Facts and Statistics

The first missionary to Sweden was a Swede himself, a seaman named John E. Forsgren who was converted in Boston, Massachusetts. After migrating to the Great Salt Lake Valley with other pioneers, Forsgren received a mission assignment to Sweden. He first stopped at his hometown of Gavle, where he baptized his brother Peter as the first convert to the Church in Sweden in 1850. After baptizing a few more converts, Elder Forsgren was arrested for preaching and banished from the country. In southern Sweden, missionaries labored again in 1853. They organized Sweden's first official congregation that April in Skonaback. Many new converts at this time journeyed to the United States to be with other Church members.

In 1905, the Swedish mission was organized. A temple was completed in Stockholm in 1985. In 1988, President Thomas S. Monson, counselor in the Church's First Presidency, visited Sweden to celebrate the 350th anniversary of the first Swedish settlement in the United States. He and his wife, Frances, exchanged greetings with King Carl XVI Gustaf and Queen Silvia.

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