As the Ghana MTC welcomed its first Elder from the African country of Namibia, the MTC President discovered an amazing connection from the past that linked him with this young man. President Robison and Elder Moroni John Swartbooi both had meet the same person years ago, and half a world apart.
Sixteen years ago, a young woman from Alberta served in the mission that included Namibia. It was then that Sister Renee Richards met Elder Swartbooi, who was just a toddler. She visited his family in 1999, when this picture was taken; Elder Swartbooi is the little boy in the red shirt.
A few years after this picture was taken, Sister Richards was attending a BYU student stake. She meets Brother and Sister Robison, who served in that Stake for about 5 years in the early 2000s.
Namibia
Fast forward to 2015, and Sister Richards is sending that picture of a little boy in a red shirt to Pres. Robison of the Ghana MTC. That little boy is now grown, and has traded his red sweatshirt for a white button-down and a tie. He’s now entering the Ghana MTC, and is the first missionary from Namibia to do so.
It must be extremely fulfilling as an returned missionary to find that a little boy from a family you taught is now a missionary! We send best wishes to the Robisons, Elder Swartbooi, and the Sister missionary he met so long ago.
If you’d like to read more about Pres. Robison’s mission as the Ghana MTC President, visit his blog Ghana MTC,
