Meet Elder Thierno Mamoudou Barry (First Missionary to Africa from Thailand or Guinea)

Elder Barry (left) and his companion, Elder Digbeu

Elder Thierono Barry was born in Guinea in 1989 and moved to Thailand in 2013 to live with his uncle who has been there for 20 years.    He was baptized a little over a year ago in Thailand and is the only member of the Church in his family.  He has 2 brothers and 4 sisters - and his entire family are not Christian and they are still in Guinea.  Therefore he speaks Arabic.  However, he also speaks Thai, English and French.  He was called to serve in the Madagascar Antananarivo Mission.

When asked how the missionaries found him, Elder Barry replies that they did not.  He found them.  He went to Church, asked for a Book of Mormon, had the missionaries teach him a lesson, and one month later was baptized.  After he was baptized, the members gave him the desire to serve a mission.  He said it is the best thing that he can do right now because he has a strong testimony of the restored gospel.  He does not know if he is the first missionary from Guinea but said that whether he is or not, it is the Lord's will what happens in life and he is most grateful to have found the Church.

By the way, Guinea, officially the Republic of Guinea, is a country in West Africa just North of Sierra Leone.   Formerly known as French Guinea, it is today sometimes called Guinea-Conakry to distinguish it from its neighbour Guinea-Bissau and Equatorial Guinea.  Its official language is French and today the Church is not yet located in this country.