List of LDS missionary entries by country

The following list indicates when missionaries of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) first preached in the territory of present-day countries.

Date Country (current name and territory) First official church missionary Notes
1830 United States Samuel H. Smith[1] Smith is regarded as the "first missionary" of the LDS Church. He preached in New York in June 1830.
1830 Canada Joseph Smith, Sr. and Don Carlos Smith[1] Although Phineas Young preached in Upper Canada several months before the Smiths, when he did so he was not a member of the church and therefore was not an official missionary of the church. The Smiths preached in villages north of the St. Lawrence River in Upper Canada in September 1830.
1837 United Kingdom Heber C. Kimball and Orson Hyde[1] Kimball and Hyde first preached in Preston, England
1840 Ireland John Taylor, James McGuffie, and William Black[1] A few months before Taylor, McGuffie, and Black arrived in Ireland, Reuben Headlock preached in Belfast, which was part of Ireland at the time but which is now in Northern Ireland in the United Kingdom
1840 Australia William Barratt[1] Barratt was a 17-year-old convert from England whose family emigrated to Australia. Before his departure, he was set apart as a missionary to Australia.
1841 Netherlands Orson Hyde[1] Hyde spent a week in Rotterdam and Amsterdam preaching to rabbis.
1841 Germany Orson Hyde[1] A British church member named James Howells preached in Germany in 1840, but he was not an official missionary of the church.
1841 Turkey Orson Hyde[1] Hyde preached in Constantinople.
1841 Israel/Palestine Orson Hyde[1] Hyde preached in Jerusalem and dedicated Palestine for the return of the Jews.
1844 French Polynesia Addison Pratt, Noah Rogers, and Benjamin Franklin Grouard[1] Preached first in Tubuai. Preached in Tahitian; first official church missionaries to preach in a language other than English.
1848 Channel Islands
1849 France William Howells[1]
1850 Denmark Erastus Snow, Peter O. Hansen, John E. Forsgren, and George P. Dykes[1] First preached in Copenhagen
1850 Italy Lorenzo Snow, Joseph Toronto, and Thomas Stenhouse[1] First preached in Genoa
1850 Sweden John E. Forsgren[1]
1850 Switzerland Thomas Stenhouse and Lorenzo Snow[1] First preached in Geneva
1851 Norway Hans F. Petersen[1] Petersen was one of the first converts baptized in Denmark
1851 Iceland Gudmund Gudmundson and Thorarinn Thorason[1] Gudmundson and Torason joined the church in Denmark and were sent back to their native Iceland as missionaries.
1851 India Joseph Richards[1] Church members Benjamin Richey and George Barber preached in India in 1849, but they were not official missionaries of the church.
1851 Chile Parley P. Pratt, Phoebe Pratt and Rufus C. Allen[1] Phoebe was one of Parley's plural wives.
1852 Malta Lorenzo Snow and Jabez Woodard[1]
1853 South Africa Jesse Haven, Leonard L. Smith, and William H. Walker[1] Preached first in Cape Town. In 1852, Joseph Richards spent nearly a month in Cape Town on his way home from his assigned mission in India. He distributed some tracts and preached a few sermons. Haven, Smith, and Walker were the first missionaries specifically assigned to South Africa.
1853 Hong Kong Hosea Stout, James Lewis, and Chapman Duncan[1] The missionaries were called to preach in China, but conditions allowed them to only preach in Hong Kong, which was a British colony at the time.
1853 Jamaica Darwin Richardson, Aaron F. Fan, Jesse Turpin, and A. B. Lambson[1]
1853 Sri Lanka Chauncey W. West and Benjamin F. Dewey[1]
1854 New Zealand Augustus Farnham, William Cooke, and Thomas Holder[1] Preached first in Auckland, Wellington, and Nelson
1854 Thailand Elam Luddington[1] Preached first in Bangkok.
1856 Mauritius George Kershaw[1]
1863 Samoa Kimo Pelia and Samuela Manoa[1]
1865 Austria Orson Pratt and William W. Ritter[1]
1876 Mexico Daniel Webster Jones and Ammon N. Tenney[1]
1876 Finland Carl A. Sundstrom and John E. Sundstrom[1] Preached first in Vaasa.
1884 Czech Republic Thomas Biesinger[1] Preached in Prague.
1885 Hungary Thomas Biesinger and Paul Hammer[1] Preached in Budapest.
1888 Belgium Mischa Markow[1] Preached in Antwerp.
1891 Tonga Brigham Smoot and Alva J. Butler[2][3] Met with and granted permission from King George Tupou I before preaching.
