The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
The Adriatic North Mission
On September 7, 2013, I received a very large letter in the mail. With my friends and family surrounding me, my hands shaking, and tears in my eyes, I read the lines "You are called to labor in the Adriatic North Mission… You will prepare to preach the gospel in Croation, Serbian, or other similar regional languages." The Adriatic North Mission comprises five European countries - Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Serbia, and Montenegro. The mission was created in 2012, when the Albania Tirana Mission and the Adriatic Mission were both realigned. Originally, the Adriatic North Mission only involved the first four countries listed, with Montenegro included in the Adriatic South Mission, but due to the language differences, Montenegro was added to the North Mission. |
Croatia
Yugoslavia recognized The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints as a legal entity in 1975. In the same year, Church leaders formed Yugoslavia's first Latter-day Saint congregation in Zadar.
Kresimir Cosic, a Yugoslavian student and basketball player at Church-owned Brigham Young University, became a member of the Church. Cosic returned to Yugoslavia to coach and to play on the Yugoslavian Olympic Team. Cosic earned a gold medal in basketball in 1980. In 1992, Cosic was appointed the deputy ambassador to the United States from Croatia.
Between 1993 and 1998, the Church provided thousands of tons of food, clothing, bedding and medical supplies to Croatia. Since 1995 the Church has participated in a project to assist Croatian farmers.
Serbia
Mischa Markow was the first LDS missionary to work in Serbia. He arrived in Beograd in May 1899. Forces of opposition soon turned against him and Markow was banished to Hungary in June 1899 without baptizing anyone.
The president of the Czechoslovak Mission, Arthur Gaeth, visited Beograd in August 1934, where there were two members of the Church, Sister Evize Vujicic and Brother Mateja Spacek. Gaeth held a worship service with them and four friends. No further missionary work was done in Yugoslavia until the 1970s.
In October 1974, the First Presidency (the highest governing body of the Church) representative David M. Kennedy visited Beograd to seek recognition for the Church. Shortly thereafter, missionaries serving in Austria began a program to teach Yugoslav émigrés working there with the hope of eventually opening missionary work in Yugoslavia.
In anticipation of establishing a mission there, the Church called Gustav Salik as mission president and stationed him in Austria near the Yugoslav border in 1975. Salik spent the next year attempting to open the mission, but could not get the necessary permission to work in the country. In 1977, missionaries entered as students. They wore casual dress but could not proselyte. Though they served mostly in Croatia, they also worked in Beograd.
Lee and Marilyn Manwill arrived in Beograd in January 1983, the first missionary couple to serve full time in that city. The first baptisms were in May of that same year. By November 1983, a branch (small congregation) was organized.
In June 1991, Slovenia and Croatia declared independence from Yugoslavia. The threat of civil war caused Church leaders to evacuate all missionaries working in the former Yugoslavia on July 1, 1991.
Four months later, missionaries returned to Beograd. Two months later, the Church purchased a building, the culmination of a five-year effort. On 28 January 1992, the building passed inspection; one of the requirements for an organization’s obtaining legal status which meant that Serbia had officially recognized the Church. Missionaries were then granted permanent visas to work in the country. In February of that year, missionaries opened the second Serbian city, Novi Sad.
Civil war erupted in 1992. Because communication was better between Budapest and Beograd, responsibility for Serbia was temporarily transferred to the Hungary Budapest Mission in November 1993. Shortly thereafter, missionaries were evacuated to other Central European nations due to rising tensions.
By the summer of 1995, Serbia was transferred back to the Austria Vienna Mission. Shortly thereafter, Serbia canceled the visas for foreign missionaries. The last two elders left Serbia in September 1995. During the next year, Austria Vienna Mission President Swen R. Swenson visited Church members in Serbia each month. The Church also contributed humanitarian assistance during this time. A tenuous peace was achieved in November 1995 and missionaries re-entered Serbia in June 1996.
Violence in Kosovo began in 1996. As the violence escalated, missionary work slowed. Missionaries were evacuated from Serbia to Croatia in October 1998. Three weeks later, missionaries were able to return to Serbia.
This time of growth and missionary work was short lived. In March 1999, violence resumed. Missionaries were evacuated from Serbia shortly before the outbreak. In September 2000, responsibility for Serbia was transferred to the Bulgaria Sofia Mission. And in December 2001, after peace was restored, six missionaries re-entered Serbia.
Slovenia
In 1975 leaders of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints established the Church as a legal entity in Yugoslavia. In 1992 the first Latter-day Saint Slovenian couple was married in the Church's Frankfurt Germany Temple. The first Latter-day Saint missionary from the Republic of Slovenia was sent to preach in the Utah Salt Lake City Mission in 1993. In 1997 Slovenian Latter-day Saints wrote their personal beliefs regarding the Church in a book that crossed Russia in a handcart, celebrating the 150th anniversary of the historic Mormon pioneer trek across the Great Plains of the United States. Leon Bergant, a timed-trial bicycle champion and member of the Slovene National Bike Team, left the team in 1997 to preach as a missionary in Croatia.
