“A Great Blessing to the Land and Its Inhabitants”

In October 2011, while serving a full-time mission in South Africa, I received a phone call from Sister Catherine Wood, our mission president’s wife. All merry and bright, she told me that President Thomas S. Monson had just announced the construction of a temple in my home town, Kinshasa. I remember shouting—with joy with tears flowing down my cheeks—in gratitude to the Most High for the blessing of having a temple in my country.

Eight years later, having married and been sealed to Rachel Tshimungu in the Johannesburg South Africa Temple in 2014, I am the father of two children. Together as a family we have witnessed the fulfillment of this great miracle—not only in our country, but also and especially in our own lives. We watched as the temple rose from ground level until, finally, the Kinshasa Democratic Republic of the Congo Temple was dedicated on Sunday, April 14, 2019 by Elder Dale G. Renlund of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles.

My family and I are very blessed for having participated in the events preceding the dedication of the temple. We felt the Spirit of the Lord in abundance. At the temple open house, my mother, Mary Noël Kona Bukasa—currently a less active member of the Church—testified: “This temple is truly a House of God, I felt like I was in paradise.” Our neighbors who also attended the open house, said: “It is a perfect house—as if we were in heaven.”

My callings as Public Affairs Director for the eleven Kinshasa stakes—on the one hand—and as second counselor in the Kinshasa Stake Presidency—on the other hand—have allowed me to have both an external insight (from opinion leaders and media) and an internal one (from Church members) on the temple. “A great blessing to the land and its inhabitants.” From the press conference with journalists from more than 53 Kinshasa television and radio stations, through the open house, the youth devotional, to the temple dedication itself—we have witnessed historical moments. We could feel a heavenly presence.

I testify that the temple is the House of God. I confirm that all countries included within the temple district generally, and the Democratic Republic of Congo in particular, are being exceedingly blessed. Surely, this temple brings a peace to a part of the world where it is really in need.

The Prophet Isaiah saw our day and wrote: “And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the Lord’s house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow unto it.

“And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths” (Isaiah 2:2–3).

I know that through the Atonement of Christ and His restored gospel, we can access all the blessings promised in the holy scriptures. I testify that it is through the ordinances we perform in the holy temple and the associated covenants, that the power of godliness is fully manifest in our lives.

My heart is full of joy and gratitude for this wonderful gift from the Father unto us his living children and those who have preceded us and who are now on the other side of the veil.