Sweden: Church Chronology

October 1849 • Salt Lake City, UtahElder Erastus Snow of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles was called to begin missionary work in Scandinavia, accompanied by Peter O. Hansen from Denmark and John E. Forsgren from Sweden.

June–September 1850 • Sweden John E. Forsgren began preaching the restored gospel in Sweden. Between July and September, Forsgren preached in Gävle and Stockholm, where he baptized 21 converts, including his siblings, Peter and Christina, before being banished by local authorities.

April 24, 1853 • Skönabäck, Sweden

Mikael Johnson organized the first branch of the Church in Sweden in Skönabäck, east of Malmö. Johnson soon organized three additional branches in Loma, Malmö, and Lund.

June 25, 1853 • Lund, SwedenThe Skåne Conference (district) was organized as part of the Scandinavian Mission, with Hans Lundblad as president.

December 31, 1854 • Stockholm, SwedenThe Stockholm Conference was organized.

September 5, 1857 • Göteborg, SwedenThe Göteborg Conference was organized.

September 1857 • StockholmElder Ezra T. Benson of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, together with Scandinavian mission president Carl Widerborg and John M. Kay, dedicated Sweden for the preaching of the restored gospel.

June 12, 1859 • Sundsvall, SwedenThe Norrland Conference was organized.

1860 • SwedenThe first Latter-day Saint Swedish hymnal was published.

1868–70 • Västerås, SwedenLatter-day Saint elders preaching the gospel were sometimes fined by civil authorities.

January 3, 1877 • GöteborgThe first issue of Nordstjärnan, the Church’s Swedish-language publication, was published. Nordstjärnan was published continuously until 1999.

March–August 1878 • Copenhagen, DenmarkAugust W. Carlson translated the Book of Mormon into Swedish. His translation was initially published serially in pamphlet form. When the final pamphlet was printed in August, 3,000 full editions of the book were bound.

1880s • SwedenThe Young Men’s Mutual Improvement Association began in Sweden.

1888 • Salt Lake CityThe Doctrine and Covenants was published in Swedish.

1890s • SwedenThe Young Ladies’ Mutual Improvement Association began in Sweden.

September 22, 1897 • SwedenJan M. Sjodahl presented a copy of the Book of Mormon to King Oscar II on behalf of the Church during the celebration of the monarch’s 25th year on the throne.

October 22, 1904 • StockholmThe Church’s first meetinghouse in Sweden, a remodeled building, was dedicated by Elder Heber J. Grant, then serving as president of the European Mission.

1905 • SwedenBy 1905, nearly 17,000 converts had been baptized in Sweden, nearly 7,500 of whom had immigrated to the United States.

July 1905 • SwedenThe Swedish Mission was formally established, with Peter Matson as president.

July 1910 • StockholmChurch President Joseph F. Smith visited with Latter-day Saints in Sweden and encouraged them not to immigrate to Utah.

June and July 1912 • StockholmThe 1912 Olympics were held in Stockholm. Alma Richards, a Latter-day Saint competing for the United States, won a gold medal in the high jump on July 8.

1912–15 • StockholmPrompted by negative publicity about the Church and accusations regarding plural marriage, Sweden’s Riksdag (parliament) debated whether funds should be appropriated to oppose Latter-day Saint missionary activity. In 1915, the Riksdag declined to issue the funds.

October 1914 • SwedenLocal Latter-day Saints assumed all responsibilities for their branches and missionary work after missionaries from the United States left Sweden due to the outbreak of World War I.

1920–24 • SwedenRestrictions enacted by the Swedish government prevented foreign Latter-day Saints from receiving visas to enter the country as missionaries. The restriction ended in 1924.

1927 • Salt Lake CityThe Pearl of Great Price was published in Swedish.

June 1934 • StockholmThe first MIA conference in Sweden was held.

August 19–25, 1937 • SwedenChurch President Heber J. Grant visited with Latter-day Saints in Stockholm, Malmö, and Göteborg.

1939–45 • SwedenC. Fritz Johansson served as the acting mission president in Sweden during World War II. Foreign missionaries were evacuated from Sweden during the war.

June 20–25, 1952 • StockholmChurch President David O. McKay visited Sweden. He attended the annual MIA conference and spoke at a gathering of local Church members in Stockholm.

September 1955 • Zollikofen, SwitzerlandSwedish Latter-day Saints attended the dedication of the Bern Switzerland Temple and began to participate in temple ordinances.

1962 • Botkyrka, SwedenSaints held a large youth conference gathering at Botkyrka, celebrating Swedish customs with traditional dress and dancing.

1964–72 • SwedenA committee of Swedish Latter-day Saints created a standard lexicon for translating Church materials to Swedish. By 1972, more than 14,000 pages had been translated.

September 10, 1965 • StockholmThe first Church-built meetinghouse in Sweden was dedicated in Gubbägen.

June 30, 1966 • StockholmThe first Festinord, a multination youth conference modeled on the MIA conference tradition, began with Latter-day Saints from Sweden, Denmark, Norway, and Finland.

August 16–18, 1974 • StockholmAbout 4,000 Latter-day Saints from Denmark, Norway, Finland, and Sweden attended a conference with Church President Spencer W. Kimball.

April 20, 1975 • StockholmThe Stockholm Sweden Stake was organized, with Evert W. Perciwall as president.

1984 • SwedenPer, Richard, and Louis Herrey, three brothers in a Latter-day Saint family, sang in a boy band, Herreys, which won the Eurovision Song Contest in 1984 with the song “Diggi-Loo Diggi-Ley.” They were the best-selling pop group in Sweden in the 1980s.

July 2–4, 1985 • Västerhaninge, Sweden

The Stockholm Sweden Temple was dedicated by President Gordon B. Hinckley, Second Counselor in the First Presidency.

August–December 1992 • StockholmVeronika Ekeland, stake Relief Society president; her husband, Mats Ekeland; and Ingrid Jusinski, president of the Handen Ward Relief Society, organized members of the Stockholm Sweden Stake to collect and deliver 281 boxes of clothes, china, toys, and paper and a refrigerator to an orphanage in Komi, Russia.

August 23, 1995 • VästerhaningePresident Thomas S. Monson, First Counselor in the First Presidency, hosted King Carl XVI Gustaf and Queen Silvia at the grounds of the Stockholm Sweden Temple.

August 11–13, 2001 • GöteborgChurch members commemorated Scandinavian pioneers who immigrated to the United States as part of Sea Trek 2001.

2008 • Salt Lake CityNew editions of the Book of Mormon, Doctrine and Covenants, and Pearl of Great Price were published in Swedish.

April 3, 2010 • Salt Lake CityPer G. Malm of Sweden was called and sustained as a General Authority Seventy.

October 2015 • Salt Lake CityElder Dale G. Renlund, the son of Swedish immigrants, was sustained as a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles.

July 25–30, 2016 • Stockholm850 young Latter-day Saints from 31 countries participated in Festinord as it marked its 50th anniversary.