Latvia: Chronology

October–November 1903 • Rīga, LatviaMischa Markow preached in Rīga.

May–June 1992 • RīgaGvido and Velga Senkāns, Latvians who joined the Church in Moscow, moved to Rīga. Two weeks later, the first missionaries assigned to Latvia arrived and the first Church service was conducted.

June 30, 1992 • RīgaBoris and Liselotte Schiel became the first senior missionary couple to serve in Latvia. Boris had been born in interwar Latvia.

July 25, 1992 • LatviaGunār Kavals was baptized at Sudrabezers, about 10 miles east of Rīga, the first person to be baptized in Latvia.

March 17, 1993 • Jūrmala, LatviaElder James E. Faust of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles dedicated Latvia for the preaching of the gospel.

May 30, 1993 • RīgaThe Rīga Branch was organized, with Oleg Syropyatov as president. The sacrament meeting was attended by 83 people.

July 1, 1993 • RīgaThe Latvia Rīga Mission was created to oversee missionary efforts in Latvia, Estonia, Lithuania, and Kaliningrad, Russia. Boundaries and headquarters changed multiple times over the next two decades.

March 13, 1994 • RīgaThe Rīga Branch was divided to create Latvian- and Russian-speaking branches.

June 1994 • RīgaSergey Moroz became the first person called on a full-time mission from Latvia.

March 19, 1995 • Stockholm, SwedenTwenty-one Latvian Latter-day Saints participated in the first Church-organized trip to the Stockholm Sweden Temple.

March 20, 1996 • LatviaThe Church was officially recognized in Latvia.

August 3, 1997 • Liepāja, LatviaThe Liepāja Branch was organized.

June 7, 1998 • RīgaThe Rīga Latvia District was organized.

June 28, 2000 • Daugavpils, LatviaA branch was organized in Daugavpils.

October 2000 • Salt Lake City, UtahGvido and Gatis Senkāns translated the temple ceremonies into Latvian.

February 11, 2001 • RīgaMembers received the first copies of the Latvian translation of the Book of Mormon.

June 27, 2002 • RīgaThe first meeting in the newly built chapel in Imanta was held.

April 2, 2005 • Salt Lake CityGvido Senkāns was called as an Area Seventy in the Europe East Area.

2006 • RīgaThe Doctrine and Covenants and Pearl of Great Price were published in Latvian.

October 22, 2006 • Helsinki/RīgaLatvian Latter-day Saints participated in the cultural celebration for the dedication of the Helsinki Finland Temple. The dedication was broadcast to the Imanta meetinghouse.

May 5, 2007 • Jelgava, LatviaA group of Latter-day Saints was organized in Jelgava. In October 2017 the group was combined with a branch in Rīga.

September 19, 2009 • LiepājaElder Gvido Senkāns of the Seventy dedicated the second Church-built meetinghouse in Liepāja, Latvia.

July 2, 2017 • RīgaA new meetinghouse in Rīga was dedicated by district president Gvido Senkāns.

October 2017 • RīgaRussell M. Nelson, then President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, visited Latvia as part of an extended Eastern European tour.