Before the first shovelful of earth was turned on a rainy afternoon for the groundbreaking ceremony for the first meetinghouse in Soweto, residents of this black suburb of Johannesburg were asking how they could join the Church.

Elder Richard P. Lindsay of the Seventy and president of the Africa Area joined on Dec. 1, 1991, with leaders from the Johannesburg South Africa Stake, the Soweto Branch presidency and members at the site for the new meetinghouse."Neighbors watched in amazement as smiling people, black and white, sang together, listened to speakers, and then, in unison, began to shovel dirt with brand new shovels," reported Mary Mostert, Africa Area director of public affairs.

Ambrose Ntseke, a young Soweto Branch member who plans to serve a mission, scurried about taking down names and addresses and handing out Church pamphlets to interested bystanders. When asked how many potential appointments he had made for the missionaries, Ambrose smiled broadly and said, "Many! Many!"

"With the formal ceremony ended, Franz Lekgwati, the first black president of the Soweto Branch from 1985-89, stepped forward to offer the closing prayer," Sister Mostert reported. "When the drizzle turned into a downpour, Deborah Hamilton of Afrikaanse Voortrekker heritage and wife of the first counselor in the Johannesburg stake presidency watched a moment and then stepped forward to hold her umbrella over Brother Lekgwati to keep him from getting wet. It was a small, thoughtful act of service that made hearts rejoice among Soweto members and was viewed with amazement by local citizens. Soweto is a community that has been brutalized by violence, hatred and fear, and has become too dangerous even for public buses to continue to go into. The projected building seems to epitomize hope.

"To a casual observer, the groundbreaking might have looked like a typical happy occasion for Church members. To those who will occupy the building, it is a monument of hope in an environment where fear and despair have permeated the lives of the people."

David J. Barnett, president of the Johannesburg South Africa Stake, described the future meetinghouse as "a significant step in the progress of the Church in South Africa."

Robert Mathebe, branch president, expressed the hope that the building will be the first of many LDS structures in Soweto. "President Spencer W. Kimball promised that one day there would be two wards in Soweto. My goal as branch president is to help the branch grow until it is large enough to divide into more branches."

South Africa's first black Relief Society president, Julia Mavimbela, who joined the Church in 1981, has watched the branch struggle through years of upheaval. "Our minds are turned toward peace," she said. "Sooner or later there will be peace. The chapel that is being built will be a standing monument of hope for the future."

Sister Mostert noted that sometimes a building is more than the sum total of its concrete and steel. "The construction of the first meetinghouse in South Africa's troubled black township of Soweto is more than just another building in the Church's history," she commented.