Togo Church History Fair

Members of the Lomé Togo Tokoin and Lomé Togo Bè Stakes celebrated the early Church pioneers of Togo and their shared history as members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints at a multi-stake Church history fair Saturday, the first in the history of Togo.

The event was held at the Tokoin Lome Togo Stake center where over 400 members, friends and local dignitaries gathered to hear the testimonies of some of the first six Togolese saints who were baptized in 1997 and other speakers with music provided by a multi-stake choir.

Traditional Chief, Togbui Yovo and The Honorable Koffi Sodokin, a deputy of the National Assembly of Togo were also in attendance.  Mr. Sodokin said, "I encountered a well-organized Christian community with well-mastered procedures for communicating the holy word. The community seemed to me to be well-knit with the primary goal that unites them, the salvation of the world, and a shared hope that has its foundations in the history of each of its members."

Following the program, dignitaries and attendees toured booths highlighting the temporal and spiritual blessings enjoyed by members of the Church in self-reliance, missionary work, temple and family history work and Seminary and Institute.

Lakougnon Lidao Rodrigue enjoyed the fair with his two friends.

“After the ceremony, I listened to my friends' impressions and realized that what they experienced really had an effect on them as they found out the Church has many resources to help members and friends,” said Rodrigue.

The event was planned with the purpose of strengthening members' testimonies by hearing the early pioneer stories of faith and to provide a venue for them to share their heritage as members with their friends.

Emmanuel Amehouenou, a returned missionary was strengthened as he shared gospel messages and the blessings of church programs with his friends who attended with him.

“The testimony of the members touched a few friends who were there and many of them were interested in genealogy and self-reliance and wanted to know more. They didn't know the church does many things to support members and other people around the world,” said Amehouenou.

Kouegan Anani, Lomé Togo Be Stake President shared the following:

“The review of the history of the pioneers of Togo in correlation with the growth of the Church in Togo, gave a strong emotion to the oldest members who had witnessed these events and a great admiration to the most recent members. Having had the grace to witness almost all this history that began in 1997 (I had joined the group in 1998), I had goosebumps to relive it. I realized with joy that this is exactly the right event to bring the hearts of the pioneers of the Church in Togo back to the hearts of recent members and vice versa. Through this event, I felt the greatness and love of God. My testimony of the truthfulness of this work has crystallized. My faith in the Savior Jesus-Christ is strengthened. I realized that the best heritage of the Church is its compiled history. I felt that I needed to put more effort into participating in the compilation of Church history in our stake.”

The fair was organized by the Church history committees of Lomé Togo Tokoin and Lome Togo Bè stakes chaired by Togo Church history specialist, Gaston Tozo and Africa West Area Francophone Church history supervisor Charles Gbandi.

For more information about the history of the Church in Togo and other countries please visit: https://history.churchofjesuschrist.org/landing/global-histories?lang=eng