Elder Nelson Meets Ghanaian President, Breaks Temple Ground

Elder Russell M. Nelson of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles met with the president of Ghana, John Ageykum Kufuor, on 16 November while in that country to preside at the long-awaited groundbreaking for the Accra Ghana Temple.

Elder Nelson told the Ghanaian president that the Church is engaged in helping its members become better people and better citizens, emphasizing the Church’s interest in strengthening families. He also reviewed some of the humanitarian aid and community improvement projects that the Church has sponsored in Ghana over the past several years in its commitment to the betterment of people’s lives.

President Kufuor invited the Church to contribute in any way that could benefit the country and noted, “The Church has come to stay and is part of this nation now.”

Elder Nelson also visited Ghana to train local leaders. Three of them accompanied him and Elder H. Bruce Stucki of the Seventy, President of the Africa West Area, during their visit to Ghana’s president. They were Elder Emmanuel O. Opare, Area Authority Seventy; President Richard Kwesi Ahadjie of the Christiansborg Ghana Stake; and President Charles Sono-Koree of the Lartebiokorshie Ghana Stake.

Elder Nelson, joined by Elder Stucki and Elder Opare, presided at the 16 November groundbreaking ceremony for the Ghana temple. Civil engineers have been preparing the site for construction since the temple was announced by President Gordon B. Hinckley on 16 February 1998.

At the ceremony, Elder Nelson addressed the hundreds of local members and their friends in attendance, as well as governmental leaders present, including the Honorable Alhaji Aliu Mahama, vice president of the Republic of Ghana.

News cameras roll as Elder Nelson (fourth from right) and other priesthood leaders break ground in Accra for West Africa’s first temple. (Photo by Norman Noorda.)