Anthony Obinna's Temple Dream and Thirteen-Year Wait (Nigeria, late 1960s–1978)

Anthony Obinna was a lifelong seeker of truth in Nigeria, and one of the faithful early pioneers of the Church in Africa. In the late 1960s he had a dream about a beautiful building he had never seen before. Then in 1970 he came across the September 1958 issue of Reader's Digest and an article titled 'The March of the Mormons,' with a picture of the Salt Lake Temple. He recalled: 'It was exactly the same building I had seen in my dreams.' For thirteen years he waited for the Church to be officially established, pleading for baptism. When at last the missionaries arrived, he was the first of many converts baptized, on November 21, 1978, and was set apart as the first branch president in West Africa, declaring, 'The seed of the gospel will grow into a giant tree. The Church in Nigeria will surprise all the world in its growth.' His dream is a faith-promoting witness that the Lord, by revelation and by dreams, prepares His children in every nation to recognize His house and His restored Church when His servants come.