E. Dale LeBaron: The Mission President Who Gathered 650 African Miracle Stories (1976–2009)

Elwin Dale LeBaron (1934–2009) was a Canadian Latter-day Saint, a BYU professor of Church history and doctrine, and the president of the South Africa Johannesburg Mission (1976–1979)—the only Latter-day Saint mission on the African continent when the 1978 revelation on the priesthood was announced. After his mission, with funding from BYU's David M. Kennedy Center, he traveled to ten African countries and gathered more than 650 oral histories of African converts from twenty-four nations, taking hundreds of photographs to preserve the beginnings of the Church there. He compiled these into the book 'All Are Alike unto God' and the DVD 'Pioneers of Africa,' and he told the miraculous stories of the coming forth of the Church in Africa in devotionals and articles that have blessed the whole Church. His consecrated labor is a faith-promoting witness of those the Lord raises up to seek out and preserve the testimonies of the faithful, that the works of the Lord among His children in every nation might not be lost.

Fuller account of this event (from "E. Dale LeBaron," Wikipedia):

Elwin Dale LeBaron (October 8, 1934 – December 3, 2009) was a Canadian scholar of the Latter Day Saint movement and a professor of Church History and Doctrine at Brigham Young University (BYU). He is known for his work on the history of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) in Africa, where he served as mission president when the 1978 Revelation on Priesthood was announced and compiled hundreds of interviews from African locals.

LeBaron was born in Taber, Alberta, Canada but grew up in nearby Barnwell, Alberta. As a young man, he served as an LDS missionary in South Africa and Zimbabwe from 1955 to 1958. Receiving his B.A., M.S., and Ed.D. from BYU, LeBaron worked as a teacher and administrator for the Church Educational System in Alberta, Wyoming, and Utah. In 1972 he returned to Africa to organize LDS Seminaries and Institutes of Religion in South Africa. Following that assignment he was called as president of the South Africa Johannesburg Mission from 1976 to 1979. LeBaron was still serving as Mission President when the LDS Church announced the 1978 Revelation on Priesthood, which extended the priesthood to black people; the missionary work under LeBaron expanded dramatically.

Funding was approved through the David M. Kennedy Center for International Studies at BYU for LeBaron to conduct interviews and collect oral histories and other documentation on the account of Africans in the LDS Church. He collected oral history interviews in about ten countries — South Africa, Zimbabwe, Ghana, Nigeria, Zaire, Ciskei, Transkei, Swaziland, and the island nations of Mauritius and Reunion — to preserve knowledge of the beginnings of the LDS Church there. LeBaron collected more than 650 oral histories of African converts from 24 African nations. He gave presentations on the information he gathered and compiled a DVD of his interview experiences entitled Pioneers of Africa. He authored a book, All Are Alike Unto God, on African conversions.