President Oaks started the program commenting how certain dates are etched in our memories; we will always remember where we were when we heard about the events of Sept. 11, 2001, or when JFK was assassinated. He shared his own vivid memories of working at a remote cabin that day 40 years ago and sitting down to weep tears of joy when he received the news on the priesthood announcement.
On June 1, 1978, I heard the news on a radio while sitting in barbershop in Ogden, Utah, where I was working that summer. I had been home almost exactly two years from serving a mission in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil and my immediate thought was, "I just missed it!" and speculating how thrilling it would be to return to Brazil and do missionary service there following this announcement. I felt at that moment, the unmistakable sense that the message of the restoration of Christ’s gospel would explode across that country in a way that had never been experienced and that few could comprehend or envision.
In northern Brazil where I had served, a large part of the population has ancestral ties going back to Africa. During my mission (1974-1976), we did not actively proselyte those of African ancestry because of priesthood limitations related to them. Still, many approached us out of curiosity and with what I sensed was an innate interest in our message. We simply invited them to attend church meetings. If they came and specifically requested, we taught them the gospel and explained what we knew about the current status of priesthood and temple blessings. A small number chose to be baptized despite those limitations.
One of most stalwart Church members I met in Brazil was a man of African ancestry named Helvicio Martins, who was referenced several times in the Church’s commemoration. Helvicio was a brilliant, motivated senior executive for Brazil’s national oil company. On Sundays, he was a faithful member of the Tijuca Ward in Rio de Janeiro, the first area I served. I marveled how this dynamo of a man in the eyes of the world, humbly and faithfully accepted God’s will in his own life. I was not at all surprised years later when Elder Martins became the first General Authority of African descent.
When I left Brazil in 1976, there were 45,000 church members in that country. In the years following the historic priesthood revelation, that number exploded, surpassing 200,000 in 1985, and one million in 2010.
I had a wonderful mission, worked with fabulous people and had great experiences and successes in sharing the gospel. In hindsight, my time there was like working for NASA’s predecessor in the years before the Russians launched Sputnik in 1957. America’s aeronautical engineers were doing some amazing things in the early 50's, but nothing close the breathtaking excitement and explosive technology leaps that followed the October 1957 announcement that the Soviets had launched an unmanned, sub-orbital satellite. The Sputnik announcement ushered in the era of space exploration and a moon landing, but the priesthood announcement on June 1, 1978 literally changed the trajectory of God’s kingdom on earth. For years, I couldn’t help wondering what it would have been like to have been in Brazil at the “ground zero” moment.
Flash forward 37 years: at the beginning of June 2015, Michelle and I opened a letter from President Thomas S. Monson calling us to serve a mission in Ghana for 18 months. One of my first thoughts was, “Ground Zero, baby!” Michelle’s parents had served two missions in Nigeria, and they constantly told us of the amazing faith and dedication of the African saints.
And now? I'm living the dream that I just missed in Brazil. I get to be the mission president for Liberia where the gospel is still in the really early stages. The Church exploded in Brazil, Ghana and Nigeria following the 1978 announcement, but it took another ten years before missionaries came to Liberia, and the work was shut down across the country for 24 of the next 30 years because of civil war and Ebola.
I don't pretend to understand the nuances of the Lord's timing on this matter, but I am thrilled that all of His children now have the full blessings of the gospel. I also trust that each of His children who ever lived on this earth will have the opportunity to receive all of His blessings. I will say that in this calling, the phrase "the last shall be first" is taking on a new meaning for me.
The theme of the 'Be One' commemoration was to put aside differences and unite as God's children. As I watch the unease, mistrust and ill-will that seems to predominate the news across the world, I am loving our little oasis where all that rancor is a non-issue. The message we share and which resonates very well in Liberia is being one with the Savior. That is what His atonement (at-one-ment) is all about. It is an exciting message to be sharing in one of the choicest spots in the vineyard.
