The Book of Mormon in Africa

In 1985, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints reported that the Church's translation efforts were shifting from Central and South American languages to African and Asian languages. Work was underway to translate the Book of Mormon into Efik (Nigeria), Akan (Ghana), and Zulu and Swahili, among others. It had already been translated into Afrikaans (South Africa) in 1972. Translations were finished in:

Arabic		1986
Fante	Ghana	1999
Shona	Zimbabwe, Zambia, Botswana	1999
Malagasy	Madagasacar	2000
Swahili	much of eastern sub-Saharan Africa	2000
Amharic, East	Ethiopia, Eritrea	2000
Igbo	Nigeria	2000
Xhosa	South Africa	2000
Tswana	Botswana	2003
Zulu	South Africa, Zimbabwe	2003
Lingala	Democratic Republic of the Congo	2004
Twi	Ghana	2005
Yoruba	Nigeria, Benin, Togo	2007

Selections of the Book of Mormon are available in other languages, including:

• Efik (Nigeria) in 1983
• Kisii (Kenya) in 1983

When we were preparing to come here, the Church's catalog listed that they had Joseph Smith's testimony [Shaidar Annabi Yusufu Simit] and the old Gospel Principles manual [Asqui Yatiyawin Yatichawinacapa] available in Hausa (the most often used tongue in this part of Nigeria) but that was it. If we had had 2 more weeks in the States before we came out here, we had planned on ordering 25 of each, but it didn't work out.