The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints has promised to preserve it’s pioneer baptism site in Nigeria located in Ikot Eyo community, Nsit Ubium local government area of Akwa Ibom State.
The Church with headquarters in Salt Lake City in Utah, United States of America, had in the course of its missionary activities conducted its first baptism of converts in Nigeria in 1978 in a river in Ikot Eyo, Nsit Ubium.
Its Director of Church History Department, Elder Kyle McKay and other General Authorities of the church visited the river to relive the spiritual significance of it’s first baptism site in the country.
Elder McKay and his wife accompanied by Elder Victor Bassey and Elder Adeyinka Ojediran, who is the First Counselor in the Africa West Area Presidency, visited the site recently.
The delegation from the church headquarters were received by the Ikot Eyo Stake President of the church, President William William, members of the church, community leaders including the clan head of Ubium, HRM Etebom Ukpong Udoewa JP.
McKay said his visit to the church’s pioneer baptismal site in Nigeria was significant for the spiritual encouragement and growth of the church in Akwa Ibom state and Nigeria as a whole.
McKay said: “We will continue to cooperate with the local tribes and the local authorities to preserve this place because it is a special place to us and to the people here.
“We feel a special feeling here at this place and among you people and when I say these people I am talking about a group of members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and to many who are not.
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“We may not be of the same church but we are of the same family and I believe that God smiles broadest when all of His children get together and have an experience like this together where we share love, where we share a vision and where we share Jesus Christ.
“We have a monument here and I can say from experience and what I feel here today that surely the Lord is in this place. And this is not the first time the Lord is in this place.
“He was in this place in the 1970s when the baptisms were performed here. He was in this place decades before then when people were writing the church and begging them to come and send missionaries. He has been in this place for centuries.
“The reason why we make monuments like this and keep them is so that we will remember what happened here but most of all so that we will remember God Himself and Jesus Christ whom He sent.
“We remember here with reverence and gratitude for what took place here but not just that. Above all we reverence here because God is in this place”.
The clan head of Ubium, HRM Etebom Ukpong Udoewa JP appreciated the leadership of the church for visiting it’s first baptism site in the country.
HRM Udoewa JP urged the church to restore the aesthetics of the river and make it a site for spiritual tourism.
The event featured traditional displays of different types, music presentations, and the decoration of Elder McKay and his wife in a traditional attire.