Missionaries first arrived in Paraguay in 1949, and Church membership quickly grew. Branches were organized in several cities, and an elementary school was established in the Moroni meetinghouse in Asunción in 1972. In the 1980s missionaries began teaching the Guaraní and Nevaclé peoples. A temple was dedicated in Asunción in 2002.
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History of the Church in Paraguay
In 1948, before assuming his post as air attaché in the United States embassy in Paraguay, Samuel J. Skousen (a Latter-day Saint) was set apart as a missionary in the South American Mission. The Skousen family began holding meetings in their home in Asunción and invited their neighbors. On August 21, 1948, Alberto Rodríguez—the first Paraguayan convert—was baptized. Missionaries arrived the following year. The Church obtained government recognition in February 1950.
Missionaries found success among the cosmopolitan population of Paraguay. Early converts from Spanish, Italian, and German backgrounds quickly came to the Church and accepted calls to preach the gospel in Paraguay and neighboring Uruguay. Branches were soon organized in several cities. Meetinghouses—built by local members serving in the construction missionary program—soon sprung up around the country. In 1972, an elementary school was opened in the Moroni meetinghouse in central Asunción.
The gospel continued to be accepted by the diverse peoples of Paraguay. In the 1980s, missionaries began preaching to the Guarani and Nivaclé people. In 1980, nearly all the Nivaclé people in the village of Mistolar were baptized. Many Guarani also accepted the gospel. In 2009, the Book of Mormon was published in Guarani.
For many years, Latter-day Saints in Paraguay sacrificed time and money to travel the long distance to the temples in Salt Lake City, Utah; São Paulo, Brazil; and elsewhere. In May 2002, the need to travel great distances ended when the Asunción Paraguay Temple was dedicated.