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The first missionaries were called to Zaire in 1986, it was part of the International Mission that covered all parts of the world without an organized mission like the Middle East and China. The first missionary couple, the Hutchings, were called as district president of Zaire with permission to give the Melchizedek priesthood and to buy and organize branches without mission leadership being there.
The Hutchings were previously the Geneva Switzerland Mission President and Elder Hutching served as a young missionary in France before his mission was cut short by World War 2.
They arrived in the country February 11, 1986 with Ambassador of the Church David Kennedy and the lawyer for the Church, Oscar McConkie and his wife. The next day they went to the President of Zaire’s house, two hours by plane from Kinshasa, the capital. They were treated to an amazing lunch and dinner.
During the day, President Mboutu wanted to learn more about the Church. Brother McConkie started talking about church history. President Mboutu said “I already know that. My friend when he returned from your country talked steadily for at least two and one half hours about the Mormons until my head was full of Mormons.”
At the end of the day, President Mboutu invited the press including television cameras to record the visit. Following the expose on television, the missionaries were flooded by calls from various pastors and others wishing to learn more about the church.
The Hutchings admit that the publicity caused by the television and radio announcements helped the church gain recognition throughout the country. They had heard of the church on the radio and said that that helped them the whole 2 1/2 years that they were in Congo
There was a man in Kinshasa who had contacted the church 6 years previous who had created a church called the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. The Hutchings discovered him by praying and walking down the street and discovering his church. The church had 75 people in attendance.
The first branch in Zaire was organized September 14, 1986 with an American living in Kinshasa as branch president and two Congolese as counselors.
Their first meeting of the church there were 205 present, 37 were members of the church, the rest were investigators. In May of 1987 the branch was split and in July 1, 1987 Zaire had its own mission with Elder Hutchings called as Mission President.
August 30th 1987, Zaire was dedicated for the preaching of the gospel by Apostle Elder Ashton. It was done in the garden of the Bowcutts, the Americans who were living in Kinshasa. At the time, there were 3 branches with over 500 baptized members of the church in Zaire.
The Hutchins were the only missionaries in the entire country until February 1987, when a couple from Belgium were sent to open the second largest city of Zaire, Lubumbashi, 2,000 miles from Kinshasa. There were three separate groups of people in Lubumbashi writing to the Church to send missionaries to preach to them the gospel. In May, they had their first baptisms and baptized 46 people.
The biggest problem that the missionaries had in Congo in the beginning was from baptizing too many people. They said they could baptize anywhere from 15 to 35 people every two weeks.
The missionaries were so busy teaching people that they couldn’t teach new people unless they had already come to church multiple times and had showed their interest that way.
The Hutchings said they’d set up an appointment with a man and his family and when they’d go there, instead of meeting just him and his family they would have invited the neighbors in. So instead of four or eight people , they would have sixteen. The next week it would be thirty-two. And so on.
The missionaries never tracted or walked around to contact new people. They would visit government offices and introduce themselves and ask them if they would like to hear about a living prophet on the earth today. They would contact office buildings or businesses and people would want to hear about the church because they had heard about the church on TV or the radio. They wanted to know more and were curious.
Talking about the Congolese, President Hutchings said “if we are not careful they’re going to be better gospel scholars than we are here.” Sister Hutching added, “They already are. A good part of them already are.” Brother Hutchings said, “Like I say, there’s not very many of our members that know the Book of Mormon like these people.”
I just want to interject, this is why missionaries going to Congo need to sharpen your scripture skills because you are going to be up against the Congolese who know the scriptures like the back of their hand.
Brother Hutchins said, “I’ve never been so appreciative of the gospel ever before.” When asked why he responded, “Well, when you see humble people people that are starved for religious direction and see how they can accept it, I wonder what we’re doing in the Church back here, where the church is “strong”. We don’t have the same dedication. We’ve lost it somewhere along the line and I wonder, when the final bell is rung, how we will stack up against the people, the new people in the Church who have never had this opportunity, never heard of it. We often joked among the missionaries about sections in the Doctrine and Covenants that said “the field is white all ready to harvest.” It’s the wrong color. If they continue like they have stared out, you can look to Africa as being one of the great stalwart religious organizations of the Church.”
Speaking about their mission service the Hutchings said, “We are very appreciative to have had this wonderful opportunity. Not very many people in the church have ever had this. I mean these are the days of Wilford Woodruff all over again. And I’m just grateful that we were called there to go as the first missionaries of the church to Zaire.”
Personal Reflections
I studied the mission journal of President Hutchings in the L. Tom Perry Special Collections section of the BYU Library. It is not open to public viewing without an appointment.
Through studying the journal of President Hutchings, I have learned that missionaries, especially those going to Congo should keep a detailed journal of everything that goes on in Congo and Cameroon because you will have some very interesting stories to tell after the mission. I also learned a lot about the mundane, temporal things that mission presidents have to deal with, it felt like half of the journal was just him talking about finding a suitable mission home and trying to get church materials to come into the country despite the bureaucracy. A large part was having to deal with headaches concerning the interviews tons of members and dealing with dissatisfied members.
At the time in 1987 it’s seems like they were ordaining many men to the Melchesidek priesthood man who probably hadn’t been members for more than a couple of moths, this is good news as it means that the church will be able to grow fast.
Having learned more about the church in DRC gives me perspective about the missionaries from DRC. Sometimes Congolese elders find it annoying when investigators don’t come to church or when they don’t respect commitments when they ask them to because they are so used in their to people in their country coming to the church on the first demand and then continuing to come until they are baptized. It’s very easy to baptize in DRC but a little harder in Republic of Congo and Cameroon.
