To quote the poet Edgar Guest, “[Strangers] are friends that we some day may meet.” And one valiant Latter-day Saint convert exemplifies that in everything he does, including sharing the gospel.
“Bishop” Aime Miliaté no longer serves as a bishop in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire, but the title has become a nickname.
He worked as a driver for a local cacao company in his hometown until civil war and unrest led him to move to the city of Abidjan in 2004. There, he encountered Latter-day Saint missionaries and learned about the restored gospel.
He was baptized on March 25th, 2005, and his testimony has only continued to grow from there.
“Six months after my baptism, President [Gordon B.] Hinckley invited all the members around the world to read the Book of Mormon. Following President Hinckley’s invitation, my mind began to open, and the message of the Restoration became clearer for me to understand,” Bishop says.
But it was those missionaries’ initial love and interest in him as a person that first piqued his interest.
“My conversion did not begin with the [gospel] teachings. … I was only impressed by the missionaries; I loved their mark of attention towards me.”
And those missionaries probably had no idea how much that “mark of attention” would mean to Bishop. It became a huge focal point in his life and how he now shares the gospel with others.
“I had the desire to one day become a missionary like them,” Bishop says. “Unfortunately, I was already too old to serve a full-time mission. So, I decided to use my gift as a communicator to spread the knowledge I acquired following my conversion.”
Bishop says he invited all his friends and acquaintances to meet with missionaries and come to church with him.
He was later hired as a mission driver for the Côte d’Ivoire Abidjan West Mission, where he became a beloved staff member and, as the mission leaders put it, a “great spirit to have in the office.”
“Bishop is completely friendly and engaging,” Sister London Litchfield, mission leader in the Côte d’Ivoire Abidjan West Mission, shares. “He doesn’t see any boundaries between friendships, which I think is part of what makes him such a great missionary. … Quite frankly, he is an inspiration to us. The missionaries just pray and hope that they get to be in his ward because he’s such an incredible member missionary.”
Since his baptism in 2005, Bishop hasn’t kept count of how many friends and acquaintances he has introduced to the gospel. But several years ago, he set a goal: to help bring three people into the Church every year. And he has done just that—every year, without fail.
This year, he helped teach five people in January alone, so he increased his yearly goal to 10. But it appears he could have aimed higher. As of June, he has helped 13 people join the Church.
He's spoken to many of his family and friends about the gospel already, but Abidjan is a very densely populated city, and his friendly, outgoing nature allows him to strike up a conversation with anyone and everyone—banana vendors, families walking along the streets, or other drivers stuck in traffic with him. And inevitably, his faith in the restored gospel becomes a topic of discussion.
And the one question everyone around him keeps asking: how does he do it?
“I first build a friendship with people I meet in my neighborhood, then as our relationship grows, I introduce them to the gospel.”
Sounds easy enough, right?
“We often think that they’re very difficult conversations to have,” President Wade Litchfield of the Côte d’Ivoire Abidjan West Mission shares. “But they’re not at all scary to him. They’re natural to him. He just personifies what Elder [Dieter F.] Uchtdorf has exhorted us to do in speaking about our religion in ‘natural and normal ways’.”
And Bishop’s advice to young missionaries or anyone for sharing the gospel?
“Don’t be afraid. Show a good example. Be patient and let your love for God and your fellow men be above everything else.”
Like Elder Uchtdorf has said, “If we interact with people with the sole expectation that they soon will don a white jumpsuit and ask for directions to the nearest baptismal font, we’re doing it wrong.
“Fill your heart with love for others. Try to truly see everyone around you as a child of God. … Laugh with them. Rejoice with them. Weep with them. Respect them. Heal, lift, and strengthen them.”
Bishop’s conversations about religion with friends and with strangers—the “friends he may some day meet”—stem from a place of caring. That genuine care for others is just part of his nature. And he may have perfected the most powerful, loving approach to missionary work in putting love, compassion, and a “mark of attention” above all else.
Editor’s note: “Bishop” Aime Miliaté was interviewed with assistance from a translator.
For more stories of faith and inspiring missionary service, check out the articles below.
► She was a Primary president at 13—how one woman learned to ‘have no fear in saying yes’ to God
► Meet the family who’s served in 100 temples (and counting) around the world
