News Item: Letter from President Norby
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Dear Mission Friends,
This is a copy of a letter that was sent to us from Elder and Sister Ralph who served in Cameroon with many of you. The letter is from a couple currently serving in Cameroon, the Bakers, and we wanted to pass it on to all of you. The work continues to roll forth and all of us are happy to be a part it.
We love each of you and continue to pray for your success. Please stay in touch as you can and as your busy schedules allow. We are doing fine in Lehi, Utah and enjoying life in the present and the memories of Africa.
Thanks to each of you for what you mean to us.
Love,
The Norby's
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Thought you would be excited to hear this.
Love,
Elwyn and Janet Ralph
From: Dan Baker
Sent: Sun, Aug 23, 2009 11:47 am
Subject: Elder Holland's visit to Cameroon
August 22, 2009
Dear family and friends,
Wow! That word just about sums up this whole week. It has been SO awesome to have Elder Holland here to dedicate the land of Cameroon for the preaching of the gospel. Elder and Sister Koelliker (a member of the first quorum of Seventy and he is now the Area President) and President and Sister Headlee (Mission President) were also here. This is the very first time an apostle has ever come to Cameroon! The weather was beautiful and really cooperated! So, here is a day by day description of our week:
Monday we spent cleaning house. Tuesday we made food. Tuesday night, we went to the airport with Pres. Bala to pick up the Headlees. They stayed that night with us. Wednesday morning we fixed up four little goodie baskets with fruit, snacks, etc and picked up flower arrangements. These baskets and flowers were to put in the hotel rooms of our special guests. We had our last choir practice that afternoon (this is the choir that has been preparing to sing for the meeting with President Holland) and I gave each member of the choir a small picture of President Monson which we had brought with us from Utah. I told them I didn’t have pictures of Elder Holland but that he was very close to the prophet, and I wanted them to have something to remember the historic day that they would be part of. This choir has been working SO hard and they have learned SO much, and just as is usually the case when you labor together at something for the gospel cause, we have all learned to love each other. Many of the things which seem normal and natural to all of us who have sung in church choirs all our lives do not come natural to them. When we first started rehearsing, I was afraid it was going to be awful, but they really have come a long way and I am very proud of them.
That evening we drove to the airport to pick up Elder Holland, the Koellikers, and Clint (Elder Holland’s security man). How awesome to have Elder Holland come walking through those doors. It was the beginning of our marvelous time with him.
August 20—Thursday. First item on the agenda was the Dedication of Cameroon. We met the visiting party at the hotel to transport them to the spot on the hillside near Mt. Fébé Hotel where the dedication was to be held. Before Elder Holland actually started the dedicatory prayer, he spoke to us for a few minutes. He talked about the stone cut out of the mountain without hand (spoken of in the book of Daniel) and how we were all a very important part of that stone, cut out of the mountains which were currently surrounding us at that very moment, and we were actually standing right then upon a rocky ledge which made it even more meaningful. He talked about how this stone would roll forth to fill Cameroon. He also talked about how when a couple is sealed in the temple, they are asked to look into two sets of mirrors which seem to go on forever—one represents all that has gone before them, the other all that will come after them, and they are right then the focal point of the eyes of heaven. He likened that to what we were experiencing right there on the mountainside—we could look one way and imagine all that had gone on in the history of the Church in Cameroon to prepare for this important moment and then we could look the other way and imagine all that would come about in the future for the Church in this country. And here we stood, as if at the focal point of history, with the eyes of heaven upon us. It was very touching. He then gave a very inspired dedicatory prayer, which was recorded and will be transcribed into both French and English and we will all receive a copy. The Spirit was very strong. He blessed the land, the government, the members, the people of the country in general, the missionaries and those whom they teach. It was very clear that he holds the keys and has the inspiration to perform such a great an inspired dedication. We are all now witnesses of his calling in a way that we have never been privileged to have before.
We served our visitors lunch in our apartment, where we presented them each with an African doll as a memento of Cameroon. When we got to the rented hall to prepare for the member meeting, we discovered that the sound man we had engaged had stood us up, which was pretty frustrating. However, with Elder Baker’s ingenuity, we were able to use an extra microphone we had brought with us to pick up the piano and make things eventually work pretty well. As is usually the case, when you have a trial it makes you stronger and better. Because we were having this difficulty, we called upon the Lord in mighty prayer to aid us to sing well in spite of anything else, and he truly answered our prayer. The choir was WONDERFUL and we truly felt the Spirit helping us. Elder Holland and Sister Koelliker and others later told us how terrific they sounded. So it was an experience to always remember.
The meeting was awesome. Here are some notes from Elder Holland’s talk:
*Temples will dot Africa like they now dot the world.
