A Simple Playground. A Life Forever Changed.

A Latter-day Saint traveled to Africa to help villagers generate light. He had no idea one little boy would someday help others find the light of Jesus Christ. Seth grew up on the remote island of Aorp in Ghana. His father died when he was young, leaving his mother to raise him and his sisters on her own. Life was difficult. Each morning before school, Seth helped sell kinki, a traditional Ghanian food, to help support his family.

But there was another challenge. The island had no electricity. When the sun went down, so did Seth's opportunity to study. Then when Seth was in primary school, help arrived. A humanitarian organization called Empower Playgrounds came to the island with Latterday Saint volunteer Alan Riser. Allan helped build a merrygoround that generated electricity and he invented a seessaw swing that generated electricity every time children played.

The power charged portable lanterns that families took home each night. For Seth, the playground became more than a place to play. It became a source of light. After helping support his family during the day, he could finally study at night. When the project was finished, Alan returned home. The villagers had affectionately nicknamed him because of a wheelbarrow full of mangoes he once brought.

Neither he nor Seth expected they would ever meet again. Years later, Seth met missionaries from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints through a friend. He embraced the restored gospel, was baptized, and soon decided he wanted to serve a mission. About that same time, Allan returned to Ghana for another Empower Playgrounds project. One Sunday he visited a nearby Latter-day Saint branch far from the island of Alor Pim.

During his testimony he mentioned that people in Ghana used to call him A young man in the congregation suddenly froze. He remembered a man by that name who had come to his island years earlier and installed the playground that brought light to his village. After the meeting, he introduced himself. It was Seth. Allan learned that Seth was preparing to serve a mission. So he helped pay for his passport and some of the supplies he needed before leaving.

Soon Seth received his mission call to Madagascar. He now continues serving the Lord in his home country of Ghana. Seth said, "Whenever I look back at my journey and how everything started, I always say it's the Lord who prepared all this to happen." Alan came to Ghana to help children generate light for their homes. Years later, one of those children dedicated his life to helping others find the light of Christ.

Sometimes the Lord uses simple acts of service to illuminate a path we could never have imagined.