A joyful flood of baptisms is taking place in Mozambique after a two-year pause induced by COVID precautions has now been lifted.
Shortly after the COVID-19 pandemic began, the government implemented rules in Mozambique to help curtail the spread of the disease. Among other precautions, the restrictions prohibited baptisms and other religious ordinances.
As these restrictions continued into the end of 2021, the number of people awaiting baptism into The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints grew.
On April 20, 2022, the president of Mozambique announced that COVID restrictions would be eased, allowing baptisms to take place. Those awaiting baptism were overjoyed with the news.
“Interviews were conducted, baptismal fonts scrubbed and baptismal clothes cleaned in preparations for the first baptisms in Mozambique, set for Saturday, April 23. The first baptism took place at 8 a.m. in Magoanine, where a faithful security guard for the chapel was baptized, after he had cheerfully helped clean and fill the font the day before,” recounts Elder Woodbury, a senior missionary in the Maputo Mozambique Mission.
“Baptisms continued throughout the day and into the evening in 15 different areas of the mission, with a total of 63 people being baptized, limited only by the number of baptismal clothes that were available.”
You can read more incredible stories and experiences from some of these new Church members on the Church’s Africa Newsroom here.
▶ You may also like: Watch: Elder Dube’s conversion story through his narration, Malawi artist’s paintings