Angola: Church Chronology

1970s–80s • AngolaAngolans, some of whom had joined the Church elsewhere, began writing letters to the International Mission requesting information and literature and asking for the Church to be established in the country.

1990 • Luanda, AngolaMaria da Silva, who joined the Church in Portugal, returned to Angola and invited investigators to Sunday classes that she taught in her home using the Church materials she brought from Portugal.

1990–92 • PortugalOlivio Gomes Manuel joined the Church in Portugal and served a full-time mission there.

March 1992 • LuandaWith Paulina Lassalete Gonçalves, a local convert, serving as interpreter, Church leaders organized the first group in Angola, with Carlos Ferreira from Mozambique as the first group leader.

August 1992 • LuandaMaria da Silva filed official papers for legal registration of the Church at government offices, despite perilous conditions due to political unrest.

October 15, 1992 • LuandaThe official gazette Diario Da Republica published legal recognition of the Church.

June 9, 1996 • LuandaThe Luanda Branch was organized, with Vuamina Tshaka Mbenza as president.

November 14–19, 2003 • LuandaMembers of the Luanda Branch hosted training sessions for the Church’s HIV/AIDS prevention program, taught by missionaries from the Johannesburg South Africa Mission.

2004 • AngolaThe Church Humanitarian Services sent wheelchairs to aid those maimed during the civil war.

November 2008 • LuandaAs the political situation stabilized, the first full-time missionaries entered Angola from the Mozambique Maputo Mission.

October 20, 2010 • LuandaBeneath an ancient baobab tree on a hill south of the capital city, the country of Angola was formally dedicated for the preaching of the restored gospel by Elder D. Todd Christofferson of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles.

December 5, 2010 • LuandaLocal Latter-day Saint leaders met with the Ministry of the Family of Angola to discuss domestic violence. During the meeting, they shared Church materials, including “The Family: A Proclamation to the World” and a specially prepared manual outlining home evening for non–Latter-day Saints.

April 17, 2011 • LuandaThe Luanda Angola District was organized, with Artur J. Miranda as president.

December 14–16, 2011 • LuandaSeminary and institute classes were organized for the youth and young adults in Angola.

July 1, 2013 • LuandaThe Angola Luanda Mission was established.

2014 • AngolaLaureth João and Nelma Gomes were called as the first two full-time sister missionaries from Angola. They both served in the Mozambique Maputo Mission.

April 30–May 2, 2015 • AngolaFifty young women attended the first Young Women camp of the Luanda-Angola District.

April 1, 2017 • Salt Lake City, Utah, USAArtur J. Miranda was called as an Area Seventy.

November 24, 2017 • Pretoria, South AfricaAn agreement establishing visa-free travel between Angola and South Africa allowed for easier travel for Latter-day Saints from Angola wishing to attend the temple in Johannesburg.

March 24, 2018 • LuandaUnder the direction of Vania de Carvalho, second counselor in the Young Women presidency of the Luanda District, Latter-day Saint young women gathered together to be recognized for a year of spiritual and temporal learning and achievement.

June 9, 2018 • LuandaMembers of the Patriota branch worked to clean the interior and exterior of School Number 9041 as part of the Hands that Help Education campaign. His Excellency, Custódio do Rosário Tomás, director of the Educational Institution of Belas, formally recognized them in a letter.

December 2, 2018 • LuandaThe Luanda Angola Stake was organized, with Isidro Luis Narciso Baptista as president and Bernardete Conceição Alves da Cunha Campos as president of the Relief Society.

May 2019 • LuandaVuamina Tshaka Mbenza was called as patriarch of the Luanda Angola Stake.

June 8, 2019 • Huambo, AngolaLocal leaders met with journalists from the Rádio Nacional de Angola and Rádio Mais to discuss partnerships for the dissemination of Church news and projects.