Marshall Islands: Church Chronology

1940s • Marshall IslandsThe first Church services were held by American military personnel stationed in the Marshall Islands during World War II.

October 31, 1975 • Kwajalein, Marshall IslandsHelen Claire Sievers, head of the Primary of the small American armed services group, met with visitor William W. Cannon, president of the Hawaii Honolulu Mission. She explained that there were about the 90 children attending Primary on Ebeye Island, of whom only nine were Church members, and asked that missionaries be sent to the area.

February 3, 1977 • Majuro, Marshall IslandsMissionaries began preaching on Majuro.

April 23, 1977 • MajuroMisao and Mirasko Lokeijak were baptized, the first local members to join the Church. Misao had first encountered the Church in Hawaiʻi years earlier.

Missionaries and members

June 1977 • MajuroMarshallese missionary Torlik Tima, who had joined the Church in Hawaiʻi and was serving in the Hawaii Honolulu Mission, was transferred to Majuro and greatly helped the work there.

May 11, 1978 • MajuroThe Majuro Group became a branch, with Misao Lokeijak as president.

June 21, 1978 • Lā’ie, Hawaii, USAMirasko and Misao Lokeijak attended the Laie Hawaii Temple and were sealed, the first members of the Majuro Branch to do so.

1984 • Marshall IslandsBy 1984, selections from the Book of Mormon had been translated into Marshallese.

January 13–14, 1986 • MajuroWith members helping to contribute to building costs, the first two Church-built meetinghouses in the Marshall Islands were completed and dedicated in Rita and Laura.

November 24, 1985 • MajuroMisao Lokeijak was sustained as president of the Majuro Marshall Islands District.

August 1990 • MajuroFifty young Latter-day Saints in Majuro formed a youth chorus.

December 1990 • MajuroThe combined Relief Societies of Majuro completed a service project, requiring several months, making 35 quilts for the Majuro Hospital pediatric ward and presenting them to the hospital on New Year’s Day.

May 12, 1991 • MajuroMichaelene P. Grassli, Primary General President, and Virginia Pearce, a Primary general board member, visited the Majuro Branch on Mother’s Day.

May 6, 1991 • KwajaleinThe Kwajalein Marshall Islands District was organized.

March 17, 1992 • Ebeye, Marshall IslandsRosey Lari, Ebeye Relief Society president, and the district Relief Society president gathered the Relief Society sisters to celebrate the sesquicentennial of the Relief Society. Relief Society sisters, young and old, also participated in community cleanup service activities in March and April, working at the Delap Hospital, Rairok School, and Laura Hospital and in different areas of Ebeye.

November 7, 1998 • EbeyeBrother Newton Passaur and Senator Ataji Balos signed an agreement allowing the Church to use part of the Ebeye storm shelter for a chapel for the Ebeye Branch.

March 27, 1999 • KwajaleinThe annual Kwajalein District Relief Society Conference was held at the Kwajalein Religious Education Center, including 28 sisters from Ebeye and 7 sisters from the Kwajalein Branch.

March 27, 2000 • KwajaleinKwajalein Atoll youth, 62 in all, convened for a district youth conference at the Kwajalein Religious Education Building.

October 22, 2000 • EbeyeThe Ebeye Branch split into two branches, with Jalli Aini and Bonnon Enos as presidents.

March 4, 2001 • EbeyeDistinguished guests from the local community, including personnel from Raytheon and Kitlani Kabua, queen of the Kwajalein Atoll and other outer islands, attended the open house for the Ebeye Meetinghouse on March 4. The meetinghouse was dedicated on March 18.

2003 • Salt Lake City, Utah, USAA full translation of the Book of Mormon was published in Marshallese.

2003 • MajuroA new satellite system allowed members to receive live Church broadcasts from Salt Lake City for the first time.

July 19, 2008 • MajuroThe first annual Majuro district youth conference was held at the Long Island stake center. About 200 youth attended workshops, testimony meeting, and devotionals.

June 14, 2009 • MajuroThe Majuro Marshall Islands Stake was created, with Arlington Tibon as president.

2011 • MajuroYoung single adults and the Relief Society partnered with the missionaries to present a health fair puppet show on hygiene, nutrition, and avoiding tobacco and alcohol in elementary and middle schools.

June 15, 2013 • MajuroChristopher J. Loeack, president of the Marshall Islands, who studied at Brigham Young University–Hawaii in his youth, met with Elder Kevin W. Pearson of the Seventy to discuss joint welfare efforts between the Church and the Marshallese government.

October 9, 2016 • KwajaleinThe Kwajalein Marshall Islands Stake, the second in the country, was organized.

2017 • MajuroLatter-day Saints charities offered support to a variety of community education projects designed to curb the rise of diabetes in the Marshall Islands.