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.

On 23 August 1995, Thomas S. Monson, First Counselor in the First Presidency of the Church, hosted King Carl XVI Gustaf and Queen Silvia on a visit to the Stockholm Temple grounds. He presented the queen with 60 pounds of books containing her family’s genealogical records. The visit was highlighted in a nationally televised year-end review of the king and queen’s activities. In June 2005, Thomas S. Monson visited Sweden to address more than 100 missionaries to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the organization of the Swedish Mission. He was accompanied by L. Tom Perry of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. On 3 April 2010, Per G. Malm, a native of Sweden, was sustained as a General Authority Seventy.

In June 2013, M. Russell Ballard of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles visited Sweden to meet with missionaries and young single adults of the church. He was accompanied by Gérald Caussé of the Presiding Bishopric, José Teixeira, President of the Church in the Europe Area and Ingvar Olsson, Area Seventy. In September 2014, M. Russell Ballard and David A. Bednar of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, together with other Area Leaders, met with members in Sweden as part of a tour through seven European countries.

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