This week, missionaries and leaders in the Sierra Leone Bo Mission expect the number of convert baptisms to exceed 10,000 since the mission began two years ago.
Bo is the second-largest city in Sierra Leone, and the Bo mission covers the southeast portion of the West African nation, having been created from the Sierra Leone Freetown Mission in 2024.
Since the mission was created in the summer of 2024, 9,967 people have been baptized, with 170 people scheduled for baptism this Saturday, Sierra Leone Bo Mission President Scott L. Wyatt said.
In the first year — from summer 2024 to summer 2025 — 2,910 people were baptized, he said. The rest have been since last summer.
In the last two years, the area of the mission has gone from four stakes to six stakes. He expects two more stakes to be created soon and eight more branches in the mission before the end of 2026. Last year, the Church News wrote about 120 people baptized on the same day in the mission.
“There is only one explanation, and that is the people have been prepared to hear the gospel,” President Wyatt said.
During gatherings — where missionaries plan to teach or during meetings on Sundays — people fill the entire space, sitting on the low walls and standing outside the windows and doors to hear. Members of the Church spread the word to others and join in the work.
“I have never met people more friendly than [in] Sierra Leone,” President Wyatt said. The people love to meet those from other countries and they love the missionaries. “When we walk down the streets, everyone wants to talk to us and say hello.”
And everyone believes in God, he said, explaining how the country has tremendous tolerance between the Muslims and the Christians.
“When our missionaries stop someone on the street and just say, ‘Hey, how are you?’ and they introduce themselves, ‘Can we talk about Jesus for a minute?’ People always say ‘yes,’” President Wyatt said.
The young full-time missionaries in the Bo mission come from every inhabited continent, he said. Senior missionary couples are also valuable and more are needed, he added, because they bring knowledge, experience and love to the young missionaries and to the new members of the Church.
The members of the Church are enthusiastic about joining the missionaries in their work. Many young adults are joining the Church and then walking with the missionaries a few days after their baptism. Then a year later, they are ready to serve their own full-time mission.
When they return from their full-time missions, many are soon called to branch and ward leadership positions.
Elder C’arrive Beya, from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, is currently serving in the Njala Branch with his companion, Elder Ty Hatch, from Gilbert, Arizona.
“We are busy every day all day teaching the gospel of Jesus Christ,” Elder Beya wrote to the Church News.
He said the Njala Branch was organized in September 2025. When he came to the area in March 2026, there were 81 members of the branch. Between March and July 2026, 145 people have been baptized, more are preparing to be baptized and sacrament meeting attendance is growing faster than baptisms.
The branch meets in a large community hall while the members wait for a more permanent meetinghouse. After sacrament meeting, the Primary — with 85 children — moves to the back of the hall and the adults move to the front. President Wyatt said the Njala Branch will probably be divided soon.
Elder Beya said life is not easy in Sierra Leone, and the people face many challenges.
“They love God, are humble, and eager to learn. When we teach them the gospel of Jesus Christ, we watch their lives change as they feel hope and peace. Their greatest desire is to share what they know with others,” he said.
Bo Sierra Leone East Stake President Johnnie C. Walters said he believes people are receiving miracles in their lives at this time.
“I have a special feeling to know that my brothers and sisters now have the opportunity to make covenants with the Lord,” he said.
Bo Sierra Leone West Stake President Joseph Mammy has served as a counselor in the Sierra Leone Freetown Mission presidency and as a bishop. In his callings, he has spoken to hundreds of individuals and families about what made them join the Church, he said, and in part it is because of a love of their ancestors and what the restored gospel of Jesus Christ offers.
He said the largest tribe in the Bo coordinating council and in the country is the Mende tribe, which he explained has a tradition of yearly feasts that have been practiced by their ancestors and handed down over the generations.
At the end of the harvest season, families do joint hunting to have enough meat, and all the women in the village cook their food together then carry it to the cemetery. The oldest man in the village and the chief offer prayers and invite their ancestors to eat with them, he said.
“The Mende people love the truth and were in search of that truth for hundreds of years. No church in the southeast of Sierra Leone has told them that there is an ordinance to be performed on behalf of themselves and their ancestors, and not only by feeding them. This knowledge has been shared by members to their families, friends and relatives,” he said.
President Wyatt said the mission did not make any kind of quota or baptism goals; rather they focus on discipleship and conversion of the missionaries themselves.
Said Elder Beya, “We are grateful to see so many people choose for themselves to follow the Savior. It is my joy to be an instrument in God’s hand as I share the light of His gospel with others.”
