“Where Is the Blue Book?”

Gregorio Tchicanda grew up in an interior province of Angola in a Christian family. He studied the Bible and had a strong desire to serve God. When he was nearly 40 years old, he had an experience that prompted him to dedicate his life to religious service. Gregorio had a dream in which a heavenly being asked him to leave the world because He needed Gregorio to serve Him. After this experience, Gregorio attended theological seminary and became a pastor in a local evangelical church. Eventually, he rose within the church hierarchy and was assigned to be the regional supervisor of the church in four provinces.

In May 2009, Gregorio had another dream that changed his spiritual direction. In the dream, Gregorio heard someone call his name. He saw a foreigner and was told that this person would give him a blue book containing the fulness of Christ’s gospel.

Three months later, Celestino Marques, a former district president in Portugal, who was part of an unofficial Latter-day Saint group in Lubango, Angola, drove up to Gregorio’s small farm, hoping to buy onions. As Celestino got out of his car, Gregorio recognized him as the man from his dream. “Where is the blue book?” Gregorio asked.

As it happened, Celestino always kept a copy of the Book of Mormon, which had a blue cover, in the trunk of his car. He gave the book to Gregorio, and they discussed the Book of Mormon and the restored gospel. After Celestino left, Gregorio wondered how he could know whether the things Celestino had told him were true. He sought the Lord in prayer to resolve his questions. “When I prayed to the Lord,” Gregorio recalled, “it was revealed to me that the Church was true.”

Gregorio sought out Celestino and began gospel discussions in the Marqueses’ home. Gregorio and some members from his former evangelical church joined Celestino’s group and asked to be baptized. This became possible when the group in Lubango was formally organized and missionaries were sent to serve there. On May 30, 2010, Gregorio and his wife, Maria, were baptized.

The baptism of the Tchicandas and others strengthened the group, and less than a year later it became a branch, with Celestino as the first branch president. In November 2014, Gregorio and Maria traveled to the Johannesburg South Africa Temple.

“On November 18, I made covenants with my Lord and was sealed to my wife with whom I have lived more than 43 years,” Gregorio recalled. “Today I am grateful to be a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and to hold the holy Melchizedek Priesthood.”