The Church in the Marshall Islands

The earliest Church presence on the Marshall Islands was through Church members in the United States military after World War II. In the 1970s the efforts of missionaries and Marshallese people who had joined abroad helped build the Church, and in May 1978 the Church organized a branch in Majuro. In 2009 the Majuro Marshall Islands Stake was organized.

History of the Church in the Marshall Islands

The Church’s presence in the Marshall Islands began during World War II, and for the next three decades Church meetings were held only by United States military personnel stationed there. In 1975, Helen Sievers, Primary president on Kwajalein, requested that missionaries be sent. At that time, only 9 of the nearly 90 children attending her weekly meetings had been baptized. Two years later, missionaries arrived and began baptizing local converts. In the meantime, Marshallese people living in places such as Hawaiʻi began joining the Church. On April 23, 1977, Misao and Mirasko Lokeijak were baptized, and a Church group was soon organized. In May 1978, a branch was organized in Majuro, with Misao Lokeijak as its president.

The Church spread throughout the islands. Selections of the Book of Mormon in Marshallese were published in 1984, and new meetinghouses, built with the help and support of local Saints, were dedicated in 1986. In 1991, the Kwajalein Marshall Islands District was organized, and in 2009 the Majuro Marshall Islands Stake was organized.

Throughout their history, the Marshallese Saints have worked to serve their neighbors by expanding educational opportunities and providing for the sick, the needy, and the displaced. Indeed, Marshallese Saints have been “good stewards of the manifold grace of God” (1 Peter 4:10) as they have untiringly served their communities and one another.

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