In the basement of her home, surrounded by boxes and leather-bound pages, BYU alumna Bailey Kroff is quietly leading a multilingual revolution in scripture study.
Kroff, a returned missionary who served in Vietnam, is the founder of Native Scripture — a small business creating dual-language editions of the Book of Mormon. With side-by-side translations in English and other languages, her editions aim to help readers improve language skills while deepening gospel understanding.
The idea was born out of personal need. After marrying her husband Gib, who served his mission in Brazil, Kroff hoped to find a Portuguese-English Book of Mormon. But no such edition existed.
“I looked everywhere to find this specific side-by-side set of scriptures," Bailey Kroff said. "It just didn’t exist anywhere.”
So, she set out to make one herself.
“I said, ‘This is a cool idea," said Gib Kroff. "If you can get 1,000 people to give you their email addresses, then this is legit, and then we can actually figure out how to make the dual language Book of Mormon.’"
Bailey reached that milestone in six days.
“Every time there was a problem, somebody would just appear and help me,” Bailey Kroff said. “I wouldn’t even say it was luck—I would say it was a miracle.”
Native Scripture is run primarily by Bailey, with behind-the-scenes help from Gib.
“He calls himself my warehouse manager because he hauls all the boxes from upstairs to down here,” Bailey said, gesturing to their home setup.
“I make sure Bailey does the fun stuff—that’s where she belongs, because she’s really good at it—and I get to stay in the weeds and do the less fun stuff,” Gib added.
Native Scripture launched its first preorder on Aug. 1, 2024, and has since released editions in three additional languages.
Future editions are in the works, including German, Japanese, Tagolag and Samoan.
To test the effectiveness of the books, two former missionaries and Missionary Training Center teachers were given a Spanish copy and given a week to study it.
“When I read a verse in both languages, it helps me get more out of it because they phrase things so differently,” said Julia Lustig. “It just gives me new ideas and enhances my scripture study.”
Ethan Clark emphasized the importance of reading in the target language, not just speaking it.
“Number one, I think it just familiarizes the vocabulary,” Clark said. “Number two, reading it helps me think in it more as well.”
For Gib Kroff, Native Scripture is more than a business—it's a calling.
Bailey expressed why she loves Native Scripture so much.
“I’m passionate about reading the Book of Mormon. I’m passionate about reading the Book of Mormon in two languages. I’m passionate about gospel teaching and missionary work. Nothing encompasses all of those things more than Native Scripture for me,” said Bailey Kroff
To vote on the next language for translation, readers can visit Native Scripture’s “language leaderboard” at nativescripture.com.