The two couples met each other for the first time in the Ivory Coast and started a Sunday School. For Sister Assard, who is German, to leave her family and allow Brother Assard to leave his work as an accomplished mechanical engineer required unusual faith. In the 1980s, Philippe and Lucien felt drawn back to their native African country for the purpose of building the kingdom of God. They joined the Church as young married couples, one in Germany and one in France. The miracle of the Church in the Ivory Coast cannot be told without the names of two couples: Philippe and Annelies Assard and Lucien and Agathe Affoue. It comes by revelation from the Lord to His prophet, signifying a great work to be done and acknowledging the righteousness of the Saints who will treasure and care for His house through generations. The location of a temple is not a convenient geographical decision. Only a few decades ago, who could have imagined temples in Haiti, Thailand, and the Ivory Coast? Three beautiful examples of the Lord’s hand in establishing His kingdom are the temples announced today by President Monson. The prophet Nephi foresaw that in our day there would be “few” members of the Church when compared to the population of the earth but that they would be “upon all the face of the earth.” 11 In 1831, with only 600 members of the Church, the Lord declared, “The keys of the kingdom of God are committed unto man on the earth, and from thence shall the gospel roll forth unto the ends of the earth, as the stone which is cut out of the mountain without hands shall roll forth, until it has filled the whole earth.” 10 “All things were made by him and without him was not any thing made that was made.” 9 As we are spiritually awake and alert, we see His hand across the world and we see His hand in our own personal lives. Under the direction of His Father, He created this world. The Lord declared, “I am able to do mine own work.” 8 We each try to do our part, but He is the grand architect. We marvel as we watch Him open doors we cannot open and perform miracles we can scarcely imagine.” 7īrothers and sisters, seeing and believing the Lord’s miracles in establishing His kingdom on earth can help us see and believe that the Lord’s hand is at work in our own lives as well. But this is the Lord’s work, and He directs it. “In the First Presidency,” he said, “we do everything we can to move this work forward. Monson taught me an important lesson about keeping an eternal point of view.Įighteen years ago while traveling on a train in Switzerland with President Monson, I asked him about his heavy responsibilities. Maxwell once said to me, “If everything is going perfectly for you right now, just wait.”Īlthough the Lord reassures us again and again that we “need not fear,” 6 keeping a clear perspective and seeing beyond this world is not always easy when we are in the midst of trials. The difficulties of some are more severe than those of others, but no one is immune. We rejoice in these days and pray that we will be able to courageously face our struggles and uncertainties. We live in days of wars and rumors of wars, days of natural disasters, days when the world is pulled by confusion and commotion.īut we also live in the glorious time of the Restoration, when the gospel is being taken to all the world-a time when the Lord has promised that He “will raise up … a pure people” 4 and arm them “with righteousness and with the power of God.” 5 We live, brothers and sisters, in the days preceding the Lord’s Second Coming, a time long anticipated by believers through the ages.
His cause is the greatest cause in all the world. We are far from perfect, but we are not casual in our faith.
We have taken His name upon us, and each week as we partake of the sacrament, we pledge that we will remember Him and keep His commandments. “Come, O thou King of Kings!” 3 We are a very large worldwide family of believers, disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ.
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