Manti Te'o's Mom Tried To Convert Lennay Kekua To Mormonism Via Text Message

According to USA Today, the latest piecemeal bit to be released in this bizarre saga is the revelation that Ottilia Te'o, Manti's mother, tried to convert Lennay to Mormonism via text message. His family also engaged in bible study with Kekua, via text message, which Te'o alluded to with Jeremy Schaap when discussing the daily scripture sharing activities he, Lennay and his family called SOAP—scripture, observation, application and prayer.

MANTI TE'O: Every day. She would send me a scripture, and we'd do the same thing. And I'd send her a scripture the next day. It was funny because a couple days later, my dad would say to me, what do you think of saying this with the old man, and share spiritual shots and I would say, "Hey, Dad, guess what? Lennay and I are doing something similar called SOAP." And he was like, "Can I join in?" And I said sure. So my dad joins in, and so so does my mom and my sister. So we have this big group going on. This big SOAP group, sending scriptures to each other … observations. I still have them on my phone.

That, reports USA Today, is one of the reasons why Te'o's parents will join him with Katie Couric at an undisclosed time and place this week for the first on-camera interview since we told you about his fake girlfriend. USA Today's source—a person " with knowledge of the planned interview"—says that Te'o has been advised "simply to tell the truth."

Among the motivations for the interview, the person said, is that the family wants to show how the scandal has hurt them, how it wasn't just their son who was fooled, and to talk publicly about the scam so that it doesn't happen to other people.

Why Manti Te'o and family are talking to Katie Couric [USA Today]