Idaho Congregation Becomes First Swahili Ward in the United States

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By Lonni Leavitt-Barker, for the Church News

It’s not often that a sacrament meeting is interrupted with applause. But on a February Sunday in Boise, Idaho, reverent quiet gave way to joyful celebration as a new bishopric was announced — marking the creation of the first Swahili ward in the United States.

For members of the Treasure Valley Ward (Swahili), the moment represented years — if not decades — of faith, sacrifice and divine preparation.

“These men were prepared before this life,” said W. Blake Bybee, who served as president of the Treasure Valley Swahili Branch before it became a ward in the Boise Idaho Stake. “God was simply waiting for His time to place them in these callings.”

The chapel was filled beyond capacity. Women wore colorful dresses and headscarves; men donned bright suits and ties. Translation headsets buzzed softly as each talk was interpreted into Swahili, French or English. In attendance were 177 ward members, 21 current and countless former missionaries who had served the group, along with friends and family. Others joined virtually from Africa, France and across the United States.

“This work felt like something that couldn’t happen — but should,” said Justin Bailey, a high council member assigned to the branch and later the ward. “We are here because God brought a miracle through your faith.”

Just two years earlier, the Swahili branch had begun with 25 African members attending meetings. What followed was a remarkable collective effort. Members across Boise’s Treasure Valley coordinated rides, organized weekly “linger longer” meals and worked together to ensure the group became not just a branch but a family.

Yet the journey was not without challenges.

“For instance, someone suggested we teach the members how to can food,” remembered Bybee, the original branch president. “We said that we could do that, but in a rapidly growing branch we couldn’t devote much time to anything other than the ‘musts.’”

“It’s easy in this work to feel overwhelmed by the needs,” Bailey said. “Early on, we drew a circle on the board — what we can do, what we need to do and what we want to do. At the center was always Jesus Christ and covenant-keeping. When we focused on helping members make and keep covenants, other blessings followed.”

The effort began years earlier in the Boise 13th Ward, led by then-Bishop Elijah Watkins.

“There was one member who attended faithfully every Sunday for years but did not speak English,” recalled President Watkins, now the second counselor in the Boise Idaho Stake presidency. “He loved the Spirit he felt.”

Stake President Ben Boettcher arranged for translation services to be available. He reached out to the Idaho Boise Mission president to ask for missionaries to not only be assigned to serve this little flock but to learn Swahili. Slowly, the group grew — accompanied by what leaders describe as countless miracles.

Eventually, it became clear these brothers and sisters needed more than accommodation within an English-speaking ward. They needed their own leadership, their own space and their own place to become a church family.

In early 2024, Bybee was called as branch president. He and his wife, Erica, immersed themselves in the language and culture, learning Swahili and falling in love with the members they served. During Sunday’s meeting, Erica Bybee shared her testimony in Swahili and added that 90 baptisms had taken place since the branch’s creation.

But the defining moment came with the arrival of two men whose lives and faith had been shaped by extraordinary trials. Two men who were clearly prepared by the Lord; Denis Akulu and Blema Fangamou.

A decade ago, Akulu and his family lived in a refugee camp in Tanzania. An avid reader, he borrowed a copy of the Book of Mormon from a local pastor who admitted he didn’t understand it. Akulu did.

As he read, he felt a growing desire to learn more, but missionaries were not permitted in the camp. Even so, he received several copies of the Book of Mormon and hymnbooks in Swahili. Unable to be baptized, Akulu organized a weekly interest group that met for three years, worshipping and studying with five other families.

“I believed one day I would be baptized and attend the temple,” Akulu said. “I had that hope, that faith.”

Fangamou spent seven years in a refugee camp of 5,000 people, where illness, hunger and hardship were constant.

“I asked myself why I was there,” he said. “The answer in my heart was to serve the Lord.”

He organized a congregation within the camp to bring hope and worked tirelessly to minister to others. One day, he fasted and prayed in the bush, pleading that God would show him the true church if he ever made it to the United States.

His answer came in a dream.

“I saw myself climbing a hill,” Fangamou recalled. “People I didn’t know called me by name and said, ‘Come, Blema. We want to baptize you.’ I saw a valley and a river. Once inside, I saw people happy and smiling. They wore white shirts and neckties.”

The dream came in 2008. Years later, Fangamou was resettled in Boise. Shortly after arriving, someone gave him a Book of Mormon. As he read, he felt the Spirit testify of its truth.

When he went to be baptized, he was surprised the church building wasn’t on a hill — until two days later, when a man helping him move offered to drive him to stake conference.

As they approached the Bogus Basin chapel, Fangamou recognized it immediately.

“I see the hill. I see the building,” he said. “It was exactly what I saw in my dream.”

That dream is now a vibrant, joyous, thriving ward.

On February 8, 2026, Fangamou was called as first counselor in the new Treasure Valley Ward (Swahili) bishopric. Denis Akulu was called as bishop, with Adam Pishl serving as second counselor.

As the names were read, the congregation erupted in cheers, celebrating not just new leaders but the fulfillment of promises made long ago.

“Now is God’s time that the Africans shall receive the word of God. God is a God of miracles. Now we are a ward, and I am so happy,” said Esther Akulu, Bishop Akulu’s wife.

— Lonni Leavitt-Barker is a Church media specialist in the Boise, Idaho, area

Editor’s note: The Treasure Valley Ward (Swahili) is one of nine Swahili congregations in the U.S. and the first to become a ward. Eight Swahili branches meet in New Mexico, Kentucky, Ohio, Utah, Washington, Illinois, Iowa and Twin Falls, Idaho.