ACCRA, Ghana — Some 30 missionaries from the Ghana Accra Mission helped greet and assist more than 6,000 political and business leaders from throughout the world as they recently converged here for the six-day African-African/American summit.

The missionaries were actively involved in the registration process, press and media office, assisting in workshops, catering events — any place they were needed.

"I did not have the slightest inclination that this would be as favorable a missionary effort as it turned out to be," mission Pres. Larry Bodhaine said later. "During the week our missionaries contributed over 2,400 hours of service to the summit conference. Several countries participating at the summit are French-speaking and we have some bilingual missionaries in our mission who were able to assist in translation.

"Our missionaries' hard work, reliability, effectiveness and contagious smiles touched the hearts of all who came in contact with them. They did not vocally proclaim the gospel, but by their conduct and demeanor I believe the missionaries presented a very positive image of the Church to leaders and representatives from countries throughout the whole continent of Africa. I am confident that future missionary efforts of the Church in all of the countries represented at the conference will be greatly assisted because of the impressions gleaned and favorable comments made of the missionaries."

Attending the event were the presidents of 15 nations in Africa, including Ghana, Sudan, Ivory Coast, Swaziland, Tanzania, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Botswana, Togo, Gabon, The Gambia, Lesotho, Guinea, Benin and Zimbabwe. The countries of Kenya, Zambia and Burundi were represented by vice presidents, and an additional nine countries had top ministers in attendance. The United States sent a government plane with 35 U.S. government officials.

Pres. Bodhaine related that the Church was paid a great compliment during the closing remarks by the summit organizer, the Rev. Leon Sullivan of Phoenix, Ariz. Referring to the LDS Church and its efforts in Africa, he said, "They have done more to help Africa than any church in America."

The LDS Church is no stranger to the Rev. Sullivan. He is founder of an organization based in Phoenix called the International Foundation for Education and Self Help (IFESH), comprised mainly of African Americans, with the specific objective of assisting African countries to improve educational opportunities, health and medical services, and raise the economic conditions from the poverty level that many Africans find themselves in. The African-African/American summit was convened to achieve those objectives and solicit assistance from countries outside of Africa, as well as non-government organizations (NGOs) around the world.

The Rev. Sullivan's organization has been involved in several joint projects with LDS Charities, a humanitarian organization sponsored by the Church.

This is not the first time Latter-day Saints have participated in the summit. Two years ago, the summit was held in Zimbabwe and missionaries assisted and were very helpful then, as well.

Following the recent summit, Stella Dzidzienyo, program director for the summit Secretariat (the conference nerve center), came to the mission office personally and lauded the 14 missionaries who worked under her supervision at the Secretariat. She said the work necessary for the success of the conference simply would not have been accomplished had it not been for the missionaries. By way of appreciation, she presented to each of the missionaries black and white kente cloth (traditional Ghanaian cloth) banners into which was woven the phrase, "THANK YOU." She said she picked the colors to match the missionaries' white shirts and black and white name tags.