Mbuyi Nkitabungi
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Mbuyi Nkitabungi (born 1959-10-19) was one of the first persons from the Democratic Republic of the Congo to become a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) and he was the first native of the Democratic Republic of the Congo to become a Mormon missionary.
Nkitabungi was born in Luebo, Kasai Province, Belgian Congo, eight months before Congolese independence. Nkitabungi's father was a wealthy businessman and a polygamist with two wives and fifteen children. His mother was a Presbyterian who took her children to church every Sunday.
In 1969, Nkitabungi's father sent him to live in Belgium, where he attended a private school. In May 1980, Nkitabungi met missionaries from the LDS Church in Brussels. He was baptized a member of the LDS Church on 1980-07-19.
In April 1982, Nkitabungi became a full-time missionary for the LDS Church in the England Birmingham Mission of the church, where he learned to speak English. He was the first missionary from the LDS Church from the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Nkitabungi baptized 24 people in England and returned to Zaire in April 1985. The LDS Church was small in Zaire at the time, and the congregation in Kinshasa met in Nkitabungi's home for a period of time. In 1986, the church received legal status in Zaire and full-time missionaries arrived.
In May 1987, Nkitabungi became the president of the church's Limité Branch in Kinshasa.
Nkitabungi is employed as a French-English translator.
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- E. Dale LeBaron (ed.) (1990). "All are Alike unto God": Fascinating Conversion Stories of African Saints (Salt Lake City, Utah: Bookcraft) pp. 110–115
- 2007 Deseret Morning News Church Almanac (Salt Lake City, Utah: Deseret Morning News, 2006) s.v. "Democratic Republic of the Congo"
