President Gordon B. Hinckley's recent journey to Africa made history. He became the first president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to visit West and Central Africa.

Duane Cardall, went along on the trip. And, joins us now for the first of two reports to tell us about it. Duane, how was President Hinckley received?

Extremely well. Latter-day Saints in those lands told me they'd been hoping and praying and dreaming the day would come President Hinckley would visit them. Needless to say, they welcomed him warmly:

Look at the sea of faces: 12-thousand of the 30-thousand Latter-day Saints now living in Nigeria.

((PRESIDENT GORDON B. HINCKLEY, THE CHURCH OF JESUS CHRIST OF LATTER-DAY SAITNS: "I'M ABSOLUTELY AMAZED AT THE GROWTH OF THE CHURCH IN THIS PART OF THE WORLD."))

"Amazed" because just 20-years ago, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints had no official presence in Nigeria, or any other African nation outside of South Africa and what was then Rhodesia. But in June, 1978 the Church announced a revelation extending its priesthood to "all worthy males."

((PRES. HINCKLEY: "WE WERE IN THE TEMPLE IN SALT LAKE CITY, KNEELING BEFORE THE LORD IN PRAYER WHEN THAT MANIFESTATION CAME WHICH BROUGHT THE PRIESTHOOD TO YOU BRETHREN... AND HOW GRATEFUL WE ARE."))

Within months, entire congregations, that had been practicing Mormonism on their own, without official sanction, were baptized by LDS missionaries and the conversions have not stopped:

((KENNETH WOBO OPARA, NIGERIAN GOVERNMENT OFFICIAL: "WE ARE VERY HAPPY FOR THE PROPHET TO COME AND SEE US."))

((IZIBELOKO JACK, NIGERIA: "I WOULD SAY WE ARE THE MOST PRIVILEGED LATTER-DAY SAINTS IN THIS COUNTRY, TO HAVE THE PROPHET WITH US, RIGHT HERE WITH US, WE ARE VERY PRIVILEGED."))

((KALU ICHE KALU, LDS BISHOP: "I NEVER THOUGHT IN MY LIFETIME I WILL EVER SEE THE FACE OF THE PROPHET."))

The same excitement could be found in each nation President Hinckley visited.

(("YOUR EXCELLENCY, THANK YOU VERY MUCH FOR MEETING US..."))

In Ghana, where he met with the country's President.

In Nairobi, where he took time to visit a game park after meeting with Latter-day Saints from Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania.

In Zimbabwe, where members of the white minority have long embraced Mormonism and where blacks now dominate the church's membership.

(("ISN'T THAT WONDERFUL FOR A COMMON PERSON LIKE ME TO SEE A GREAT MAN"))

Finally, he visited South Africa where the church has been established since 1853. But only after 1978 and the proselyting of black, has the church experienced significant growth:

((REPORTER: "YOU'RE NOT A MORMON?" NOMALIZO PITSI: "NOT YET. ON SUNDAY." REPORTER: "SUNDAY, YOU'RE GOING TO BE BAPTIZED?" PITSI: "YA, I'M GONNA BE BAPTIZED ON SUNDAY."))

((PRES. HINCKLEY: "WE'VE BECOME A GREAT FAMILY ACROSS THE EARTH. TEN MILLION STRONG IN 160 NATIONS. WE'RE NO LONGER A SMALL, LITTLE GROUP. WE'RE A GREAT COSMOPOLITAN GROUP. BUT THE MARVELOUS WONDEROUS THING IS, WE'ER ALL ONE."))

Obviously, this is just a brief overview of what took place as President Hinckley maintained an exhaustive schedule. In Ghana, he announced plans to build a temple and tomorrow night at ten, we'll give you a look at the extraordinary reaction that prompted. And in about a month, on April 5th, we'll air an hour-long documentary about the trip.