Emelia Ahadjie | Leading in West Africa with faith, courage, and enthusiasm

Latter-day Saint Women Podcast

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

Religion & Spirituality, Christianity

5 • 670 Ratings

🗓️ 28 October 2020

⏱️ 38 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Emelia Ahadjie was an early convert to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Ghana and the first woman employed by the Church in West Africa. Join us as we talk with Emelia about her conversion story, her vital role during the government “freeze” on Church activity in Ghana in 1989, and how the experience led to her work today as the Church Communication Director in the Africa West Area. Emelia also shares how she and her husband, Richard, have found balance as they’ve raised their six children, pursued careers, and served together to help bring the Church "out of obscurity" in West Africa.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hello and welcome to the Latter-day Saint Women podcast, where we share the legacy of women of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
0:12.0	You'll get to know the faithful women who shaped our past and hear from inspiring women of faith today.
0:18.0	I'm Shailen Back. And I'm Carly Geiman. We are your co-host. And today,
0:23.3	we are so excited to welcome Amelia Ahaji to the podcast, who is joining us remotely from Ghana.
0:30.0	Hi, Amelia. How are you?
0:32.3	Hi. I'm so glad to be with you too.
0:35.3	We're so glad that technology allows us to have this conversation
0:38.8	today and to learn from you and from your experiences. To introduce Amelia quickly, Amelia Ahaji
0:45.8	is the church communication director in the Africa West area, where she is employed full-time
0:51.8	by the church to oversee outreach and relationship building
0:55.1	with media, government, and interfaith opinion leaders in the area.
0:59.2	And she just told us that includes 16 countries in the region, 10 of those countries where the church is active.
1:05.9	Amelia has worked for the church in various capacities since 1988 when she was hired as the first female
1:12.6	employee of the church in the area. And she has a master's degree in governance and leadership.
1:18.3	So Amelia, again, welcome to the podcast. We're so excited to get to chat with you.
1:22.6	Thank you so much for coming to Africa this time.
1:32.8	Of course. We're so lucky. Emmy, to begin, you're a convert to the church, and we would love for you to share your conversion story. You've told us that
1:38.9	growing up, you were quite religious and that you were actually ordained a preacher of another religion as a young
1:45.7	adult. And when Latter-day Saint missionaries started teaching your cousin, you weren't very
1:50.4	interested in listening, but you said your heart changed when you learned about the plan of
1:55.0	salvation. So can you just share more about your conversion to the gospel and why was it that learning about the
2:02.2	plan of salvation had such a big effect on you? Thank you, Charlene. This is a wonderful
	...

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