FILE - The Church Office Building in Salt Lake City, Utah, July 18, 2008. (Tom Smart, Deseret News)
SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — A missionary for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has died in the central African county of Congo.
The Utah-based church said in a news release Tuesday that 21-year-old Hermann Keredjim Mwanken died Monday after a brief illness. Church officials didn’t provide any additional details about the illness.
Mwanken is from Kinshasa, Congo, and had been serving a mission there since November 2017.
Missions are considered a rite of passage for young members of the faith. Men serve for two years, while women go for 18 months.
Church figures show there are about 65,000 missionaries currently.
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