Trusting in God’s Plan

March 2026

When Aboli Ebissan, from the Ivory Coast, was a junior in high school, he began looking for a church to attend. A close friend introduced him to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and when Ebissan was baptized, it completely changed the direction of his life. He became more consecrated and dedicated his life to the gospel. He wanted to serve a mission as soon as possible, and he began preparing by doing missionary work in his own fam­ily, teaching his parents and younger brother. His brother eventually joined the Church too.

When Ebissan received his call to serve in the Ghana Kumasi Mission, he was excited to continue spreading the gospel message. Even though he did not have a lot of paren­tal support, he knew that he needed and wanted to serve the Lord, and he trusted that the Lord would take care of him. Support from the General Missionary Fund provided just the help he needed. Reflecting on his mission, Ebissan says, “My mission changed me and brought so much joy and peace into my life. I’m grateful I was able to help bring the truth of the gospel to the people I taught.”

Before leaving for his mission, Ebissan was worried about leaving his family because finances were very tight. Ebissan recalls, “At the beginning of my mission, it was a bit difficult because I was thinking about my family back home, especially because my mom was sick. I was thinking about all those difficult times that they were going through. Then I said to myself, ‘This is a one-time experience. The opportunity to serve a full-time teaching mission won’t happen twice in my life, so let me forget about everything and focus on the work and the Lord will take care of everything else.’” This mentality helped him to be a successful missionary.

One hot summer day, Ebissan and his companion saw a man sitting under a mango tree. Ebissan says, “I heard a prompting from the Holy Ghost that we needed to go back and talk with him. We obeyed, and eventually we started teaching this man. He had enormous faith and was so excited to learn about the gospel.”

Everything was going well until a day when the mission­aries dropped by and found that their friend was very sick. “We ended up giving him a blessing,” Ebissan recalls. “The next day we came back and he was healed. It was amazing! This man eventually joined the Church, and he is now a counselor in his branch presidency. He was also able to bring others, including his wife and children, to the gospel.”

The importance of hearing a prompting and obeying it was just one of the valuable lessons Ebissan learned on his mission. His experiences during those two years transformed him, and they have continued to strengthen him since he returned home.

Ebissan now has a family of his own—a wife and two precious children. He is living in Utah and studying business at Ensign College. He is eternally grateful to those who donated to support his missionary service. He says, “I know they worked hard to give that money. I really appreciate their donations. That is the reason why I don’t take anything for granted. The opportunity that I had to serve a mission was a privilege. I am very grateful, and it is such a blessing in my life.”