News

 Part 3
http://timesandseasons.org/index.php/2009/05/12-questions-for-marvin-perkins-part-three/

DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF THE CONGO 1 May 2009 A new partnership between The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and the Dikembe Mutombo Foundation promises an additional water source for the Biamba Marie Mutombo Hospital and Research Center, which is located in the capital city of Kinshasa

http://www.newsroom.lds.org/ldsnewsroom/eng/news-releases-stories/church-teams-with-biamba-marie-mutombo-hospital

LUPUTA, Democratic Republic of the Congo — 17 April 2009 — Residents of the town of Luputa in Africa’s Democratic Republic of the Congo are celebrating the arrival of clean, fresh water to a region which has known only scarce water from shallow wells since the 1950′s. 

See http://www.ldsmag.com/churchupdate/090421water.html

4 April 2009 – Elder Joseph W. Sitati of Nairobi, Kenya was called as a General Authority of the Church to the First Quorum of the Seventy. He had been serving as president of the Nigeria Calabar Mission when called. Since joining the Church in 1986, Elder Sitati has served in numerous callings, including branch president’s counselor, branch president, district president, mission president’s counselor, stake president, Area Seventy and mission president.

Elder Sitati earned a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Nairobi, a diploma in accounting and finance from the Association of Certified Accountants and has also done course work for an MBA degree. He has worked as an executive for a nongovernmental organization and in several positions with a large oil and gas company. More recently he served as the Church’s international director of public affairs in Africa. Elder Sitati and his wife Gladys Nangoni are the parents of five children.

See http://www.newsroom.lds.org/ldsnewsroom/eng/new-general-authorities-and-auxiliary-leaders-called

He is the first Black African General Authority of the church. Other church leaders of Black African descent have served in the Seventy quoroms. The others were Elder Helvecio Martins from Brazil who served as a General Authority from April 1990 – September 1995 in the Second Quorum of the Seventy, and Elder Elijah Abel, an African American, who was ordained in 1839 to the Third Quorum of the Seventy. 

March 15, 2009 – The Sacramento Bee

http://www.sacbee.com/topstories/story/1700526.html

The Pew Forum has published an extension report on the religious beliefs, practices, and affiliations of African-Americans.

While the U.S. is generally considered a highly religious nation, African-Americans are markedly more religious on a variety of measures than the U.S. population as a whole, including level of affiliation with a religion, attendance at religious services, frequency of prayer and religion’s importance in life.

See A Religious Portrait of African-Americans by The Pew Forum.

“It was really great to see so many people in the community showing up,” said Kristin Scott, 27, of University City. “Everyone is so willing to help each other.”

She and Karen Meyer, 31, were among nearly 20 people with Mormon Helping Hands who decided to spend the day cleaning the street bearing the name of the civil rights leader.

“The leader of a nation asking people to go out and do it makes a big difference in inspiring people,” said Meyer, of St. Louis.

Via: St. Louis area heeds Obama’s call for service (St. Louis Post-Dispatch)

LDS Young Adults in Ghana Participate in Interreligious Dialogue Program

Story and Photos by Elder John Bingham and Sister Jo Bingham — Africa Area West Public Affairs Missionaries

http://www.ldsmag.com/churchupdate/081010ghana.html

Here is an article by Dana King about Gladys Knight and the Saints Unified Voices Choir in St. Louis Missouri for the weekend of September 14, 2008:

http://www.stltoday.com/blogzone/civil-religion/music/2008/09/gladys-knight-and-the-saints-unified-voices-choir-in-st-louis-missouri/#comments

The African American Family History Conference in St. Louis, MO, drew nearly 400 participants. The Church website has a report:

Conference Helps African Americans Connect to Ancestors