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LDS President Russell M. Nelson launches Spanish-language Instagram account

By Genelle Pugmire - | Sep 16, 2021

President Russell M. Nelson during visit to Peru in October 2018. Courtesy Intellectual Reserves.

Years ago, President Russell M. Nelson of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints set out to learn Spanish. That he did. This week, he took that knowledge to the next level.

“On Wednesday, Nelson, launched a new Spanish-language Instagram Account to broaden his reach to Hispanic Latter-day Saints around the world. This is the first Spanish-only social media account by any senior leader,” according to a church statement.

“Years ago, I had the desire to learn the language of my Spanish-speaking brothers and sisters,” President Nelson said in his first Instagram Reel. “Although my Spanish is not perfect, I desire to speak with you in your own language.”

Nelson’s first timeline post reflects on the leader’s visit to Peru on Oct. 20, 2018. As part of his Latin America ministry trip the following year, Nelson and his wife Wendy visited tens of thousands of Latter-day Saints from Latin American countries including Guatemala, Colombia, Ecuador, Argentina and Brazil.

During these trips, and prior to being called as Church President in January 2018, Nelson has consistently shared his testimony of Jesus Christ in the Spanish language, according to church information.

Latter-day Saints who speak Spanish, or are from Spanish-speaking countries, account for the global faith’s second-largest language group.

The LDS Church continues to build on its online and social media presence throughout the world. On Thursday, the church also announced they had combined African news rooms online.

President Russell M. Nelson during visit to Peru in October 2018. Courtesy Intellectual Reserves.

The LDS Church in Africa now has one website for all Church news on the continent: http://news-africa.churchofjesuschrist.org. This site publishes breaking news in English relevant to the entire region. Identical French and Portuguese news websites for Africa will follow, according to the church statement.

The English site merges news for Latter-day Saints and the public from seven websites in the Church’s Africa South, Central and West areas. Those existing country-specific pages now redirect to this new hub for Church news in Africa.

The Africa Newsroom is the second of the Church’s consolidated news websites. The first, created in September 2020 for the faith’s Spanish speakers, is http://noticias.laiglesiadejesucristo.org. These websites are the official voice of the Church in these regions around the world.

There are 666,508 members of the church in Africa with 2,377 congregations, 35 missions, 343 Family History Centers and 4 working temples.

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