*The rock cut out of the mountain (Book of Daniel). This is not just any other church. You are riding on that stone, no matter what else happens in the world. There are problems everywhere. That is one of the reasons we have the Church. The Church is the ONE answer to all the problems of Africa and of the world. We have lots of work to do. The Church’s destiny here will not come about overnight, but it will come. The changes that will come will not come beca use of politics or economic programs, but because of faith.
*The land of Cameroon was dedicated this morning. Only an apostle of Jesus Christ has the authority to dedicate a country. Quoted Helaman 5:12 about the ROCK – the Redeemer—upon whom we build our foundation. This morning we were standing on and by massive rocks. Get that foundation in your life! Matt. 7:12 about the rock. also 1 Peter 2:5. WE need to be rocks also. But not just a heavy stone that never moves. We need to be lively stones. We should read everything we can get our hands on related to the gospel. Then live it.
*I will now end with a blessing upon you. I have testified, now I will bless you as if my hands were literally upon your heads. This morning, on the mountainside, I blessed all of you in the name of Jesus Christ in the dedicatory prayer. So now I bless each of you: the babies and the old people, the men to become leaders and to seek and honor the priesthood; the women who are loved of God and who carry the banner of faith; the children to be safe in a dangerous world, to be strong, to serve missions, to go to the temple; all who are sick, who are sad, who have problems, who are lonel y—God knows you. He knows your names, your faces, your lives, your needs. He will bless you. I bless you in his name and by his authority. I seal this blessing and I seal my testimony in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
Again, the only word is WOW! Elder Holland took time after the meeting to shake hands with most of the congregation. He was very tired from traveling (having been previously in Ethiopia), but was so gracious and kind to everyone, thoughtful of individuals, remembering people’s names and details about their lives, just an amazing man!!! It is so interesting how these leaders of our Church seem to be dual in nature. On one hand, they are very down to earth, almost ordinary human being, devoid of arrogance and pride, they like to go fishing and watch football and they have their preferences when it comes to food just like anyone else. But then they have that other side which sets them apart and you just can feel and know that they are called of God and they DO have the power and authority that comes from him—they ARE his special witnesses.
There were probably about 400 people in attendance—the largest member meeting ever held in Cameroon. Friday morning we gathered at the church for a meeting with all the 16 elders who serve in Cameroon20(eight from each city). Before the meeting began, we presented the visitors with copies of our compilation of Cameroonian conversion stories. They were very happy to receive them. Again it was a fantastic meeting. Here are my notes:
Elder Holland: Talked about how he was SO affected by his mission as a young man. He came from a good family but they were not too active in the Church. Every good thing that has happened in his life since that time came through the door of his mission. He has thought of his mission every day for 47 years since coming home from the mission.
*This [the mission] is your chance—it is not a dress rehearsal. Embrace ALL OF IT! Don’t be casual. Disciple is related to discipline. Live the mission rules—not because someone is watching you but BECAUSE NOBODY IS.
*Journalists are always asking me: How do you get 19-year-olds to do that [missionary work]? If I had to choose a symbol of the Church, I would choose two missionaries walking down a dusty road.
Question & Answer time: 20The fence sitter doctrine is not true! Don’t let anyone teach it. No one was a fence sitter! Rev. 12---all were faithful in the testimony of Christ. There will be an echo – a familiar ring—they’ve heard it before.
* He has a PERFECT KNOWLEDGE of the divinity of this work. Nothing could add to that. Nothing can detract from that. This was his apostolic witness. What a spirit was there!
After the meeting, there was a group photo taken with Elder Holland. Then we hurried back to the apartment to feed all the elders before the Willis’s and their elders had to go back to Douala and we had to go with the Holland party out to the airport to send them on the next leg of their journey (to Kinshasa, DRC where they would be dividing a stake, among other things.) At the airport, we got a bear hug from Elder Holland—again WOW! Imagine being hugged by an apostle! It was all so awesome. Did I say that already? Well, it was.
August 22—Saturday. There was a wonderful baptism today—five new members of the Church and all of them were relatives of people who are already members! That is the way to do missionary work! Two adult women (Christie and Liddie) who are daughters of a member couple, along with Christie’s 9-year old son, plus Marie who is mother of Sidonie (a recent convert), plus the wife of Etienne who was baptized a couple of months after we got here. And all the adults bore their testimonies at the baptism! Marie has an awesome conversion story—when the missionaries started teaching her, she told them about a dream she had had about a tree with delicious fruit on it and a path leading to it with an iron bar alongside the path and she saw her family there by the tree, etc. They told her they thought she might recognize something like that in the scriptures they were going to teach her about!!! I have asked her to write up the whole story for us.
Now all our visitors are gone and life will get back to “normal???” It has been a wonderful experience.
Thanks for taking time to read all this (if you got through it). We hope you caught the excitement which we have felt this whole week. Living in Utah, we never would have had this kind of experience. Hope your week has been good. We love all of you.
Mom and Dad
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