Season 3 of the Book of Mormon video series in the Samoan language has been launched by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

President of the Apia Samoa Central Stake, Jason Joseph announced Season 3 of “Vitio o le Tusi a Mamona” in a Facebook post.

President Joseph is Language Supervisor for the Church in Samoa and is among the local voices heard in the Samoan language videos.

He was not available for comment on Friday afternoon.

The first episodes of the Book of Mormon Video Series in Pacific languages were launched about three years ago in September of 2019.

The videos are available on the Church of Jesus Christ – Pacific Area YouTube channel and ChurchOfJesusChrist.org.

In a 5 May, 2021 statement the Church said the series will be made available in 14 non-English languages: Spanish, Portuguese, French, Italian, German, Russian, Korean, Japanese, Cantonese, Mandarin, Tagalog, Cebuano, Tongan and Samoan.

An ancient prophet once taught that the sacred words that are now the Book of Mormon would “be kept and preserved by the hand of the Lord until they should go forth unto every nation, kindred, tongue, and people” (Alma 37:4), the Church said in the statement. 

One video will be launched each week on Wednesday, the first of which was launched on 5 May.

“I think it adds a huge value to being able to really understand the scriptures,” said Liliana Corona-Guerrero, an actress from Oxnard, California, who played King Lamoni’s wife from the Book of Mormon.  

Corona-Guerrero and actors from more than a dozen countries either performed or recorded their voices to bring to life the Christ-centered experiences from the Book of Mormon in what is now the video project’s third season.

“It was beautiful to see Polynesians, Native Americans [...] people from Latin America, from all over, from each tribe and region, and we were all sharing our cultures and our traditions and our love for the Book of Mormon,” she said. “It was so special.”

The most recent episodes, released in English in spring 2020 cover teachings from the sacred text as recorded by prophets in the ancient Americas from approximately 130 BC until AD 421, including Mosiah, Alma and Mormon.

Filming for videos depicting events from the books of 3 Nephi and Ether was delayed due to COVID-19 and will occur in 2021. Episodes detailing events from the books of Helaman, Mormon, Moroni and others will be filmed in 2022. 

There are close to 84,000 members of the Church in the Samoan islands of independent Samoa and American Samoa, according to Church statistics. Both island groups speak the Samoan language.

The release schedule for the new videos is as follows:  

May 5: King Benjamin Addresses His People | Mosiah 1–5 

May 12: Abinadi Testifies of Jesus Christ | Mosiah 11–18 

May 19: Alma the Younger Is Converted unto the Lord | Mosiah 27; Alma 36 

May 26: Alma Preaches the Word of God | Alma 4–7 

June 2: Alma and Amulek Are Delivered by the Power of God | Alma 8–15 

June 9: Ammon Serves and Teaches King Lamoni | Alma 17–19 

June 16: Alma and Amulek Teach about Faith in Jesus Christ | Alma 31–34 

June 23: Alma Counsels His Sons | Alma 36–42 

June 30: Moroni Invites All to Come unto Christ | Mormon 8–9; Moroni 10; Title Page