As we were about to leave the Mission Office for the day, Elder and Sister Rowberry arrived with Brother Sibusiso Mathe (pronounced "Mot-tay")from the Berea Ward in Durban. They had come to the office to make copies of his SIX YEAR PROJECT of translating the Doctrine and Covenants and the Pearl of Great Price, and ultimately the re-translation of the Book of Mormon into the Zulu language. He had one, and only one, copy of the manuscript that he had worked closely to translate with another individual under the close supervision of a Church translation specialist in Salt Lake City. (See pictures of Brother Mathe holding the title page and a close-up of the title page itself.)
It was fascinating to hear of his experiences in working to achieve correct interpretation using a language which has by far fewer available words than the English language. He also described many of the difficulties faced by them to achieve the same distinctive writing styles of the original authors. It was amazing to listen to his experiences in this overwhelming task. He is very excited to finally send it off to Church headquarters for publication. He is also anxious to finally get these modern day scriptures to his fellow Zulu brothers and sisters. He is confident that this will lead to even greater success in the missionary efforts among the Zulu people here in South Africa. Having the scriptures in their own language will continue to hasten the work in this part of the Lord's Kingdom. "Now is truly the time for Africa...."
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