“I Just Knew That It Had to Be True”
Beginning in the 1970s, Latter-day Saints living in Kenya temporarily held meetings in their homes. A small number of people joined the Church.
In the early 1980s, Gideon Kasue took a job as a waiter in the restaurant of the Hunter Lodge, a tourist hotel near Kiboko (155 kilometers [96 miles] southeast of Nairobi), to support his wife, Esther, and their nine children. The position forced Gideon to live and work in the hotel, nearly 100 kilometers (62 miles) from the family’s home in Kilungu Hills. Karla and Dennis Childs, Latter-day Saints working at a nearby research station, befriended Gideon and his son Benson.
The Childses invited Benson to join them for their home-based church service and gave him a pamphlet with Joseph Smith’s story and a copy of the Book of Mormon. As Benson read the Joseph Smith story, a profound feeling that it was true overwhelmed him and prompted him to do his own research. In the school library, Benson looked up “Mormon” in the Oxford English Dictionary. The definition emphasized the practice of polygamy among early members in a way that cast polygamy in a negative light. Because polygamy was common in Kenya, Benson wasn’t sure why this was a problem.
During his next meeting with the Childses, Benson showed them the definition and asked them to explain. As the Childses explained the Church’s history, Benson felt the same profound feeling confirming the truth he felt earlier. Benson soon shared the Joseph Smith pamphlet with his brother Nickson. “I just knew that it had to be true,” Nickson recalled later. Benson and Nickson began sharing what they had learned with their family and friends.
Many developed a firm conviction in the restored gospel and began asking to be baptized. In the early 1980s, however, the Church was not registered in Kenya and could not perform baptisms, organize branches, or hold regular public meetings.
The Kasue family sought the advice of the attorney general of Kenya, who was also a member of their Kamba tribe. They were told that there was no law against practicing their faith—including baptism—as long as it was done in private. The group grew steadily, with new people attending their private meetings each week.
Gideon Kasue (center) with two of his sons, circa 1991.
As this small group grew, it became increasingly difficult to meet because some local authorities sought to stop their activities. The need to conceal their faith in public became a severe trial for many new converts, who wanted so badly to share the gospel. Members held ongoing fasts and prayed fervently for the Church to be registered in the country. Finally, after more than a decade of petitions, the Church was officially registered in February 1991. A district was organized in Nairobi later that year.