Tshiluba Translation of the Book of Mormon Complete

The Church recently completed its Tshiluba translation of the Book of Mormon that can be accessed here. Tshiluba is the primary language spoke in the Kasai region of the Democratic Republic of the Congo - an area that has experienced some of the most impressive growth in the Church. Tshiluba is spoken by approximately 6-7 million people.

Kinyarwanda Translation of the Book of Mormon Complete

The Kinyarwanda translation of the Book of Mormon has been completed and published online. Kinyrwanda is the primary language spoken in Rwanda. The new translation can be accessed here.

Translation of the Book of Mormon, Doctrine and Covenants, and The Pearl of Great Price Announced for Kazakh and Macedonian

The Church recently announced plans to translate the triple combination (e.g. the Book of Mormon, Doctrine and Covenants, and The Pearl of Great Price) into two additional languages that have never had translations of Latter-day Saint scriptures available: Kazakh and Macedonian. The Church reports very few speakers of these languages at present, and the decision to translate scriptures into these languages will serve as a tremendous resource for proselytism efforts and testimony development. There appear to be no more than 30 Macedonian speakers within North Macedonia (FYROM), whereas there appear to be no more than 150 Kazakh speakers in Kazakhstan. The number of speakers of these languages in other countries also appears very small. The Church has appeared to utilize Serbian translations to meet language needs of Macedonian speakers, whereas the Church has mainly used Russian translations to meet the needs of Kazakh speakers. The decision to translate scriptures into these languages may signal renewed interest in the Church translating materials into languages with sizable numbers of speakers but with very few Latter-day Saints. According to Ethnologue.com, there are approximately 13 million Kazakh speakers worldwide and 1.62 million speakers of Macedonian worldwide. The article I referenced at the beginning of this post also contains additional updates regarding translation of scriptures and digitization of scriptures already published in print.

Georgian Translation of The Book of Mormon Completed and Published

The Church has finished and published its Georgian translation of the Book of Mormon. The translation can be found here. The committee to translate the Book of Mormon into Georgian was first established in early 2012. This translation has been in the works for many years and is finally available for members in the two Georgian-speaking branches located in the Republic of Georgia. The new translation will be a valuable tool and resource for proselytism, teaching, and testimony development in the Republic of Georgia. Members have previously relied in Russian translations to study the scriptures. There were 268 members in the Republic of Georgia as of year-end 2017. There are 3.7 million speakers of Georgian worldwide.

There are now 112 languages with a translation of the Book of Mormon.

New Translations of the Book of Mormon and Triple Combinations

The Church announced in a letter from the First Presidency dated October 9th that the Book of Mormon and the Triple Combination (e.g. Book of Mormon, Doctrine and Covenants, and The Pearl of Great Price) will be translated into 34 additional languages. Languages in which the Book of Mormon will be translated include:

• Burmese
• Efik (select passages already available)
• Georgian
• Navajo (select passages already available)
• Pohnpeian (select passages already available)
• Sesotho
• Tshiluba

The letter noted that the Georgian translation of the Book of Mormon is nearing completion.

Languages into which the Church will translate the Triple Combination include:

• American Sign Language
• Afrikaans
• Amharic
• Arabic
• Bislama
• Burmese
• Efik
• Georgian
• Greek
• Hiligaynon 
• Hindi
• Hmong
• Lao
• Lingala
• Malay
• Navajo
• Persian (Farsi)
• Pohnpeian
• Polish
• Serbian
• Sesotho
• Setswana
• Sinhala
• Slovak
• Slovenian
• Tahitian
• Tamil
• Telugu
• Tok Pisin
• Turkish
• Twi
• Urdu
• Yoruba 

 The following languages are nearing completion for Triple Combinations:

• Afrikaans
• Hmong
• Lao
• Malay
• Polish
• Serbian
• Slovak
• Slovenia
• Tamil

Several of these languages have previously had the Doctrine and Covenants and The Pearl of Great Price translated. However, none of these languages have appeared to have had these scriptures translated into a single Triple Combination book.

With these new translations, the Church will have translated select passages or the entire Book of Mormon into 115 languages.

Nepali Translation of the Book of Mormon Completed

The Church has published its Nepali translation of the Book of Mormon. Translation work in Nepali began in May 2010. Currently, there are only two Nepali-speaking branches worldwide, including one branch in Nepal and one branch in Salt Lake City, Utah. There are hundreds of Nepali-speaking Latter-day Saints worldwide who primarily in the United States, Nepal, Europe, and Hong Kong. There are approximately 21 million native speakers of Nepali worldwide. To view the translation, click here. For more information about a recent celebration about the new translation, click here.

Complete Translation of the Book of Mormon into Farsi (Persian) Completed

I received a report from my stake president yesterday in stake conference that the Church has completed the Farsi (Persian) translation of the entire Book of Mormon. The Church initially translated select passages of the Book of Mormon into Farsi in 1983. Although it is unclear when the translation will be published, it appears that it will likely be available by the end of 2015. My stake president also noted that the Church has begun to translate the Doctrine and Covenants and The Pearl of Great Price into Farsi.

