Society meetings on homemaking best practices, such as cooking, mending, first aid and nutrition, which appealed to members and neighbors.
The same year, the Church donated funds to assist with humanitarian projects in the country, including oral polio vaccinations and educational programs for children.
The first branch was organized in January 1989 with Philippe Assard as branch president, Pungu Okito as first counselor and Antoine Kouadio as second counselor. By the end of 1990, there were 350 Latter-day Saints in the country and the Church launched its seminary and institute programs.
Annelies Assard went on to serve as branch Relief Society, Young Women president and district Relief Society president. She often used her musical talents to help people learn Church hymns.
In April 1991, the Church received official recognition from the Republic of Côte d‘Ivoire. After meeting with the Minister of Interior of Côte d‘Ivoire, who signed the document giving the Church legal recognition, Elder Richard P. Lindsay, a General Authority Seventy, told members, “We will see miracles performed if we are faithful. Be faithful, brothers and sisters, and the blessings of the temple will follow.”
The Côte d‘Ivoire Abidjan Mission was organized in May 1993. Later the same year, more than 300 young men and women attended the first to youth conference.
Less than 10 years after the first missionaries arrived in April 1988, the Abidjan Côte d‘Ivoire Stake — the Church’s first stake in the country — was organized on Aug. 17, 1997, with Assard as president and Alain Michel Tanoe and Leho Cesar Guigui as counselors. The Yopougon meetinghouse, the first in the country, was dedicated the same day.
General conference was broadcast in Ivory Coast for the first time via a live internet feed in October 2001.
Initially, many Ivorians sacrificed to travel to Switzerland or South Africa to make temple covenants. After the Accra Ghana Temple was dedicated in 2004, members stood out for their dedication to temple and family history. They organized regular group temple trips, bringing their own family names and their own ordinance workers. On one trip, in August 2004, 98 youth, 83 adults and 27 children made the 18-hour journey over rough roads to the Accra Ghana Temple.
Elder Quentin L. Cook of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles spoke to a gathering of thousands of Saints in Abidjan in February 2013. He encouraged the Saints to move forward in four main areas: increasing their faith in the Lord, Jesus Christ; strengthening their families; actively sharing the gospel with others; and continuing their family history and temple work efforts.
The Abidjan temple was announced by the late President Thomas S. Monson on April 5, 2015, during the Sunday morning session of general conference.
Elder Andersen presided at the groundbreaking ceremony on Nov. 8, 2018.
“Today is a sacred day, a holy day, a day that will long be remembered in the records kept in heaven and by the Saints of God here in the Ivory Coast,” he said in 2018. “The building of this temple means that the restored kingdom of God will be established here in Abidjan and throughout the Ivory Coast until the Savior returns to the earth, and that there will be covenant people here to receive Him when he returns.”
Today, the country is home to 67,000 Latter-day Saints in 32 stakes and districts and nearly 270 congregations.
