The Church in Samoa

The first missionaries to preach the restored gospel on Sāmoa arrived from Hawai‘i in 1863. Later, American missionaries officially opened a mission on the islands in 1888, and the Church grew steadily in the years that followed. In 1983 a temple was dedicated in Apia, Upolu.

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History of the Church in Samoa

In 1863 Kimo Pelio and Samuela Manoa—two missionaries sent from Hawai‘i—brought the restored gospel to the Samoan Islands. Due to disruptions in the Church in Hawai‘i, the additional missionaries they expected never arrived, but both chose to remain on the islands. In 1888 Joseph and Florence Dean arrived to formally open a mission. By 1900, when Samoa was divided into a western, German-governed territory and an eastern, American-governed territory, there were over 1,000 Latter-day Saints in the islands.

In the early 1900s, in addition to teaching the gospel the Church organized schools—at different times in English, German, and Samoan—and established the community of Sauniatu. Latter-day Saints ministered to each other during the devastating influenza pandemic of 1918 and showed their willingness to “mourn with those that mourn” (Mosiah 18:9) when one-fifth of the country’s population died.

In the years after World War II, the Church put greater focus on developing local leaders, and many Samoans learned Church leadership and career skills while serving as labor missionaries. In 1962 Samoa became one of the first countries outside the United States to have a stake; in 1974 it became the first country organized entirely into stakes, with no small districts. The Apia Samoa Temple was dedicated in 1983. After a 2003 fire the temple was rebuilt and rededicated.

Read more in Global Histories.