Reese Family

Here in Georgia we work with 3 main languages. The missionaries learn Georgian at the MTC and most of our members speak this language. Some of our members - especially the youth speak only Georgian. Most of our members also speak Russian with several speaking only Russian. Some of our members speak English with several speaking only English. All the materials that we use are in Russian. We have very few written materials in Georgian. We were very excited when during the summer we finally got 'Preach My Gospel' printed in Georgian. Our church services and classes are done in Georgian or Russian depending on who is in charge! We do have headphones for our English only group so Sacrament Meeting is translated and whenever we speak, we have a translator stand by us and translate into Russian. When we have General Conference, we can get it in English and Russian only. So imagine how excited we were to hear that they were having the Sunday Sessions of General Conference translated into Georgian!!! 2 of the members of our branch did the translating the week before conference and then they read the talks on Sunday while the General Authority was speaking. It was so amazing to be a part of history here in Georgia. They heard the Prophet for the first time in their native language. We took lots of pictures and had them write about their experience to be shared with the Quorum of the 12. We even had an article written on chuch new, lds.org. Here is the picture that was used - I am the photographer, so I am not IN the picture! This was a great step for Georgia - we are hoping to start translation on the Book of Mormon the first of next year. It takes about 5 years to complete - so we are anxious to get started!