Headquarters of the Austria Vienna South Mission was relocated to Ljubljana in March 1999, and renamed the Slovenia Ljubljana Mission. By 1999 the Church had 199 members.
Yugoslavia recognized The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints as a legal entity in 1975. In the same year, Church leaders formed Yugoslavia's first Latter-day Saint congregation in Zadar.
Kresimir Cosic, a Yugoslavian student and basketball player at Church-owned Brigham Young University, became a member of the Church. Cosic returned to Yugoslavia to coach and to play on the Yugoslavian Olympic Team. Cosic earned a gold medal in basketball in 1980. In 1992, Cosic was appointed the deputy ambassador to the United States from Croatia.
Between 1993 and 1998, the Church provided thousands of tons of food, clothing, bedding and medical supplies to Croatia. Since 1995 the Church has participated in a project to assist Croatian farmers.
Serbia
Mischa Markow was the first LDS missionary to work in Serbia. He arrived in Beograd in May 1899. Forces of opposition soon turned against him and Markow was banished to Hungary in June 1899 without baptizing anyone.
The president of the Czechoslovak Mission, Arthur Gaeth, visited Beograd in August 1934, where there were two members of the Church, Sister Evize Vujicic and Brother Mateja Spacek. Gaeth held a worship service with them and four friends. No further missionary work was done in Yugoslavia until the 1970s.
In October 1974, the First Presidency (the highest governing body of the Church) representative David M. Kennedy visited Beograd to seek recognition for the Church. Shortly thereafter, missionaries serving in Austria began a program to teach Yugoslav émigrés working there with the hope of eventually opening missionary work in Yugoslavia.
In anticipation of establishing a mission there, the Church called Gustav Salik as mission president and stationed him in Austria near the Yugoslav border in 1975. Salik spent the next year attempting to open the mission, but could not get the necessary permission to work in the country. In 1977, missionaries entered as students. They wore casual dress but could not proselyte. Though they served mostly in Croatia, they also worked in Beograd.
Lee and Marilyn Manwill arrived in Beograd in January 1983, the first missionary couple to serve full time in that city. The first baptisms were in May of that same year. By November 1983, a branch (small congregation) was organized.
In June 1991, Slovenia and Croatia declared independence from Yugoslavia. The threat of civil war caused Church leaders to evacuate all missionaries working in the former Yugoslavia on July 1, 1991.
Four months later, missionaries returned to Beograd. Two months later, the Church purchased a building, the culmination of a five-year effort. On 28 January 1992, the building passed inspection; one of the requirements for an organization’s obtaining legal status which meant that Serbia had officially recognized the Church. Missionaries were then granted permanent visas to work in the country. In February of that year, missionaries opened the second Serbian city, Novi Sad.
Civil war erupted in 1992. Because communication was better between Budapest and Beograd, responsibility for Serbia was temporarily transferred to the Hungary Budapest Mission in November 1993. Shortly thereafter, missionaries were evacuated to other Central European nations due to rising tensions.
By the summer of 1995, Serbia was transferred back to the Austria Vienna Mission. Shortly thereafter, Serbia canceled the visas for foreign missionaries. The last two elders left Serbia in September 1995. During the next year, Austria Vienna Mission President Swen R. Swenson visited Church members in Serbia each month. The Church also contributed humanitarian assistance during this time. A tenuous peace was achieved in November 1995 and missionaries re-entered Serbia in June 1996.
Violence in Kosovo began in 1996. As the violence escalated, missionary work slowed. Missionaries were evacuated from Serbia to Croatia in October 1998. Three weeks later, missionaries were able to return to Serbia.
This time of growth and missionary work was short lived. In March 1999, violence resumed. Missionaries were evacuated from Serbia shortly before the outbreak. In September 2000, responsibility for Serbia was transferred to the Bulgaria Sofia Mission. And in December 2001, after peace was restored, six missionaries re-entered Serbia.
Slovenia
In 1975 leaders of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints established the Church as a legal entity in Yugoslavia. In 1992 the first Latter-day Saint Slovenian couple was married in the Church's Frankfurt Germany Temple. The first Latter-day Saint missionary from the Republic of Slovenia was sent to preach in the Utah Salt Lake City Mission in 1993. In 1997 Slovenian Latter-day Saints wrote their personal beliefs regarding the Church in a book that crossed Russia in a handcart, celebrating the 150th anniversary of the historic Mormon pioneer trek across the Great Plains of the United States. Leon Bergant, a timed-trial bicycle champion and member of the Slovene National Bike Team, left the team in 1997 to preach as a missionary in Croatia.
Headquarters of the Austria Vienna South Mission was relocated to Ljubljana in March 1999, and renamed the Slovenia Ljubljana Mission. By 1999 the Church had 199 members.
Information from http://www.mormonnewsroom.org/facts-and-statistics. Please go to this site to learn more.