BYU NewsNet - BYU Graduates Share Their Experiences From Ghana

Women were reminded during the BYU Women's Conference Thursday afternoon that faith is a staple of Latter-day Saint life no matter where they live.

In a presentation entitled "Mormon Pioneers in Ghana," four BYU illustration graduates shared stories of the people they met during a trip to Ghana in 2006. Their trip inspired the artwork that comprised their respective senior projects.

"Ghana is really the shining star of Africa and we are blessed by its light," graduate GayLynn Ribera said.

All of the students that went said the trip was a life-changing experience for them. Each learned what it was like to be a true disciple of Jesus Christ.

"It is not so much one story; it is so much (more) that makes us disciples," said Emmalee Glauser another graduate. "It was (the Ghanaian Saint's) very beings that showed they were disciples of Christ."

This discipleship was a unifying force for the students during their trip. At first, it was difficult for them to see anything other than the differences between them and those they met. After meeting a Ghanaian girl their age, however, their perspectives changed.

"There was something deeper and more profound we shared," Angela Nelson said. "It was our covenants that united us."

In every meeting the four students had with members in Ghana, they were impressed with the deepness of the testimonies and the integral part the gospel was in these members' lives. The students found this to be one of the biggest lessons they could learn from the people they met.

In speaking of one meeting they had with a particular member, Jesse Bushnell said, "It touched me so profoundly that it made me want to follow his example of service."

The idea for this trip came in 2005 when Ribera was looking for a senior project. She had heard the story of Ghanaian Joseph W. B. Johnson, who gained a testimony of the Book of Mormon but waited 14 years before missionaries arrived in Ghana so he could be baptized.

"This story was so meaningful to me that I wanted to meet him," Ribera said.

Though this was the initial inspiration for what they would later accomplish, the students realized that the scope of this project was much bigger than they originally anticipated.

"At the onset of this project, we set out to meet the early pioneers of Ghana" Ribera said, "but I came to realize that there are pioneers there today."