Farsi is spoken by over 47 million people worldwide and is the national statutory language of Iran according to ethnologue.com. The Church briefly operated a mission headquartered in Tehran, Iran during the mid to late 1970s. Currently there are thousands of Iranian Latter-day Saints worldwide primarily scattered across Europe and North America. Iranians have been unique among traditionally Muslim peoples in the Middle East as they have exhibited significantly higher receptivity to LDS outreach compared to other ethnolinguistic groups in the region. Currently Farsi-speaking missionaries are assigned to areas of California and Ontario, Canada.

110th Translation of the Book of Mormon Published

The Church recently announced the translation of the Book of Mormon into Kosraean. Unlike many languages which have recently had the entire Book of Mormon translated, there was no previous translation of select passages of the Book of Mormon into Kosraean. Kosraean is the 110th language into which the Church has translated the Book of Mormon. Other translations of the Book of Mormon that have been completed within the past seven years include Malay, Slovak, Serbian, and Yoruba.

A recent article on lds.org also notes that there are plans for the Church to publish three additional new translations of the Book of Mormon and five additional new translations of the triple combination (Book of Mormon, Doctrine and Covenants, and Pearl of Great Price). Likely candidates for a translation of the Book of Mormon include Burmese, Georgian, Kikamba, and Nepali. Likely candidates for a translation of the triple combination include Amharic, Aymara, Hindi (India), Hmong, Kiribati, Marshallese, Slovenian, Telugu, Tswana, Turkish, Xhosa, and Zulu. There also appear many languages with current translations of select passages of the Book of Mormon that are likely to have the entire Book of Mormon translated within the near future including Bengali, Cakchiquel, Chuukese, Efik, Farsi, Hiligaynon, Kuna, Mam, Maya, Navajo, Niuean, Palauan, Pampango, Papiamento, Pohnpeian, Quechua (Bolivia), Quechua (Peru), Quiche, Quichua (Ecuador), Tamil, Tzotzil, and Waray.

Translations of LDS Materials and the Book of Mormon Approved for the Kamba Language

Missionaries serving in Kenya report that the First Presidency has recently approved the translation of basic church materials and the Book of Mormon into Kamba.  Spoken by over four million native speakers, Kamba is currently the language with the 48th most speakers without LDS materials.  At present, the Church has not officially translated any materials into Kamba although senior missionaries reported that local members have made some unofficial translations of the sacrament prayers to facilitate comprehension among elderly members who have difficulty listening to the prayers in English.  The Church has held a strict standard for baptizing new converts in Kenya and several other African nations over the years by requiring members to pass their baptismal interviews in their country's respective national languages.  Within the past couple years, the Church has become more flexible in permitting converts to join the Church despite low levels of competency in English or their national language if it is determined that they will likely remain active.  The decision to translate church materials the scriptures into Kamba is a major development which will likely increase growth and testimony development among many Kamba-speaking Latter-day Saints.

Currently, Kamba-speaking Latter-day Saints are concentrated in the Kilunga Hills which are located approximately 50 miles southeast of Nairobi.  Four branches function in the Kilunga Hills and each have exhibited good convert retention and member activity rates.  One of the most recently organized branches - the Matini Branch - has nearly 300 attend church services at present.  The total number of Kamba-speaking Latter-day Saints may currently number over 1,000.  Prospects appear very favorable for a district to be organized for the four branches in the area as they do not pertain to a stake or district at present.

It is unclear when translations of LDS materials and scriptures will be available in Kamba, but based on the time table for other languages translations of basic materials may be available within the next year and the Book of Mormon may be available by 2015.

108th Book of Mormon Translation in Slovak; Church Growth Developments in the Pacific

The Book of Mormon translated into Slovak

Missionaries report that the Slovak translation of the Book of Mormon has been completed. It is unclear when the translation will be available for distribution, but this marks the first LDS scripture ever translated into the Slovak language and a major development in missionary outreach in this lesser reached European nation. At the end of 2009, there were fewer than 200 members meeting in four branches at least one group. Legal status for the Church was recently obtained. For additional information about the Church in Slovakia and its prospects there, please refer to the Slovakia country profile on cumorah.com.

Full-time missionaries assigned to Tuvalu

For the first time in several years, full-time missionaries have been assigned to work on the small Pacific island nation of Tuvalu. With less than 13,000 inhabitants, Tuvalu has one LDS branch and 134 Latter-day Saints. Initial missionary reports indicate that there are around 65 attending meetings, many of which are not baptized members. The sole companionship assigned to the islands is learning the Tuvaluan language. Compared to other Pacific islands, few have joined the Church. There were 57 Tuvaluans who self-identified as Latter-day Saints on the New Zealand census in 2006. There are no LDS scriptures and only a handful of church materials in Tuavluan.

