Dominican Republic: Church Chronology

1851–52 • ChileApostle Parley P. Pratt and his wife Phoebe served a five-month mission to Chile. During their time in Chile, they determined that a Spanish translation of the Book of Mormon was needed.

1886 • Salt Lake City, UtahThe Spanish translation of the Book of Mormon was published.

1960s • Dominican RepublicLatter-day Saints from Mexico and the United States living in the Dominican Republic began holding meetings in their homes.

June 8, 1978 • Salt Lake CityChurch President Spencer W. Kimball announced the revelation that ended the priesthood and temple restrictions for Black members of the Church (Official Declaration 2), opening the door for missionary work in the Caribbean among people of African ancestry.

August and November 1978 • Santo Domingo, Dominican RepublicNoemí and Rodolfo Bodden and their children, Mayra Milena, Ferner, Massiel, and Annie, became the first to accept baptism in the Dominican Republic.

November–December 1978 • Santo DomingoTen young missionaries arrived from the Florida Fort Lauderdale Mission, holding their first baptismal service for 12 new members of the Church on December 6, 1978.

December 7, 1978 • Santo DomingoAt the Paseo de los Indios Park, Elder M. Russell Ballard of the Quorum of the Seventy dedicated the land for the preaching of the gospel. That same day the La Rama Piantini Branch was organized, with John Rappleye as branch president, Noemí Bodden as Relief Society president, and Mercedes Amparo as Primary president.

August 1979 • Dominican RepublicHurricane David, a Category 5 storm, hit the island, killing around 2,000 people and destroying bridges, homes, and crops. Church members and missionaries helped with clean-up efforts after the storm.

October 1979 • Santo DomingoRodolfo Bodden and Edward Amparo were called as the presidents of the Ensanche Piantini and Ensanche Ozama Branches, respectively, the first local members to serve in those positions.

December 20, 1979 • Santo DomingoThe Church was incorporated and received official government recognition.

January 1980 • Santo Domingo The Santo Domingo Dominican Republic Mission was organized January 1, 1980, and the Santo Domingo Dominican Republic District was organized one week later.

Spring 1980 • Santo Domingo and Santiago, Dominican RepublicMissionaries set up a health fair display, including a demonstration of the dangers of smoking, in a shopping mall in Santo Domingo and at the Catholic University of Santiago. Their collaboration with local education and media organizations led to a nationally televised cooking and homemaking show, featuring Ada Davis, Mercedes Amparo, and sister missionaries.

1981 • Dominican RepublicEduardo Balderas, an ordained patriarch to Spanish-speaking Latter-day Saints, traveled to the Dominican Republic and gave hundreds of patriarchal blessings.

March 9, 1981 • Santo DomingoPresident Spencer W. Kimball traveled to Santo Domingo to meet with 1,500 Latter-day Saints gathered in a hotel convention hall for a conference.

May 10, 1981 • SantiagoThe Santiago Dominican Republic District was organized, with Felix Sequi as district president.

May 9, 1982 • San Gerónimo, Dominican RepublicThe first meetings were held in the Herrera chapel, the first Church-built meetinghouse in the country.

June 26, 1982 • Santo Domingo and San Cristóbal, Dominican RepublicThe first students graduated from seminary in the Santo Domingo and San Cristóbal branches.

1985 • Dominican RepublicIn a period of rapid growth, more new members of the Church were baptized in the Dominican Republic than any other place in the Church. Approximately one-third of the missionaries serving in the country at the time were local members.

March 23, 1986 • Santo DomingoThe Santo Domingo Dominican Republic Stake was organized, with Jose Delio Cedeño as president.

February 22, 1987 • Santo DomingoThe Church in the Dominican Republic held its first regional conference, with President Howard W. Hunter of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles presiding. Rodolfo N. Bodden was sustained as the country’s first patriarch.

November 1992 • Dominican RepublicLocal leaders worked with missionaries and a group of Latter-day Saint major-league baseball players to host baseball clinics and firesides for thousands of youth, most of whom were not Church members.

