“The Ongoing Restoration,” Ensign, April 2020

The Desires of My Heart (First Vision), by Walter Rane

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This is a wonderful and exciting time to be on earth. We have the blessing of participating in great events happening in the dispensation of the fulness of times, preparatory to the Lord’s Second Coming.1 We get to not only watch these magnificent events unfold but also be part of them.2

We sometimes talk of the Restoration of the gospel as if it happened all at once. Two hundred years ago, the First Vision began the process, but the Restoration did not, of course, end there. The Lord’s work through Joseph Smith and his associates proceeded with translating the Book of Mormon, restoring the priesthood, organizing the Church, sending forth missionaries, building temples, organizing the Relief Society, and so forth. These Restoration events started in 1820 and continued throughout Joseph Smith’s life.

As wonderful as the things are that God revealed through Joseph Smith, the Restoration was not completed in Joseph’s lifetime. Through prophets after him we have received such things as the ongoing development of temple work; additional scriptures; the translation of scripture into many languages; the taking of the gospel throughout the world; the organization of Sunday School, Young Women, Primary, and priesthood quorums; and numerous adjustments to Church organization and procedure.

“We’re witnesses to a process of restoration,” President Russell M. Nelson has said. “If you think the Church has been fully restored, you’re just seeing the beginning. There is much more to come. … Wait till next year. And then the next year. Eat your vitamin pills. Get your rest. It’s going to be exciting.”3

Consistent with President Nelson’s declaration that the Restoration is continuing, we have seen many significant adjustments in the Church since he became its President. Among those are the restructuring of priesthood quorums, ministering replacing home and visiting teaching, and the institution of a home-centered, Church-supported way of studying the gospel.4 More adjustments have happened since then, and more will be coming.

An Example in West Africa My testimony of the ongoing nature of the Restoration was impacted by the five years that I spent serving in the Africa West Area Presidency. Since I was a young man, I have had a testimony of the gospel. But living in Africa, I associated with some of the first West Africans to accept the gospel. I also saw the Church spreading rapidly across the continent, with hundreds of wards and stakes being formed, temples and meetinghouses being filled to overflowing with faithful members, and good women and men embracing, with all of their hearts, the restored gospel. Before my eyes I saw the fulfillment of Joseph Smith’s prophecy that the Church “will fill the world.”5 Two such faithful members, James Ewudzie and Frederick Antwi, assisted me one day in the Accra Ghana Temple. Several years before Latter-day Saint missionaries arrived in Ghana, James had been part of a group of about 1,000 people who used the Book of Mormon and other Church materials in their church services. They prayed for the day that the Church would come to Ghana. He joined with other young men traveling around Ghana and teaching the gospel as found in our materials. Once missionaries arrived in 1978, he was baptized on the first day that Latter-day Saint baptisms were performed in Ghana. Fred Antwi, a pioneer member of the Church in Ghana Early in Fred’s time as a member, he attended the funeral of a relative who was a tribal chief. There he found out that the family plan was to make him the new chief. Knowing that such a position would cause him to do things contrary to his gospel beliefs, he sped away after the burial and turned his back on a position that would have brought him prominence and wealth. Once the Accra Temple was dedicated, both James and Fred traveled over four hours, one way, every week so that they could be temple workers. As I performed ordinances with them, I was overcome with the sense of history that surrounded me. Realizing the Church history in Africa that the two of them represented, I felt like it was akin to having John Taylor or Wilford Woodruff or other early members of the Church with me doing those ordinances. What I saw, experienced, and felt in West Africa was being part of what the Lord told Enoch would happen: “And righteousness will I send down out of heaven; and truth will I send forth out of the earth, to bear testimony of mine Only Begotten; … and righteousness and truth will I cause to sweep the earth as with a flood, to gather out mine elect from the four quarters of the earth” (Moses 7:62). I saw righteousness and truth sweeping across the African continent and the elect being gathered from that part of the world. My testimony of the Restoration was enhanced because I saw that important part of the Restoration happening before my eyes. I also saw something else about the continuing Restoration: a vibrant faith and spiritual energy among the African members. I have heard Elder David A. Bednar of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles say, “Kirtland [where Latter-day Saints lived in the 1830s] is not just in Ohio. It is also in Africa.” Many people are joining the Church in Africa based on their powerful personal spiritual experiences. Those new members bring spiritual energy and a need for further gospel learning. For them the Restoration is continuing in a personal sense. As they learn more and more about the Church, the truths of the gospel continue to unfold to their view. The same is true of all of us as we continue to expand our gospel knowledge.