:The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Paraguay

{{Historical populations

|title = Membership in Paraguay

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|width =

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|pop_name = Membership

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|footnote = *Membership was published as an estimate.

|source = {{citation|title=Deseret News, various years, Church Almanac Country Information: Paraguay|author1= Wendall J. Ashton|author2=Jim M. Wall}}

|1950|5

|1960|132

|1970|670

|1979|2984

|1989*|11000

|1999|44632

|2009|74802

|2019|96114

|2022|98,498

}}

{{section-stub|date=November 2021}}

The LDS Church was organized in 1830 and is a missionary church. Its first missionary took place a month after their initial organization.{{Cite book |last=Flake |first=Joel A. |title=The History of the Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter-Day Saints in South America |publisher=Brigham Young University |year=1975}} The first example of a foreign LDS Church in 1837 was in Great Britain, missions were sent across the world by 1854. The Pacific Isles in 1844, France in 1849, Asia and Australia in 1851, and South Africa in 1853.

Though the Mormon faith was always intended to be spread to the whole world, it was not preached in South America until 1925, though there had been an earlier, unsuccessful mission in 1851. Due to language barriers and insufficient funds the 1851 missionaries returned home.{{Cite book |last=Pratt |first=Parley P. |title=Autobiography of Parley P. Pratt |publisher=Deseret Book Co. |year=1950 |location=Salt Lake City |pages=397–401}} Between 1851 and 1925 no other attempts to preach were made.

The first LDS Church member to visit Paraguay was Frederick S. Williams, in 1939 who was working as a missionary in Argentina.{{Cite web |title=Statistics and Church Facts {{!}} Total Church Membership |url=http://newsroom.churchofjesuschrist.org/facts-and-statistics/country/paraguay |access-date=2022-07-10 |website=newsroom.churchofjesuschrist.org |language=en}} The first member was baptized in August 1948 and the first official congregation was organised that same year. The LDS Church has grown significantly since then; when the church first appeared in Paraguay there were 5 members, this number has since grown to over 97,000 or roughly 1.4% of the population.

In 2020, the LDS Church temporarily canceled services and other public gatherings in response to the spread of the coronavirus pandemic which resumed online and/or in person, depending on the congregation.Lovett, Ian. [https://www.wsj.com/articles/mormon-church-cancels-services-world-wide-amid-coronavirus-crisis-11584054479 "Mormon Church Cancels Services World-Wide Amid Coronavirus Crisis"], The Wall Street Journal, 12 March 2020. Retrieved on 3 April 2020.

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{{main|Asunción Paraguay Temple}}

• Religion in Paraguay
• {{Portal-inline|LDS Church}}

{{reflist}}

• [https://noticias.laiglesiadejesucristo.org/?country=paraguay Newsroom - Paraguay] (Spanish)
• [https://py.laiglesiadejesucristo.org/ The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Paraguay)] - Official site (Spanish)
• [https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study?lang=grn The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints] - Official site (Guaraní}
• [https://www.comeuntochrist.org/ ComeUntoChrist.org] Latter-day Saints Visitor site
• [https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/temples/list?lang=eng Official Asunción Paraguay Temple page]
• [https://churchofjesuschristtemples.org/asuncion-paraguay-temple/ Asunción Paraguay Temple page]

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{{Paraguay topics}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Paraguay, The}}