Second branch created on Christmas Island (Kirimati)

A second branch has been created on remote Christmas Island in eastern Kiribati. The Banana Branch has functioned as a group for at least a couple years under the Christmas Island Branch. A third branch operates just north of the island on Fanning Island. There are around 5,000 inhabitants on Christmas Island. For more information about the Church in Kiribati, please refer to the cumorah.com country profile.

Book of Mormon Translated Into Guarani In Full

According to www.ldscatalog.com, the Book of Mormon was recently translated in full in Guarani. Until now only selections of the Book of Mormon were translated into Guarani, which is an official language in Paraguay along with Spanish. Estimates of the number of Guarani speakers are put at around seven million.

The Church has grown rapidly in Paraguay for the past several years with membership climbing from 47,850 at the end of 2000 to 74,802 at the end of 2008. Congregations increased by 26 during this time period and for the past couple years we have seen very few new congregations created in Paraguay. Hopefully this indicates that many new congregations will be created in the coming year or two, especially considering that the most rapid growth in membership occurred very recently in 2006 and 2007.

New Full Translation of the Book of Mormon

According to www.ldscatalog.com, the Book of Mormon was recently translated in its entirety into Sinhala, a language spoken by 19 million in Sri Lanka. Only selected passages were translated in Sinhala back in 1983. Membership stands at over 1,100 in Sri Lanka. Proselyting missionaries in the country have recently encountered difficulty preaching the Gospel due to government restrictions.

Serbian Book of Mormon Published

The Church recently announced the translation of the Book of Mormon in Serbian is completed and published. This brings the total number of translations of the Book of Mormon to 107. Unfortunately, Serbia was closed to missionary work a couple months ago. There are fewer than 300 members in the country organized in four branches.


I know I haven't elaborated on the Statistical Report for 2007, and I will make some posts in the coming days.

Update on the Growth of the Chruch

I am keeping up with my commitment to provide updates concerning Church growth from around the world.

Number of Translations of the Book of Mormon Reaches 106

Within the past month or so, the Church has finished several translations of the Book of Mormon. The new language in which the Book of Mormon was translated (which has never had an official translation before) was Yoruba, a language spoken by around 25 million people in western Nigeria. This is a much needed tool in this part of the world. Yoruba speaking areas of Nigeria have five missin districts organized in them and two stakes (both located in Lagos). Hopefully the Book of Mormon fully translated into Yoruba will be the stimulus to turn some of these districts into stakes soon.

The other language in which the Book of Mormon was translated in was Urdu, the most widely spoken language in Pakistan. Selections of the Book of Mormon were published in 1988 and now the entire Book of Mormon has been translated. Pakistan is home to one mission district and probably less than a 1,000 members. The Church does not publicly publish information about the Church in Pakistan due to the political climate there. The India New Delhi Mission was just organized a couple months ago and administers to Pakistan.

The Book of Mormon in Mongolian has just been released with footnotes in it. The original translation for the book was published in 2001. The Book of Mormon in Igbo, according to the http://www.ldscatalog.org/ site, is listed as a new item (even though it was translated back in 2000). It was probably either retranslated or footnotes were added.

Although not listed on any of the Church's websites, I have found out that the Book of Mormon translation in Serbian is getting close to completion. As for my personal predictions for new translations of the Book of Mormon to come in the next couple years, Iban, Malay, Burmese, Nivacle, Marathi and various African languages seem quite probable.

New City Open for Missionary Work in Albania

I just found out from a returned missionary that the city of Shkoder, Albania just opened for the preaching of the Gospel a couple months ago. There are four missionaries working in the city. Shkoder is the first city to open in the northern portion of the country.

Elder Uchtdorf Comments on Missionary Work in Africa

The Associated Press wrote an article about the growth of the Church and convert retention. The article is informative, not biased and provides interesting information from Elder Uchtdorf, an apostle of the Church, concerning missionary work in Africa. The article quotes him, stating

"Uchtdorf also said that in areas with fast growth potential, the church must grow "slowly and in a natural, healthy way" so that local congregational leaders are well grounded in doctrine. 'In some parts of Africa, we could baptize full villages,' said Uchtdorf, 66. "We could immediately explode our membership. We're going slowly to have sufficient leadership."

This provides much evidence to contradict the statement made by many critics of my faith that all we are trying to do is add members for numbers' sake. Areas of Africa which Elder Uchtdorf is alluding to probable consist for nations like Mozambique, DR of Congo, Nigeria, Ivory Coast, and Sierra Leone. It is very important for new converts to have capable leaders which are firmly grounded in doctrine and testimony in order to produce greater growth for years to come. The url for this article was http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5g5oVE-Zihw_HRrBEzf1UbVyDSj6gD8UHMTF00

This is all I have for this update for this past month.