Elder Thierry K. Mutombo
General Authority Seventy
Elder Thierry K. Mutombo had a strong testimony of the gospel when he received his mission call as a young man. Baptized with his family when he was 10, he had witnessed the powerful way the gospel changed his family.
But even as he prepared to serve a mission in the Côte d’Ivoire Abidjan Mission, he didn’t have a strong testimony of the Book of Mormon. He had never read it before.
Thierry’s inspired bishop challenged him to read the Book of Mormon every day before leaving on his mission. He even gave Thierry a key to the local church meetinghouse so he could study in peace.
Thierry read every day for three months. By the time he entered the mission field, not only had he gained a strong testimony of the Book of Mormon, but he had also developed study habits that helped him as a missionary.
“The greatest tool we have to bring people to the light of the gospel and gather scattered Israel is the Book of Mormon,” he said.
Thierry Kasuangi Mutombo was born in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo, on January 31, 1976, to Antoine Kasuangi Mutombo and Marie Therese Matsanga Mutombo. He married Tshayi Nathalie Sinda in a civil ceremony on November 29, 2002. They were later sealed in the Johannesburg South Africa Temple on November 19, 2004. They have six children.
Elder Mutombo graduated in 2010 from the University of Cepromad with a degree in business management and in 2012 with a bachelor’s degree in human resources management. He worked for the Church in the Democratic Republic of the Congo as a manager in the Family History and Human Resources Departments and as a supervisor in the Materials Management Department.
At the time of his call as a General Authority Seventy, Elder Mutombo was serving as president of the Maryland Baltimore Mission. Previously he served as a stake president, counselor in a stake presidency, ward mission leader, Sunday School teacher, and executive stake secretary.