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Transcript

On June 14, 1989, the government of Ghana banned LDS Church meetings and sent police to lock down meetinghouses. For the next 18 months, Church members were left to keep the Sabbath without being able to go to church.

The freeze actually taught me to know and to understand how important the Sabbath is to God's children and to His Church. At times, we take things for granted. When we were meeting every Sabbath, we were taking things for granted. But when the freeze came, we couldn't meet as brothers and sisters. We didn't know what to do until we had a message from the Brethren, that we can organize our sacrament meetings in our various homes.

During the freeze, our living room became the sacramental hall. I prepared the sacrament and blessed it to my young family. And in a way, that also sanctified our hopes as we sat and sang and blessed the bread and water. The Spirit of the Lord was strong. During those times, after every sacrament meeting, we had to visit with other Church members to hug them, to keep their faith, to encourage them. Our home teacher came to us and taught us that, on every Sunday, he will come and pick us up from his home to his home or we can organize our sacrament meeting there. If this brother could see the importance of the Sabbath and spent all his time only to ensure that the Sabbath is observed, then I need to follow his good example. I want to keep the Sabbath holy. The Lord says that is what really shows the relationship that we have with Him. If we don't respect His day, I don't know how to give my respect to Him.

Our Homes Became the Sacrament Hall: Sabbath Day Worship During the Freeze

Description
In June 1989, Ghana's government banned LDS Church meetings. During the ban, Church members gained a new perspective on Sabbath worship as they met in their own homes for sacrament meeting.
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