Excerpt from Missionary Moment: Blacks and the Priesthood, an African Perspective
Elder Lihle Sphelele Mngoma, an African mormon shares this experience while growing up in Durban, South Africa:
In our ward we had a little "house rule". Anybody who either passed,
prepared or blessed the sacrament had to have a suit jacket on-- no
exceptions. Despite the heat and humidity of Durban, South Africa, it
just looked good! Uniformity was key, even in our appearance. And so it
was for many years, even before I was even born. Things were always done
like that in our ward.
Well,
as you may have guessed this all changed. There was a young deacon who
moved into the ward with his family. They were an extremely large family
and had little means. They were as poor as anyone could be in the city
of Durban without actually being homeless. One of the sons was 12 and
wanted so very much to participate. But he did not have the attire that
all the other boys did, and so he sat back the first few Sundays, while
we went about our duties. I am not exactly sure who noticed this, but we
were alerted to the matter, right before the Sunday service was to
start. We felt ashamed for neglecting him, and we didn't know how to
react. We just stood around the sacrament table, the hymn was about to
be sung and people were starting to notice that we hadn't moved. We
looked at each other and without a word, we all just took off our suit
coats (yes there were a few gasps. A 40 year tradition just broken!).
One of the older priests invited the young deacon to come join the rest
of us at the sacrament table, and he was able to come join us and
assist. There we were, with our white shirts and ties, and more
importantly with clean hands and a pure heart,
ready to officiate for the Lord in this ordinance. It was the most
spiritual sacrament meeting ever. I learned again, that this gospel is
for everyone (2 Nephi 26:33), and that a quorum is only a quorum when
all are involved, and no one is left behind.
