If you have any more on the history of the mission, especially any interesting stories or photographs, please send them to me.
Does anyone have the temple dedication in Swedish or the country rededication in English?
Early Work
The first LDS missionary in Sweden was John E. Forsgren from Gävle, who had emigrated to the United States and joined the Saints. He returned to Gävle in 1850 and baptized his brother Peter Adolph, the first convert in all of Scandinavia, and his sister Ericka. Elder Forsgren organized a branch in Gävle that same year, but immediately after their second meeting the authorities arrested him and attempted to deport him to New York.
Elder Forsgren made friends with the ship's captain and went ashore in Helsingör, Denmark. Denmark had just adopted a new constitution that allowed greater religous freedom than existed in Sweden at the time. In fact, the second missionary to go to Sweden, Mikael Johnson, was deported from Gävle to Copenhagen via Malmö even though he was a Swedish subject.
While still in Gävle, Elder Forsgren was one day summoned to the office of the public prosecutor, and the prosecutor asked him if he had a picture of the Prophet Joseph. He procured a picture, and the officer set fire to it. While it was burning, Elder Forsgren had a vision in which he saw the city of Gävle destroyed by fire. He told his friends of this vision, and also that they would be in America, when the visitation would take place. Nineteen years from the date of the burning of Joseph's picture, the city of Gävle was almost totally destroyed by fire, and the conflagaration started in the very house where the picture of the Prophet had been sacrificed to the flames.
Elder Forsgren also brought the first Danish company to Utah in 1853, on the chartered ship, the "Forest Monarch", which departed from Liverpool.
The third missionary was Anders Winberg. He traveled to Lund in 1852 and baptized his sister and her husband. The following year he organized the Skönabäck branch in Ystad, and soon three more. By 1859 there were 860 members in Sweden. In 1860 a book of 126 hymns was printed in Swedish.
However, the authorities continued to oppress the Latter-day Saints. Franklin D. Richards reported in 1867 that missionary work was not tolerated in Sweden. Missionaries would come to a town, find a job, and gradually introduce the topic of the gospel to their co-workers.
Mission presidents in the Scandinavian Mission 1850-1905
Migration Then and Now
One of the reasons that the church was persecuted in Sweden, besides the fact that it drew people away from the state-supported Lutheran church, was that in those early days many members emigrated to Zion where they could enjoy going to the temple, being near the prophet and living in a society of people who shared their faith.
On one occasion a member of the riksdag was holding forth about the evil Mormons, and how they enticed people away from Sweden. He produced as evidence an LDS hymn about gathering to Zion. The response was, "So? Lots of churches sing about Zion." The man replied, "Yes, but the Mormons really believe in what they're singing."
Unfortunately, many leaders went with the emigration, and the church did not grow in Sweden as much as it might have had all those members stayed. Mass emigration continued until the 1950s, when the Swiss Temple was built and members were encouraged to stay and build up the church in their home countries. At that time full-time missionaries were released from the responsibilities of branch leadership so that local leaders could develop, while the missionaries spent more time spreading the gospel to non-members.
In more recent years, however, the church in Sweden has benefited from migration. Sweden opened its doors to refugees from all over the world. Many of the refugees were members from South America, and a Spanish- speaking branch was established in Stockholm for them. A mission in Spain transferred several missionaries to Sweden, others were recruited from among those already in Sweden, and more were called to Sweden, learning Spanish in the MTC.
Missionaries also teach immigrants from Eastern Europe, the Middle East and Africa. The mission office stocks Books of Mormon in dozens of languages.
Royal Notice
In 1877 the church started printing a magazine in Swedish, Nordstjärnan. Finally the Book of Mormon was issued in eleven parts in Swedish from March through August 1878. In 1897 church representatives presented a Swedish Book of Mormon to King Oscar II and Queen Sofia.
In 1904 Elder Heber J. Grant of the Council of the Twelve, who was at that time president of the European Mission, dedicated the church's new mission headquarters on Svartensgatan 3 in downtown Stockholm. This building was used until 1979.
