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Sister Sunkar Yuffa takes a picture in front of the Accra Ghana Temple with Elder Gregory P. and Sister Emily Ann Rowberry, senior missioinaries who helped her prepare to serve a mission. Sister Yuffa entered the Ghana MTC on August 8, 2024.2024 by Intellectual Reserve, Inc. All rights reserved.This story appears here courtesy of TheChurchNews.com. It is not for use by other media.
By Mary Richards, Church News
The first sister missionary to serve a mission from the West African nation of The Republic of the Gambia entered the Ghana Missionary Training Center in Accra, Ghana, on August 8.
Sister Sunkar Yuffa is assigned to labor in the Nigeria Calabar Mission. She is from Sukuta, Gambia, and her branch — the Banjul Branch — is the first and only branch in the country, having been created in June 2022.
The oldest of nine children, Sister Yuffa was baptized into The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints about two and a half years ago, explained the Church’s Africa Newsroom, and feels that serving the Lord will be an example to her family.
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Sister Sunkar Yuffa, right, poses for a picture with her family in Sukuta, Gambia. She entered the Ghana Missionary Training Center on August 8, 2024.2024 by Intellectual Reserve, Inc. All rights reserved.Her father serves as the branch elders quorum president and her mother was baptized just 11 days before Sister Yuffa entered the Ghana MTC.
Before her mission, she served as a Primary teacher in her branch on Sundays, attended meetings on Saturdays with young single adults, and had missionary preparation lessons with senior missionaries from the Côte d’Ivoire Abidjan West Mission who serve in her branch.
Sister Yuffa said as she read the Book of Mormon, she developed a strong testimony of its truth, along with a firm testimony of the prophets and of the gospel of Jesus Christ.
When asked why she wanted to serve a mission, she responded, “Because it’s the right thing to do.”
The Church’s Journey in Gambia
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President Russell M. Nelson meets Fatoumatta Bah Barrow, first lady of The Republic of The Gambia, in Salt Lake City, on August 17, 2022.2024 by Intellectual Reserve, Inc. All rights reserved.In February 2022, Elder D. Todd Christofferson of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles visited West Africa and met with many government officials in Gambia. It helped pave the way for legal status of the Church in the country.
The month before that, members of the Church’s Africa West Area Presidency attended the inauguration of the country’s president by invitation and gathered with Latter-day Saints in Gambia.
The first Latter-day Saint branch in the Gambia was organized on June 10, 2022, with 14 members. It is part of the Cote d’Ivoire Abidjan West Mission. The Banjul Branch now has around 100 members.
In August 2022, Gambia’s first lady Fatoumata Bah Barrow met with the First Presidency in Salt Lake City and toured Church education and humanitarian sites.
The following August, members of the Church’s Africa West Area Presidency joined with Barrow to celebrate the Church’s donation of 18 water boreholes in villages throughout the country.
In May 2024, the Church donated to the first lady’s foundation to help fund humanitarian efforts focused on health, education and women.
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Members of the Banjul Branch on the day the branch was created in Banjul, Gambia, on June 10, 2022.2024 by Intellectual Reserve, Inc. All rights reserved.Copyright 2024 Deseret News Publishing Company.