Missionary Work Marches Forward in the Kasai Region of DR Congo

The missionary work of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is currently experiencing significant growth throughout the world, this is the result of the commitment of many young people and adults in response to the call of modern prophets and apostles to serve full-time missions.

The DR Congo Kananga Mission, the Church's youngest mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo, continues to expand across several rural areas dispersed across the Kasai region under the leadership of mission leaders President Kapanga and Sister Kapanga.

During the months of December 2023 and January 2024, President and Sister Kapanga visited Latter-day Saints in Tshikapa for the first time, where he conducted the first baptism service after the one held a few months earlier by his predecessor. During his second visit, President Kapanga left full-time missionaries in the town of Tshikapa, where they were assigned to build Zion alongside the Latter-day Saints living in there.

President Kapanga also visited the Latter-day Saints for the first time in Lodja, an area located more than 350 km from Kananga. They held a Sunday school meeting for the purpose of charting a course for the doctrine of Christ which would henceforth be preached there. Elder Loes, assistant to the president, led the discussion on how saints should feel joy in difficult times. This meeting was attended by 29 people, including six members of the Church.

During the week of January 22 to 27, 2024, President Kapanga visited the saints living in the territory of Dibaya, village of Tshimbundu, located about fifty km from the town of Kananga. To reach them the missionaries’ vehicles had to take a circuitous route of more than eighty kilometers passing through the Tshikula Catholic mission because of the impassable road.

Arriving on the evening of January 27, President Kapanga with his wife, accompanied by President Donatien Makolo of the Kananga Stake and Bishop Socrates of the Kabanza Ward as well as the full-time missionaries, were welcomed by the tribal chief of the village of Tshimbundu and to the joy to members of this community who had been waiting all day for the distinguished visitors to arrive.

On Sunday, January 28, a Sacrament meeting was held in a classroom at the Katumba Dikuna Institute, a local Presbyterian school. During this meeting several speakers gave edifying messages to the saints and other guests including tribal chiefs and other leaders of the village.

Sister Kapanga invited the sisters of the church to have the pure love of Christ which is charity by teaching them the slogan and the role of Relief Society in building the home. President Makolo gave his testimony and invited members to fast, pray and visit each other regularly.

President Kapanga spoke to exhort congregation to live the gospel at home. He taught them to establish homes centered on the Gospel and called them to follow Church teachings on self-reliance and home preparedness. During the Sunday school class, Elder Kabasu, assistant to the president, led the discussion in Tshiluba, the local language he learned during his mission. Brother Bapont Ngalamulume, communication director of the Church in Kananga, explained the priorities of the Africa Central Area while urging the members to engage more in self-reliance and preparedness activities, in which agriculture and livestock are large assets.

The tribal chief of Tshimbundu, who attended all meetings, declared, “We are happy that the Church has come to us.”

The saints of Tshimbundu learned about the Church through Brother Timothy, who stayed in Kananga with Brother Bona for a month to learn the gospel and be baptized. On his return he bore witness until today there are 10 priesthood holders including elders and priests in the village who participated in the ordinance of the Sacrament.

Among the members in Tshimbundu were Brother Honoré, over 40 years old, who often traveled to Kananga by bicycle or motorbike to take part in each conference organized by the Kananga Stake. Despite the distance and the difficult road conditions, all the members who accompanied the president on this missionary trip felt the joy of seeing the gospel spread in the rural areas of Kasai.