Lily Andoh-Kesson: Faith Without a Written Word (Cape Coast, Ghana, 1978)

Lily Andoh-Kesson was a humble pioneer of the Church in Ghana who grew up in poverty and received only part of one year of formal schooling. She bore sixteen children and raised thirteen to maturity. She could not speak or understand English, and she could not read the Book of Mormon or any other Church literature, for none had been translated into her native language, Fante. Yet she prayerfully considered the teachings as they were explained to her and felt deeply that they were true. She was among the first baptized when the missionaries arrived in 1978. When the missionary couples from America did not speak Fante, some early converts who could not understand English returned to their former churches; but when asked why she did not leave also, Sister Andoh-Kesson answered, 'I stayed because I had the feeling that in everything we have to exercise faith in God.' Her great example and love brought twelve of her married children and their families into the Church. Her life is a faith-promoting witness that the Holy Ghost can bear testimony of truth to the humblest heart, even where there is no written word in one's own tongue.

Fuller account of this event (from "Billy Johnson—Ghana," Saints Stories (2024)):

By early 1972, Billy Johnson's congregations in and around Cape Coast, Ghana, had grown to include hundreds of faithful members. Among the most devoted of them was Billy's mother, Matilda. Jacob and Lily Andoh-Kesson and their children, who joined the group soon after Billy's arrival in Cape Coast, were also committed members and friends.

As his congregations grew, Billy had found an old building that had once been used to store cocoa beans. Now the space was filled with benches, a few small chairs and tables, a pulpit, and a long pew against a wall. Some people around Cape Coast mocked Billy and his followers for meeting in the rundown building, calling them "the cocoa-shed church." But the growing number of believers did not mind meeting there, even when rain leaked through holes in the roof and everyone had to bunch together or use umbrellas to stay dry.

Billy did his best to make the humble building welcoming and comfortable. He hung a sign between the two double-door entrances that read "The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons)." A mural of Christ on the cross graced one wall, while a mural on another wall showed the Savior with arms uplifted and the words "Come unto Me" above His head. Pictures of Joseph Smith, the Tabernacle Choir, and other Church scenes dotted the walls, which were painted a light blue.

Lily Andoh-Kesson kept the building clean. She arrived there early in the morning to prepare it for meetings. She saw angels there, she told her daughter Charlotte, and she wanted the angels to have a clean place to be.