1994 • Dominican RepublicFollowing the November 1993 announcement of a temple in Santo Domingo, members around the country gathered thousands of family names.

1995 • Dominican RepublicLeaders in local branches developed a literacy program to help members study the gospel and develop the Church.

August 18, 1996 • Santo DomingoNearly 4,000 Saints gathered for the groundbreaking ceremony for the Santo Domingo Dominican Republic Temple. A choir of members from Santo Domingo and Santiago stakes performed at the service.

September 22, 1998 • Dominican RepublicHurricane Georges destroyed homes and claimed the lives of more than 300 people, including the child of a Latter-day Saint family. Local Church leaders coordinated relief efforts, working with the Red Cross to distribute food and emergency supplies.

September 17, 2000 • Santo DomingoChurch President Gordon B. Hinckley attended the dedication of the Santo Domingo Dominican Republic Temple, with President Julio César Acosta and Ferner Bodden as translators.

December 17, 2000 • Santo DomingoThe Dominican Republic Missionary Training Center (MTC) was dedicated. It was located on the fourth floor of the temple patron housing building. Missionaries serving in Caribbean countries were trained in English, French, and Spanish.

April 5, 2003 • Salt Lake CityMiguel Alfredo Lee was the first local member called as an Area Authority Seventy.

September 11, 2004 • Santo DomingoTo celebrate the fourth anniversary of the temple dedication, 1,200 Church members attended the Santo Domingo Dominican Republic Temple and completed a record-breaking 5,500 ordinances.

2005 • Santo DomingoA family history center was established in the visitors’ center adjacent to the temple. Senior missionaries donated microfilm of records available at that time in the Dominican Republic.

2010 • Dominican RepublicVolunteers from around the country, including 5,000 Latter-day Saints, collected 180,000 pounds of trash from beach and river coastal locations to commemorate International Coastal Cleanup Day. In collaboration with Vida Azul, the Dominican representative of Ocean Conservancy, this was the first major Mormon Helping Hands project in the Dominican Republic.

October 29, 2011 • Santo DomingoThe San Gerónimo stake held the first Church-sponsored family history conference in the country. Guest speakers from the community addressed attendees on topics of research procedures, methodologies, and medical histories within families.

November 2013 • Santo DomingoJudge Marisol Tobal, Attorney General and Deputy National Coordinator of Children, Youth, and Family in the Dominican Republic, met with Carol F. McConkie and Jean A. Stevens, counselors in the Young Women and Primary General Presidencies, to discuss strategies and programs for promoting the healthy development of children and adolescents.

January 2014 • Santo DomingoQuimerio Fernandez, president of the Santo Domingo Dominican Republic Independencia Stake, organized a dedicatory event for Camp Bonao, a local Church-owned recreation camp. Solomon Jorge Dominquez, a local member, offered the dedicatory prayer.

January–May 2016 • Santo DomingoThe Church and four other faith-based organizations formed a community of practice to implement an ethics education curriculum for children called “Learning to Live Together,” addressing the challenges of violence, poverty, and discrimination through intercultural and interfaith dialogue.

August 2016 • Santo DomingoLinda K. Burton, Relief Society General President, and Neill F. Marriott, Second Counselor in the Young Women General Presidency, met with local leaders, participated in panel discussions, attended worship services and devotional meetings, and took part in an interfaith panel discussion with a priest and laywomen from the Catholic Church.

September 1, 2018 • Santo DomingoPresident Russell M. Nelson met with a group of Latter-day Saints and delivered his entire address in Spanish (the first time a Church President had delivered an extended message in a language other than English).

January 2019 • Santo DomingoThe Dominican Republic MTC, dedicated December 17, 2000, was closed.

June 22–26, 2020 • CaribbeanWidely dispersed across 27 countries and territories, including the Dominican Republic, more than 3,000 youth in the Caribbean participated in a virtual For the Strength of Youth conference during the global COVID-19 pandemic.