1895 Russia August Höglund[1] Preached in St. Petersburg.
1898 Syria
1899 Greece Ferdinand F. Hintze[1]
1899 Serbia Mischa Markow[1] Preached in Belgrade.
1899 Croatia Mischa Markow[1]
1899 Romania Mischa Markow[1]
1899 Cook Islands Osborne J. P. Widtsoe and Mervin Davis[1] preached first in Rarotonga
1900 Bulgaria Mischa Markow[1]
1901 Japan Heber J. Grant, Horace S. Ensign, Louis A. Kelsch, and Alma O. Taylor[1]
1903 Latvia Mischa Markow[1] Preached in Riga.
1925 Argentina Rulon S. Wells and Rey Pratt[1] Preached first in Buenos Aires. Wells preached in German and Pratt preached in Spanish.
1928 Brazil Rheinhold Stoof, William F. Heinz, and Emil Schindler[1] Preaching began among German speakers.
1929 Slovakia Arthur Gaeth[1] Gaeth was the first mission president of the Czechoslovakia Mission. Thomas Biesinger had previously preached within Czechoslovakia, but only in the current territory of the Czech Republic.
1930 Zimbabwe George C. Maw, Vern D. Greene, and Bertram C. Cutforth[1]
1946 Costa Rica Arwell L. Pierce, Robert B. Miller, and David D. Lingard[1]
1947 Guatemala Seth G. Mattice, Earl E. Hansen, Robert B. Miller, and David D. Lingard[1]
1947 Uruguay Frederick S. Williams[1]
1949 El Salvador Glenn W. Skousen and Omer Farnsworth[1]
1950 Paraguay Frederick S. Williams, Sister Williams and William S. Farnsworth[1] The first baptism was performed by Samuel J. Skousen, a former missionary in Argentina who was then working as the military attache to the United States Embassy in Paraguay, he baptized Carlos Alerto Rodriguez, having previously been authorized to do so by the First Presidency. Williams was president of the Argentine Mission when he went with his wife and Elder Farnsworth to begin missionary work in Paraguay. Three additional missionaries, Keith J. Morris, Norval C. Jesperson and Daryl L. Anderson were sent after President Williams had determined that the government would allow missionary work to proceed.
1952 Honduras James T. Thorup and George W. Allen[1]
1952 Niue Thayne Christensen[1] Fritz Bunge-Kruger and his family arrived earlier in 1952 and traveled about the island doing missionary work, but none of the members of the family were official church missionaries
1953 Nicaragua Manuel Arias and Archie R. Mortensen[1]
1954 Fiji Boyd L. Harris and Sheldon L. Abbott[1]
1954 South Korea Richard L. Detton and Don G. Powell[1]
1964 Bolivia Sterling Nicolayson was President of the Andes Mission; he met with American expatriate members in Bolivia in October to November. Missionaries under him arrived in late November and baptized their first covert, Victor Walter Vallejos, just before Christmas.[1] In 1962 Norval Jesperson, who had been among the first six missionaries in Paraguay, became the director of the American-Bolivian Center in Cochabamba. He shared the gospel with several people and baptized Maria van Gemerfen.
1956 Peru Darwin Thomas, Edward T. Hall, Donald L. Hokanson, Shirrel M. Plowman[1]
1956 Taiwan Weldon J. Kitchen, Keith Madsen, Duane W. Dean, and Melvin C. Fish[1]
1957 Guam
1961 Philippines Ray Goodson, Harry Murray, Kent Lowe, and Nestor Ledesma[1]
1963 Luxembourg Hyrum M. Smith and Gerald E. Malmrose[1]
1964 Puerto Rico Verl Tolbert and Dwight K. Hunter The first baptisms of Puerto Ricans in Puerto Rico had occurred May 7, 1959 when Cristina Burk and Irma Haws, both of whom were married to American Mormons, were baptized. Tolbert and Hunter mainly worked with US military personnel in Puerto Rico, although they did baptize Becky Farticelli, the first Puerto Rican convert who did not have familial connections to the U.S. mainland. Steven Johnson and Craig Van Tassell in 1969 were the first missionaries in Puerto Rico to preach in Spanish.
