2011
Brazil
February 2011


“Brazil,” Liahona, Feb. 2011, 8

Church History around the World

Brazil

When Max Richard Zapf emigrated from Germany to Brazil in 1913, he had been a member for five years and became the first known Church member in Brazil. After a Brazilian family requested materials from Church headquarters, the mission president of the South American Mission visited Brazil in 1927 and sent missionaries in 1928. The first mission was created in São Paulo in 1935, and by 1939 the Book of Mormon had been published in Portuguese.

The first temple in South America was dedicated in São Paulo in 1978, shortly after the revelation on the priesthood extended the priesthood to all worthy males. The Church’s second-largest missionary training center, located in São Paulo, was dedicated in 1997.

Brazil was the third country (following the United States and Mexico) to reach one million members.

The Church in Brazil

Membership

1,102,428

Missions

27

Stakes

230

Wards and Branches

1,884

Temples

7, including the Manaus and Fortaleza Brazil Temples, currently announced or under construction