Publishing the Gospel in Slovene

In mid-October 1990, Elders Trent Warner and Jeffrey G. Moore from the Austria Vienna East Mission stayed a few days in the home of Albin Lotrič in Jamnik, Slovenia, while they made preparations for missionaries to begin preaching in Slovenia. “[Lotrič’s] optimistic faith was contagious,” Moore wrote later. “I recall marveling at his love for the Lord and his loyalty to the Church despite its lack of presence in his homeland.” When Moore and his new companion, Nyal Bodily, returned in November to begin preaching in Slovenia, Albin and his girlfriend, Boža Gartner, worked alongside the missionaries to find housing and make contacts, and they began teaching the missionaries Slovene. Lotrič worked late one November evening translating the first missionary discussion into Slovene to help the missionaries.

For many years, Church materials in Slovene were few. Members longed for a day when the Book of Mormon would be available in their language. “When the Book of Mormon comes forth with all its divinity and power,” Albin Lotrič testified, “the gates of heaven will open wide. The Spirit will testify even more mightily to the people of Slovenia that the word of God has once more been revealed to the children of men.”

One evening in 1994, after more than two years of personal disappointment, Mojca Železnikar was alone on her knees crying out to God for help. “Please bring me a book in which I will find certainty,” she prayed in her despair. As she prayed, a peace came over her and she found comfort. Two days later, two young men knocked at her door, offering her a “message of God.” Železnikar believed the message that the missionaries shared. Before the missionaries left, they said, “We have a book.” Over the next week, Železnikar read the Book of Mormon and was convinced that it was true. Within five weeks, she was baptized.

Shortly after her baptism, Železnikar was awoken by a voice declaring, “Wake up for the salvation of souls.” The message was clear to Železnikar: she needed to be prepared to perform an important task. She was soon asked to be part of the team translating the Book of Mormon into Slovene.

In 2002 the Book of Mormon was published in Slovene. “I felt the truth expand before me in clear simplicity and profound purity,” Železnikar recalled after reading the book in Slovene. “The voice of my Creator [spoke] to me in my own language—the language that my mother spoke to me.”