1964 Macau Darryl Thomander and Gilbert Montano[1]
1965 Ecuador Craig Carpenter, Bryant R. Gold, Lindon Robinson, and Paul O. Allen[1]
1965 Panama Ted E. Brewerton
1966 Colombia Randall Harmsen and Jerry Broome[1] Preached first in Bogotá.
1966 Bermuda
1967 Venezuela Ted E. Brewerton, Floyd Baum, Neil Gruwell, David Bell, and Fred Podlesny[1]
1968 Singapore Kim A. Shipley, Joel Richards III, Rhett T. Bake and Melvin D. Shurtz[1]
1968 New Caledonia Harold Richards and Jeannine Richards[1]
1970 Spain Clark Hinckley and a few others.[4]
1970 Indonesia Frank Willard, Dale Storer, Robert Meier, Ross Marchant, Greg Hawker, and Larry Hunt[1]
1972 Kiribati Eb L. Davis[1]
1972 Malaysia Elam Luddington had preached on the island of Penang in 1854.[1] Anthony Lim, the first Malaysian baptized in Malaysia, was baptized on December 3, 1972.
1973 Vietnam Colin B. Van Orman, James L. Chrisensen, David T. Posey, and Richard C. Holloman[1]
1974 Portugal William Grant Bangerter[1]
1975 Slovenia Neil D. Schaerrer[1]
1975 Vanuatu Asaeli Mokofisi and Peni Malohifo’ou (of Tonga) and Brett Edward Olsen and Rodvern Lowry (of Canada)[1]
1975 Northern Mariana Islands Jeff Frame and Callis Carlton[1]
1975 Iran Kent Bowman, Randy Clark, Kerry Riley, and Derrin Watson
1976 Micronesia George L. Mortensen and Aldric Porter[1] Preached first on Pohnpei.
1977 Marshall Islands William Wardel and Steven Cooper[1]
1977 Poland Matthew and Marion Ciembronowicz[5]
1977 Trinidad and Tobago Chris Doty, Doug Mathews, Randy Clark, and David Roos[1]
1978 Dominican Republic John A. Davis and Ada Davis[1] Latter-day Saints Eddie Amparo and Mercedes Amparo preached prior to 1978, but they were not official missionaries of the church.
1978 Ghana Edwin Q. "Ted" Cannon, Janath Cannon, Rendell N. Mabey, Rachel Mabey[1] Billy Johnson and others had shared the Book of Mormon with many people in Ghana and even been recognized as The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints by the government in 1968, but none of these people had been baptized. Immediately after the June 1978 Revelation on Priesthood, Ted Cannon, and Merrill J. Bateman had made a short fact-finding trip to Ghana and Nigeria where they laid the final ground-work for the entry of missionaries a few months later. The missions of the Cannons and the Mabeys resulted in the baptism of several hundred people, most of whom were among those prepared by Johnson and his associates.
1978 Nigeria Edwin Q. "Ted" Cannon, Janath Cannon, Rendell N. Mabey, Rachel Mabey[1] See note on Ghana, above. In Nigeria there had been others who set up unofficial congregations of the LDS Church, such as Anthony Obina.
