LDS Church efforts in Belarus began in January 1993 when Karl and Hanna Borcherding, a German couple, were called to serve in Minsk. Under the leadership of mission president Howard L. Biddulph of the Ukraine Kiev Mission, the next year saw steady progress for the Church in Belarus. Full-time elders arrived in March 1993. In May Elder Russell M. Nelson of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles arrived to dedicate Belarus for the preaching of the gospel. A year later, in January 1994, the Church was officially registered with the government. A television broadcast on the day of registration featured area, mission, and local Church leaders and gave the Church an opportunity to expose millions in Belarus to its message. Belarus is now part of the Lithuania Vilnius Mission. At the beginning of the year 2000, the Church had 372 members in Belarus attending one branch.
SOURCES
Biddulph, Howard L. The Morning Breaks: Stories of Conversion and Faith in the Former Soviet Union. Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1996.
1999-2000 Church Almanac. Salt Lake City: Deseret News, 1998. 276.
SCOTT BRADSHAW
From Arnold K. Garr, Donald Q. Cannon, and Richard O. Cowan, eds., Encyclopedia of Latter-day Saint History (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 2000), 81-82. Used with the permission of the Deseret Book Company. Copies prohibited by law.