As the centennial year commemorating a special prayer and prophecy for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in South America draws closer, the Church’s growth and stability in Argentina is both evident and increasing.
The evidence is found specifically in the Latter-day Saint temples in Argentina, going from the dedication of the first in 1986 to seven total houses of the Lord today in the southern South America nation. That includes the dedication of two — the Salta Argentina and the Mendoza Argentina temples — over a three-month period this year.
In 2025, the Church in general — and, more specifically, Latter-day Saints across South America — will celebrate the 100th anniversary of Elder Melvyn J. Ballard dedicating South America for the preaching of the restored gospel, with that dedication taking place in the Argentine capital city of Buenos Aires.
And in a meeting the following year, Elder Ballard prophesied that the Church in South America would grow slowly at first but increasingly stronger over the decades, like the growth from a small acorn into a mighty oak tree.
“The dedications of these temples is a fulfillment of prophecy,” said Elder Joaquin E. Costa, an Argentina native who is a General Authority Seventy and president of the Church’s South America South Area. “The oak tree keeps growing steadily and stronger every year.”
Elder Ballard’s prayer and the prophecy
A small marker located in Buenos Aires’ 400-hectare (989-acre) Tres de Febrero Park commemorates the prayer offered by Elder Ballard on Christmas Day 1925, when he and two other Church leaders — Elder Rey L. Pratt and Elder Rulon S. Wells — knelt under a willow tree in the park to dedicate South America for the preaching of the gospel. The exact location is not known; the site of the tribute is a protected location just inside the fenced gardens of the Sívori Museum, across from the Paseo del Rosedal (Rose Garden Walk).
A plaque bears a profile image of Elder Ballard, the title of “May peace be upon these nations” and an excerpt from the prayer:
“Bless the presidents, governors and leading officials of these American countries that they may kindly receive us and give us permission to open the doors of salvation to the peoples of these lands. May they be blessed in administering the affairs of their several offices that great good may come unto the people, that peace may be upon these nations that Thou hast made free through Thy blessings upon the valiant liberators of these lands, that righteousness may obtain and full liberty for the preaching of Thy gospel prevail.”
A larger monument sits on the grounds of the Buenos Aires Argentina Temple, acknowledging the prophetic statement of Elder Ballard during a small testimony meeting in Buenos Aires on July 4, 1926.
The text on the marker reads: “The work of the Lord will grow slowly for a time here just as an oak grows slowly from an acorn. It will not shoot up in a day as does the sunflower that grows quickly and then dies. But thousands will join the Church here. It will be divided into more than one mission and will be one of the strongest in the kingdom [Church].”
A start even before the dedication
Before the arrival of Elder Ballard to Argentina, the Wilhelm Friedrichs and Emil Hoppe families — converts to the Church in Germany — immigrated to Buenos Aires in 1923 and began preaching the gospel by holding meetings in their homes and inviting their neighbors. The families wrote to Church leaders, urging them to send missionaries to Argentina.
The South America dedication followed in late 1925 and the prophecy of the Church’s growth the next year. Also in 1926, Eladia Cifuentes, South America’s first Spanish-speaking convert, was baptized.
In 1938, the Bony and Oguey families immigrated from Switzerland and brought the Church to the Córdoba area of Argentina. Five years later, Ursula Bond, a member of the Liniers Branch in Buenos Aires, made the first donation for the future construction of a house of the Lord in her country — decades before a temple was ever announced for Argentina or any of South America and even 20-plus years before the first Spanish-speaking stake was organized on the continent. That first stake was created in Buenos Aires.
Once the São Paulo Brazil Temple was dedicated in October 1978, Latter-day Saints in Argentina began organizing bus trips to attend the temple, with some on the country’s western side later going to the Santiago Chile Temple after its dedication in September 1983.
On January 17, 1986, the Buenos Aires Argentina Temple — the country’s first — was dedicated by President Thomas S. Monson, a counselor in the First Presidency. Latter-day Saints across Argentina flocked to the house of the Lord in their own land.
Growth in membership, stakes, missions — and temples
The Church’s growth is evidenced in more ways than just the increase in temples. At the end of 2023, membership reached 481,518 Latter-day Saints in Argentina — that is the fourth-most members for a country in South America and the seventh-most worldwide. In the decade between 2011 and 2021, Church membership in Argentina grew by 22%.
Argentina is also home to more than 80 stakes and 14 missions.
However, the increasing number of temples across Argentina — seven and counting — is both noticeable and noteworthy.
Following the 1986 dedication of the Buenos Aires temple, a second house of the Lord in the country didn’t happen until the 2015 dedication of the Córdoba Argentina Temple. The third and fourth have come quickly this year, with the June 16 dedication of the Salta temple and the Sunday, Sept. 22, dedication of the Mendoza temple.
The 2024 dedications will double the number of operating houses of the Lord in the South American nation.
Another — the Bahía Blanca Argentina Temple — has been under construction since its April 2022 groundbreaking, and two more — the Buenos Aires City Center and Rosario temples — are in planning and design.
The last five have been announced by President Russell M. Nelson in the past six-plus years of his tenure as President of the Church.
More than just focused on the past and present, Elder Costa is also mindful of the future of the Church in Argentina. “Looking into the next 100 years,” he said, “the coming of temples will continue building generations of covenant-keeping Saints, helping our Heavenly Father gather Israel on both sides of the veil.”