1978 Suriname John Limburg and Beverly Limburg[1]
1978 Palau Ron Brown and Stanton Akana[1]
1978 United States Virgin Islands
1978 Curaçao
1979 Réunion
1980 Belize Samuel Flores and Robert Henke[1]
1980 Haiti Glenn E. Stringham[1]
1980 Papua New Guinea L. Douglas Johnson and Eva Johnson[1]
1980 St. Vincent and the Grenadines Steven B. Wooley and Terry Williams[1]
1983 St. Lucia Todd Hardy, Paul Jackson, Jay Schroeder, and Marty Harris[1]
1983 Martinique Kenneth Zabriskie[1]
1984 St. Kitts and Nevis Douglas Myers and Robert J. Molina[1]
1984 Antigua and Barbuda Ralph Tate and Aileen Tate[1]
1984 Nauru Joseph B. Keeler[1]
1984 Tuvalu Joseph B. Keeler, Glen Cornwall, and Shirley Cornwall[1]
1984 Guadeloupe
1985 Grenada Robert W. Hoffmaster and Leonard G. Gill[1]
1985 Cayman Islands
1986 Democratic Republic of the Congo R. Bay Hutchings and Jean Hutchings[1]
1987 Swaziland Kenneth Edwards and Betty Edwards[1]
1987 Liberia J. Duffy Palmer and Jacelyn Palmer[1]
1987 Aruba Clay Jorgensen and Julio Gonzalez[1]
1988 Guyana Benjamin Hudson and Ruth Hudson[1]
1988 Cape Verde Marion K. Hamblin, Christopher Lee, and Ken Margetts[1]
1988 Côte d'Ivoire Barnard S. Silver and Cherry Silver[1]
1988 Sierra Leone
1989 Lesotho Marc Modersitzki and Bradley Saunderson[1]
1989 Cyprus James O. Henrie and Evelyn H. Henrie[1]
1989 French Guiana
1990 Botswana R. J. Stone[1]
1990 Namibia
1990 Uganda Lark Washburn and Arlea Washburn[1]
1990 Estonia Gary L. Browning[1] Browning was the president of the Finland Helsinki East Mission, which had jurisdiction over Estonia.
1991 Ukraine Gary L. Browning[1] Browning was the president of the Finland Helsinki East Mission, which had jurisdiction over Ukraine.
1991 Kenya
1991 Republic of Congo
1992 Mongolia Kenneth H. Beesley and Donna Beesley[1]
1992 Malawi James Griggs and Diane Griggs[1]
1992 Tanzania
1992 Albania
1992 Lithuania Gary L. Browning; Robert A. Rees and Ruth Rees[1] Browning was president of the Helsinki Finland East Mission, which had jurisdiction over Lithuania. The Rees were the first missionaries assigned to preach in Lithuania.
1993 Angola
1993 Cameroon
1993 Central African Republic "a French missionary couple"[1]
1993 Ethiopia Eugene Hilton and Ruth Hilton[1]
1993 Madagascar
1993 Pakistan
1993 Belarus
1994 Cambodia
1995 Solomon Islands E. Crawford Jones and Judith Jones[1]
1997 Moldova
1998 Benin
1999 Mozambique
1999 Togo Dermoine A. Findlay and Joyce Findlay[1]
1999 Georgia Philip Reber and Betty Reber[1]
2001 Kazakhstan Barry A. Baker and Tamara H. Baker[1]
2006 Dominica
2006 Laos
2008 Turks and Caicos Islands
2010 Burundi
2011 Kosovo Griseld Merepeza and Eliot Steimle
2012 Republic of Macedonia Joel Kay and Chase Adams
2012 Montenegro Tyran Schouten and Taylor Nelson
2012 Bosnia and Herzegovina Philander Knox Smartt Jr. and Gloria Rose Smartt

Countries where LDS Church missionaries have not preached

Official LDS Church missionaries have never preached in the following countries and territories:

Additionally, LDS missionaries are currently not permitted to preach in a number of countries where they have preached previously, including Israel/Palestine, Iran, Laos, Lebanon, and Syria.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 2013 Deseret News Church Almanac (Salt Lake City, Utah: Deseret News, 2012).
  2. ↑ Eric B. Shumway, "Tongan Saints: A Legacy of Faith", Liahona, August 1991.
  3. ↑ Savani Latai Toluta'u Aupiu, "Mormon Missionaries in the Kingdom of Tonga, 1891–1897" (MA Thesis, University of Utah, 2009).
  4. ↑ Sheri Dew. Go Forward With Faith: The Biography of Gordon B. Hinckley. (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1996) p. 306
  5. ↑ Mehr, Kahlile B. Mormon Missionaries Enter Eastern Europe (Provo, Utah: Brigham Young University Press, 2002) p. 103.
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