The Church in El Salvador
Latter-day Saint missionaries arrived in El Salvador in 1949. During the civil war in the 1980s, with no foreign missionaries in the country, many people found spiritual guidance and community among the Latter-day Saints. The Church is now a well-established part of the religious landscape and disaster response efforts.
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History of the Church in El Salvador
In June 1949, missionaries from the Mexican Mission rented a hall in San Salvador, where they offered English lessons and showed Church-produced films, neither of which garnered much interest. In the evenings, they taught the gospel to Ana Villaseñor, their widowed landlord. On March 2, 1951, after housing missionaries for several years, Ana converted and was baptized in El Salvador.
For nearly a decade, the gospel spread slowly in El Salvador. This changed in 1960, when more Salvadoran Saints began being called as leaders and missionaries. Under local direction, gospel preaching accelerated. Primary, seminary, and institute classes were organized to expand gospel learning among children and youth. Beginning in 1965, Salvadoran Saints began making the long journey to the temples in Arizona and later in Mexico City to participate in sacred ordinances. On June 3, 1973, the first stake in El Salvador was organized in San Salvador; by 1980, three more stakes had been organized.
In 1980, civil war swept across El Salvador. All North American missionaries were evacuated, and the mission closed. In 1984, the mission reopened with entirely local leadership and missionaries. The mission was so successful that, despite the war, six new stakes were organized throughout El Salvador before the conflict ended in 1992. Salvadoran Saints have sought the Lord with faith and diligence, and He has heard them (see Psalm 34:4). “We pray for Thy blessings to rest upon … El Salvador,” President Henry B. Eyring of the First Presidency said on August 21, 2011, during the dedication of the San Salvador El Salvador Temple. “May peace reign in the land.”
Stories of Faith
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Notes
- Call, Ravell. “El Salvador Quake Doesn’t Shake Members’ Faith.” Church News, Oct. 26, 1986, 3–4, 8–9.
- Linares, Luis Alonzo, and Dora L. Linares. Interview. El Salvador, Jan. 1, 2014. Church History Library, Salt Lake City.
- Peña, Marua, and José F. Peña. Interview. San Salvador, El Salvador, Mar. 30. 2014. Church History Library, Salt Lake City.
- Peña Urrutia, Jose Antonio. Historia de La Iglesia de Jesucristo de los Santos de los Ultimos Días en El Salvador. 2014. Church History Library, Salt Lake City.
- San Salvador Branch, Mexican Mission. “San Salvador Branch Manuscript History and Historical Reports, 1949–1983.” Church History Library, Salt Lake City.
- West, Aaron L. “Sacred Transformations.” Ensign, Dec. 2012, 36–39.
- Zaldaña Ruíz, Felisa. Interview. Ahuachapán, El Salvador, Dec. 16, 2019. Church History Library, Salt Lake City.