In 1843, just 13 years after the Church's organization, Church President Joseph Smith called two men to preach in Russia.

In 1843, just 13 years after the Church's organization, Church President Joseph Smith called two men to preach in Russia. This assignment was canceled after the martyrdom of Joseph Smith in 1844. In 1895, a native of Sweden was sent to St. Petersburg, where he baptized the Johan M. Lindelof family. The family was occasionally visited by Church leaders in the early 1900s. In 1959, Ezra Taft Benson of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, simultaneously serving as United States Secretary of Agriculture, visited the Central Baptist Church in Moscow and preached to an attentive congregation.

In September 1989, Church leaders authorized a United States Embassy worker, Alan Evenson, in Moscow to begin holding group meetings in his apartment in Moscow.

The picture of US Embassy building in Moscow is above.

Four months later, in January 1990, missionaries arrived in Leningrad.

The first convert they baptized also became the first full-time missionary from Russia, who served in the Utah Ogden Mission. In February 1990, a congregation was organized in Vyborg. By mid-summer 1990, the Leningrad congregation, created in December 1989, had 100 members, and the Vyborg congregation had 25 members. In September, the St. Petersburg congregation was recognized by the government and in October a religious freedom law was passed. With membership in Russia at 750 in February 1992, two other Russian missions were organized.

Missionaries began serving in Moscow in October 1990. In May 1991 the

Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Russian Religious Association was registered, providing legal recognition for the Church throughout Russia.

When the Finland Helsinki East Mission became the Russia St. Petersburg and Russia Moscow Missions in February 1992, membership totaled 433, with 27 missionaries in St. Petersburg and Vyborg. In Moscow and neighboring Zelenograd, 24 missionaries served with 186 members.

This is a photo of banner above the entrance to the Moscow mission.

Soon additional Russian missions were created: Russia Samara in July 1993, Russia Rostov-on-the-Don and Russia Novosibirsk in July 1994, Russia Yekaterinburg in July 1995, and Russia Moscow South in July 1997, making a total of seven missions. In the year 2000 the Church in Russia embraced more than 11,092 members and more than 650 missionaries.

Now Russia has 8 missions and almost 30,000 members. As Elder Schwitzer of the Europe East Area Presidency said at our Novosibirsk Zone Conference ..."we will soon see major events here that will bring about the prophesies concerning this land regarding the gathering of the Ten Tribes and the bringing of tens and hundreds of thousands into the Church".