A great miracle I had almost forgotten

 On Sunday we were discussing positive and negative effects of social media on the Church.

One brother said, "I joined the Church because I investigated things said in anti-Mormon material."

This reminded me of a missionary "fireside" meeting we attended at the home of our friends Allan and Carolyn Woodruff, near Duffield, Alberta. Carolyn's parents were reporting their missionary experiences in the early 1980s. They said that God had performed a great miracle. 

In the 1960s-and 1970s, the Church had no missionaries in many parts of the world including West Africa. But anti-Mormon meetings in places like Nigeria had made people curious about the Church, and non-members started organizing their own version of the Church, using some Church-published materials including the Book of Mormon. 

When official missionaries were sent there in November 1978, they were told to seek out these non-member congregations, interview the pastor and baptize him if he was ready, ordain him to the priesthood, and help him to baptize his congregation. Instantly we had new branches and districts formed of disciples who were already tried and true in the faith. It was miraculous. 

West Africa continues to be an area of rapid growth of the Church. 

(A more detailed account can be found in the history of the Church in Nigeria in Deseret News 1999-2000 Church Almanac, pages 364-365.)

This happened during my adult life, I was greatly impressed at the time, but it had almost faded from my memory, It makes me wonder what other miracles I have forgotten. It is important to keep a record of them, This is one of the first lessons taught in the Book of Mormon.