Visiting far corners
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Before arriving in Nigeria to dedicate the Aba Nigeria Temple, President Gordon B. Hinckley made historic visits to India and Kenya.
He addressed some 600 members of the Church gathered in the Maurya Sheraton Hotel in Delhi, India, bearing powerful testimony of the truth of the work and blessing the people that they would have the necessities of life.
The Aug. 3 visit, the first for a sitting Church president, was one leg of a worldwide tour, during which the Church president visited Russia, Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong, India, Kenya and Nigeria.
Accompanying President Hinckley in India was Elder Daryl H. Garn of the Seventy, president of the Asia Area. Greeting President Hinckley in India were Siri Nair, a Church member who works in the U.S. Embassy and Praveen Beesa, president of the Delhi District.
In his remarks to members, who began filling the meeting hall some 90 minutes before the meeting began, President Hinckley offered a discourse on the Articles of Faith. Also offering remarks were Elder Garn, and Elder William Jackson, Area Seventy.
After India, President Hinckley continued his journey to Africa, stopping for a member meeting Aug. 4 in Nairobi, Kenya, attended by nearly 800 members and held in the Grand Regancy Hotel. Some came from as far away as Dar-es-Salaam, Tanzania, and Kampala, Uganda.
Accompanying President Hinckley in Kenya were Elder Steven E. Snow of the Seventy, president of the Africa Southeast Area, and his wife, Sister Phyllis S. Snow; Elder Joseph W. Sitati, Area Seventy; and President Hesbon Otieno Usi of the Nairobi Kenya Stake.
In his remarks, President Hinckley encouraged those present to do more to retain new converts.
He spoke of the happiness that results from living the gospel and related portions of a letter he received some years ago from a woman in England whose life was changed for the better after joining the Church and living the principles of the gospel.
Her life illustrates "the miracle of this gospel," President Hinckley said, "and your lives have been touched in a similar way. You have had come into your lives the priceless gospel of the Master, restored through the Prophet Joseph Smith."
Continuing, he said: "We can love more and serve better and walk in faith before the Lord."
Bearing his personal witness of the restored gospel, President Hinckley said, "I think this is the last time I will ever visit Africa. I'm so old now that I don't think I can make it again. I simply want to leave my love and my blessing with you, and my testimony of this work.
"Do I know it's true? I want everyone in this hall to realize that you each heard me say to you that I know God, our Eternal Father, lives. I know that He lives. I know that He is a Being of substance. I know that He is the great God of the universe. I know, however, that I am His child and that you are His children and that He will listen to and hear and answer our prayers."
After the benediction, President Hinckley asked the chorister to come back to the stand and direct the audience in singing, "God Be With You Till We Meet Again."
Upon leaving Kenya, the Church president continued to Nigeria, where he dedicated the Aba Nigeria Temple Aug. 7.
