Foreign LDS Missionaries pulled from Venezuela and local missionaries rose up.
In 2005, rising political tensions in Venezuela forced every North American missionary to leave the country. Church leaders feared the missionary work might collapse. But Venezuelan members refused to let that happen.
Over 200 missionaries vanished from Venezuela overnight and church leaders feared the missions would collapse. In 2005, Venezuela was changing fast. President Hugo Chavez had sharply turned against the United States. Anti-American tensions were rising across the country. Foreign religious groups were being closely watched. Missionary visas became harder and harder to renew. And then everything escalated.
The Venezuelan government accused some American missionary organizations of foreign interference and espionage. So the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints made a difficult decision. Every North American missionary had to leave Venezuela. Over 200 missionaries gone in days. The missionary department looked at the numbers and considered consolidating missions from 4 to two.
But local leaders in Venezuela said, "Please don't do that. We will rise up and we will call additional young people and we will fill those missions." They had fewer missionaries, less experience, but they moved forward anyway. They called their own young people and filled the streets again and continued teaching. Less than 9 years later, the decision was made to remove all other foreign missionaries, leaving only native Venezuelans.
And the same question arose. Should we close some missions? Venezuelan members answered again, "No, we're ready. Tell the brethren, we're going to show that in Venezuela, we can be self-sufficient. We will get as many young people as in the past, and we won't close a single mission." Mission President Juan Francisco Seria said he was afraid that everything would slow down. But instead, there were times they had more missionaries than when foreign missionaries were there.
Elder Enrique Falaba said, "Young native Venezuelan missionaries became some of the strongest missionaries, baptizing more people per missionary than any other country in the area. And today, the church in Venezuela still stands. Over 177,000 members, hundreds of congregations, and four missions." In 2024, President Russell M. Nelson announced a second temple in Mara.
