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In 1980 when the Church started to grow
among the Black people in South Africa,
people were already living in segregated areas by their race.
There was an Apartheid law which we were living under.
We lived totally separate worlds as Black and Whites
at that time.
I did not have much association with Whites.
The only Whites that we were seeing in Soweto
were policemen or soldiers.
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In 1978, the Church announced that priesthood
would once again be extended to men of African descent.
This opened the door for Church growth
among Black South Africans.
The 1978 revelation meant that the gospel
of Jesus Christ and the development
of the Church in South Africa was to develop
among other races equally.
There was a lot of violence in South Africa at the time,
but President Kimball said, "Go into all areas.
Go slowly, but go definitely."
Starting in Soweto Township, Church leaders
organized branches in Black areas.
White members were also called to attend and support
these newly formed branches.
So that was a challenge to be called to going to Soweto.
We did not know what we were going to face
and how we would be accepted.
Whites never went into Soweto--never ever.
Having been raised under the Apartheid system,
as a young person I always knew that there
was a difference between Black people and White people.
White people were my enemies.
So when I joined the Church in 1980,
I still joined the Church with that thinking in my mind.
Many people, you know, felt like, "If I go to Soweto,
will I be safe?"
And we assured them, "Yes, you will be safe."
When we first started to serve in Soweto,
I was called as the Primary president.
That was a challenge because the little Black children really
did not know how to respond to Whites in Soweto.
And I would get just these little blank stares.
And, I don't know, I thought, How do I respond to this?
I can't cope with this.
I think the challenge was that the people did not know how
to interact one with another.
Here are people who had grown up separately,
went to separate schools.
Now they go to church and they have to interact and integrate
at church.
And most of us had grown up in an environment where we never
had that kind of integration.
We had a Relief Society social, and the Relief Society
president, she thought it would be a good idea
if we sang the anthem at the beginning
of that meeting, which we did.
But unbeknown to us, that was very
offensive to the Black sisters because of the Apartheid era,
and they never recognized our anthem as their anthem.
And so we were just so mortified that we had offended them.
A change is a very difficult thing,
but with time we get to know each other, and all of a sudden
we become a little bit more tolerant with each other.
I think one of the key and most powerful things
is that the gospel that was taught was the true gospel.
Both Black and White people knew it.
They knew that the gospel was true,
even though the interaction in the church
and so forth may not have been an ideal kind of interaction.
But when somebody was giving a talk or teaching a lesson,
we all agreed on that one.
We agreed on the doctrine.
We agreed on the principles.
We may not have agreed on things that
were happening outside church with politics and other things,
but we agreed on the doctrine.
We shared all sorts of things as Blacks what would be offensive
and as Whites what we'd find offensive,
and how they did certain things, and how we did certain things.
And so it was just this time of learning together.
In 1982, our branch president, who was a white man,
and we were invited to attend a young single adult convention.
We didn't have nice clothes.
Were from the township, but our branch president
wanted to make sure that we looked good at a convention.
Guess what he did?
He went to his wardrobe, got all of his clothes,
he distributed them out to all of us
boys that were going to go to the convention.
We went to the convention.
We came back.
Next Sunday, our branch president
was wearing one of the suits that I was wearing.
That for me really taught me a great lesson
because I could not imagine a White
person wearing the same clothes that had been worn by me.
But there he was.
That really began to change me and began
to help me see White people different than I've ever
seen before.
All the White members in Johannesburg got together,
and they went early on Christmas morning at about 6:00
to the homes of the members in Soweto
and sang Christmas carols to them.
And what happened?
These members came out and also the friends
who weren't members.
And they stood outside, and they said,
"We have never seen it that White people come into our area
to sing Christmas carols"--you know,
peace on earth and goodwill to men.
They were just weeping, and they couldn't believe it
that there was a feeling of love and compassion
between the members from Johannesburg
and the members in Soweto.
So we all needed these experiences--these lived
experiences--that would cause us to change and say, "OK,
so there are people from the township who can come
into our congregation who know the gospel of Jesus Christ,
who can articulate it.
When White members began to see that, all of sudden it changes.
On the other hand, the Black members,
when they see their White brother who
walk into the church and began saying, "My brothers
and sisters."
And when he says that, members of the Church
feel within themselves that this is my brother who is talking.
They say this is our church.
It's our church.
It's not a Black man's church.
It's not a White man's.
This is our church.
The greatest change was that I saw Blacks as not strangers any
longer--as fellow South Africans and fellow friends.
What surprised me was how I changed to love all those
that came to Soweto who opened their hearts to us,
and we in turn opened our hearts to them.
Great opportunities will lie before us,
and we mustn't let fear, we mustn't let violence,
we mustn't let politics, we mustn't
let the bad things of this earth to hold back
the gospel of Jesus Christ.