Preparing for a Temple and Building Self-Reliance in Mozambique

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By Mary Richards, Church News

When Beira Mozambique Stake President Solomon Malidadi came to the United States this month to drop his daughter off at BYU–Idaho for the new semester, he also spent some time in Utah speaking to youth and school groups.

He talked to them about his efforts to promote self-reliance and he shared some of the growth of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Mozambique.

“My hope is to see that they could take advantage of the opportunities they do have,” he said. “Those that are close by, they are not going to the temple here. I would like to just make them understand it is an opportunity that they do have and to take advantage of it and get to know more of the temple.” 

A temple was announced for Beira in the April 2021 general conference.

“Can you imagine? What a blessing it is going to be for us,” President Malidadi said, explaining that for now, the closest temple for Mozambique members can be upwards of two days’ travel to either the Durban or Johannesburg South Africa temples.

When asked what he wants other Latter-day Saints around the world to know about Mozambique, he said he wants them to know that “the Church is the same.”

“The principles are all the same. What we learn and what we do is the same. What differs is the opportunities.”

For example, people have to walk a while to get to a chapel each Sunday. Some returned missionaries need support or accommodations when they return home. People who attend the temple may not be able to attend again for years.

“If they could visit the temple frequently, that would strengthen their testimonies,” President Malidadi said. “Those are the challenges we do have.”

The gospel of Jesus Christ is quickly growing in Mozambique. As more people are baptized, branches then wards and stakes are created. Hundreds of baptisms occurred in the country in a short period of time as soon as COVID-19 restrictions eased in 2022.

Three stakes have been created in recent years where President Malidadi lives. There are times when they see 20 baptisms a week in Sofola Province.

The meetinghouses fill up quickly with all the new members and their friends attending and they need more facilities for Primary and youth, he said.

See this related story from the Church News archives Miracles in Mozambique

Promoting Self-Reliance in Mozambique

While in Utah, President Malidadi spoke to classes at BYU, UVU and local elementary schools about poverty, humanitarian principles and international development projects.

He and his wife work with a nonprofit organization called Care for Life, which teaches villagers self-reliance.

Care for Life was one of the charity partners at the Light the World Giving Machines in Gilbert, Arizona. People could choose to donate education, hygiene items, garden supplies, immunizations, and building materials for villages in Mozambique to help move families and communities toward self-reliance.

Malidadi shared how through cooperative efforts, groups of villagers pool their money, open small businesses, pay back the money and divide the profits.

“We also encourage families to plant gardens in their backyards so they can be with their families close by. Before that, families used to travel a distance to the fields and leave their children behind,” he said.

A sibling would be left to watch over younger children, so the family gardens project reduces the percentage of children not going to school. The families can eat and sell the produce that they grow — and with the money they earn, parents can buy meat and fish and other things their families need.

The Church in Mozambique

In February 2023, Elder Quentin L. Cook of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles ministered in Mozambique while on assignment in the Africa South Area.

When he spoke at a combined stake conference in Maputo, missionaries and members of the Church invited friends — and they came. Many arrived hours early to have a seat in the hotel ballroom where the meeting was held.

Over the three days that Elder Cook was in the country, young adults, local leaders and missionaries all had a chance to learn and participate in different venues.

In May 2022, Elder Ronald A. Rasband of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles met Mozambique President Filipe Nyusi.

The meeting in Maputo marked the first time an Apostle of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints met with a head of state in Mozambique.

The report about that meeting explained that up to that point, the Church had spent $17 million on humanitarian projects in the country over the past 10 years, including disaster relief, building classrooms and schools, and training farmers in rural areas.

The Church was officially recognized in Mozambique at the beginning of 1996 with the creation of a branch in the nation’s capital city of Maputo. Beira — on the east coast of Mozambique on the Indian Ocean — became home to the country’s second branch in 1999.

More than 18,000 members of the Church in seven stakes reside in Mozambique today.

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