During the 1970s and 1980s, the gospel was taken to only two republics in the former Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia: Croatia and Serbia. The Church’s presence and missionaries in Serbia were extensions of the proselyting efforts in Croatia. Some members were converted elsewhere in Europe, and others were baptized in Serbia. In 1988 a small branch was organized in Belgrade.
The breakup of Yugoslavia after 1991 limited both membership growth and the activities of couples and young adult missionaries in Serbia. They were evacuated from time to time during the civil strife in the 1990s but returned when conditions improved. The Serbian District came under the Austria Vienna and Hungary Budapest Missions and, after 1996, the Austria Vienna South Mission.
The Serbian Saints commonly use the Croatian translation of the Book of Mormon. Recognition of the Church in Serbia had been tentative, even though it owned a branch building in Beograd. By the end of 1998 about 200 members were organized into three branches.
[Year-end 2005: Est. population, 10,829,000; Members, 246; District, 1; Branches, 3; Percent LDS, .002, or one in 46,081; Europe East Area; Bulgaria Sofia Mission; Source: 2007 Church Almanac.]
SOURCES
Mehr, Kahlile. Frontier in the East. Manuscript history, Yugoslavia and Croatia.
1999-2000 Church Almanac. Salt Lake City: Deseret News, 1998. 409.
EDWIN B. MORRELL
From Arnold K. Garr, Donald Q. Cannon, and Richard O. Cowan, eds., Encyclopedia of Latter-day Saint History (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 2000), 1089. Used with the permission of the Deseret Book Company. Copies prohibited by law.