The Book of Mormon in Estonian

In 1944, Aino and Mihkel Teemant were living in Tallinn with their two small children. Near the end of World War II, as bombing raids intensified, Aino and Mihkel fled the country in a small fishing boat bound for Sweden, just hours before Soviet forces closed the borders.

In Sweden, Aino and Mihkel joined the Church. In September 1953, Aino dreamed she was back in Estonia with her mother. In the dream, Aino’s mother asked for a translation of the Book of Mormon in Estonian. In the morning, Aino began work on an Estonian translation.

With seven children and frequent moves, Aino had very little time to work on her translation, but she was reminded from time to time that it would be needed. In 1961 her daughter Tiiu’s patriarchal blessing said that she would share the gospel with her people. In the 1980s, President Ezra Taft Benson emphasized Book of Mormon study, inspiring Aino to complete the translation in December 1988.

At the time, Estonia was a Soviet republic without any Latter-day Saints, so the Church had no plans to publish scriptures in Estonian. By the end of 1989, however, missionaries began preaching in Estonia. After extensive revision, the Estonian translation of the Book of Mormon was finally published in 2000.

That same year, Sidney Pehrson, Aino’s grandson, was called to serve as a missionary in Estonia. “Our family’s hopes and dreams were fulfilled that day,” Tiiu, Sidney’s mother, said. “We cried tears of joy.” Another of their sons and Tiiu and her husband also later served as missionaries in Estonia, fulfilling the statement from her patriarchal blessing almost 50 years earlier.