The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) has had a presence in the Dominican Republic

Dominican Republic

The Dominican Republic is a nation on the island of La Hispaniola, part of the Greater Antilles archipelago in the Caribbean region. The western third of the island is occupied by the nation of Haiti, making Hispaniola one of two Caribbean islands that are shared by two countries...

since 1978. The church claims a membership of 106,243 in the country, representing just over 1% of the population.

Beginnings

On 7 December 1978, the Dominican Republic was dedicated for the preaching of Mormonism

Mormonism

Mormonism is the religion practiced by Mormons, and is the predominant religious tradition of the Latter Day Saint movement. This movement was founded by Joseph Smith, Jr. beginning in the 1820s as a form of Christian primitivism. During the 1830s and 1840s, Mormonism gradually distinguished itself...

 by Apostle M. Russell Ballard

M. Russell Ballard

Melvin Russell Ballard, Jr. is an American businessman and a religious leader in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He was called to serve in the church's Quorum of the Twelve Apostles in 1985. As a member of the Quorum of the Twelve, Ballard is accepted by the church members as a...

. The first person baptized in the country was Rodolfo N. Bodden. Bodden had been introduced to the LDS Church by his friends Eddie and Mercedes Amparo, Dominican Mormon

Mormon

The term Mormon most commonly denotes an adherent, practitioner, follower, or constituent of Mormonism, which is the largest branch of the Latter Day Saint movement in restorationist Christianity...

s who had joined the LDS Church in New York City

New York City

New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

 and had since returned to their home country, and John and Nancy Rappleye, an expatriate American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 couple from Utah

Utah

Utah is a state in the Western United States. It was the 45th state to join the Union, on January 4, 1896. Approximately 80% of Utah's 2,763,885 people live along the Wasatch Front, centering on Salt Lake City. This leaves vast expanses of the state nearly uninhabited, making the population the...

. After his baptism, Bodden held several leadership callings in LDS Church in the Dominican Republic. He was a counselor to the country's first branch president

Branch President

A branch president is a leader of a "branch" congregation of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.The calling of branch president is very similar to the calling of bishop, except that instead of presiding over a ward, the branch president presides over a branch...

 and Bodden was the first district president

District (LDS Church)

A district of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is a geographical administrative unit composed of a number of congregations called branches. A district is a subdivision of a mission of the church and in many ways is analogous to a stake of the church. The leader of a district is the...

 in the Dominican Republic.

Growth

The first mission

Mission (LDS Church)

A mission of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is a geographical administrative area to which church missionaries are assigned. Almost all areas of the world are within the boundaries of an LDS Church mission, whether or not Mormon missionaries live or proselytize in the area...

 of the church in the Dominican Republic—the Dominican Republic Santo Domingo

Santo Domingo

Santo Domingo, known officially as Santo Domingo de Guzmán, is the capital and largest city in the Dominican Republic. Its metropolitan population was 2,084,852 in 2003, and estimated at 3,294,385 in 2010. The city is located on the Caribbean Sea, at the mouth of the Ozama River...

 Mission—was created in 1981 when there were 2500 members in the country. By 1986, there were 11,000 members and the first stake of the church in the Dominican Republic was organized in Santo Domingo, with Bodden as the country's first stake patriarch. The second mission in the Dominican Republic was organized in Santiago on 1 July 1987.

Temple

On 16 November 1993, the LDS Church announced that it would construct a temple

Temple (LDS Church)

In The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints , a temple is a building dedicated to be a House of the Lord, and they are considered by Church members to be the most sacred structures on earth. Upon completion, temples are usually open to the public for a short period of time...

 in Santo Domingo. On 17 September 2000, church president Gordon B. Hinckley

Gordon B. Hinckley

Gordon Bitner Hinckley was an American religious leader and author who served as the 15th President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from March 12, 1995 until his death...

 dedicated the Santo Domingo Dominican Republic Temple

Santo Domingo Dominican Republic Temple

The Santo Domingo Dominican Republic Temple is the 99th operating temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints . It is also the first temple to be built in the Caribbean and in this Area of the church....

; it was the church's 99th operating temple and the first temple built in a Caribbean

Caribbean

The Caribbean is a crescent-shaped group of islands more than 2,000 miles long separating the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea, to the west and south, from the Atlantic Ocean, to the east and north...

country.
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Status

In 2008, the church claimed over 106,000 members of the church in Dominican Republic. There are and 194 congregations in 3 missions that meet in 80 church meetinghouses across the country.

External links

• Dominican Republic – LDS Newsroom, lds.org, accessed 2008-09-29