Two years later July Elder Grant made a significant visit to King Oskar of Sweden. Although he knew there was a proper procedure to request a meeting with the king, he simply appeared at the palace hoping that since it was the American Independence Day, July 4th 1906, they could dispense with the formalities. The king agreed to come out and see Elder Grant and the people with him, and conversed with the group in flawless English. He made this remark to Elder Grant:
Mr. Grant, I have sent my personal representatives, unknown to the people, to nearly every state in the union of the United States, to find out how my former subjects are getting along, how they are prospering and in no other state in the union are the former subjects of Sweden and Norway more contented, more prosperous and happier than in Utah. As long as I am king of Norway and Sweden, your people shall have religious liberty, notwithstanding all the priests and religious denominations are against you.
In 1910 President Andreas Peterson received an audience with King Gustaf V, and in 1914 a proposal to ban LDS missionaries was defeated in the riksdag. By 1927 membership had increased to 1,674 members in 23 branches.
Public Attention
Various events through the years attracted public attention to the church. At first it was missionaries taking the limelight, such as playing basketball. In 1938 Swedish TV watchers listened to the Friendly Four, Ernest Olsen (later to return as a mission president), "Woody" Nelson and two other missionaries.
Later three brothers who were all members of the church, Per, Richard and Louis Herrey, brought the church's name to press again when they won the Eurovision Song Contest in 1984 with their song "Diggi-loo Diggi-ley". This was one of three times Sweden has won the contest, which attracts a lot of interest in Europe, especially in the winning country. Per Herrey said, "We are entertainers, but first we are Latter-day Saints. Our greatest dream is that we may somehow bless the church with our talents."
Listen to "Diggi-loo Diggi-ley": 207K AIFF file (for Macs) or 624K WAV file (for PCs).
In 1986, Latter-day Saint Gregory Newell was appointed as U. S. Ambassador to Sweden. The media wrote about not only his diplomatic work, but about his large family of five children and about his faith. Brother Newell spoke at firesides across Sweden while his children performed. (Anyone have a picture of such a fireside?)
Modern Growth
The church couldn't find any record of when Sweden was dedicated for missionary work, so President Thomas S. Monson came to Sweden in 1977 and rededicated it for missionary work. President Monson has a special fondness for Sweden because his grandfather was Swedish and his wife's parents were both Swedish.
In 1981 the church announced a temple to be built in Sweden. President Monson broke the ground in 1984. The building proceeded in Västerhaninge (a little way south of Stockholm) with virtually no opposition. The construction unearthed some rocks from Stone Age burial mounds, which are now displayed on the temple grounds.
The temple was completed in 1985 and dedicated by President Gordon B. Hinckley. Since the completion of the temple Västerhaninge has become a mecca for Latter-day Saints. Today about 1 of 70 people in Västerhaninge is LDS, as opposed to 1 of 1000 for the whole of Sweden. Sister Kajsa Wennerlund, a member, was elected to the Västerhaninge city council in the early 1980s for her stand on improving public moral standards.
In the late 1980s the church embarked on another public relations campaign. It placed advertisements in several widely-read national magazines and members delivered flyers to tens of thousands of homes. People could call a telephone number and have a Book of Mormon sent to them or delivered by a missionary and a member. Many people became interested in the church and the members and missionaries learned to work together.
Sources
Donald E. Asp and John D. Farmer, returned Swedish missionaries.
Heber J. Grant, Conference Report, April 1924.
Andrew Jenson, History of the Scandinavian Mission, Salt Lake City, 1927.
Bruce van Orden, Building Zion: The Latter-day Saints in Europe, 1995.
Michael Schooff, returned Swedish missionary.
Lisa Tenney, great-granddaughter of Peter Adolph Forsgren.
Albert Zobell, Under the Midnight Sun: Centennial History of Scandinavian Missions, Salt Lake City, 1950.
Last changed: Friday, September 17, 2004
