Updated

The two-day Mormon general conference is kicking off in Salt Lake City with the faith's growing international footprint expected to take center stage.

Some 65 countries will be represented among the 100,000 people who are expected gather Saturday and Sunday to hear speeches from church leaders.

It's widely anticipated that at least one of this weekend's speakers will deliver an address in a language other than English for the first time in the history of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Mormon scholars say that will be an important representation of how the church has grown internationally. The number of church members outside the United States surpassed the number within the country in 1997.