A Note From Elder Wells: One Lord, One Faith, One Baptism (Ephesians 4:5)

I know today is not June 8, 1978, but I am rejoicing in that day as I live and worship with my brothers and sisters from so many different countries. Like a very few other days in my life, I will always remember where I was when I learned that the priesthood was to be given to all worthy male members. Like many others, I cried (and still do) when I realized what it might mean.

The realization of its meaning still unfolding catches me by surprise here in Africa. I often work in the temple on Tuesday afternoons when the missionaries come over from the MTC. I am met by a wrinkled little man whose smile somehow covers his entire face. When we shake hands and he welcomes me to the temple, I know I am welcomed by a man who treasures his opportunity to be in the Lord’s house. I am washed momentarily in gratitude and recognition of God’s love as I look down at a white hand and a black hand clasped in brotherhood. (In the picture are two of the noble temple workers with Elder and Sister Snow, and the one on the left is he with the wonderful smile.)

Sister Margaret Rambau,a woman who works in the Area Office, is giving us the privilege of doing some family names for her, names I can’t pronounce but I am honored to carry to the temple.

During the months of October and November we attended the Johannesburg Ward. Except for the occasional senior couple missionaries, there are two white members. You’ve seen the pictures of these wonderful saints sent home by Gayle. There we are, watching the primary sacrament meeting presentation, and the children sing, “I am a child of God and He has sent me here . . .” and I am captured in the realization of what it means that these cherubic little faces know they belong to their Father in Heaven.


Maybe it’s the singing that gets to me, or maybe the prayers, or maybe it’s the realization that I have been taught a Sunday School lesson in a way that I’ve never thought of before, but these saints make it new for me. A brother offered the invocation in sacrament meeting the other day, a warm and sincere prayer peppered with echoes of an earlier church affiliation (They often say, “Let us pray” when beginning a prayer.) I whispered afterward to Gayle that he had done well, considering we saw him baptized just a month ago. She couldn’t believe it was the same man. “He seems too confident,” she said. But it was.

In priesthood meeting a week ago, we sang a rousing, “Ye Elders of Israel.” I could hardly get through it. Forty six years ago as a missionary in the Northwestern States Mission, we sang that song at the end of every zone conference. Now, these brothers of mine, these Elders of Israel are inviting me to come join with them in seeking out the righteous where ‘ere they may be, in Mafikeng or Polokwane, in Kinshasha or Lubumbashe.


And I rejoice. I praise God for His love and mercy in bringing 240,000 saints thus far in Africa to the full blessings of His plan of happiness, up from 110,000 just ten years ago. The Lord is shining His light on Africa. Gayle and I are blessed to bask in that light.