The Telegram That Saved the Mission—and the Biafran War (Nigeria, 1965)

After four years of intense effort to obtain visas for the first mission in black Africa, LaMar Williams was at the embassy in Nigeria when he received a telegram from the First Presidency to discontinue negotiations and return home immediately. Shocked and confused, but obedient, he returned home. President N. Eldon Tanner assured him that the Church would yet go to Nigeria and that they would both live to see it, adding that they did not know why they had called him back, only that it was urgent, and that there was a reason they would know someday. Within three weeks, Africa's most devastating civil war, the Biafran War, exploded in Nigeria, with much of the fighting in the very area where the unbaptized congregations of believers were located; two ambassadors were killed on the steps of the embassy where Brother Williams had received the telegram. Brother Williams then turned over fifteen thousand names of unbaptized African converts to Elders Spencer W. Kimball and Gordon B. Hinckley. This timely recall is a faith-promoting witness that the Lord, who knows the end from the beginning, preserves His servants and His waiting Saints, and brings His promises to pass in His own time and in His own way.

Fuller account of this event (from E. Dale LeBaron, "African Converts Without Baptism," BYU devotional address, 3 November 1998):

Three months later, President McKay called Brother and Sister Williams to preside over the first mission in black Africa, but the Nigerian government refused to issue the necessary visas. This was primarily due to media attacks against the Church because of its position in denying blacks the priesthood, and at this time civil rights was an explosive issue. After four years of intense effort, one day Brother Williams was at the embassy in Nigeria hoping to finally obtain the visas. While there he received a telegram from the First Presidency stating, "Discontinue negotiations in Nigeria and return home immediately." Shocked and confused, but obedient, he returned home (Williams interview, pp. 4, 22–24; also Williams journal, "Nigerian Mission," Church Historical Library, p. 64.4).

Upon his return to Salt Lake City in November 1965, President N. Eldon Tanner assured Brother Williams that the Church would yet go to Nigeria, and they would both live to see it (see Williams journal, p. 64.1). He further said, "We don't know why we called you back. We only know it was urgent. There is a reason, and we will know [what it is someday]" (Williams journal, p. 64.4; also in Williams interview, pp. 4, 22–24).

Within three weeks Africa's most devastating civil war, the Biafran War, exploded in Nigeria, with much of the fighting in the area where the unbaptized congregations of believers were located (see Encyclopedia of Africa South of the Sahara, John Middleton, editor in chief [New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1997], 4:357). Two ambassadors were killed on the steps of the embassy where Brother Williams received the telegram instructing him to return home. Brother and Sister Williams were released from their mission call, and in June 1966 LaMar Williams turned over 15,000 names and addresses of unbaptized African converts to Elders Spencer W. Kimball and Gordon B. Hinckley, both of whom were on the Church Missionary Committee (Williams interview, pp. 7, 20–21, 35).